[BritishShivans]

So, HLP, my comp is starting to die on me, and I need a new gaming computer. I've got three things in mind: Quadcore, Windows 7 and using a GeForce GTX 580.

But what I want is a super-duper gaming comp that is powerful, can run all current games out there with good FPS, load things speedily and to fit within a budget of about $1500-$2000.

However, I'm stumped as to what is compatible, and what would offer me the closest to what mentioned wanting above. So, could you guys help me compile a shopping list that will give me the above? 

[redsniper]

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3458091

SA's hardware recommendation thread. Just build a new computer with stuff from there. Seems pretty solid.

[TwentyPercentCooler]

Tom's Hardware is a pretty decent place to get started, too. In the end, though, only YOU can prevent fore...I mean, only you can decide which parts you'd like to stuff in there. That's the fun part! Actually putting it together isn't even as fun as LEGOs because you can't build cool spaceships.

[Al-Rik]

But what I want is a super-duper gaming comp that is powerful, can run all current games out there with good FPS, load things speedily and to fit within a budget of about $1500-$2000.

1500 - 2000 $ is more than enough for a System that runs all current games.

Some things to consider when building a new PC:

1.) buy a good Case.
PSU mount a the base of the Case: PSU will suck in cold air an will run cooler.
At least mountings for 2 Fans with 120mm: one at the front as intake, one as out-take at the back of the case. Filters at the intakes to reduce the dirt in the case
Rubbermounts for Harddisks to reduce noise
Long GFX-Cards should fit inside the case, in some cases it's possible to remove parts of the HD Cage
Both Sides of the Case should be removable, and the Mainboardtray should have openings to rout the cables.
Example: http://www.fractal-design.com/?view=product&category=2&prod=58

2.) don't buy a cheap PSU
It should have a modular Cable Management and at least 550 - 750 Watts. Important is the Current on the 12 Volt rails, more is better

3.) get a good Mainboard:
Even if you don't want to overclock: don't buy a Mainboard without reading a Review. A thing to consider is for example the number of fans the board is able to control, and the software / Bios of the Board.

4.) buy a good CPU cooler:
at least a 120 mm fan, read Reviews about the noise. Most Cooler can keep a CPU cool, but not everyone is silent.

5.) If it should be fast, you have to buy a SDD
120 GB are enough for Win 7 and Games

6.) If you have a SDD, you need a HDD for Stuff
Don't save MP3, .docs , Pictures or Movies on the SDD, get a 2 GB HDD for that.

7.) Be a pro, buy Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit
The Professional Version has some useful features that the Home Version doesn't have, like the remote desktop host.

8.) Look for a silent GFX Card
Read the Reviews of the Cards you want to buy, and keep an eye on the noise level in Desktop Mode.

Things you don't need:
A Sound Card. Since Windows Vista there is no benefit for a Gamer any more to have one.
More than 8 GB of RAM
SLI or Crossfire, Dual GPU GFX Cards.

Nice to have:
Water Cooling (Silent, but nor cheap)
A Wireless Headset - no Cables, and most of them have a good Surround Sound Emulation.

And for the FreeSpace Gamer:
If you don't spend all of the 1500 $ get a HOTAS Joystick

[Jeff Vader]

2.) don't buy a cheap PSU
It should have a modular Cable Management and at least 550 - 750 Watts. Important is the Current on the 12 Volt rails, more is better

Being modular does not make a PSU more efficient, but in regards to not making a mess of your case, yes, it is nice.

SDD

Solid State Drive, not Solid Dtate Drive.

Don't save MP3, .docs , Pictures or Movies on the SDD, get a 2 GB HDD for that.

2 TB?

8.) Look for a silent GFX Card
Read the Reviews of the Cards you want to buy, and keep an eye on the noise level in Desktop Mode.

This. After two years, I'm still reasonably tolerable of my GPU, apart from the friggin fan that could probably cut down trees, judging by the sound under stress.

Things you don't need:
A Sound Card. Since Windows Vista there is no benefit for a Gamer any more to have one.

Uh, I don't think Vista (or 7) magically makes any audio awesome. Separate sound cards still kick integrated ass at least in most cases.

SLI or Crossfire, Dual GPU GFX Cards.

Well, it would offer more performance, if the budget allows for it.

[LHN91]

Personally, I still recommend a decent sound card to anyone who has a half decent sound system to go along with the computer, as it will still make a noticeable difference to audio quality for many things (including FSO and other openAL based games).

SLI and Crossfire both carry the risk of microstutter. I would recommend seeing if you can see an SLI or Crossfire in action for yourself before you decide whether or not to employ such a setup.

[z64555]

If you don't mind the wall of text, happy reading.
TL;WR? Research everything.

1.) buy a good Case.
PSU mount a the base of the Case: PSU will suck in cold air an will run cooler.
At least mountings for 2 Fans with 120mm: one at the front as intake, one as out-take at the back of the case. Filters at the intakes to reduce the dirt in the case
Rubbermounts for Harddisks to reduce noise
Long GFX-Cards should fit inside the case, in some cases it's possible to remove parts of the HD Cage
Both Sides of the Case should be removable, and the Mainboardtray should have openings to rout the cables.

