My new gaming system.

Ok, so my old pc died (using my dad's now), my mouse is dieing and my keyboard is screaming for replacement.

Need some help from system guru's!

O/S: xp, win7 or linux? Is there anything crucial I cant do on linux that I can on xp or win7?

CPU: Intel / amd? dualcore > quadcore in the same pricerange right?

MEM: smaller but faster or bigger but slower? what should I be looking at when mainly playing ET and the cod series?

GPU: Wich one and why?

MOBO: Wich one and why?

Soundcard: Is it worth to have one, if yes wich one?

Mouse: Just ordered the steelseries kinzu

Keyboard: 'laptop keys' and compact layout should be around 30 euros

budget is about 800 euro's

halp!
Comments
68
win 7 64-bit
core i5 / core i7 / phenom II x4
cheapest mem possible, 4gb for i5/phenom ii, 6gb for i7
hd5850 / 5870, best
mobo depends on your cpu choice (duh)

e: if you pick i7 on lga1156 socket take 4gb of ram and if lga1366 socket take 6gb
hm why 6gb for i7 ?

i got a laptop (asus g50vt-a1) and win7 x64 (it has a dualcore t9400 with 2,53ghz).. would a upgrade from 4gb to 6gb be usefull?. Atm i have win7 , firefox, msn , kaspersky running and it used 40gb of my ram (like 30tabs opened.. or more.. just like always :D ).

thanks
Parent
To avoid a bottleneck, although it won't really be necessary if he only plays ET and CoD.
Parent
i7 supports tri-channel so in theory (and in practice) it's faster than dual-channel meaning 3x2gb would be perfect and it's not that expensive either

e: this applies to i7 920 and up (LGA1366 socket). the lynnfields (i5 750, i7 860/870 (LGA1156 socket)) only support dual-channel
Parent
i guess mine will also only dual channel.. but i will check that. thanks
@edit: found this but i dont really see if i have dual ro tri channel :x

http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=35562
Parent
that is dual channel
Parent
guess it wont have much sense to upgrade my ram then.
Parent
i7+4870(Finland duumed: hd5850 / 5870, best -> oh ye maybe dont follow that either ) +4GBDDR3+win7whenitsout(now xp will do just fine) and ur up n ready

dunno shit bout cooling nor motherboards
Why 4870 instead of 5850 / 5870?
Parent
dunno u better ask duumed or Anonymous pala, they know shit

but i belive 4870 isn't that much expensive nowadays and its performance is good, 5850/5870 probably cost over9000EUR now
Parent
duNzyy shut up if ur saying that HD4800series is better than HD5800series..
Parent
where did i say 4800 is better than 5xxx ? idiot gtfo

i only said its not that expensive as 5xxx new ones, if youre broke and dont have 300EUR for a videocard go for 4800series
Parent
i wouldn't go for hd4800-series anymore, hd5850 costs a bit over 200e (in germany) and clearly beats hd4870 and geforce 285gtx in most/all games. the only problem is that they're rather hard to get (at least in finland)

e: review
Parent
Wich one and why? <- da merk ken ik dus niet!
u can even do more things in linux than in xp :)
DAT IS EEN KANKER MOUSE
- what duumed said
- kinzu is RLY RLY RLY RLY RLY SHIT http://www.esreality.com/?a=post&id=1758108#pid1758108
Have you tested it with thinner mousefeet, or completely without any? On the Gotfrag forums they said that the stock feet are too thick and that they cause the negative acceleration. In China they already ship thinner feet with the mouse.
Parent
So I'm saved?
Parent
I haven't tested the Kinzu yet and maybe I'm not going to, as I'm still happy with my old Microsoft mouse. But if it's true what they are saying on the Gotfrag forums it should perform atleast a lot better with the thinner feet.

If it's actually shit you can still return it for the full price. :-P
Parent
you cant return it with damaged feet :D
Parent
Be carefull with removing them and keep them safely. Like any of those shop monkeys would notice the difference :-P
Parent
tried only stock feet, but i dont think thinner feet would help :o/
Parent
I am sad to ear that.
Yesterday i have received my kinzu and i am testing it. The mouse doesn't have negative accel at all @ 400 dpi. The problem is when you increase the dpi. With 800, 1600 and 3200 the kinzu has an incredible positive accel (how can they didn't fix that omg :v). I have already sent a msg to steelseries helpdesk, hoping in a new firmware or something (if i remember well deathadder had the same problem). Actually @ 400 dpi the mouse is very accurate and if you are a fingertip user (and if you are not why have you bought it ? :p) you will love it. I had a bad negative accel with the deathadder @ 450 dpi. I tried the program you posted on the other site and my results are all excellent... precision 99.8 lol :p just the smoothness seems to bee a bit high (7-8 %). I am using the mouse on a steelseries qck limited edition.

