Customized computer?

[Deadfire]

well, it looks to me BoC give you a kickass list already, So giving you anymore advice about it would be not worth it.

What I can tell you there is a guide out on newsstands from PC Gamer called "The Builder's bible" or something like that. Pick that up and it will give you answers to basicly any question you have, it even gives you a step-by-step and how to do it.

But if you what a another build here is one i helped another person make




Thermaltake Armor Black Chassis
AOC Dual Fan Harddrive Cooler
Evercool HPD-815 80mm Ever Lubricate bearing CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink
Thermaltake AMCOOLING KIT(A1165) Memory Cooling Kits
Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe Socket 939 ATX AMD Motherboard
Thermaltake 500W
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Manchester
Western Digital Caviar 500GB SATA 7200RPM
Samsung Black 20.1" LCD Monitor
Sony 16x DVD+/-RW Drive
Sony Black IDE DVD-ROM
Creative SOUND BLASTER X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS 7.1 Channels
Corsair XMS 2GB
eVGA 256-P2-N527-AX Geforce 7800GTX 256MB
Klipsch Ultra 5.1 Speakers

Enjoy

[darkshadow]

those klipsch are too expensive and too powerfull for somebody who is not die hard into audio ( most ppl wont turn it up more then 25%, so its a waste ), get a Logitech® Z-5400 Digital 5.1 310w system instead

[samsonlonghair]

If you want to build it yourself there are a number of good resources online. I wish the old TechTV site was still around, but there's nothing I can do about that.

This is a pretty good step-by-step guide, but it's old so the parts they use are out of date. Use newer ones than the ones in that guide and you'll be fne.

[Board of Command]

Thermaltake Armor Black Chassis
AOC Dual Fan Harddrive Cooler
Evercool HPD-815 80mm Ever Lubricate bearing CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink
Thermaltake AMCOOLING KIT(A1165) Memory Cooling Kits
Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe Socket 939 ATX AMD Motherboard
Thermaltake 500W
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Manchester
Western Digital Caviar 500GB SATA 7200RPM
Samsung Black 20.1" LCD Monitor
Sony 16x DVD+/-RW Drive
Sony Black IDE DVD-ROM
Creative SOUND BLASTER X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS 7.1 Channels
Corsair XMS 2GB
eVGA 256-P2-N527-AX Geforce 7800GTX 256MB
Klipsch Ultra 5.1 Speakers

I think that is a little over his budget

[Deadfire]

I think that is a little over his budget

Thats why it's a example :P

Anyways you guys are right on the money, so I really don't need to but in anywhere

[darkshadow]

scct has SM3, Tomb Raider legend REQUIRES sm3 just to enable the next gen mode, basically every game that has hdr ( thats basically every game from now on) is on SM3, or the devs must have been extra nice and include a sm2 path ( which is highly unlikely ), oblivion requires sm3 for hdr also

and no, if your videocard doesnt support hardware decoding of h264 it doesnt do SQUAT when watching it, it just displays the images rendered out by the cpu, and no its pretty stupid to ask if the 6600gt is future proof, since its now of the previous generation, the 7600gt is a lot faster then the 6600gt, has sm3, has h264 decoding, and is of the latest generation, i call that future proof, even at its price+ the 7600gt has an hdtv out, the 6600gt doesnt have that.
saying something like "even counterstrike doesnt support sm3" is pretty dumb since css is pretty old already, + valve had a deal with ati, which led to the development of an sm2 path not sm3 ( sm2 and 3 are VERY different from each other )

and btw how do you know if i dont have a 40 inch lcd that i use as monitor ? :P

[Board of Command]

scct has SM3, Tomb Raider legend REQUIRES sm3 just to enable the next gen mode, basically every game that has hdr ( thats basically every game from now on) is on SM3

Uh, no. There are genres out there other than 1st person or 3rd person, and those games certainly will not support HDR.

if your videocard doesnt support hardware decoding of h264 it doesnt do SQUAT when watching it, it just displays the images rendered out by the cpu

So everyone that has an ATI card right now is pretty much screwed when it comes to watching movies?

saying something like "even counterstrike doesnt support sm3" is pretty dumb since css is pretty old already

Pretty dumb? My whole point is that CSS has been out for a long time, and it STILL doesn't support SM3.0