• A microATX case is perhaps the minimum size for the amount of hardware a gamer wants. Anything lesser is leaning towards making a network computer.
• It makes no significant difference where the PSU mounted (top or bottom) as far as thermal efficiency goes. It does however makes the computer a bit more stable standing up and is harder to tip over.
• It also makes no difference the placement of your case fans, unless you have a large number of HDD's in a RAID array. In this case, a fan at the front may be helpful to reduce the speed of all other case fans.
• Minimum required fans is 1, and that's for your CPU. The PSU usually comes with its own fans on beefier model and should be sufficient for most motherboards.
• The exception to this of course when your motherboard is a "high-performance" or "gaming edition" motherboard, in which the southbridge has a big heatsink attached to it.
• Being able to remove left and right panels does not appear to me to pose any significant advantage

2.) don't buy a cheap PSU
It should have a modular Cable Management and at least 550 - 750 Watts. Important is the Current on the 12 Volt rails, more is better

• Buy a PSU that is certified to be energy efficient. Platinum+ if you can get it.
• The more energy efficient it is, the cooler your house will be vs. how powerful your computer is
• Use a power calculator (supplied by vendors such as newegg) to determine your how much Wattage you need.
• If your planning on getting SLi or CrossFire graphics card, look for PSU's that are certified for them.

3.) get a good Mainboard:
Even if you don't want to overclock: don't buy a Mainboard without reading a Review. A thing to consider is for example the number of fans the board is able to control, and the software / Bios of the Board.

• The motherboard should be compatible with the CPU you are buying. If there's a newly released CPU socket, consider getting a motherboard that supports it.
• Look for motherboards that have the highest number of RAM slots, as well as look for Dual and Triple-channel support
• Don't purchase a motherboard just because it looks cool. Compare all boards for their hardware and capabilities, not cosmetics
• Remember to get a case to fit the motherboard you want. Don't buy a motherboard to fit a case
• Take in account of the customer reviews. If you feel confident enough in your abilities, you can ignore a "poor" review at your discretion.

4.) buy a good CPU cooler:
at least a 120 mm fan, read Reviews about the noise. Most Cooler can keep a CPU cool, but not everyone is silent.

• Fans should be sufficient, liquid cooling systems are not necessary if your not going to be playing day in and day out in a room that's >90F before you turn on the computer.
• Fan noise may be mitigated through the use of rubber or felt padding between the fan and where it mounts up against the case.
• Keep an eye out for fan efficiency, some vendors state a ratio of moved air vs. dB noise

5.) If it should be fast, you have to buy a SSD
120 GB are enough for Win 7 and Games

6.) If you have a SDD, you need a HDD for Stuff
Don't save MP3, .docs , Pictures or Movies on the SDD, get a 2 GB HDD for that.

• SSD's are unnecessary, RAID arrays of HDD's can perform just as well
• SATA 6Gb/s HDD's are not particularly better than SATA 3Gb/s HDD's, unless they have a very fast RPM
• I've found that a total of 80GB of HDD space is more than enough for my needs.
• I don't save movies onto my HDD (there's DVD's and BD's for that)
• I don't save music albums (CD's, MP3 players, and webRadio's for that)
• I keep the HDD fairly clean by only keeping the files and directories that I'm currently working on, and transfer/archive the stuff I'm not working on nor using to an external 1TB drive or my 4GB jumpdrive
• SSD's should have only have programs installed on them.
• This is so as to prolong the life of the SSD, as it has a limited number of writes per memory block
• If possible, ensure that the page file system (in the OS your getting) does not use the SSD
• Win7 and later should have built-in tools to adequately handle SSD maintenance by itself, research this a bit.

7.) Be a pro, buy Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit
The Professional Version has some useful features that the Home Version doesn't have, like the remote desktop host.

• Which is pretty useless unless:
• your not confident in your abilities to fix problems yourself, or
• you need to access your computer from a remote location to access a file or do some work (that can't be done on the computer your currently on... for whatever reason)

Things you don't need:
A Sound Card. Since Windows Vista there is no benefit for a Gamer any more to have one.
More than 8 GB of RAM
SLI or Crossfire, Dual GPU GFX Cards.

Nice to have:
Water Cooling (Silent, but nor cheap)
A Wireless Headset - no Cables, and most of them have a good Surround Sound Emulation.

And for the FreeSpace Gamer:
If you don't spend all of the 1500 $ get a HOTAS Joystick

• Sound-cards are generally unnecessary for stereo or 2.1 sound, but they are useful when you want a surround sound system or want to play games that have A LOT of sounds going on at once
• Get as much ram as you possibly can.
• 32-bit systems generally work well with up to 4GB of RAM, but I think Win7 can handle more. Check the specifications.
• 64-bit systems should work well up to 18EB. (2^64)


• SLi, CrossFire graphics cards are generally unnecessary, unless you want to run games on their very highest quality
• Take note that AMD sells CPU's that have embedded CrossFire support.


