Halo 1 & 2 for PC
This topic has moved here: Subject: How to design awsome computers (Updated 11-8-05)
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Subject: How to design awsome computers (Updated 11-8-05)
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Alot of this is my opinion so dont base your computer just off my word

First off don't buy the most expensive stuff you can because alot of the stuff is a bunch of rip offsyou want good quality parts without paing like $600 on a video card.

MOTHERBOARD:The cornerstone of the computer. Every thong is built off of this. There is many things to consider on this. Start with the processer slot. There are many tipes of slots for this. First decide which company you are going to use. AMD or Intel. For intel you need a 478 pin slot. And 939 pin for AMD. After you bring your search down You should consider what type of video card you are wanting to get and base the slot type you want. AGP or PCI-E. I say Go with PCI-E because AGP videocards are going to be discontinued soon. You also need to consider SLI(scalable link interface). Basiclly it says why go with one video card when you could have two. If you want SLI it will make an impact on your desicions above. Then look at the memory slots try to get either DDR or DDR2 because they are the newest and fastest and fake sure it can support at least up to 2Gb and supports at least Pc3200. Lastly you need to consider the amount of pci slots I say 4 at least for network cards sound cards The soon to come out physics processing unit and an extra for What ever you might need

PROCESSOR: The pc's horse power. For the processor It needs to be fast but not rediculossly expensive. For intel 2.8 or 3.0 ghz processor. For AMD I say athlon 64 3200+. If you want extreme power that will last for a few extra years than normal look into the dual core processors. Programs still haven't taken full advantige of it put the will soon.
Make sure you check to see if the motherboard suports that type of processor.

MEMORY: This is where the processor stores info until it can process it. Check the mother board for how many pins it uses and Find a high priced memory but not too expensive priced of memory. I suggest 1Gb and make it so you can upgrade to 2Gb (at least). Trusted brands are crucial and kingston.

DVD/CD: drive go with what type of stuff you want on it but don't overdue it.

SOUND CARD:Either the X-fi series or the audigy 2 series both from Creative Labs

VIDEO CARD: check this forum for info on this "The Buyer's Guide to Graphics Cards"

COOLING: I like liquid cooling but there are also fans. check to see if your processor and case (mentioned next) comes with fans if not get intel or AMD aproved fans and check online for other forums about it. Chose wisley. if you don't your system will fry. get a case with front intakes for the hard drive. and probably a side intake.

CASE: make sureit has enough slots in the back to support all the slots on the motherboard. then chose somthing that looks cool. rip out the power supply unless it is made by thermatake. Most are not reliable.

POWER SUPPLY: get a power supply 400W or up and not the cheapest one out there.

HARD DRIVES:go with 80GB to 160 gbUnless you are building a media ceter or a system with tivo. then go with 160GB or 200GB. If you need it you can get up to 500 GB on one drive. Trusted brands are maxtor any any suggestions would help

[Edited on 10/8/2005]

  • 05.03.2005 7:52 PM PDT
Subject: How to design awsome coputers
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Motherboard: PCI-express is maybe 10-20 more, in fact many budget pci-express boards are lower than $80. Lots of AGP boards are more...940-pin is solely for servers and workstations. It was the predecessor to 939, and held the first wave of FX cpu's. It's pretty much a dead-end now unless you want to use an opteron. I have a dual-opteron 940 board, but only because I have a server, do 3d design, edit music, etc. 939 is golden. 478 is aging, you can get one with an 800MHz FSB, but an LGA775 is Intel's 939-ish. However, I would still get 478 simply because LGA775 is outrageously overpriced.

Memory: PQI Turbo...PQI Turbo...Also, good memory will not be labeled 'value'. That is almost always memory that failed to pass the company's normal tests. Corsair is popular, but a bit overpriced.

Sound: Audigy 2 ZS is great, but if you want more studio-quality, non-mainstream, get a Turtle Beach 7-channel card, like a Santa Cruz. Very nice for recording and media work - easy on the ears, too. Not overly crisp or too mushy.

