Smackre

Im building a comp for my bro. Hes comp atm wont play Doom3 so he wants to upgrade. There is no real price range he wants to stay under. Although he did say he did not want to go over 250$ a pay. He is going to buy 1 or 2 parts per pay untill he has them all. He wants it to run good with Doom3. So im figurering video card will be a big factor going into it. I sujected buying a nvidia 6800 and he did not want to pay that much for a video. He thinks a 9800 pro would run good enough. I was thinking doom3 would run better on a card made for dx9. He is thinking of getting a HT processor, so he will need a HT motherboard. And he wants to buy a fansy looking case. I am looking for a suggestion on proc / motherboard / video / ram / Powersupply. I could prolly just look around and figure out what i think would work well. But some of u guys have played doom3 and know what it takes to run it well.

__________________
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 730 (1.60 GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB)
17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen XGA+ Display
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz 2 Dimm
256MB NVIDA® GeForce™ Go 6800

Lasereth

Do you mean he doesn't wanna go over $250 a part? I got sorta confused. We'll be happy to help if you can clear that up!

PS: If he wants a new PC for Doom 3, he needs to go with NVIDIA and AMD. They both excel in Doom 3 particularly.

-Lasereth

__________________
"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert

Smackre

Here is what i suggested

Mobo:http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...130-450&depa=1
MSI "865PE Neo2-PFS (Platinum Edition)" i865PE Chipset Motherboard
main reason for using this is i have this in other comps and it liked it
87$

Processor:http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...116-171&depa=1
Intel Pentium 4/ 3.0E GHz 800MHz FSB, 1MB L2 Cache, Hyper Threading Technology
195$

Headsink/fan:http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...106-032&depa=1
Thermaltake P4 Spark 7+ (Xaser Edition) Highest Performance Copper CPU Cooler, w/ Temp.Controler
25$

Video:http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...130-202&depa=0
eVGA nVIDIA GeForce 6800 Video Card, 128MB GDDR, 256-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP
wasnt sure which manafature to go with so if u guys got a better suggestion tell me
270$

HD:http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduc...152-015&DEPA=1
SAMSUNG 160GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive
99$

CD:http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...190-002&depa=1
Rosewill 52x32x52x16 CD-RW & DVD Combo Drive
color of it may change :-)
35$

ram:we are getting 1 gig ram. Someone please give me a link of a ram that will go good with my Mobo / processor.
i figure around 180-200$

Case:http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...133-128&depa=0
he seems to realy like it. But if someone finds a reason not to go with it then let me know.
120$

PSU:http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...170-002&depa=1
coo looken hehe
40$

Soundnboard

monitor:http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...116-281&depa=1
i have seen this on comps and it seems to have great color.
230$

keyboard and mouse and shit hes got

if there is anything im leaving out please tell me hehe

__________________
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 730 (1.60 GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB)
17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen XGA+ Display
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz 2 Dimm
256MB NVIDA® GeForce™ Go 6800

Smackre

yes he dont realy want to spend over 250$ for each peice.

__________________
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 730 (1.60 GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB)
17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen XGA+ Display
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz 2 Dimm
256MB NVIDA® GeForce™ Go 6800

Menoman

<--- brother of smackre... to clear it up... I'm looking to buy each peice each pay.. or however many pieces i can buy each pay with my leftover cash from bills.

But if a piece I should get for peak performance is over 250 then I'm cool with saving it up until the next pay too.

So any suggestions are good no matter price... but not like... any one piece over 600 bones though!

__________________

bltzkriegmcanon

Ok, since your general limit is around 250 per part, I'd suggest you drop the very most on your GPU. How bout a nice Albatron nVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT Video Card, 256MB GDDR3, 256-Bit, TV-Out/DVI, 8X AGP, Model "6800GT" - RETAIL - $399? Then you can use coolbits to OC this card to the 6800 Ultra's core/mem speeds with almost 0% increase in heat. I'd definitely drop the most in this, especially for Doom3.

You could probably drop that 160 GB Samsung and hit up a 74GB Raptor for $156.

About RAM: You're gonna be limited to PC3200 on this, because that's the max the board can handle. In this situation I'd suggest the Corsair XMS Extreme Memory Speed Series 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200C2PT - $114. Overall, some really good RAM, and you can get 2 strips for under $250 .

__________________
What do you say to one last showdown?
- Ocelot, Metal Gear Solid 3

The password is "Who are the Patriots?" and "La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo." "La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo." Gotcha.
- The Colonel and Snake, Metal Gear Solid 3

Smackre

Talked to my bro and he wants a comp for all the new generation games. So dont just focus on Hardware that excells in Doom. but hardware that Excells in General. Also if you guys got a suggestion on a better MB / Proceser / fan-headsink / ram that fits well with the Processor let me know..

__________________
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 730 (1.60 GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB)
17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen XGA+ Display
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz 2 Dimm
256MB NVIDA® GeForce™ Go 6800

Smackre

Since my Mobo i picked out only supports 3200 Ram. I looked for one that supports higher.
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...130-462&depa=1
supports 5400 ram. But it adds 250$ to the cost. The real question is how much will that help the performance. I dont know that much about Ram so ur sugestions means alot.

__________________
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 730 (1.60 GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB)
17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen XGA+ Display
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz 2 Dimm
256MB NVIDA® GeForce™ Go 6800

catback

That motherboard only supports PC2-4200 RAM, faster is better but for $250 and a 3Ghz processor I don't think you will necessarily notice a difference.

Lasereth

WASTE! No processor on the market comes with a stock external FSB of over 200 MHz (PC3200). There's no reason to buy faster RAM than your processor and there's no reason to buy a motherboard that supports better. Processors with a higher FSB than 200 MHz are gonna come out, but the processor you buy now is gonna last a really fucking long time.

