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I want to buy a new PC, but i got no time for the hassel of going around to buy and build myself as i don't want to go for a branded on so,

I need Gaming PC and to watch DVD's on it.
1) searching for someone who can help to do that for me whether for the fun or it, or if it is his profession, then i'll pay him

2) I need help with deciding on the right configuration and brands for the components of the PC.

Conceringing my efforts for item #1
Been around the PC Al Ain Center, and got some quotes from some shops there for different specs, but the problem is, i was not comfortable as they didn't mention brands of the components only specs, and if i asked, they give me only the brands they got so they might not be the best.

So far, the specs i think that might work for me and the best Bands For Bucks are:

Athlon 64 dual core 3800+
mother board MSI A8N SLI
1 GB RAM (1 Chip) (no brand)
Graphics card 256 6600 Nvidia(no brand)
Aopen branded Case with power supply
sound card built in
250 GB SATA Maxtor or WD

I'll hook it to a 32" LCD monitor
My budget is in the range of 3000 to 3500

Please give specs and brands advice. And if you know someone Honest who can help and better if he is freelancer so can buy things from different stores so get the best brands no the one available on the shop he works for
Thank you

yshimy wrote:I want to buy a new PC, but i got no time for the hassel of going around to buy and build myself as i don't want to go for a branded on so,

I need Gaming PC and to watch DVD's on it.
1) searching for someone who can help to do that for me whether for the fun or it, or if it is his profession, then i'll pay him

2) I need help with deciding on the right configuration and brands for the components of the PC.

Conceringing my efforts for item #1
Been around the PC Al Ain Center, and got some quotes from some shops there for different specs, but the problem is, i was not comfortable as they didn't mention brands of the components only specs, and if i asked, they give me only the brands they got so they might not be the best.

So far, the specs i think that might work for me and the best Bands For Bucks are:

Athlon 64 dual core 3800+
mother board MSI A8N SLI
1 GB RAM (1 Chip) (no brand)
Graphics card 256 6600 Nvidia(no brand)
Aopen branded Case with power supply
sound card built in
250 GB SATA Maxtor or WD

I'll hook it to a 32" LCD monitor
My budget is in the range of 3000 to 3500

Please give specs and brands advice. And if you know someone Honest who can help and better if he is freelancer so can buy things from different stores so get the best brands no the one available on the shop he works for
Thank you

well if u wanna play games get good graphics card 512 mb if u r hardcore. the one u mentioned is ok. make sure ur hd is recent SATA. 32 LCD wow! I prefer Asus motherboards and didnt have probs with em. Get good ram like Corsair or OCZ and make sure u test em.......... I didnt use AMD but new ones are pretty good. Get reviews by going to

Code: Select all

www.tomshardware.com

. U can build ur own PC . I have a e-magazine here is the link u and others can dl from here
*Deleted*

Config .. Good ..except for the Video..yeah increase it to 512.
If you are planning for multiple hdd, go for raid. i prefer scsi thu.

But if you prefer a branded comp.. why dont u buy it from Compu ME.
May be an acer aspire. I have seen the performance of acer aspire both desktop & lappy , its always stable. Else if u want a really professional looking one.. go for a Dell Double Cased ..... u can get really good computers from Compu ME

ahamed wrote:Config .. Good ..except for the Video..yeah increase it to 512.
If you are planning for multiple hdd, go for raid. i prefer scsi thu.

But if you prefer a branded comp.. why dont u buy it from Compu ME.
May be an acer aspire. I have seen the performance of acer aspire both desktop & lappy , its always stable. Else if u want a really professional looking one.. go for a Dell Double Cased ..... u can get really good computers from Compu ME

assembled rulez anytime!

P.S if done by expereinced techie.....

assembled rulez anytime!

P.S if done by expereinced techie.....

So snip, do you recommend any techie????

Ahamad and snip,
The problem is the 512MB GPU are really expensive, it would be better to get 2x 7800GT 256 SLI cards (cheaper) what do you think???