The only stupid thing is this positive accel, i have always played at least to 800 dpi. 400 are too low for me (my sens should be mid/high ... almost 14 cm for a 360) because i don't feel accurate in the rapid switchs.
Parent
try the max speed test plx
Parent
i did it but results were different everytime..
3-4 m/s
one time i did 8 m/s lol
Parent
when you set 400dpi in the measuring test? Oo
Parent
400 dpi @ 1000 hz

4.46 m.. i have done the test 1 min ago for 5/6 times. Same result.
Parent
do you have an oem version with the black scrollwheel and rubber wire or the full packed?
my oem one was like 1.5m/s max or so which is fucking low
Parent
i have the full packet and the mouse has the white scroll
Parent
800 euros is epic pc
If you'd like to invest some time and effort into your OS, than you could toy around with one of Linux distributions. I recommend those to you:

Mandriva
OpenSuSE
Ubuntu -> Optimal for beginners
Fedora
Ark Linux
Debian

If you don't fulfill this requirement, just go for Windows 7. Don't go for the old Windows XP.

I'd definitely go for a Core i5 750 CPU when choosing Intel and Phenom II X4 955 BE when choosing AMD. The frequency of those quad cores are really huge and both have great potential in overclocking. You could get some extra frames in games by overclocking a dual core CPU even further than it is possible to do with a quad core one, but in my opinion, the overall system speed is much more important than a few extra frames in games. If you don't have the money for a quad core than go for a Intel Pentium Dual Core E5200 or AMD Athlon II X2 240.

The Scythe Mugen 2 will make your CPU cool and quite.

3 up to 6 GB of RAM are being popular nowadays. I am using 2 GB RAM, which I overclocked heavily. The Performance of your RAM is more important than the size of it. Just go for OCZ 2x 2GB DDR2 1150MHz Reaper EPP CL5 if choosing the cheaper dual core CPU's which only support DDR2 RAM and the OCZ 2 x 2GB DDR3 1333MHz CL6 Reaper if choosing the more expensive quad core CPU's.

AMD 5770 and 5850 are optimal choices for a GPU.

Go for the Asus P5QL PRO if choosing the Intel Pentium Dual Core E5200 and Gigabyte GA-P55-UD3 if the Intel Core i5 750. If you prefer a AMD CPU than go for the Asus M4N78 PRO which supports both the quad and dual core CPU's I have recommend to you.

Asus Xonar DX will improve your sound experience by a lot.

The Samsung SpinPoint F3 1 TB is for several reasons the best HDD available at the moment, so go for it.

A great case is the CoolerMaster HAF-932 - you won't find a cheaper case at this quality range.
i5 750 doesn't support tri-channel so there should be an even number of ram sticks
Parent
will fix it in a moment, thanks for showing me my mistake ;)
Parent
maakt niet uit je pwned ze toch wel :D
xp
Core i7 or i5 (intel)
just some average cheap ddr3 for 4gb (shouldn't cost more than 50e total)
gpu is totall up to you how much you want to spend on it
I've picked mostly Asus mobos lately, so some random Asus with right chipset
No, you should have it integrated in mobo
no comment on mouse
any keyboard should be fine

For your budget and ET, pick everyting else and just buy any gpu you can afford with the rest of the money. For other games, first pick gpu and then see what else you can afford
That may be your opinion, with which I mostly agree, but
QuoteNo, you should have it integrated in mobo


image: a3gmmr
Parent
for that budget I wouldn't imagine about sound system like I got, so better save money on some "useless for gamers" points
Parent
60 Euros for a very decent sound card isn't much in my opinion, even with that budget!
Parent
what's the soundcard for if you are only playing games, that 60e for a step higher gfx card surely gives you more benefit. With 800e total, u can't have a monster anyway