I agree with Blztkrieg. Dump a hefty sum in the videocard. I suggest a GeForce 6800 GT as well. eVGA has one on NewEgg that goes on sale for $385 sometimes. This is an astronomical deal. I'd buy it ASAP. You're spending a lot of money on this card, but it's worth it twice over.

Processor? That 3.0 Prescott would be a good choice. Another good choice would be the Athlon 64 3200+ (1 MB version). This is basically a processor made for gaming. It's a few dollars more and will be a good choice since it's based on Socket 754 (which isn't being replaced like Intel's Socket 478). The processor would be about $215.

For RAM, I wouldn't spend a lot on super high-quality RAM unless you're gonna overclock. Corsair Value RAM will do fine. Buy 1 GB of PC3200. That'd be only $160.

I'd choose the Asus K8V motherboard. There aren't many motherboards out for Athlon 64 that simply dominate (like the Athlon XP series), so this would be an ideal choice. It's $100 and has onboard everything (except for video, which ya don't need).

You can buy a really expensive hard drive if ya want, but it won't really improve gaming performance at all. If you do want a super fast HDD, I gotta recommend Western Digital's Raptor drives as well. A 74 GB Raptor is about $180. If you want a normal EIDE HDD, they're about $65 for a normal 80 GB drive.

You won't *need* a new heatsink with the processor, but you'll probably *want* one. I suggest any of Thermaltake or Thermalright's Socket 754 offerings. I'd go with a Thermaltake Venus 12 or a Silent Boost if you can find one. That'd be around $35.

Case and PSU...just buy a case ya like. The PSU needs to be good, however! I'd go with an Enermax, Antec, or Sparkle PSU. Make sure they're 350w or higher. I can't recommend Enermax PSU's enough...especially the noisetaker series. They're simply awesome, especially for $55.

Make sure to buy some rounded ribbon cables for the hard drive, CD-ROM, floppy, etc. They look cool and improve airflow.

This PC is around $1,200. If you shave off the Raptor HDD, you can save $100. You could also downgrade the videocard even though it's the best deal. Another $100 can be saved if you bought an Athlon XP 3200+ instead of the Athlon 64. The XP 3200+ would give all ya need in gaming for a couple of years from now at least.

Hope this helped! If you have any more questions feel free to ask.

-Lasereth

__________________
"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert

Smackre

Thanks you Lasereth.....i will talk with him and see what he wants

__________________
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 730 (1.60 GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB)
17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen XGA+ Display
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz 2 Dimm
256MB NVIDA® GeForce™ Go 6800

Menoman

I just have a couple questions, you said that that athlon 3200 is made for gaming, but it doesnt appear to use Hyper Thread technology.

How much does this HT tech actually improve processing speeds? I don't really understand what I've been reading about it so maybe someone could explain to me in lamen terms.

Also, You said not to get super high quality RAM if I'm not going to overclock, I do plan to overclock the video like Blitz said with coolbits. Would that mean get the higher RAM? Or is that for overclocking your processor?

__________________

Menoman

Oh yeah one other thing, I really like the PSU I chose. It will look very nice inside the blue case with the fans I chose.

But I'm not sure how PSU's go, perhaps its best to get a conventional one if they will keep performance up?

__________________

Redjake

The higher RAM is for overclocking your processor. Coolbits overclocks your graphics card (quite nicely I might add).

The 3200+ Athlon 64 is the equivalent of "hyper-threading" for P4s. I'm not going to get technical or anything but trust me, that processor will do very nice with games.

Get Lasereth or someone to explain it in excruciating detail

I'd get an Enermax PSU if I were you. You are going to have some damn-nice parts in this puppy, so I'd get a damn-nice PSU with it. That's not to say the one you chose isn't awesome, but I wouldn't be so sure of the performance when compared to a high-end PSU such as Enermax.

__________________
Off the record, on the q.t., and very hush-hush.

Lasereth

HT is an extra feature that Pentium 4's have. It allows some really good performance in applications and boosts the initial performance of the processor in the aformentioned applications. Overall, the fact that the HT Pentium 4's are 200 MHz FSB has a much bigger effect than the HT aspect. AMD Athlon 64's don't have HT, but neither does any AMD processor. Intel's Pentium 4 and Xeon series are known for HT...none other than those. AMD does have a Hyper Transport ability on their Athlon 64 processors, but this simply means that the theoretical FSB is astronomically high (around 1.6 GHz). This isn't the true FSB...just the "market" FSB. In other words, don't buy a P4 just because it has H Threading and don't buy an Athlon 64 just because it has H Transport. Buy a processor based on how it performs in games. I'd personally go with an AMD Athlon 64 3200+.

Really good RAM is for overclocking your processor, not the videocard. Overclocking a videocard is done with programs or installing a different BIOS on the videocard. NVIDIA's drivers have a hidden program that can be unlocked with a registry edit called Coolbits. This program allows easy overclocking of NVIDIA cards (if the card is up to the challenge...most 6800 GT's are). GeForce 6800 videocards also have thermal throttling. This means that it's nearly impossible to break a card through overclocking it.

-Lasereth

__________________
"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert

Menoman

Thanks again for the help, I'm gonna go with the athlon 3200+ and the 6800 GT then, and now I know I don't have to spend alot of high quality RAM. I'll probably go with what you listed. The corsair value RAM.

Thanks much for the help! Hopefully I won't have too many more questions that pop up.

__________________

Redjake

that sounds solid as hell!

__________________
Off the record, on the q.t., and very hush-hush.