Halo 1 & 2 for PC
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Subject: A Proposed PC Build to Satisfy My Grunty Gaming Thirst
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I've been saving money for ages, and recently found the place to put it into. I plan on getting:
1) An ATX Intel Core 2 Duo compatible motherboard, such as:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168131300 82
2) Intel Core 2 Duo
E6400
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168191150 04
or E6600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168191150 03
3) A GeForce 8800GTS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168141300 82
4) Some sound card (still searching)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168291020 06
5) A Hard Drive (I don’t need too much space)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168221444 15
6) 2 gigs of RAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168202271 39
Now with speed compatibility with the mobo-thanks to Nessy
7) A Case, of Course- I’m looking for pretty good quality on this one, so maybe this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E1681112915 4
8) A Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168173410 02
9) Windows Vista
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168321162 02
10) Some Fan(s)
Any suggestions here would be great.

Estimated Cost: $1300-1400
I want to put my money into something useful, productive, and fun. A PC is just what I’ve been waiting for.
It needs to do the following jobs:
I want something that fully utilizes Vista/ is ready for games like H2 Vista, Crysis, and Shadowrun.
In addition, I’ll probably purchase student versions of 3ds Max, and CAD (definitely the latter). The thing that really sucks about this whole this is that these two programs are not cheap.
Now, if you’ve kept with me, I just want to be able to ensure that my future PC does this, still has fully compatible parts, and gives me the most bang for my buck.
Everything above is negotiable, to keep cost down. However, I want to also keep quality in mind. This brings me to the questions:
Is everything above fine/Have I covered it all? (hopefully not, that’s why I’m asking)
If not, where can I make the changes to bring the cost down, while still keeping performance up? (DirectX 10 and at least a dual core CPU is a must)
I was originally shooting for the $1000-1200 range, but I got carried away. Thanks for any help.

Edit: Monitor, keyboard, mouse, and speakers are done.


[Edited on 04.19.2007 4:52 PM PDT]

  • 04.19.2007 3:51 PM PDT
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Ram and mobo are not compatable

  • 04.19.2007 4:19 PM PDT
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It's the speed, isn't it? Now its a DDR2-800.

  • 04.19.2007 4:36 PM PDT
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The Marty Army

Ah, look at the lonely people...

If you're going to get a Core 2 Duo, get at least the E6400.

  • 04.19.2007 4:38 PM PDT
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I would recommend a e6600 judging it on speed for price.

Also get ram that benchmarks high, that ram benchmarks pretty low, but yes it is compatible, 800mhz is good.

Also I recommend a monitor, keyboard and mouse with speakers, and if you are getting that sound card you want to get a surround sound system or headset.

[Edited on 04.19.2007 4:41 PM PDT]

  • 04.19.2007 4:40 PM PDT

you may know me as X[IGN]

Posted by: Iggwilv

*hands Kim a crowbar*
Here you will need this to help you get your foot out of the back of your throat, looks llike its in there pretty deep. And what is that on your face? Egg?! *hands Kim a washcloth*

Wait for the new intel price cuts sometime next week.

Intel plans to drop its prices early next week and we have already reported about it here.

The Q6600 CPU quad core will drop from $851 to $530. The Core 2 Duo E6700 will come down from its current $530 to $316, The E6600 will drop from $316 to $224, the E6420 will be introduced at $183 and the E6400 will drop from the current $224 to $183. The E6x20 CPUs have 4 MB cache, while the E6400 has only 2MB.


The E6300, currently the cheapest core 2 duo, will be reduced from $183 to $163 and Intel will at the same time introduce the E6320, again a 4MB version for the same $163 price.


The cheapest E4000 version, the E4300 will be reduced from $163 to $113.

From: http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task =view&id=596&Itemid=1

  • 04.19.2007 5:13 PM PDT
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Thanks. I'll be sure to keep that in mind. I'm not going to start the build until summer vacation anyway.

[Edited on 04.19.2007 5:39 PM PDT]

  • 04.19.2007 5:38 PM PDT
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I really don't think it would be worth it to get a e6600 as nessy suggested over the e6400, you won't notice a difference in real-world applications, just in benchmarks. Might want to check out some different sound cards other than Creative... (most) Cards based on the C-media chipset are just as good. Check out Bluegears, Auzentech, Razer and HT Omega. And if you're going to get a good soundcard, you have to get a good pair of headphones. Turtle Beach and Razer are suppose to make some good headsets.

  • 04.19.2007 5:53 PM PDT
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If you are getting an X-fi then you definitely don't want to waste it on anything less taht a high quality surround sound headset, then go play quake 4 or css.

Sound doesn't matter than much with halo, with my integrated sound I can hear people spawn just about anywhere on small maps.

  • 04.20.2007 12:49 AM PDT

you may know me as X[IGN]

Posted by: Iggwilv

*hands Kim a crowbar*
Here you will need this to help you get your foot out of the back of your throat, looks llike its in there pretty deep. And what is that on your face? Egg?! *hands Kim a washcloth*

And you have data to support that the r600 is much better?

  • 04.20.2007 12:40 PM PDT
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Don't you need a tower?

  • 04.20.2007 1:30 PM PDT
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Um...yes. Yes I do.

  • 04.20.2007 3:58 PM PDT

What it is.

You can get that power supply cheaper at www.zipzoomfly.com The only thing is that hopefully they are in stock. My bro just got a 8800GTS and from what it sounds, it's really good. Looks like a nice system...

  • 04.20.2007 4:34 PM PDT
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I don't think I'll go with the R600. It'll probably cost a bundle, upon release. And developers may take longer to add support for it (If you go to the Crysis site, they say a Geforce 8800 is all the game works with. Of course, they'll add support for more GPUs, but you know what I mean.)