Ofc, I've bought soundcards worth 300e and more and stax electrostatic headphones and high end marantz amplifier etc for sound purposes. Also I got sennheiser hd 595. 600, 650 and tannoy loudspeakers but I'm just crazy, so better not listen to my sound recommendations
Parent
i have one soundcard integrated on mobo, with my old cpu (c2d e6420) there were some lil' buzzing all the time, but when playing it was hardly noticeable. But after installing e7400 small buzzing evolved into loud noise and new soundcard was "must" in my case. I have now Creative Titanium X-Fi and sound is much better (clear and crisp) and i am able to hear better than before (which can be helpfull for gamers). btw, soundcards like sb audigy are very cheap with kinda gr8 performance
Parent
Quite a nice sound configuration, but with that much money spend on my headphones I would expect a bit more than the sound quality which the Sennheiser HD 600 and HD 650 deliver. Though, I can't complain about my Sennheiser HD 555 (but I do about the Sennheiser PC 350 which I also have...). I would prefer some AKG or Beyerdynamics at that price range, just don't like how the high end Sennheiser headphones reproduce sound.
Parent
Win7

Intel i7

6GB of PC3-12800 would probably be fast enough for you

ATi 5850, or 5870 DirectX11 cards so you won't have to update for a few years, Nvidia seems to be in a decline http://www.fudzilla.com/content/view/15919/1/ and their DX11 cards arent out till sometime next year

Gigabyte UD3R overclocks well or Asus P6T I went gigabyte cause its cheaper and it removed all the things i wouldnt use anyway. both i7 boards


gL with your build meight!
Man asks for comp. per 800€.. Is i7 and 6gb RAM, and course ati 5870 wiill ve result as 800€? o____0
Parent
ehh yea its well under €800 o____0 go check prices before posting silly smileys
Parent
ati 5870 350&#8364;
i5 150&#8364; , i7 250&#8364;
Memory 6gb=100&#8364;.
150+350+100=600+200&#8364; on some crap like HDD (50&#8364;)+power supply (100&#8364;)+50&#8364; on case. Its 800&#8364;. But he need a coolers, some more like MOTHERBOARD!(200&#8364;)
Parent
Nice copy paste all with # signs, and read his post he doesn't mention anything about a power supply or hard drive

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-147-XF

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-280-IN

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-169-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1389


Dunno where you buy your stuff but you get ripped off.
Parent
You should know that not all live as example in GB, so there can be some taxes for export some stuff. I live in russia and i checked all the components at overclockers CO UK.
P.S. 4890 in russia = 200euros
Parent
I don't live in GB either, the irish taxes don't add much more, but there's no point quoting russian prices either now is there!
Parent
Buy the new Intel processors and I'd recommend getting it with the new Intel motherboard range too - http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews.php?reviewid=837&pageid=26

Video cards go for ATi now
i5/i7 are too expensive atm. For 90% of the current games or incoming ones, a good core2duo will be more than decent, and you will save a lot of money. i7 + new intel mobo = 400euros minimum...

my selection:

c2d e8400
Asus p5q deluxe
2gb OCZ or Corsair ddr2 1066Mz/+
Sapphire ATI 4870
Corsair HX650W psu
Samsung F1 750GB
Lian Li PC-60FW

= 725 Euros
Parent
c2d e8400 -> you could get a decent quad core for this price, if going for a dual core CPU than at least for a cheap one, like the one I recommended (Dual Core E5200)
Sapphire ATI 4870 -> 55 nm, loud, hot and has a much higher TDP = no, thank you!
Samsung F1 750GB -> The F3 version, which is a lot better is already out = no, thank you!
Parent
E5200 = FSB: 800MHz - L2 Cache: 2MB - 2,5Ghz
E8400 = FSB : 1333Mhz - L2 Cache 6MB - 3,0 ghz

easy choice.

The Spinpoint F3 500GB got 16Mo Cache
The Spinpoint F1 750GB for 32Mb Cache.

easy choice.

And you recommand a 5770 or 5850? And you tell me that 4870 is loud and hot? lol
They got EXACTLY the same noise as 4870 and they are just a bit more cold on IDLE.

easy choice again.
Parent
The E5200 is much cheaper and the lower FSB is just telling me that it's a much easier CPU to overclock. L2 Cache doesn't really have a great impact on performance, rather a really low one.

The F3 version is much better in fucking everything, even with 16MB cache. And you did compare a 750GB HDD to a 500GB HDD, whereas bigger HDD's tend to have more cache. Not that it haves (AGAIN!) a huge impact on performance, rather a very low one.

One F3 1TB is about 50% cheaper than 2 F3 500GB. The F3 1TB has also 32MB cache if it still didn't convince you.

