[Dark Hunter]

But I know next to nothing about computer hardware. Because I know people here are very knowledgeable about such things, and I want to make sure I'm getting a decent system, I'd thought I'd ask some opinions.

Basically, what would a good processor and graphics card be? I'm talking about something that would come on a PC in the $1000-$1200 range.

Also, many PC's are now coming with Vista rather than XP. I know that FSO has been having issues due to the OpenGL drivers, and I'm not quite sure my other games will run properly on Vista. So: how would I go about loading XP onto a new machine, and how would I go about dual-booting it or selecting XP rather than Vista on start-up?

Thanks in advance for any help. 

[CP5670]

These would be my recommendations, assuming you live in the US:

CPU: E6300 ($180 on Newgg)
Mobo: Asus P5B Deluxe ($180 on Newegg)
Memory: 2GB OCZ Platinum rev 2.0 DDR2-800 ($145 AR on Newegg, not sure how well this stuff overclocks but the stock speeds are very good for the price)
Video card: Leadtek 8800GTS 640MB ($335 AR on Newegg)
PSU: Enhance ENP-5150GH ($70 on ewiz)
Monitor: NEC 90GX2 ($170 AR on Directron; you need to be a bit quick on this, as they will be phased out soon and are going out of stock rapidly)

That still leaves about $120 for a case, hard drives or anything else you need. I'm assuming you are migrating some of these things from your existing setup. Another option worth considering is to get a 320MB 8800GTS ($260 AR for an EVGA model on Newegg), which will free up enough money for the Acer AL2051W display ($250 on Newegg). The AL2051W seems to be well worth the additional cost, but the 320MB GTS is also substantially slower than the 640MB version and may struggle at that monitor's resolution.

[Descenterace]

Regarding XP and Vista dual-booting:

When I set up my system, I installed XP first because I wasn't sure how it would cope with Vista's bootloader. Also, Vista has the same setup 'requirements' as other versions of Windows; namely, it has to install files to the first partition on the first hard disk AS WELL AS the partition you actually install Windows itself to. This is a really retarded way to operate, but Microsoft don't exist to make it easy to install multiple, independant OSes.

So your XP partition will likely have some Vista files on it. This is unavoidable. Just don't go deleting them by accident .

[IceFire]

These would be my recommendations, assuming you live in the US:

CPU: E6300 ($180 on Newgg)
Mobo: Asus P5B Deluxe ($180 on Newegg)
Memory: 2GB OCZ Platinum rev 2.0 DDR2-800 ($145 AR on Newegg, not sure how well this stuff overclocks but the stock speeds are very good for the price)
Video card: Leadtek 8800GTS 640MB ($335 AR on Newegg)
PSU: Enhance ENP-5150GH ($70 on ewiz)
Monitor: NEC 90GX2 ($170 AR on Directron; you need to be a bit quick on this, as they will be phased out soon and are going out of stock rapidly)

That still leaves about $120 for a case, hard drives or anything else you need. I'm assuming you are migrating some of these things from your existing setup. Another option worth considering is to get a 320MB 8800GTS ($260 AR for an EVGA model on Newegg), which will free up enough money for the Acer AL2051W display ($250 on Newegg). The AL2051W seems to be well worth the additional cost, but the 320MB GTS is also substantially slower than the 640MB version and may struggle at that monitor's resolution.

An excellent setup but if there was a need to reduce the price and there was about 4 weeks to wait...a GeForce 8600 GTS or GT would come in more than $100 cheaper and would still give very decent performance.

[CP5670]

There were some leaked benchmarks of those cards recently, and although their accuracy is questionable, they suggested that the 8600s may actually be slower than some of the previous gen cards (this has happened before). It may be a better idea to get one of the older X1950s if that is indeed the case.

In any case, it's always worth paying some money for the video card and monitor. If he needs to reduce the price by about $100, the motherboard and processor can certainly be skimped on with a fairly minimal performance penalty (to a $110 Gigabyte DS3 and a $166 E4300).

[IceFire]

Yeah...I saw those too.  I'm keeping an eye on that although since proper reviews haven't been done with "finished" drivers and silicon I'm not holding my breath just yet.  A X1950 Pro is actually quite a good deal at the moment too.  So is the 7900GS and some of the 7950GT's in some places.

I was going to build a computer a couple of weeks ago but I'm holding off again.  I just bought a camera anyways but I've been watching the whole hardware area very intently in the last few months.  Its a bit of a mix up right now and not nearly as solid as when I was buying before.  AMD has taken a big hit with Intel bringing out the Core 2...prices have dropped by nearly half on some of the Athlon's. They are a great deal actually...they can't hold up very well to the new Core 2's on anything except for power consumption at idle but they are a great deal.  Still waiting to see what the next gen brings us...thats supposed to be soon as well.

