hello

[hmmm]

im pretty much a noob with computers and such, but im getting a new one, and im using cyperpwerpc.com to configure it, and i was wondering if you could give me an ideal configuration about 1500-2000 budget. thx

[DoctorZettabyte]

Is that the real URL? It doesn't seem to exist and www.cyberpwerpc.com is just a condescending corporate site. Do you have a better link?

Also, what are you trying to do with this new PC of yours, and what are your current specs?

-DocTera

[King_Critter]

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/

There's the real link. ^^

[hmmm]

srry my mistake, its www.cyberpowerpc.com. and currently i have
-intel quad core 2.4 ghz
-an evga 780 sli motherboard (i have no idea if this is good or not)
-3 gb mushkin ram
-an 8600 gts 512 video card
-320 gb harddrive

did i cover everything?
and its going be used as a multimedia computer, and some gaming.

[Neo]

3GB would be what I'd go with -- remember that Xp/Vista have annoying RAM limits under normal circumstances.

Looks good so far though. Hang around though for some second opinions =)

Question though: Are you really against putting a pc together yourself?

And, do you have, or will you need a Monitor/Mouse/Keyboard/Speakers/Etc... (Printer for example)? We could suggest that stuff to.

-Neo

[hmmm]

3GB would be what I'd go with -- remember that Xp/Vista have annoying RAM limits under normal circumstances.

Looks good so far though. Hang around though for some second opinions =)

Question though: Are you really against putting a pc together yourself?

And, do you have, or will you need a Monitor/Mouse/Keyboard/Speakers/Etc... (Printer for example)? We could suggest that stuff to.

-Neo

well im getting vista 64 bit, and im not against putting the computer by myslef, but i have little/no knowledge of putting one together, that id prolly fuck it up, but everything else, like keyboard and stuff i already have. but im currently looking for a new monitor, so suggestions would be appreciated. thx

[Blackwater]

evga 780 sli motherboard

That is THE best motherboard out right now.

An Nvidia 8600 is the 2nd or 3rd best video card out there right now, but it will do unless you plan on playing on some hardcore games such as Crysis.

Intel Quad 2.4 - Good selection especially for the money, it will run mid-end games beautifully such as Half-Life: Lost Coast. Same as for the video card above.

RAM looks good- Although I don't usually steer away from Corsair RAM, I'm sure Munshkin is good RAM, as long as it isn't like 10 bucks, or picked up off the side of the road. :P

Vista..... and 64bit? Ehhh, For your sake I hope they come out with some updates. Get some Virus protection stuff.

I can guide you through putting the computer together, or you could get a neighbor you trust to do it for you. Providing they know what they are doing.

Hard drives are hard drives, I don't care much about them. But please do tell what the RPM is on the drive, you don't want it holding your processor back.

[hmmm]

o well thats good, well thx blackwater, the harddrive rpm is 7200, idk if thats good xD. and is vista 64 bit not good? and wat exactly is the differnce between the RAMS?

[TimP]

and is vista 64 bit not good?

I've been running it for about 6 months and have had no issues with it. I have a Q6600 and a GeForce 8800GTS and I can run run Half-Life 2 at 1920x1200 with every maxed out at 75-100 FPS. I don't play a lot of cutting edge games, but Bioshock and Supreme Commander can run fluidly at 1920x1200 with every maxed out, too.

[Blackwater]

Well, from what I have come to believe, Vista is like a magnet for viruses and spyware, warez, etc. And Windows XP 64 bit is starting to piss me off, although vista might be better with it.

[hmmm]

ahh i see. oo i have another question. i was wondering if would be better to either get dual geforce 8600 512mb or just one gts 8800 640 mb? im looking to see which would be more worth my money in the end, and no i dont plan on using dual monitors

[Blackwater]

8800gts, I honestly think SLI with any card other than a 8800 isn't worth it. And you would have more ram on it so definitely the 8800.

[Neo]

SLI isn't worth it at all. Just get one really kickass video card and save your money.

-Neo

[SilverCrusader]

7200 RPM for a hard drive is standard.

[Blackwater]

Yeah. 7,200 is good.

I would only recommend the 10k+ RPM drives for the people who look online to make sure a product better than his/hers isn't out. People that bought the Intel Extreme Core 2 Q6 whatever it is..... people like me. :P People that have home-made liquid refrigeration units build into their computers..... (Not me!)

