Custom Gaming PC

sam · Post by **sam** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 10:45 am

Ram doesnt look to top notch to me I'm pretty sure they have crap timings on it. And you will get what you pay for in your mobo.

Radon199 · Post by **Radon199** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 10:55 am

Your real concern should be buying the best Mobo and CPU you can get for your money. You ram and video card is easy to upgrade at any time but putting in a new Mobo or CPU can be a pain in the rear to say the least.

sniper_spike · Post by **sniper_spike** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 11:04 am

Actually, putting a new CPU in is just about the easiest upgrade possible.

teraflop122 · Post by **teraflop122** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 3:03 pm

Putting in a new CPU involves exerting more physical strength than putting in a new stick of ram.

Oh, and in my experience, whether you get a cheap 35 buck 512 stick of PC3200 or some cruddy 90 dollar, heatsinked stick of 512MB PC3200 makes absolutely no difference.

Radon199 · Post by **Radon199** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 3:25 pm

Well I don't mind throwing around a $30 stick of ram but puting in a new $300 CPU is slightly intimidating, for one, it's a hell of a lot more expencive if you somehow screw up the install.

sniper_spike · Post by **sniper_spike** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 3:36 pm

teraflop122 wrote:Putting in a new CPU involves exerting more physical strength than putting in a new stick of ram.

Oh, and in my experience, whether you get a cheap 35 buck 512 stick of PC3200 or some cruddy 90 dollar, heatsinked stick of 512MB PC3200 makes absolutely no difference.

Atleast not untill you overclock it. What's with everyone and stock settings?

blackbox_dev · Post by **blackbox_dev** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 3:38 pm

Somebody told me they overclocked there FLOPPY DRIVE!!! Is this even copulate possible!?

Radon199 · Post by **Radon199** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 4:07 pm

sniper_spike wrote:
teraflop122 wrote:Putting in a new CPU involves exerting more physical strength than putting in a new stick of ram.

Oh, and in my experience, whether you get a cheap 35 buck 512 stick of PC3200 or some cruddy 90 dollar, heatsinked stick of 512MB PC3200 makes absolutely no difference.
Atleast not untill you overclock it. What's with everyone and stock settings?

I like my warrenty

Seriously tho, theres a reason the clock speed is where it is, it's to provide steady, stable performance that lasts as long as posible. My dad will get this my computer when I move out next year and it's prolly gonna last him around 10 years after that (seeing as hes still reguarly uses a Celeron 400 mhz PC we got back in '98 ), also I didn't pay for it myself so if I burn something out, it's not like id just get a new PC. No, id be stuck doing my homework and surfing the net on the old PC and i'm not willing to go from a stainless steel scalpul to leaches anytime soon.

teraflop122 · Post by **teraflop122** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 6:29 pm

I can't stand stock settings

The PCxxxx or DDRxxx ratings are basically a gauruntee that the stick will run stable at those speeds, with the advertised timings and Cas Latency. So then why buy a 512MB PC3200 stick with a shiney heatspreader and CL2.5 timings for 60 bucks when you can buy a more generic 512MB PC3200 stick with CL2.5 timings for 35 bucks?

Personally, I find that most sticks I've used go up to about 215 or 220 FSB before going unstable. If I want to overclock, I'll buy a generic stick at a higher FSB speed, like PC3500, before I buy a more expensive stick that stays at 3200.

sniper_spike · Post by **sniper_spike** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 5:33 am

Just because the timings are the same, doesn't mean the overclockability is, you dissapoint me, teraflop.

"All RAM is not made equal" - Somebody

Even with a higher gaurunteed clock speed, it doesn't necessarily mean that it will overclock any higher. No wonder you've only hit 215-220 on OCs-- you never buy the shiny (and expensive) heatspreaded RAM. The RAM I reccomended (OCZ Platinum EL Rev.2) can go upwards of 318mhz (probably even higher, but 318 is its peak of performance). That's DDR636, or PC5088

http://www.anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.aspx?i=2386&p=7

Nonsense Man · Post by **Nonsense Man** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 6:37 am

so everything on my list is good

teraflop122 · Post by **teraflop122** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 9:12 am

I conceed to defeat, sniper_spike /=( I'm a builder of budget PC's, after all, so my instincts always aim me towards the cheapest acceptable components of a given type.

Nonsense Man · Post by **Nonsense Man** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 3:05 pm

so teraflop what are you saying

teraflop122 · Post by **teraflop122** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 4:11 pm

If you plan to overclock, get more expensive Ram with better timings and/or a better FSB speed rating, such as the type suggested by sniper-spike. If you just want ram that just works, go on newegg, search for the capacity you want, and "sort by lowest price"

The ram you chose:

RAMhttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820220079

-seems to represent a good balance between cost and performance.

cowsgoquack101 · Post by **cowsgoquack101** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 5:30 pm

Radon199 wrote:
Skyone wrote:Ya, games can be up to 2 gigs on average. If you want a gaming PC, you want a lot of room.
Heheh I just bought Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion and it takes up 4.6 gigs on my hard drive, and thats 1 game

He, F.E.A.R. take up 6 gb of space and that an FPS!