[Fury]

Yep. It should be worth waiting what comes of AMD Barcelona and Agena as well as R600. But then again, AMD/ATI announced they will have R700 ready Q1 2008, probably about same time as G90.

R700/G90 should be especially interesting as it seems both will abandon the concept of one huge GPU/VPU die and instead go with multiple smaller GPU/VPU dies, akin to current multi-core CPU's. Should be interesting to see how well the new multi-GPU/VPU architecture scales and how much it affects power consumption.

There's always some cool parts coming out soonish.

[Ashrak]

invest in a god PSU it saves your PC

[IceFire]

Although one must pray to the PSU gods every time you turn on a computer...I believe Ashrak means that you should get a good PSU (power supply unit) and I agree completely.  Don't skimp on the power because its "just a power supply".  My recommendation is Antec...no doubt some other forum members will suggest some other possibilities as well.  Antec's are well respected and some of the newest models are highly efficient and well protected from surges and shocks.  Nothing is perfect and eventually they all die but Antec's are good.  There's a pretty big difference between an el cheapo 430W PSU and something on the level of the Antec 430W PSU.

[CP5670]

Yes, it's important to have a good quality PSU, but at the same time, the power requirements you read about everywhere are often heavily exaggerated. As long as you have a good quality one from a reputable brand, it doesn't need to be something that puts out a ton of power.

Most of the Antec lines are fairly mediocre these days, by the way. Certainly not what they once used to be. The Enhance and Corsair units are still the best choices in most price ranges (as long as you get them from the right places).

I think we scared away the OP or something.

[Scooby_Doo]

Whats the latest word on the 8600s? I had heard they were suppose to come out on my birthday (17th) but then I heard they got delayed.

[jr2]

On the topic of PSUs, doesn't BFG make one?  If it's like their graphics cards, they should be good... I dunno, haven't checked the price, though...

[Ashrak]

chieftec makes excellent PSU's and chassis

[asyikarea51]

I'm a little stumped when it comes to Intel quad-core CPUs, recently I read this article about EVGA's motherboards being physically changed so that any quad-core processor on them benefits from improved overclocking.

One motherboard that's caught my interest is the Gigabyte GA-N680SLI-DQ6, but I'm worried that if, for example, I were to get this board and take the quad core processor, I might end up not receiving the benefits of the quad-core revision. (I read up about the ASUS Striker Extreme - apparently you have to go around soldering a resistor and stuff, which is something I don't want to do.)

Just a thought, since I haven't found any articles about the Gigabyte board that's related to the quad-core changes.

[Fury]

Why on earth would you buy an Intel Core 2 Quad CPU? Q6600 (the only Q-series released so far AFAIK) alone costs more than half of a decent PC. If you want quad-core, wait until both AMD and Intel has released their next generation CPU's, which should happen during Q3. Hopefully the first models have affordable quad-cores in them.

[asyikarea51]

Well I did say "for example". I am well aware of the price hike from dual to quad. (Which is well over one thousand here, T_T)

And now there's all these issues about driver problems involving Nvidia graphic cards...

[jr2]

... Not to mention ATI

[CP5670]

I'm a little stumped when it comes to Intel quad-core CPUs, recently I read this article about EVGA's motherboards being physically changed so that any quad-core processor on them benefits from improved overclocking.

One motherboard that's caught my interest is the Gigabyte GA-N680SLI-DQ6, but I'm worried that if, for example, I were to get this board and take the quad core processor, I might end up not receiving the benefits of the quad-core revision. (I read up about the ASUS Striker Extreme - apparently you have to go around soldering a resistor and stuff, which is something I don't want to do.)

Just a thought, since I haven't found any articles about the Gigabyte board that's related to the quad-core changes.

I haven't kept up with quad core overclocking, but the DQ6 is otherwise similar to the DS3 despite costing about twice as much. They both support the quad cores. As for the Striker, the less said the better. That board is outperformed by some that are a third of its ridiculous price. The best dual core overclocking boards are the ICFX3200 (with a new NB cooler), P5B Deluxe and DS3, but I don't know how well they do with quad cores.

In any case, quad cores will remain basically useless for quite some time except in a few specialized programs (mainly 3D rendering apps, and even those don't take full advantage of them). Dual cores came out two years ago and we're only now starting to see any significant benefits from them in games.

[Dark Hunter]

Well... I certainly got more than I bargained for on this thread. 

I wasn't really thinking about building my own PC (I'm way too lazy), just wanted to know which processors and graphics cards were decent nowadays.

Anyways, thanks for the replies... I think I got the help I was looking for and then some.

[IceFire]

Well... I certainly got more than I bargained for on this thread. 

I wasn't really thinking about building my own PC (I'm way too lazy), just wanted to know which processors and graphics cards were decent nowadays.

Anyways, thanks for the replies... I think I got the help I was looking for and then some.

I think you'll have to expect in a thread asking about components that folks who tend to build the computers will be the ones answering questions

Hope we didn't throw too too much at you!