Like why do you think can the Radeon 5850 be as cool as the Radeon 4870, but with a much greater performance? because it was made in 40 nm, not 55 nm likewise the Radeon 4870. The very low TDP of the new Radeon 5XXX family is also very important. And about the cooling loudness, just get the fuck out, The standard Radeon cooling is quieter by 5 dB than the custom cooling of a Radeon 4870 by HiS and that is a great difference.
Parent
:DDDD Calm down kid!

lower fsb = easier to overclock? lol, you are not a great overclocker then.
F3 version of Spinpoint looks nice idd.

Why do you want to give him a 5850 and an old processor, i dont get it.

Oh, and about the noise of the radeons :
image: IMG0027188
Parent
you forgot to end this sentence -> 'Oh, and about the noise of the radeons :'

I did overclock my E4300 from 1.8 GHz to 3.7 GHz by myself - not that it's hard...

I told you that the FSB makes it easier to overclock a CPU, because you don't need a good motherboard and really fast DDR2 RAM to overclock it (what I didn't explain until now...)

If he doesn't want to overclock his CPU than E8400 is indeed a great choice for games.

Won't argue about the GPU until you won't fill you're missing sentence ;p

image: glosnosc_karta
Parent
3dB on your test, cmon what a HUGE difference, i bet your ears cant notice it anyways.

Higher FSB= better performances.
Its way better to have an overclocked CPU with a good RAM and FSB, if you only have your CPU overclocked, its a wast of time imo.

And it seems he dunno what config to buy so i doubt hes an overclocker ;)
Parent
Now I agree with you ;-)
Parent
i7 mombo (preffer asus, gigabyte, intel)
Win 7 ulti 64bit
3 or 6g of ram
always use intel cpu's' thats a rule (no matter dual or quad)
always use nvidia cards' thats a rule (preffer asus, gigabyte, xfx)
onboard sound its fine (you ll avoid hardware conflicts like this)
optical mouses are better like DA and MX518

ps: stay away from i5 cpu-mombo there are a cheap version of i7
kinzu is optical, the xai is laser. :P

Thanks for the info!
Parent
I had to laugh at what you wrote about the i7. i5 is what makes the i7 CPU's a elite choice which is a misunderstanding for most users, especially with his budged.

Hey, you replied to me, but than you deleted your comment. I want to know what you think about the i5 and i7 - it's very interesting to discuss about this subject in my opinion.
Parent
if that makes you laugh then you are a serious sad freak
Parent
giving a bad advice (in my opinion at least!) isn't laughable indeed, but what the person had to think when writing this stuff makes me laugh.
Parent
My bad advice is a result of more than 15 years of experience in a professional way and over 1000 mombos and cpu's tested.
Never we lost intel cpu (burned) never encounter problems with nvidia cards on over than 1500 different game installations on internet cafes and other companies.
On the other side we had a lot of amd burned cpu's and million of problems with ati cards.
Nvidia cards just working allways in a very reliable way giving a very good performance without special tweaking.
Parent
That's the experience you have made and I am sorry to hear that you experienced problems with my beloved Ati GPU's. I on my side never experienced any problems with my Ati GPU's nor did I with Nvidia GPU's. I had many Intel CPU's, where as I had only a few AMD CPU's, but even if it would cause me problems, which it didn't, I wouldn't tell that a product which I bought several years ago has the same quality as the products which are being made nowadays.

On a side note, did I discuss with you about whether Intel and Nvidia are better than AMD and Ati, or if you're statement, that people should stay away from i5 CPU's, but go for the i7 ones is in my opinion not true? I rather think the second one :-)

Back to the actual subject, I wouldn't like to waste my money on the more expensive i7 860 when I could go for the less expensive i5 750. Why? because I'm not playing at 1920 x 1080 resolutions (1080p / full HD) which would require SLI or Crossfire. If you would like to play with such resolutions (which require SLI or Crossfire) than it is needed to go for the i7 860, otherwise you would get at a point where your i5 blocks the performance of your GPU's. But that's not the most important reason, more important to me is that very good motherboards with LGA 1156 Sockets are available for the price of about 125 Euros, whereas motherboards with Socket LGA 1366 are terribly expensive. Sorry, but I don't have the money for this elite choice.

Do you see what I meant now? He has a limited budget of 800 Euros and you're giving him the advice to waste (yes, waste!) his money on a more expensive motherboard and CPU! That's why I think that you're advice was false!

You're welcome to proof me wrong.
Parent
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