VeeshanVault

Seeing as its been a few years since I built my last computer I decided it was time to make a new one. What I'm mainly looking for is suggestions of what the best stuff to get to build a computer is now as I have not paid much attention to developments over the last couple years.

I'm looking to spend somewhere around one thousand for just the computer itself sans keyboard/mouse/monitor etc. At this point I'm aiming for a AMD system ~3 Ghz, 1 GB or more of RAM, ATI graphics card, DVD, all the other basics.

If anyone has any suggestions for a clearer picture of what components to look for and also any good websites to order from I'd appreciate it. Also, the computer is going to be pretty much exclusively a games machine with some regular use thrown in.

I've got some friends here at work who are running the new 64bit AMDs and love them. One guy upgraded from a P4 - 3.06 GHz and said the difference in gaming was amazing, it was the only thing that would truly push his 9800 XT or whatever the most recent ATI card is (before the about to be released). I think they are also running the Nvidia chipset as well and are pretty happy.

Me personally I would get the new Nvidia card with the Nvidia chipset but that is another another topic. See any of Winnow's posts for why not to do this and stick with ATI...

Cheers!
Marb

About a year ago I asked this same question here and was refered to

http://www.ars-technica.com

Check out thier guides on building systems, I ended up using a hybrid of what they called thier God-Box and thier budget box at the time... I ended up with the following for right around $700..

AMD Athalon 2500+ Barton Core
Nforce2 chipset 8RDA+ (cant remember manufacturer.. but damn sweet MB)
1GB PC2700 Dual Channel
ATI 9700XT
Maxtor ATA133 30GB

Ars keeps thier reviews current monthly, so you should be able to find out whats the latest and greatest there... I bought just about everything online, and had it all within a week. http://www.pricewatch.com for prices..

I'm waiting until mid-summer\early fall before upgrading. I'll be going with a 939 slot AMD64 processor\motherboard. They are just becoming available now so you will pay through the nose ATM.

The 8RDA+ is made by epox, Ransure.

Cownt