• Wireless headsets can hinder audio quality in noisy RF environments. Research which type wireless technology they use.
• I've found that most joysticks sold today are not designed for 6DOF games. You may be able to map the lateral and vertical thruster controls to a 4-way Hat if the Throttle has it. Throttles embedded on joysticks are largely useless.

[BloodEagle]

I'd actually avoid NVidia for the time being (shocking, considering my firm advocacy of them), because there's this weird hardware error (according to their forums) that causes the latest cards (certainly in my 560 gtx ti) to lock-up, and render a bunch of red/blue/green lines randomly on the screen.  If you're lucky, the display drivers crash and you can keep running stuff.

Last time I checked (a couple of months ago), there was no response on this issue that's been affecting thousands for well over a year.

[Alex Heartnet]

What do you plan on using for a monitor?  If you want to be awesome with regards to your computer monitor, many flatscreen TV's can function as a computer monitor.

[z64555]

I'd actually avoid NVidia for the time being (shocking, considering my firm advocacy of them), because there's this weird hardware error (according to their forums) that causes the latest cards (certainly in my 560 gtx ti) to lock-up, and render a bunch of red/blue/green lines randomly on the screen.  If you're lucky, the display drivers crash and you can keep running stuff.

Last time I checked (a couple of months ago), there was no response on this issue that's been affecting thousands for well over a year.

Sounds like an overheating issue to me?

[Dark RevenantX]

GTX 670 (especially the Gigabyte Windforce version) is an excellent choice of video card.  Almost as good as a GTX 680, but $100 less.  Even one of them can crush almost any game on the maximum settings.  I'd recommend not going for a GTX 580 because the GTX 670 is a far superior option.

Also, if your integrated chip is not that great or if you have expensive headphones or if you have monitor or surround speakers, you want a sound card.  Trust me, the extra $175 makes a gigantic difference in sound quality.  Don't even bother, though, if your speakers cost you less than $200 or your headphones were sub-$100.

[BloodEagle]

I'd actually avoid NVidia for the time being (shocking, considering my firm advocacy of them), because there's this weird hardware error (according to their forums) that causes the latest cards (certainly in my 560 gtx ti) to lock-up, and render a bunch of red/blue/green lines randomly on the screen.  If you're lucky, the display drivers crash and you can keep running stuff.

Last time I checked (a couple of months ago), there was no response on this issue that's been affecting thousands for well over a year.

Sounds like an overheating issue to me?

It's not an overheating issue.  Seems to happen with flash videos, more than anything.

[z64555]

Also, if your integrated chip is not that great or if you have expensive headphones or if you have monitor or surround speakers, you want a sound card.  Trust me, the extra $175 makes a gigantic difference in sound quality.  Don't even bother, though, if your speakers cost you less than $200 or your headphones were sub-$100.

Show me a normalized frequency response curve for your high-dollar speaker/headphone system and lets compare it against a "sub-par" system.

I'd actually avoid NVidia for the time being (shocking, considering my firm advocacy of them), because there's this weird hardware error (according to their forums) that causes the latest cards (certainly in my 560 gtx ti) to lock-up, and render a bunch of red/blue/green lines randomly on the screen.  If you're lucky, the display drivers crash and you can keep running stuff.

Last time I checked (a couple of months ago), there was no response on this issue that's been affecting thousands for well over a year.

Sounds like an overheating issue to me?

It's not an overheating issue.  Seems to happen with flash videos, more than anything.

Ok, does it happen with any particular file, or codec?

[BloodEagle]

I don't really want to hijack this thread.  Suffice it to say that it's none of the usual suspects.  I've had it occur in streaming flash sites and in other random situations (rarely, mind you.  It isn't a show-stopper), and it happened once when I closed Terraria.  And it's never happened during a stress-test.

[z64555]

I don't really want to hijack this thread.  Suffice it to say that it's none of the usual suspects.  I've had it occur in streaming flash sites and in other random situations (rarely, mind you.  It isn't a show-stopper), and it happened once when I closed Terraria.  And it's never happened during a stress-test.

Curious... I'll have to keep an eye on this. nVidia has been a really good company as far as I can remember, too.

[BloodEagle]

If their forums hadn't been down for, what, a month now, I would post the link. :/

[BritishShivans]

hmm. Some good links here.

But seriously. Motherboards. What do you recommend to go with the card I mentioned in the first post? Motherboards really kill my brain when I try to look for them. Oh, and it should have about 4 USB ports, I need at least 4 - 2 front, 2 back.

[z64555]

hmm. Some good links here.

But seriously. Motherboards. What do you recommend to go with the card I mentioned in the first post? Motherboards really kill my brain when I try to look for them. Oh, and it should have about 4 USB ports, I need at least 4 - 2 front, 2 back.

Since your going with an nVidia card, I'd suggest getting one that has SLi support, and look for one that has a southbridge that'll SLi with it. Other than that, good hunting.

[Colonol Dekker]

For the money, couldn't you buy a pretty hefty pre-built rig?

[MatthTheGeek]

AUGH

What

prebuilt rigs.

What.

Get out.