Yeah, i prefer ASUS over any brand in optical devices, and motherboards

thanks for sharing, i'm still checking the specs, prices, who will do it

cheers

"2x 7800GT 256 SLI cards"
actually 2 cards a better than 1 512 esp with dual core, because processors can switch to the other if one is busy.

Specs look good. Btw, these specs are under dhs 3,500?

I've built a couple of customised PCs for myself and have also helped friends with theirs ...

the parts you describe are good except for your graphics card

6600GT is old technology, I recommend going for a 7800GTX as this should be future proof for about 2 years (ie be able to handle the current and next gen of games for that long)

2x7800GT would be overkill and u might as well save that money and upgrade in the future as you won't see the benefits with games currently.

For RAM I'd recommend the Crucial Brand .. its important to have reliable memory ..otherwise go for Kingston or Corsair (expensive) .low latency timings are important in a high speed set up but to be honest you won't notice much difference in games right now ....

you have to be careful about the power supply; make sure it is at least 500W for solid performance because all the components you are using are high end and you don't want any drop in power to them...

Also I would recommend dropping the dual core A64 and going for a single core A64 4000+ since that would be faster for gaming ... currently no games support dual core as far as I know...

Nucleus,
Thanks for reply man, yes these specs are below 3500 dhms, but with the 2 7800GT you propose it would hit the 4000 Dhms.

To be honest, i'm trying to lower other specs to get 2 7800 GT.

Fawlty Adder,
Thanks for the comprehensive reply, and i'll share with you my thougths.

I wanted to go for the 7800GTX as i know it is the best, but its price (i assume from the $ price quoted online) might be more than double the 7800 GT so my alternative is to go for 2x7800GT if they are cheaper.
Also bear in mind i'm looking for HDTV output, that i only found in 6600Gt so far. Now i'm more confused with the 7900GT out in the market.

Bout the RAMs, yes, Crucial is my main target.

The powersupply, with the AOPEN branded standard case it comes as 580W i think, but i'll make sure of it. Any specific case you recommend?

Also I would recommend dropping the dual core A64 and going for a single core A64 4000+ since that would be faster for gaming ... currently no games support dual core as far as I know...

I wanted to do that but checking the prices, it is the same price the 3800+ Dual core and 4000+ single core, so... i'll shot for the new teck.

Do you have any thoughts about the motherboard??

Anyway, i'm getting ready for my Flight and i'll be back to dubai on tuesday night, and may be i'll go buy the components on Friday-Saturday.

Anyway, i'm in the airport, i'll take a nap as i was delayed 6 hours but the bright side, i got a free ticket

Cheers

well yshimy if u r really hardcore gamer and have time to spend alot on games then go for SLI. Remember a comp with powerful specs needs powerful parts. If there is bottleneck in one of the compnents then it would be waste of money. Frankly I consider SLI and Crossfire stupid cos there is certain limit in bandwidth of the gaming cards. Go for 7800 or to get cheaper stuff go for X800 which u can mod only the firmware and upgrade to X850. These are not really bad. Every 6 months they release a card and most of the games today could be played by an X800. I live near ATI headquaters and I can exchange old card and add some money to get new one. But I feel stupid when I can't make full use of the card. Think realistically, a difference in 3-8 fps between cards having price difference of 80-120 bucks, I would go for cheaper ones. Read anandtech, extremetech, tomshardware for the tests and use ur own software to test wheater the card has the specs it claims.

yshimy wrote:Nucleus,

I wanted to go for the 7800GTX as i know it is the best, but its price (i assume from the $ price quoted online) might be more than double the 7800 GT so my alternative is to go for 2x7800GT if they are cheaper.
Also bear in mind i'm looking for HDTV output, that i only found in 6600Gt so far. Now i'm more confused with the 7900GT out in the market.

Bout the RAMs, yes, Crucial is my main target.

The powersupply, with the AOPEN branded standard case it comes as 580W i think, but i'll make sure of it. Any specific case you recommend?

Do you have any thoughts about the motherboard??