[hmmm]

alright thx for your feedback guys

[tzzA]

I have a Q6600 and a GeForce 8800GTS and I can run run Half-Life 2 at 1920x1200 with every maxed out at 75-100 FPS. I don't play a lot of cutting edge games, but Bioshock and Supreme Commander can run fluidly at 1920x1200 with every maxed out, too.

Ahh, SupCom. The enemy of my graphics card. (8600M GS) It keeps lagging/freezing. >_< Have to shut down everything else, plus half of my background stuff, just to get it to work properly. Of course, the 5400 RPM HDD, 2.0 dual core and 2gb RAM ain't helping much either. :rolleyes: Plus the fact that it's a laptop.

[hmmm]

o i have another question, when is a second harddrive needed or necessary?

[femoimal]

its needed if you have to work on your PC. Its faster to run programs such as photoshop and 3d stuff on one disk and have it use the other drive as a scratch-disk.

If you value your work a lot, you can RAID the drives so if one fails, you still have the other.

[hmmm]

so its like a back up basically? or did i miss the point xD

[DoctorZettabyte]

You should have a second (sometimes external, which does have pros/cons) HDD whenever possible. If the first drive fails, hopefully you'll have backed it up at some point and can simply restore from a save point.
Also, people just run out of space. It can take some time to fill up a 250GB HDD with just games, a few tools, an office suite and an OS, but still, you can and almost certainly will hit it at some point.

A word about externals:
Relatively cheap per GB.
USB 2.0 and hopefully 3.0 soon.
Portable.
Any modern computer can install and use very easily.
Can store a tremendous amount of data.
Good for backups.

Cons:
Quality External HDD's can be very expensive.
Takes up space on your desk/workspace.
Good, quality ones can get to be extremely expensive.
Not advisable for colleges, as people are prone to...forcibly remove them, so to speak.

Hope this helps.

-DocTera

[Neo]

A second HD in a RAID array (escaping me at the moment) that mirror each other (That is two similar drives) can be useful.

Say if one fails, you have the second one that has your data on it, and you won't have lost anything.

Some people will use a very fast hard drive for the OS and some Programs (ie: games) like a 10,000 rpm 80gig or so, and then have a slower (relatively speaking) drive like a 250 or 500 gig secondary storage drive for everything else (other programs, games, etc... that aren't that important, as well as personal data and the like).

I'd also suggest getting a flash drive if you ever find yourself needing to move files between computers (ie: school work, showing friends cool pictures, etc... whatever)

-Neo

[hmmm]

i see. and how do you know wat power supply to use? and does it matter much?

[King_Critter]

i see. and how do you know wat power supply to use? and does it matter much?

If you're just configuring it on their website, then any available power supply should work. If you're building it yourself, you need to make sure it has the right number of pins for your motherboard. That tripped me up when I built mine -- got a 24-pin motherboard and a 20-pin power supply. ^_^

Also, if you plan on upgrading it, especially with, like, dual GeForce 8800's or something, you need to make sure the power supply has enough voltage to power everything. That's the main thing.

Also, in case you had any lingering questions about RAID, you can read the Wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID). It is pretty long, though, so to sum it up:

First, there's RAID 0. In this configuration, you have two hard drives that distribute your information between them. For example, if you were playing a game, and the game had to load a huge map or something, it would start reading from your hard drive. With RAID 0, the read speed is basically doubled, because it can get half that data from one, and the other half from the other. The problem with this is that the chances of hard drive failure are increased, and if just one dies, you lose all your data. RAID 0 is usually used by gamers to store just game data. All their personal information is then stored on one hard drive, or they might use...

RAID 1. This configuration backs up you data as you write it. It doesn't give you a speed boost or any extra storage, because the second hard drive is an exact mirror copy of the first. Very handy if you're working with sensitive documents that you can't afford to lose.

Then their's RAID 1+0, (sometimes shortened to RAID 10) which is simply four different hard drive doing both RAID 0 and 1. It provides the benefit of both, with the only drawback being that you have to have four (usually identical) hard drives.

[Blackwater]

Erm, you might need to buy a raid controller... unless I'm falling behind the times and the new mobos have one.

[TimP]

Erm, you might need to buy a raid controller... unless I'm falling behind the times and the new mobos have one.

Most support RAID-0 or RAID-1.