OT: New PC!

[AgentZero]

Um, not hugely into FPSs... I'll play them now and then but I'm mainly getting the rig for the graphic-intensive RPGs & strategy games on the way. Don't know if the different engines would make a difference though.

[Fyron]

AgentZero said:
Speaking of RAM, does anyone have any suggestions for a good mix of performance & price? I'm looking at some nice Corsair stuff, but it's about eur250 for 1GB, and I want 2GB, but don't really want to spend eur500 on RAM.

Dear Xintis... any RAM costing that much money is a ripoff. Its all the same, really... so long as it isn't from a no-name Chinese factory, performance will be virtually the same from different manufacturers (for same make and frequency of RAM). Most of it comes from the same factories anyways... Heat sinks as featured on glitzy Corsair stuff cost only a few bucks if you buy them separately, so that is no reason to pay such a mark-up...


A quick froogle search even shows those same chips to be far cheaper... (250 euros is ~296 US dollars). Even with import duties, that 250 euro figure can't compare, I think.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

...'Froogle'?

Ah, computer slang. Nothing like it.

[Atrocities]

Well the time has come to upgrade the old video card. Since everything is going PCI express I guess I need to consider a new MB as well. That brings me to memory and CPU.

What would your suggestions for a solid, enexpensive Motherboard, CPU, Ram (1gig), and power supply wattage?

Sure AMD 64's are hot right now, but are they worth the money?

I am finding it very confusing with all of the socket types, merrory version so any one able to clear things up would get a gold star from me.

I would like to try and stay around $500.00 (not counting the Video card) for costs in parts. The cheaper the price the better things will be.

[Thermodyne]

What do you have now? $500 is not going to get you ^&$# from that list.

[Fyron]

narf poit chez BOOM said:
...'Froogle'?

Ah, computer slang. Nothing like it.

It's not really slang when it is a web site name...

$500 can go a mighty long way Thermodyne... Once you know what you need, just watch the deal sites and wait for good rebates. All it takes is a bit of patience.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

It is slang when it mimics an actual word.

[AgentZero]

Frugal: fru·gal adj.
1. Practicing or marked by economy, as in the expenditure of money or the use of material resources.

Sorry. Had to.

Anyway, I've been out of the loop for so long, all this new RAM terminology has got me a bit confuddled. DDR this and PCxxxx that. What the devil does it all mean? And more importantly, what's a good thing to look out for that would give decent performance along with a managable pricetag?

[Fyron]

You can get a good price tag on any RAM, so long as you shop around.

PCxxxx is related to clock frequency of the RAM, in a convoluted sort of way. Higher is generally better. Try not to combine different "PC" levels of RAM, since it will all be downclocked to run at the lowest frequency.

Sorry. Had to.

Not entirely sure why.

[AgentZero]

Imperator Fyron said:
Sorry. Had to.

Not entirely sure why.

Because I had to. I thought I was clear on that.

Anyway, here's a rather important question: I'm looking at a Geforce 7800 card, and it says as part of it's minimum requirements that one should have a 350W power supply. Now, if I'm going for two SLI cards, does that mean I should be looking at a 700W power supply?
I'm assuming not, since I don't think it needs the whole 350W, and that's listed as a minimum since that's the least it will run on with the processor, fans, HD, etc running.

But I can't seem to find anywhere that says what the card's actual draw would be. Any ideas?