Since there are plenty of inquiries by serious gamers about which components to purchase, here's a list. You need some amazing hardware to truly enjoy newer games, but they don't have to be bleeding-edge components. Multiple choices are provided, from various brands, to set aside any personal brand preference or loyalties. Also, each component category is discussed as to its important for gaming performance. I hope this will help those looking to upgrade or purchasing an entirely new PC for the latest games. All of the product pricing is taken from Newegg between 07/14/2007 and 07/15/2007. Prices may change, and feel free to hunt for lower prices or use your own favorite online retailer.
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Video. The motherboard and power supply units in this suggested list are centered around the 8800GTX. You'll really be hurting on FPS and smooth game play for the newer games unless you go with an 8800GTX or 8800 Ultra. Unfortunately, the Ultra is way overpriced for a simple difference of clock speed. 8800GTX is a much better buy. If you're really obsessive about your gaming performance (like me), you can buy two for SLI, but it gets pretty expensive and will cost you more than any other component in your PC. Even the latest ATI card can't compete with the 8800GTX (the ATI Radeon HD 2900XT is meant to compete with the 8800GTS). ATI (part of AMD now) is out of the picture from now on for leading edge video cards. They forfeited the performance war with nVidia in the last few months. An alternative is to buy two 8800GTS for SLI, but the performance difference is not going to be noticeable when compared to the $100-less solution of a single 8800GTX.
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Case. This is completely up to you. Buy a case for 1.) airflow and 2.) easy access to upgrade. Here are some suggestions, but this is mostly a matter of taste.
- $100 after MIR, Antec Nin Hundred, in black (mid-tower) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021
- $106, Thermaltake Tsunami, in silver and black (mid-tower) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133133
- $150, Thermaltake Armor, in silver and black (full tower) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133154
- $200 after MIR, Cooler Master Stacker, in black (full tower) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119121
- $230, Antec P182, in "gun metal black" (mid-tower) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129025
- $240, Lian LI PC-V1000BPLUSII, in silver and black (mid-tower) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112118
- $260, Silverstone TJ09-SW, in silver and black (mid-tower) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163072
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PSU. This is the most undervalued component by most first time or casual PC builders is the power supply unit. Most of the time, you get what you pay for with PSUs. Ignore marketing hype such as lighting, variable speed fans, modular cables, and multiple 12V rails. Yes, multiple 12V rails does nothing for system stability or performance, and in fact is a hindrance. This is proven, and if requested, the proof can be posted here. For now, all you need to know is how reliably a PSU can dish out the 12V under both high operating temperatures and heavy current demands. Most of the high end brands do quite well at accurately representing their specs, but the el-cheapo brands fudge a little. For a single 8800GTX configuration, expect to buy a PSU that supplies at least 36 amp of 12V (40 or more for overclocked CPU and/or GPU). For two 8800GTX cards in SLI, you'll need 50-some amps of 12V or higher (60 is preferred for overclockers). This is a rough guideline, as there are exceptions to this, but these guidelines will help to account for losses due to lower quality PSUs.
- Two 8800GTX cards in SLI
- Single 8800GTX
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Motherboard, aka: mobo. This is the most important component for overclockers and anyone who wants to take gaming seriously. It's also something you never want to upgrade until absolutely necessary. Upgrading a mobo is the most time consuming upgrade task, and other brings with it the need to purchase a new CPU and memory modules. When AGP transitioned into PCI-E, this also meant upgrading your video card. Buy a mobo that is on the leading edge, even if it costs $150 more than other quality models. It will save you time in the future and provide you with the best performance now. EVGA, Asus, and DFI mobos are all top performers for high-end models.
- For Intel CPUs (Core 2, etc.):
- For AMD CPUs (FX, X2, 64):
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CPU. Since the release of Intel's Core 2 architecture, and AMD's huge price slash (half, and more) in April, CPUs are not the ridiculously expesnive components they once were. Competition of CPUs is thriving, even if AMD is limping along financially. Many of the top end Core 2 Duo/Core 2 Quads will beat some of the top AMD CPUs right now, but the performance difference isn't that much. The real competition is in current CPUs geared towards gamers, but not bleeding edge enough for hardware entusiasts. And we can benefit from here. Here's some suggestions, though there are many choices in CPUs. If you overclock at all (you should these days to get your money's worth), purchase an third-party CPU cooler. Most top brands do quite well. AC's coolers are some of the best in price vs. performance. Zalman coolers are well known for performance, but you pay for the name. Other worthy brands include, but are not limited to, Scythe, Thermalright, Thermaltake, and many others. Expect to pay between $30 and $60 for a good quality, third-party CPU cooler.
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RAM. Prices are very close on similar memory modules with similar specs. Focus on low latency sticks, with manufacturers that have few RMAs. Solid brands/manufacturers are Corsair, OCZ, Kingston, and Patriot. Other brands that are high performance, but have slightly higher RMAs include Mushkin, G.SKILL, GeIL, and Crucial. These are all good brands for gaming performance provided you don't get unlucky with DOA modules. Look for DDR2-800 modules, as anything higher is going to cost an arm and a leg (ie: the Dominator DDR2-1066 modules are around $600 for 2GB). Not only that, their latency is higher than 4 CAS, which is worse for games moving around mid-sized chunks of data all the time. Also, don't bother with fancy heatsinks. There's really no need at all for cooling performance beyond standard heat-spreaders, as your memory (even if overclocked) are the coolest components in your PC.
If you're running Windows XP, you can get by with 1GB for most games. Some might say 1GB is no longer recommended, and there is certainly a lot of agreement here. However, this is an area to save up to $100 if you're 1.) running Windows XP, 2.) savy enough to tweak down your running processes. One could tweak their system to remove unnecessary memory-resident processes, effecitvely making the performance hit very minor for having only 1GB. The advantage of 2GB is if you play for more than an hour or two at a time. Game levels and areas continue to cache in memory, and most high-end games will have their share of minor memory leaks that add up over multiple hours of gaming. Otherwise, 2GB is recommend since it is only a minor bump in price, and a high-performance 2GB kit can cost as little at $85!
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Audio. A good performing sound card is helpful in keeping audio processing cycles off of your CPU and on your sound processor where they belong. Unlike the common assumption, you don't need the latest Creative Labs chip-based card to experience great gaming sound. Many brands compete in the area of gaming cards. If you're an extreme audiophile, opt for top of the line models from such brands as Auzentech (X-Meridian card), HT Omega, or E-MU (extremely expensive). Otherwise, if you want good sound for gaming, go with one of these:
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HDD. A high performance drive is crucial for faster area loads. Regular 7200 drives such as Western Digital's SE line is seriously lacking in performance, although it's a good buy for storage size. Use whatever drive you currently have for file storage (ie: MP3s, images, videos, etc.), and buy a performance drive for your operating system, applications, and games. Western Digital has no real competitors in this category for performance SATA drives, unless you decide to go the expensive serial attached SCSI or SCSI Ultra320 route, where Seagate is king. The performance gain of a SCSI drive is not necessarily worth the cost difference unless you're a "hardware enthusiast".
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Optical. Get any DVD/DVD burner you like. It doesn't matter much for gaming since all newer games run off of your hard disk drive.
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