[darkshadow]

im not bashing you or anything :P but yeah it is still pretty dumb, cause valve is not gonna make a sm3 path, and seeing how nvidia are lazy bastards too, dont expect a patch from them, css will remain sm3-less for ever, and for hdr supporting games:
adventure - TRL
action adventure - Lost Planet
rpg ( bioware type rpg, like mass effect)
fps - PDZ
rts - WiC
racing - PGR3

the only stuff left are like.... puzzle games o_O or games that have been ported from xbox or ps2 ( condemned is the only x360 game that made it to pc which supports sm2, nfs most wanted doesnt count, seeing how it was multi platform )
world in conflict might be the first rts with hdr, that or cnc3
the games in the above list are all next gen games, and there are much more that support sm3, i cant see how future games wont support it, or even REQUIRE it, like TRL

i mean would you rather play in ps2/xbox style gfx or x360 styled gfx ( this is the case with TRL)

edit:
oh and no, the x1000 series of ati support hardware decoding, its just the x100 series that dont, so if you have anything lower then x1000 then yes you are screwed, same if you have anything lower then 6000 series ( i consider lower then 7000 series still screwed, seeing how lower doesnt have a hdtv output )

[naruto=pwnage]

well I for one am not about to install counterstrike or any of the other games you mentioned on my computer. I just want a card that is competent and will support avi files etc.

[BioAlien]

go there,
http://www.sohodiffusion.com/configurpc.asp
(you must use Internet Explorer, it may work with FireFox, but it would be better with Explorer)

build your own computer, with what you want, for your budget, that online store in located in Canada(i think) they ship everywhere in Canada (including Quebec, FINALLY! lol) also in the U.S. and France

you must also know this since you are only 14

PURCHASING BY MINORS [Table of contents]

For the protection of our shoppers, it is our policy to not sell to minors. However, if you are minors and wish to purchase from our web site, have a parent or legal guardian make the purchase for you. Thank you for your comprehension.

you can also see the website in French (in case...)

[Board of Command]

Oh, one major change to the list I posted:

Get a Sapphire X800 GTO2 instead of a 7600GT. The X800 GTO2 can be hacked into a X850 XT...which is considerably faster than a 7600GT and at a much lower price. You must get the Sapphire GTO2 or the PowerColor GTO these are the only two cards that work for this hack if I recall. Also, the Sapphire GTO2 has a 100% chance of modding into a XT if I'm not mistaken.

The GTO => XT trick is probably one of the best bargains in recent history. I can't believe it slipped my mind when I posted that list

[darkshadow]

there is one big flaw in that ^^^, x850xt doesnt support h264 decoding, nor does it support SM3.0, so even if its a bargain, its not future ready

[Board of Command]

You'd take a 7600GT over a X850XT? Alright, knock yourself out...

X850XT can draw 30 more frames than 7600GT while having full AA and AF. If you'd rather take SM3.0 and hardware h.264 decoding over that, be my guest.

[darkshadow]

hardware decoding means watching movies in 1080p without a hitch, and since the 7600gt is not a bad card at all, then yes i would go for the 7600gt, i cant depend on game devs to include a sm2 codepath in every game, or that ati develops a special patch that enables sm2, but thats also why im getting a x1900gt :P ( dropped the 7900gt since its out of stock, and ati rules! )

dang there goes my jounin post

[Board of Command]

If you're running a high end video card, then your processor is probably able to handle h.264 no problems already. Also, why you're playing 1080p videos on a computer monitor is beyond me. And this is not your computer, it's a list for naruto=pwnage. I think he'd be happier with 30 more frames per second while saving $50.

Oh and I forgot, my 6600GT also has h.264 hardware decoding and SM3.0, so it's more future proof than X850XT?

And on the topic of SM3.0. I'm pretty sure the 6600GT is the first card to support it, and it has been out for almost two years. Look around today and you'll see that still very few games support it, and the ones that do support it all use SM2 by default. I got my 6600GT over a year ago and at the time the only games supporting SM3.0 were Farcry (via patch and tweaking) and Chronicles of Riddick (which nobody cares about). Today, there are still very few games that support it - not even Counter-Strike Source supports it. SM2 isn't about to fade out in the next week. As of now and maybe couple years down the line, SM3.0 will just be a little bonus for the games that do support it, as most won't.