Fans: For AMD, I can say an XP-90 copper fin/pipe cooler, Zalman CU 7000 or higher, or Thermaltake Venus are some good choices. Thermaltake, Zalman, Cooler Master, etc. Great brands. Concerning the CPU cooler, copper is by far better than aluminum. The thermaltake venus is a pretty low-priced copper cooler. At any rate, a good cooler runs at least $20.

PSU: something with good rails, wattage isn't as much as a worry. A 400 watt psu with good rails is better than a 600 watt one that has virtually no amps on the rails. A word of advice, if you buy a case with a psu, ditch the psu unless it's out of a Thermaltake case. They usually suck.

Cases: Aluminum is the bomb, very lightweight and pretty but also expensive. Steel is more rigid, heavier, and cheaper. consider airflow, too. My setup has a 120mm fan in front, 2 80mm on the side, and 120mm on the rear + video card blower + 2x40mm fans as exhaust. You hard drives do need cooling, especially SATA drives and faster, so get a case with a front intake. Thermaltake's cases seem the best thermally-designed on the market.

You forgot hard drives! SATA has faster transfer rates, but not much faster than IDE right now for mainstream SATA drives. 7200rpm is good, and makes like the Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 SATA are faster than most. WD Raptor is the fastest consumer SATA drive, at 10k-rpm. However, 74gb is the highest capacity. I would suggest the raptor for those that love fast load times, but a Seagate Barracuda is awesome if you're on more of a budget.

SCSI drives, well, they are good for servers but also great for gamers. you do need a controller PCI card, drivers, and special cables, along with the right type (Ultra320 is backwards compatable with Ultra160, but that's about it). They have similar rates to a Raptor, but paired in RAID, kick some butt. The Fujitsu 18gb Ultra160 is the best value, and an Adaptec card is a good match. Get these things on eBay, SCSI is very expensive...

Nice guide. Everything is concise and pretty much the advice I would give, too. Err, what's that word...I, um, 'concur'.

  • 05.03.2005 8:40 PM PDT
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Addendum

Mobos: MachSpeed is HIGHLY recommended. Lifetime unconditional warranty and made in the good ol' US of A

  • 05.03.2005 8:54 PM PDT
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Yeah, few parts now are made in the US. Almost every major pc component company is based in China, Korea, or Japan.

  • 05.03.2005 10:59 PM PDT
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Yes, and I personally think those SUCK!

Nothing like building a comp, and not only having to send back the original Soyo board, but also the replacement Asus board. Garbage - spend some more money and buy american - the warranty is worth it.

  • 05.04.2005 12:23 AM PDT
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I dunno, I think Abit has always been good. I've never been disappointed with them. Rioworks Anima makes some good server boards, too. Otherwise, Asus is okay, but Chaintech and those other companies from Asia are sketchy. Definately agree - their warranties are like...2 days.

  • 05.04.2005 12:45 AM PDT
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when I have some time I will fix it

  • 05.04.2005 5:14 AM PDT
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I fixed it.


I could never find a mother board with 939 in it or processor for intel
the best i found was 775

is $50 for a crucial 512MB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) System Memory - OEM a cheap unreliable memory



[Edited on 5/4/2005]

  • 05.04.2005 6:14 PM PDT
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Depends. There are multiple makes for every brand. It probably isn't Crucial Ballistix, so it's probably their value RAM. Crucial's value RAM isn't too bad, but it isn't great. If you want solid RAM, 1GB will cost more than $200.

  • 05.04.2005 9:09 PM PDT
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Which sould I get for my laptop

CORSAIR 1GB 200-Pin DDR SO-DIMM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Notebook Memory Model CMSS1GB-400SOD - Retail
ECC: No
Manufacturer Warranty: Lifetime
Registered/Unbuffered: Unbuffered

Model #: CMSS1GB-400SOD
Item #: N82E16820145127

$239.99

Or

CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB 200-Pin DDR SO-DIMM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Notebook Memory Model VS1GSDS400 - Retail
ECC: No
Heat Spreader: No
Manufacturer Warranty: Lifetime
Registered/Unbuffered: Unbuffered
Voltage: 2.6V