This does bring up another issue, though: With all this optional hardware, maybe I should go with another, more supportive of upgrades, mobo. What do you think?

  • 04.20.2007 5:29 PM PDT

you may know me as X[IGN]

Posted by: Iggwilv

*hands Kim a crowbar*
Here you will need this to help you get your foot out of the back of your throat, looks llike its in there pretty deep. And what is that on your face? Egg?! *hands Kim a washcloth*

Posted by: All_Levels
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radeon_R600
wiki my friend, the r600 has 320 stream processors that can handle simultanious threads where the 8800 has 64 and can only do 1 at a time. r600 has gddr4 memory and comes in at 104-150 GB/s on gddr3, has higher clock and bus speed. Its got the fate of AMD on its shoulders and it will deleiver. also barcelona might be better that e600 but info is sketchy so we have to wait until summer for really good specs to come out. however for certain r600>8800. can someone tell me how to make the link go directly instead of coping it into browser.


Thats simply wonderful, and yes I knew all that. But do you have any information that proves it's faster, I do not care about specs.

lets solve this together shall we. First of all the 8800 gtx has 128 stream processors, not that it really matters since you cannot compare stream processors from Nivida to ones from ATi, Where are you getting your information that ATi has 320 of them anyways? The r600 has 64 unified shaders, you can look that up on the link you provided.

Moving on you mention memory bandwidth, you have any conclusive evidence that this alone provides any performance improvement because you neglect to remember that you cannot compare the two chipsets directly. Wait for benchmarks before you decide that the r600 is the next coming. lets hope it is better than the x1800 which was too little too late.

  • 04.20.2007 5:42 PM PDT
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Here are my thought's on your thoughts:
I dont really like Dell and HP and the rest of those 3rd partyers.
I like Alienware(#1 Gaming PC on the Universe!)
So...um...yea...

Posted by: augie_doggy
I don't think I'll go with the R600. It'll probably cost a bundle, upon release. And developers may take longer to add support for it (If you go to the Crysis site, they say a Geforce 8800 is all the game works with. Of course, they'll add support for more GPUs, but you know what I mean.)

This does bring up another issue, though: With all this optional hardware, maybe I should go with another, more supportive of upgrades, mobo. What do you think?


My Quote: I luv "Crysis". Go to the PS3 forums on "http://us.playstation.com" find the Crysis forum and you'll find porting onfo! Good Luck!

  • 04.20.2007 5:56 PM PDT
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Nothing too much more special about the R600... it has 320 stream processors, that are clocked lower than Nvidia's 128, putting performance right around the same... R600 has an integrated 5.1 surround sound chip with capabilities of dual link HDMI. BTW, R600 = HD 2900 XT

  • 04.20.2007 5:57 PM PDT

you may know me as X[IGN]

Posted by: Iggwilv

*hands Kim a crowbar*
Here you will need this to help you get your foot out of the back of your throat, looks llike its in there pretty deep. And what is that on your face? Egg?! *hands Kim a washcloth*

Posted by: snowysnowcones
Nothing too much more special about the R600... it has 320 stream processors, that are clocked lower than Nvidia's 128, putting performance right around the same... R600 has an integrated 5.1 surround sound chip with capabilities of dual link HDMI. BTW, R600 = HD 2900 XT


Stop while you are ahead. Don't use "stream processors" as a metric for measuring video card performance as they are not directly comparable from ATi to Nvidia.

  • 04.20.2007 9:17 PM PDT
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Gddr4, Stock, has very little actual benefit for bandwith and performance (think single digit percentages) but it runs at the same clocks as gddr3 with less heat which = either a cooler, more quiet card (especially since retail r600 will have vapor cooling) or the ability to overclock it to your heart's content. Its why the x1950 is the very best single GPU DX9 Solution out there.

and of course the x1800 was too little too late. but my x1900, frankly, gets me excited when we are alone.
Posted by: staticx576
Posted by: All_Levels
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radeon_R600
wiki my friend, the r600 has 320 stream processors that can handle simultanious threads where the 8800 has 64 and can only do 1 at a time. r600 has gddr4 memory and comes in at 104-150 GB/s on gddr3, has higher clock and bus speed. Its got the fate of AMD on its shoulders and it will deleiver. also barcelona might be better that e600 but info is sketchy so we have to wait until summer for really good specs to come out. however for certain r600>8800. can someone tell me how to make the link go directly instead of coping it into browser.


Thats simply wonderful, and yes I knew all that. But do you have any information that proves it's faster, I do not care about specs.

lets solve this together shall we. First of all the 8800 gtx has 128 stream processors, not that it really matters since you cannot compare stream processors from Nivida to ones from ATi, Where are you getting your information that ATi has 320 of them anyways? The r600 has 64 unified shaders, you can look that up on the link you provided.

Moving on you mention memory bandwidth, you have any conclusive evidence that this alone provides any performance improvement because you neglect to remember that you cannot compare the two chipsets directly. Wait for benchmarks before you decide that the r600 is the next coming. lets hope it is better than the x1800 which was too little too late.

  • 04.21.2007 12:18 AM PDT
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You guys can argue about very advanced technical issues as long as you want. The best way is too look up benchmarks. You can find a site that gives a comparison of 10 cards with near identical computers, and if you look around you can find low spec and high spec comps with the cards. They will tell you everything down to fps per dollar.

  • 04.21.2007 11:54 AM PDT
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Yeah, as I said, I will wait for summer. I'll check everything out then. I just want to keep the cost down, so I'll just have to wait and see.

  • 04.21.2007 4:41 PM PDT

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