[Nuke]

having seen my share of the computer manufacturing business, and hearing all the horror stories my boss at the time told me about his previous techs, id be very careful about who you have build your machine. i know a few people who trusted a company to build a computer correctly, just to have parts fail at random and having to ship it back and forth (which gives hds a chance to recieve shock damage). technology is a lesson in halfassery and if you want something done right you gotta do it yourself. i can build a computer in less than 20 minutes, not counting any component research (which youre doing anyway ). now is probibly the best time to build computers yourself. back in the 90s it was possible to fry compnents with botched jumper settings, nowadays everything auto configures and all you got to do is plug in a few connectors. besides, its fun

[colecampbell666]

besides, its fun

That it is. And yeah, give it a try building it yourself, you'll learn a lot, and have fun.

[CP5670]

6.  The RAM advice I may need more of - RAM remains one of those cryptic things when it comes to specifications and compatibility that makes me nervous.

Among the options that site offers, this stuff is known to be very good and runs at 1.8V stock for maximum motherboard compatibility.

7.  I'm reluctantly taking the advice of several articles and buying a dedicated sound card (Creative X-Fi) because onboard sound still isn't quite up to snuff.  I am buying a motherboard with onboard sound just in case though.  Much as Creative drives me insane, I don't know if I have much other choice if I want the features afforded by X-Fi (other than Auzentech).

I agree that the X-Fi is still worth it for a high end system, but make sure you invest in some good speakers or headphones as well. A good set of speakers on onboard audio will sound far better than crappy speakers on an X-Fi.

6. For RAM, OCZ, G-Skill, Crucial, Mushkin, Kingston are your best bets. I've heard bad things about Corsair. Make sure that the RAM is dual channel DDR2-800 or higher, and try to get 4 GB, in two sticks of 2 GB. This will leave you with two more slots to add more later, and it's only about 100-110$. Make sure that it's dual-channel, unless you use AMD CPU. Try to get low latencies and high timing numbers (e.g: 3-3-3-9 [that's not an example of a good number, rather what they look like]) as a general rule.

No, timing numbers are the same thing as latencies, and lower is better. Although they have a minimal impact on C2D performance anyway, so it's not worth spending more than a few dollars here and there for them.

Um... IceFire. The usual monitor on even cheap PCs now is 22", and he has enough money to get the BenQ G2400W, one of hte best gaming-monitors available. (as stated by AnAndTech)

I don't know where you heard that. The G2400W is good for what it is but is easily outclassed by numerous 8-bit LCDs with the same resolution, especially that DoubleSight IPS I mentioned earlier. With a $2500 budget, the monitor is the last thing you want to skimp on.

[IceFire]

Um... IceFire. The usual monitor on even cheap PCs now is 22", and he has enough money to get the BenQ G2400W, one of hte best gaming-monitors available. (as stated by AnAndTech)

Scanned through a Futureshop advertisement and didn't see any 22in with the cheapo computers.  A few have them but not the cheapos.  Plus that size is overly extravagant in my mind...19in is a great size and usually has the standard aspect ratio which causes fewer problems for games not published in the last few months (albeit with some exceptions).

Depends allot on pricing and whats wanted/required.  19in is still probably the best price for what you're getting.

[IceFire]

Oh and I'll chip in another one for building yourself.  A few tutorials online, the manuals that come with the products, and 4-5 hours and you'll have done it yourself and will know the job you did.  I've built 4-5 machines now....takes a bit of knowledge, sometimes requires reading a manual or two just to get it right and its often nice to have some help while doing it but its a great experience and often ends up with a higher quality machine.  Worth considering.

[MP-Ryan]

Well IceFire, you picked the exact RAM that I priced into my ballpark price system, so I'm glad to see I'm picking the right components.

The monitor I've selected (for now) is the 22" Samsung SyncMaster 226BW, 2ms lag time and 3000:1 display.  That BenQ is on the list and comes recommended by ArsTechnica, but its a little pricier and I've heard great things about this Samsung.  Then again, it all depends on the prices when I go to actually finally configure and buy this thing.

...about assembly...

I've rebuilt my current PC three times, assembling it entirely from components once.  Having done that, I have precisely NO desire to do it again.  I don't mind swapping components during upgrades but if I can pay these guys $40 to do it for me (with all the cable management) then so much the better.  My friends and I all buy our hardware from them now, we've all had great experiences, and I trust their techs.  There's really no reason for me to do it myself when I can walk in, pick up the assembled system, and know without a doubt that its assembled correctly and as efficiently as humanly possible.  So yeah... I'm not doing it.  Not out of fear or inexperience, but out of convenience.