Cheers

I'm not sure what you mean by HDTV out on a 6600GT... as far as I know all current graphics card would offer that in the sense of a DVI connection and all you need is a DVI-HDMI cable .

the 7900GT is not worth it right now compared to 7800GT... as sniper said , every months a new card comes out ..save your money and upgrade the 7800GT later on ...(and 2x7800GT won't be cheaper than one GTX)

In terms of cases, I'm currently using a Lian Li PCV1100 Plus Midi Tower..has plenty of slots, is silent and keeps my system cool!
(but that alone would cost you about a AED1,000)

Otherwise I'd recommend a Lian Li PC60 or any aluminium case from Lian Li /Coolermaster since they'd be generally better at keeping your system cool than steel ones...

For a motherboard, try and go for Asus as they offer chock full of features and are good value for money and also generally good performers..you'd be looking at an A8N - SLi, X16 (for PCi express 16x)
... try to future proof the motherboard as much as you can because thats one component that can't be upgraded easily...

my post may be outdated somewhat but here is my latest build:

AMD Atholon 4800+
2GB Corsair TwinX2100
2 160GB Maxtor
Asus A8N SLI Deluxe board
2 7800GT cards (XFI)
Thermaltake Invius 600w power supply
Zalman 9000SV cooler on chip
Audigy sound card
Thermaltake Tsunmi SRII case

managed to overclock the CPU stable by 20GHZ to 2.6

took about 3 days to assemble. Your main concern will be the board and the ram. Get poor ram and this is your curse. Corsair or Geil are the best in market for overclocking and heat spread is kept to a minimum.

Simon

And what about the cost man??

how much did it cost you/??

client paid 6500 for it. Part of the cost went on the custom case that needed modding as well.

I would say the part alone would bring the unit to around 4K. But its quality all the way!

Here is a shot of my rig, which I built last october. Still runs any game out there.



Specs:

A64 Venice 3200+ @ 2.5Ghz (100% Copper Cooling)
Giga-byte K8NS Ultra 939 Nf3U (Custom Mosfet & PLL Cooling)
Corsair VS DDR400 1Gb CL2.5/3/3/7/1T @416Mhz (Copper Cooling)
ATI Radeon X800 XT (Copper Cooling)
Antec truePower 430W
Lian Li Pc-7 Black (Dual Intake front fans 120x120x2 w/filtering)
Viewsonic VX924 3ms 19" LCD

that is a really nice rig man.

Problem is i'm not so keen into water cooling or the new cooling systems.


I want something stable that needs least effort to maintain...

Anyway, my budget for desktop would be 3k max, if i went byond that i would get a laptop and save the hassel

thanks for the advice and for sharing

cheers

Im using 100% Air cooling. I think in 3k nowadays you should be able to build this spec, if not better.

My case was the one hard to find.

3K will get you a pretty decent machine but not one i would say would last the test of time.

many of the new games out there plus the new windows vista coming out soon, are very power hungry. Rather than spend 3 and later 2-3 more to upgrade...your best bet is to go strong now while prices are relatively low and buy your parts.

Trust me, 3K will need an upgrade very quickly. I am very clear about this when I discuss req. with my clients. Better to know upfront and spend on something that you need not invest in for at least another 6-12 months if not more.

I just gave up on PCs... In the US it was easy, I just got all parts from eBay at the lower price possible and managed to build great PCs for half the price I would pay in Lebanon or UAE. But the technology is just moving too fast. 2 months after I got my AMD 3400+ with an AGP X800XT, socket 939 came out with PCI Express...

I am just gonna stick to my laptop now here (provided by my company) although I despise working on one and for leisure I am gonna stick to my good ol' PS2...

Nick81 wrote:I just gave up on PCs... In the US it was easy, I just got all parts from eBay at the lower price possible and managed to build great PCs for half the price I would pay in Lebanon or UAE. But the technology is just moving too fast. 2 months after I got my AMD 3400+ with an AGP X800XT, socket 939 came out with PCI Express...

I am just gonna stick to my laptop now here (provided by my company) although I despise working on one and for leisure I am gonna stick to my good ol' PS2...

Yeah I used to buy and sell on ebay a lot while in the states, but i think here at computer plaza you can also get some decent deals.

AGP times are long over now. Its time to go for PCIE SLI.