Information!

[dontlookatme]

Helle thar! I have a weird request...heh

Here's my story first!

Back in...2004 (I think) I bought a really nice computer, top notch! (build it myself, woo!) Cost me so much money...but could run every single game out there.

At this time I knew alot about new stuff comming out for PC (video card, mother board..etc) But since then Ive lost interrest in computer and by consequence (holy crap, sp?lol) I have not followed computer technologie at all and now...well...I'm totally lost. Dual core ? Dual Video card ? What the hell! Technologie goes so fast! What brand are better ? Quality vs price ? So many question...so little answer -.-

So I have a question, since I was obviously living under a big rock for 3-4 years, do any of you know a good website with informations about lastest technologie/price that could help me get back on track...

Hey, thanks you in advance :-)

[Mark]

Skimike's gonna rip you a new one.

In short, just a month or two ago (hell, perhaps even now) I would have recommended:

Video card: ONE VIDEO CARD

nVIDIA MAKE

8800GT MODEL

CPU: DUAL-CORE CPU

INTEL MAKE

CORE 2 DUO MODEL

...

And then everything else you need. But once again, things are changing so ignore everything I just typed and petition Al Gore for your time back. He might be able to refund it. Might.

[dontlookatme]

Who is Skimike o.O

Well, hi Mark, I'm actually building a Time Travel thingy machine, might be the best solution for me actually! Well, until Aion come out, at least! No wait...I could just fast foward instead...DAMN IT! Go back, or go foward

[Mark]

Lucky you.

Skimike is the resident computer genius here.

[plasma06]

computers thesis days have a life span of 22 years before you have too update for the lattes games.
have a look at what some sites are selling then look up the info of the mobo and gup that is in the package too find out what you like.
P.S. you can only go back in time

[Vydren]

Well if we take a look into the near future we can see some pretty nice peaces of hardware coming out.

First off I would strongly suggest getting Nvidia and Intel.

For your Video card I would recommend waiting till Q1 of next year, for the 9 series cards to come out for Nvidia, there going to be the same price as the 8 series cards but two times faster.

For your processor it's kinda preference issue, either Dual or Quad. So far Dual is destroying the market and Quad is still poking it's head out of the hole. Although we are told that most games will be optimized for Quad Core technologies in the near future. So you can make the decision yourself, either way both processors will be very good.

As for the RAM I would suggest DDR2 although DD3 will be used very soon. But anyway, you should have at least 2 Gigs of RAM. And remember to get the DDR2-800 or the DDR2-1000

A good site to look at is Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more! or TigerDirect.com Best Deals - Computer Parts, PC Components, Computers & Electronics for prices and or buying the hardware.

The Mobo is completely up to you, and since you have had a history of making computers you should know how to get a compatible Mobo

Hope that info help out some and hope you get a uber cool PC

[skimike]

Like the folks above me said...can't really recommend anything beyond that. The Intel E6850 is dirt cheap and is the fastest dual-core out there at the moment. The NVIDIA 8800GT is an amazing amount of performance for an amazing price. It's not the absolute fastest card but it's probably 90% of the performance of the 8800GTX which can be more than twice as expensive.

You can always wait for something better. 9-series video cards. New motherboard chipsets. New hard drives. Whatever. When you're really ready to buy, the best thing you can do is make a wishlist on Newegg and then point us at it for review.

Good sites for info (the first 3 are the best but the rest are in no particular order):

AnandTech: your source for hardware analysis and news
Tom's Hardware - Computer Hardware News, Tests, Ratings and Reviews
[H]ard|OCP - www.hardocp.com
DailyTech
Ars Technica
Sharky Extreme
VR-Zone : Technology Beats - Home
nVIDIA Geforce 8800 8600 7950 7900 7600 GT GTX AMD ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT x1950 x1900 2400 2600 XT Pro - Guru of 3D: PC Hardware Reviews
The INQUIRER - microprocessors, servers, memory, PCs, graphics, networking, storage
ExtremeTech - Deep technology for enthusiasts and professionals
Welcome to nV News - An NVIDIA Fansite
[Phoronix] Linux & Solaris Hardware Reviews
Welcome to the Frontpage
PlanetAMD64 Home Page

There's a bunch more that I am forgetting and I've completely excluded sites like overclockers.com.

