help with building a computer

[ApacNTS]

i see someone said he clocked at 2.8 easily. i didnt realize it was a mobile either, that would help explaint the price a bit. hmmm see the only problem is the processor would have to do atleast 2.8ghz, really i need it to do 3ghz, as you said games are quickly moving up and up the chain, 6months now brings entirely new things, where it used to take years.

weird how one game just hooked me into pc gaming, until now i never cared, played unreal tournament a couple of times, tried to play half life 1 on this,...i think that pushed me over the edge *laughs*

edit: another thing, i dont want to overclock, and if i bought all this then it lagged i'd just be screwed.

[JunkBarMan]

the vid card i looked at was: http://cgi.ebay.com/ATI-RADEON-9600X...QQcmdZViewItem (old sale but guy has some similar still)

Out of date card, but it would be servicable. I don't think it would play F.E.A.R. in a way that would make you happy. You would most likely have all the setting on the lowest possible and then you would just get by.

I haven't looked at the specs for F.E.A.R. just yet, still wrapped up in Battlefield 2, but I know this: I run an ATI 9800Pro, a few steps above the 9600xt, and BF2 recommends medium settings for my card.
So I am guessing a 9600xt would run on low settings for that game(BF2).

Also, this is an AGP card and most likely you will be getting into a PCI-E card(pci-express). Take a look at the x800 series, you can find some decent cards for around $170 . Not a bad card here.

Edit: When you are talking video cards, you need to pay attention to 1) Pipelines 2) GPU speeds 3) Memory Speeds and finally 4) Memory size i.e 128 mb, 256mb, etc.

[ApacNTS]

see i knew none of this, i thought that 9800xt was pretty good, if you hadnt of told me i would have been SOL. that is a nice card and the price actually isnt bad with the mail in rebate. it fits withing the requirments for f.e.a.r. which are as of now:

MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIRED
· Windows®XP or 2000 with latest service pack installed
· DirectX®9.0c (June Edition) or higher
· Pentium® 4 1.7 GHz or equivalent processor
· 512 MB of RAM or more
· 64 MB GeForce™ 4 Ti or Radeon® 9000 video card
· Monitor that can display in 4:3 aspect ratio
· 5.0 GB free Hard Drive Space for installation
· Additional hard drive space for a swap file and saved game files
· 4x CD-ROM drive (DVD-ROM drive for Director's Edition)
· 16-bit DirectX® 9.0 compliant sound card with support for EAX™ 2.0
· Broadband or LAN connection for multiplayer games
· Mouse
· Keyboard

RECOMMENDED HARDWARE
·Pentium® 4 3.0 GHz or equivalent processor
·1 GB RAM
·A 256 MB Radeon® 9800 Pro or equivalent DirectX® 9 compliant video car with hardware T&L and pixel shader 2.0 support

SUPPORTED CHIPSETS
ATI® Radeon® 9000 Series, Radeon® 9500 Series, Radeon® 9600 Series, Radeon® 9700 Series, Radeon® 9800 Series, Radeon® X600 Series, Radeon® X700 Series, Radeon® X800 Series, Radeon® X850 Series

Nvidia GeForce™ 4Ti Series, GeForce™ FX 5900 Series, 600 Series, 6800 Series, 7800 Series


sidenote: battlefield 2 caught my eye as well, it looked amazing, i never played bf1, but i think i would jump right into bf2.

[JunkBarMan]

see i knew none of this, i thought that 9800xt was pretty good, if you hadnt of told me i would have been SOL.

Your link said 9600xt bro, not sure if you have a type-o or not. But if it was a 9800xt 256 mb, I would say go for it.

Edit:
RECOMMENDED HARDWARE
·Pentium® 4 3.0 GHz or equivalent processor
·1 GB RAM
·A 256 MB Radeon® 9800 Pro or equivalent DirectX® 9 compliant video car with hardware T&L and pixel shader 2.0 support

Yeah you see right there, they are telling you: If you want to enjoy this game how it was meant to be played, meet and beat these recommendations.

[ApacNTS]

oh shit, i never even saw it. i swore it was 9800xt, well that explains the price now. wow talk about egg on my face, played out for the world to see. *laughs* im literally speechless right now. now i have to learn about amd stuff, a whole new world.

edit: i see that all too clearly now, from my perspective im just trying to get my foot in the door of gaming.

[JunkBarMan]

ApacNTS my friend you are on the road to enlightenment.

Don't let me burst your bubble here, I just like to take a realistic perspective and I certainly wouldn't want you to buy something that would just screw yourself.

We all work on budgets, some just bigger then others. Make the most of what you got and you can't go wrong.

[ApacNTS]

thank you for the help, im sure i'll have many questions as time follows, but for now im gonna sleep on this, and probably draw up prices at work just to see how steep the hill goes.

[Duffman]

If you want a good computer thats gonna last a couple years, try to double your budget.

[cpt_azad]

ya, atleast 1000 dollars, or you wont be able to enjoy FEAR, or any other game coming out. just save money like crazy.

[lynx]

hmmm see the only problem is the processor would have to do atleast 2.8ghz, really i need it to do 3ghz

No, you don't need that sort of processor speed.
If you get a P4 you will probably want it to run at that sort of speed.
If you want to get the equivalent performance from an AMD Athon64 chip, it only needs to run at about 1.8GHz.

Intel have been shouting about higher clock speeds for years. AMD have been saying better design can give the same performance. Intel now have big problems because their chips are overheating. Meanwhile, AMD chips only need about 60% of the clock speed to achieve the same performance, and consequently they haven't got the same heat consideration.

Consider this - Intel promised a 4GHz P4 by Q2 of this year. Where is it?
Meanwhile AMD have the Athlon 64 FX57 running at 2.8GHz, apply the 60% loading and that's equivalent to about 4.6GHz in a P4. OK, it is expensive, but it exists.

To compare like for like (as near as possible), look at the AMD Athlon 64 3800+ and the Intel Pentium 4 570J. You'll find they have approximately the same performance. I think the AMD chip is probably the one you found running at 2.4GHz. The retail version sells on Newegg for $323. The Intel chip sells for
$632. I rest my case.