Model #: VS1GSDS400
Item #: N82E16820145562

$188.00

Or

KINGMAX 1GB 200-Pin DDR SO-DIMM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Notebook Memory Model MSXD42D-KI - OEM
Cas Latency: 2.5
ECC: No
Manufacturer Warranty: Lifetime
Registered/Unbuffered: Unbuffered
Voltage: 2.6V

Model #: MSXD42D-KI
Item #: N82E16820155123

$143.93

  • 05.05.2005 5:44 PM PDT
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My freind told me that I should have gotten 1gb memory and so I'm adding a 1gb module and making it 1.5gb

  • 05.05.2005 8:19 PM PDT
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O ya does getting two Identicle hard drives and making them miror each other improve load times

what are scsi drives

  • 05.05.2005 8:21 PM PDT
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Hmm, if you notebook runs dual channel you'll run into problems with mismatched sizes.

It's really best to have all the same size, as weird stuff can happen or the chipset won't recognize the DIMMs.

Either way the first is ideal, it is quite nice, but if you are in need of a break on the price the cheapest one should suffice.

  • 05.05.2005 8:23 PM PDT
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wowo that's A LOT of big words, this should probally be copied into the "guide to computers" thread, especially if u typed up all that new. maybe i'll get to reading it all..tommorrow...hmm. maybe next week. :)

  • 05.05.2005 8:25 PM PDT
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nah - crucial makes their own memory - only memory brand to do that too - I'd take their Value RAM any day.

  • 05.05.2005 9:38 PM PDT
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I'd take PQI, OCZ, and any RAM that uses Samsung TCCD/Brainpower PCB. True, several companies have it produced for them by Samsung, but it is the best RAM chip/board setup out there right now. Hard to find, but it is vastly superior to anything. I'll look for the link, but to give what I remember, PQI Turbo Samsung TCCD/Brainpower DDR400 outperformed all but 1 brand of DDR550 at stock speeds.

  • 05.05.2005 10:16 PM PDT
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I made sure it was the same slot and everything but does it have to be the same size

Oh ya in my signiture are some upgrades i want to get are the good

160gb external hard drive to store shows on
ads instant tv deluxe usb
pcmia slot creative audigy 2 sound card

  • 05.06.2005 4:37 PM PDT
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2 GB in a laptop? That's a lot! Cool - although I do remember somebody mentioning that more than 1 GB tends to be inefficient because of how windows manages it.... That's just what I heard....

  • 05.06.2005 7:08 PM PDT
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I dunno, I have a server with 4x512MB and it seems to utilize it just fine. I think it depends what version of Windows and what is running on it.

However, I have a server motherboard with Opterons, so the situation is probably different with a notebook. In fact, if you use a mobile processor it probably isn't able to fully utilize the 2GB because of the core and design, simply because it's not really designed for that much. However, with an Opteron...designed for 8GB+...different story, I suppose. the architectures are a bit different for the memory controllers, I would imagine. Rant over.

[Edited on 5/6/2005]

  • 05.06.2005 8:37 PM PDT
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I personaly feel that you don't need 2GB of ram for games and normal computer stuff. If you're running a server or something like that, then sure, but I say save the money and get 1GB.

  • 05.07.2005 10:33 AM PDT
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Yep, especially in a laptop, though. But I do agree, 2GB won't be needed for at least 2 or more years, and even then 1GB will probably be adequate.

  • 05.07.2005 10:38 AM PDT
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I know I was just going to get a 1gb modual so that when you do need 2gb I would only have to replace one chip

And it will be 1.5gb for a while

[Edited on 5/8/2005]

  • 05.08.2005 5:19 PM PDT
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currently my pc runs at 1.8 ghz P4
My laptop that is still being built is 1.6 ghz Pentium Mobile
is there going to be a significant difference in them

  • 05.08.2005 5:32 PM PDT
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It depends on what you are doing. If playing a game, you will see a difference, because its a mobile chip and its slower. If you are doing word processing and things like that, you won't see a difference.

  • 05.08.2005 6:14 PM PDT
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will it still run very close to what I have right now

  • 05.08.2005 7:28 PM PDT

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