BleepingComputer.com: gaming pc

guys i'm planning to buy a gaming pc. the budget is within $800-900. the use is gaming and a bit of browsing, downloading and programming.

the pc should be able to play games for atleast the next 2-3 years. and i'm planning to connect pc to plasma tv through hdmi cable.
please suggest the optimum configuration. 19inch monitor, intel pc. don't include software prices(vista or xp).
i'll play games for about 3-4hrs at a stretch. so the pc shouldn't hang or get heated up or cause other problems.
i also have a question. if i buy a 3metre hdmi cable to connect pc to plasma tv(42 inch ) and a ps2 type usb joystick. while playing games will there be a lag? since game uses graphics and also hdmi uses graphics will there be a lag or will the pc hang or cause any other problems. please reply.
thanks in advance. waiting for your best configurations.

This post has been edited by narasimhan: 08 February 2009 - 11:13 PM

Personally, this setup is kind of a personal preference type thing. Motherboards, for gaming and performance I only use Gigabyte and ASUS boards, because I trust them and know they perform. Processor wise, Im an AMD fan, Im not anti-intel at all, ive used several intel processors that Ive loved-however, in most areas including gaming, ive found my AMD processors to offer similar performance for far less money invovled. in my opinion, intel and AMD are comparable, but AMD is cheaper which is the deciding factor for me. Video card wise, Im an ATI fan boy, Nvidia cards are decent but overrated in my opinion, they offer extremely high framerates but i think the ati still handles a solid framerate and offers a slightly better image quality, especially when playing HD content, like you said you would be doing. If you go with ATI, I would recomend buying the card from Saphire, ive had good luck with them, and if you go Nvidia, EVGA makes a good card. Memory wise, the 4 brands I trust are OCZ, Corsair, Patriot, and G-skill. of those, OCZ is really high priced, usually priced higher then what you think I get, performance wise and reliability wise I think corsair and patriot are about equal but patriot is a little cheaper but not as user friendly (you have to manually set the timings) and g-skill being at the bottom of my list but still good memory. I personally use Patriot in all my builds because I find it to be the best price for my dollar usually. as far as an HDMI cable, I know with ATi you have to have an adaptor, and I believe its the same with the new Nvidia cards. I know some of the older 9000 series cards had an HDMI slot built in, which is a nice feature, but I dont think youll notice any difference between that and an adaptor. as far as powersupplies go, theres a few good ones out there, just make sure they supply the needed wattage and voltage to handle your PC. Good brands are antec, OCZ, corsair, and coolermaster all make good PSUs. Samsung and western digital both make solid hard drives in my opinion. Ill list my system here to give you an example of what Id do for a gaming rig, keep in mind this one was pieced together over time, and is still in the works.

AMD athlon 64 x2 6000+ windsor
Gigabyte m61p-S3 mobo (its a lil older but it does what I need it to, performs well)
2 gigabites of Patriot DDR2 800 4-4-4-12 timings (plan on upgrading to 8 when I get the money)
WD 500 GB SATA II Hard drive
Saphire 3870 x2 video card
IDE CD burner and a IDE DVD burner (will be upgraded to a sata II blueray burner combo drive when I get the money)
Coolermaster 750 watt PSU.
Viewsonic 22 inch. widescreen monitor
windows vista ultimate 64 bit

Total cost=$1500 (over time, prolly worth around 800 now if I were to build the exact system today)

thats just an example, but keep in mind these are my preferences, and whatever you build make sure its something your going to be happy with cuz in the end thats what matters-not everyone elses opinion of it. all the brand names I listed I can vouch for in reliability but there probably are other brands that are just as good out there. so take your time, research your parts, and build one youll be happy with. :D

Thanks for the reply i'll think about amd. But i'm considering intel. So i'm waiting for intel configuration. So guys please reply thanks in advance

well if you go intell Gigabyte and ASUS both make good intel boards as well, and they both make SLI and crossfire enabled boards. problem is intel is a lil pricier, u want a quad or a duo? that can be a bit of a mess as well. here is a potential build suggestion for a intel core2 setup (i put in a core2duo here)

motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...6813128358(this is a crossfire enabled board to allow for future expansion)

Processor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819115056 (this is a core2 duo wolfdale core at 2.93 ghz)

Memory: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820220353 (this is ddr2 but it runs almost as fast as ddr3)

Video: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814102810 (good card, crossfire and crossfireX supported for future expansion)

Power:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341019

Hard drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16822136149

Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16811147075 (this is just a generic mid tower ATX case that will do the job, theres fancier out there if you want it)

DVD drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16827106228 this is a good, cheap dvd burner drive.

all this plus a fan runs to around 800 bucks after shipping is done. if you wanted quad core, if you wanted the latest non extreme edition quad available the http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819115130 then it runs you up to around 1000 dollars, but you can lower that by dropping other features like say lower grade memory or a lesser video card. if you want the extreme edition (or i7) your talking around 1000 dollars just for the CPU. anyway, if I were to do a intel gaming rig for the price range you indicated, that is what I would do. if you wanted an nvidia SLI setup, youd have to use a different motherboard and card, (id recomend EVGA) but your looking at roughly the same price.