[colecampbell666]

Um... IceFire. The usual monitor on even cheap PCs now is 22", and he has enough money to get the BenQ G2400W, one of hte best gaming-monitors available. (as stated by AnAndTech)

I don't know where you heard that. The G2400W is good for what it is but is easily outclassed by numerous 8-bit LCDs with the same resolution, especially that DoubleSight IPS I mentioned earlier. With a $2500 budget, the monitor is the last thing you want to skimp on.

HARDCORE GAMING (CRT-like response)

    * Low response time
    * Low input lag
    * High brightness


   1. 22": LG L227WT, 1680x1050 (16:10)
          * Panel: TN (LPL LM220WE3); 6-bit+Hi-FRC, 16.7M colors
          * Image Delay (rt+lag): 0 - 0 - 0
          * Specifications: LG L227WT
          * HDCP Compliant: Yes
          * More Info: prad.de
          * Notes: US model is L227WTG-PF (glossy). Excellent gaming monitor (zero input lag). Vibrant colors.
          * Price: ~$290 USD


   2. 19": LG Flatron L1960TR, 1280x1024 (5:4)
          * Panel: TN (LG.Philips LM190E06); 6-bit+FRC, 16.2M colors
          * Image Delay (rt+lag, estimated): Low (10 ms)
          * Specifications: LG Flatron L1960TR
          * HDCP Compliant: No
          * Notes: Extremely fast for gaming, great response time control. Sometimes LG models are hard to find. The ones in the L1900-1970 range are usually the ones you want. The only ones suitable for gaming are those rated 2 ms (g2g). Most of the 5 ms (bwb) versions have no overdrive, so they are slower (20 ms). The $200 L1933TR available at Circuit City and Best Buy is likely identical to the L1960TR. Seems just to be different VESA mount and look. TR, TQ, and TX models tend to have overdrive. Models like S do not.
          * Price: ~$270 USD


   3. 25.5": DoubleSight DS-263N, 1920x1200 (16:10)
          * Panel: WG H-IPS (LG.Philips LM260WU1); true 8-bit, 16.7M colors
          * Image Delay (rt+lag): <1 frame (thank you ToastyX of HardForum)
          * Specifications: DoubleSight DS-263N
          * HDCP Compliant: Yes
          * Notes: Quite possibly best value on the market. High quality H-IPS panel with good implementation. Good screen uniformity. Very similar to PX2611W but cheaper. Low input lag, good response! Scaling options (1:1, 4:3, fill) available. Some known to have A-TW polarizer.
          * Price: ~$700 USD


   4. 25.5": Planar PX2611W, 1920x1200 (16:10)
          * Panel: WG H-IPS (LG.Philips LM260WU1); true 8-bit, 16.7M colors
          * Image Delay (rt+lag): 16 ms (~1 frame) (thank you ToastyX of HardForum)
          * Specifications: Planar PX2611W
          * HDCP Compliant: Yes
          * Notes: Fast, little input lag. Same panel as the LCD2690WUXi without the extra viewing angle compensation film (see NEC entry for more details). Poor variety of inputs for multimedia.
          * Price: ~$880 USD


  5. 24": BenQ G2400W, 1920x1200 (16:10)
          * Panel: TN (Unknown Part Number); 6-bit+Hi-FRC, 16.7M colors
          * Image Delay (rt+lag): 1.9 - 3 - 3
          * Specifications: BenQ G2400W
          * HDCP Compliant: Yes
          * More Info: prad.de
          * Notes: Better quality than Samsung 245BW, cheaper.
          * Price: ~$390 USD

EDIT: Didn't see the LG there, but yeah, that would probably be better.

[Fury]

I have LG L227WT and I love it. It's very good for gaming and movies.

[Wanderer]

Given that my last Samsung HDs (high rated) had 100% failure rate after 2 month operation i certainly would avoid those as well as i could.

[CP5670]

...

EDIT: Didn't see the LG there, but yeah, that would probably be better.

You're looking at the "hardcore gaming" category on that. That list gives priority to low response time and input lag above anything related to image quality or size, which is why it mostly consists of otherwise low end TNs. For most people, the "multimedia" category has more appropriate recommendations, which is dominated by the IPS monitors. (which, unlike the VAs, are almost as fast as the TNs)

As a general rule, it's a good idea to spend about 1/3 of the total system's price on the display, which is in many ways the most important component of the setup. A cheap TN doesn't make much sense in this case.

[colecampbell666]

Oh.

[Hellstryker]

Why are you getting Vista? 

Because whether you like it or not, XP is obsolete. You either have to get XP x64 or Vista x64 to support full 4GB of RAM or more, Vista is by far the better choice. Unless you don't play games, then you can go with linux. But in that case I doubt you'd have to upgrade hardware anyway.

I've used Vista x64 SP1 for many months now. And to be honest, I have absolutely no reason to switch back to XP. Whatever XP does, Vista does at least as well if not better.

The extra 512 MB isn't worth it for the piece of complete and utter **** you get, so unless you're getting more than 4 gigs of RAM don't even bother