As for getting angry, not me. Besides, the avatar is like an automatic get-out-of-jail-free card.

[Yakuzan]

Staying up-to-date on all computer technologies both at there physical state(parts) and about what's going on the internet has become almost impossible in my opinion. I remember in 1997 I had 64mb memory and the computer costed over 2,000$...surfing on a 56k speed connection enjoying the few forums that have been created in that time... Now look at 2007 lol.

[Diablo]

True enough Yak, but a weekly perusal of Toms Guide or Hardware can keep you more or less up to date so you don't go into an update blindly.

[skimike]

Once upon a time, I spent $600 an 8MB stick of RAM. Now you can buy 8GB for $160. I want my $600 back.

[Knite]

Since we're on the topic of new technologies, whats the deal with PCI express 2.0? I understand it transmits twice as fast (something like 5GB/s), the new 8800GT are 2.0 but x16 can still read them (which leads me to wonder if that 90% performance of a 8800GTX was based on x16 or 2.0) but I haven't seen any MBs for sale with the 2.0 slots.

Is there any info I'm missing or I've got out of place? Anything else to add?

[Diablo]

Originally Posted by skimike

Once upon a time, I spent $600 an 8MB stick of RAM. Now you can buy 8GB for $160. I want my $600 back.

LOL spent $300 on a 20GB HD and X4 CD burner.

Today $29 for the HD and I cant find a X4 burner but a X8 goes for $15.

Originally Posted by knite16

Since we're on the topic of new technologies, whats the deal with PCI express 2.0? I understand it transmits twice as fast (something like 5GB/s), the new 8800GT are 2.0 but x16 can still read them (which leads me to wonder if that 90% performance of a 8800GTX was based on x16 or 2.0) but I haven't seen any MBs for sale with the 2.0 slots.

Is there any info I'm missing or I've got out of place? Anything else to add?

There are a few PCI 2.0 boards out there, X38 from Intel and AMD 790FX sets. But the only reason to really get one is to make use of your bleeding edge videocard or to future proof your PC.

[Ipmia]

If you want to build a new computer follow what been said above.. and wait for Q1 when vista will get SP1 ( and DX10.1). that when the new GFX cards will show up ( series 9).

also probably the MB will be more turned to the futur ( DDR3 and PCI-E 2.0)

Dual core is the best gamming cpu atm no doubt, although in a long term bet i went for a quad core.

[skimike]

I'm getting flashbacks of AGP 4x vs 8x. Big performance improvements in terms of theoretical numbers but not a lot of real-world performance difference. It matters for things like RAID cards but not quite as much for video cards where latency of transfer is more an issue than bandwidth. Recall that the 8800GTX which supposedly required x16 worked just fine in 8x slots with no observable performance degradation.

I think PCIe 2.0 also includes virtualization support and possibly support for more power-hungry graphics cards. I don't know if the last one ever made it into the spec or not and isn't really a big deal as high-end graphics cards will always outpace interconnect technology and demand external power anyway.

I think my first hard drive was 20MB and cost around $500. It was a TrumpCARD SCSI controller + drive for the Amiga 500.

[Diablo]

If you can get a motherboard that can support both DDR3 and DDR2 but unless you are an over clocking fiend I would stick to DDR2. Performance wise they are about the same, ATM, expense wise DDR3 costs alot more.

Down the road DDR3 will win out but it will not be worth the added expense for another year or 2. Like with PCI 2.0 a board that supports DDR3 as well is just another form of future proofing your PC.

Down the road you swap in new CPU new Memory and card but all the rest can stay as is. Saving you some cash and allowing you to upgrade piece meal.