Thanks . I'll check and reply

thanks dude the configuration u have given is one among the best.
do i need any extra cooling system cause as i have said i play games for 4-5 hrs at a stretch or is the fan enough?
and also no one answered this question
i also have a question. if i buy a 3metre hdmi cable to connect pc to plasma tv(42 inch ) and a ps2 type usb joystick. while playing games will there be a lag? since game uses graphics and also hdmi uses graphics will there be a lag or will the pc hang or cause any other problems. please reply.
one more doubt since games for pc is different from ps3. can i play gta 4(and other games) using joystick without using mouse/keyboard. cause in ps3 there is auto aim but pc uses mouse controlled manual aim. so will the game experience be different in ps3 and pc(joystick)?

I would say use as much cooling as you can, if theres a fan mount install a fan there to much cooling cant hurt. if you know what ur doing and have extra money liquid cooling couldnt hurt, but a couple 120 mm fans (one intake and one exhaust) in that case shoud do fine, and if i recall in the case i recomended it already came with one with mounting points for one more. as for the length of the cable, in english thats around 9 feet right, well ive never worked with HDMI cables, but I imagine if they make them that long their supposed to be wicked good, so I would think in theory your cable should not provide any kind of lag issue, but I might be wrong there, best way to find out is to try it and if it causes problems move the computer in closer. more then likely on a screen that big the video card would be the limiting factor, but considering the fact that the 4870 is a very powerful card I doubt youll have any problem with that either-and if you desire a better framerate later on you can always crossfire in another card. as far as joystick most games have options where you can control everything via usb joystick np usually in the game settings, another option is xbox 360 controllers can be plugged into a PC and used as a game controller in most any game, and if your running windows XP or 32 bit vista you can actually take a xbox game controller and splice it together with a USB port and use that, using a custom driver u can find online however it wont work with 64 bit vista. but yeah a usb joystick or game controller should work though im not sure u can find one with a 3 meter cable. :D

and yes there will be some difference between a ps3 game and a pc game, they are configured slightly different. the big difference is PS3 uses analog controls, while, like with a mouse is digital and actually makes for a faster response time. personally I typically prefer PC games to console games, but there are many who disagree with me. :D

I dont disagree wouldn,t use a console if you gave it me ................ in fact I have just refused one off my kiddies uncle

thanks man. my friend has a 3m(9 feet) hdmi cable to connect to his monitor (he didn't use normal monitor cable cause he said hdmi gives high graphics and is much better). the max resolution that tv supports is 1024 X 768. so even though its 42inch tv since the resolution is less i thing the graphics card 4870 will handle it.

u havn't suggested a ups. in my area there is frequent voltage fluctuations so ups is a must so suggest a good one.

to be honest I have no experience with those and cannot in any kind of honesty recomend one that would work for that, I do not use them myself. wish I had one, but I really dont know much about them or how they would work. I would assume you would need one with higher voltage then your PSU draws, and those can get quite pricey. you can find them at newegg and tiger direct, but I really dont know which ones to buy and which ones not to, sorry.

Brand wise, I've had good luck with APC, and Belkin UPS's.
These are something you'll have to do a little research on, to find the one that suits your needs.
There are a lot of different features to choose from, so you'll have to decide what works best for you.

APC has a UPS Selector that will give you an idea of what you might need.
Just plug in your computer specs, desired run time during power failure, and % of extra power for future expansion.

A UPS will have 2 types of outlets.
Some will only be surge protected, and some will be surge protected with battery backup.
Make sure to get one with a sufficient number, of the type of outlets you'll need.
Some also come with RJ11 Phone/DSL& RJ45 Ethernet & Coaxial surge protection, so that's something else you need to consider.

Most come with software that allow you to set it up, to automatically close all open applications, and shut down the computer, in the event of a power failure.
If you set it up to do that, then the "desired run time during power failure" option, becomes less critical.

The APC site.
The Belkin site.
Belkin also sells a few discontinued models that can be picked up for a pretty decent price.

There are other brands, but I have no experience with them.
Reading the reviews on some of the other brands, at NewEgg, might give you some other options to choose from.

thanks man. i was thinking of apc since it can handle fluctuations. since u have also suggested it. i will go for it. i think 650watts(VA) will do or do i need a 800(VA)?

What does the UPS Selector suggest?
It should give you an idea of what's needed.
From there, it's just a matter of finding the one, that has all of the connections you need.