Jordandhs

k i am planning to build a desktop computer, i want a crazy desktop what do i need?

all i know is i need

CPU chip (Intel 4 extreme edition 1066Mhz)
motherboard (don't know, but wut the different?)
Case (want one that sit like DVD player)
HDD (around 200GB)
RAM memory (2GB)
sound card (the creative sound blaster Audigy2 ZS pro)
Graphic card (ATI X800XT 256MB)
combo CD drive is enough
cooling (liquid cool sound nice but fan is okay
power (400Watts can do the job i guess)
WINDOW XP pro

so wut else do i need to bulid a computer?
thx

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JAmerican

Get a TV tuner. That way you can record your programs and view them on your device.

JAmerican

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JAmerican

Handspring Treo 90 --> Royal RG135nx --> T-Mobile Sidekick --> T-Mobile Sidekick Color --> PEG-UX40 -- > PEG-UX50--> Samsung T629 (Returned) -- > Palm TX (SOLD)/T-Mobile Sony Ericsson T610(Defective) --> T-Mobile Dash(Broken Screen) --> ASUS EEE 1000H Black/Treo 800w/PEG-VZ90

Accesories: Transcend 16GB SDHC | 8GB Transcend microSD

neogin

dvdrw +/- .. to burn movie dvd

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What can I?

Karim

lol. Awesome.

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zackepceo

Don't use Intel is my advice.

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"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism."

JackAxe

I second that.

<]=)

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The Dread Pirate Monkey Gizmo has scurvy! :)

Nintendo DS and Wii, me gaming machines of choice.

SamuraiCatJB

AMD64's are REAL cheap right now, prices are dropping fast since the announcement of the AMD64x2 coming in a few months. Plus a 939 board will give you access to AMD64x2 upgrade path (single generation upgrade path, which is decent), whereas an Intel will have no upgrade path.

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And now, Grandfather, I ask you to bless the White Man. He needs your Wisdom, your guidance. You see, for so long, he has tried to destroy my people, and only feels comfortable when given power. Bless them, show them the peace we understand, teach them humility. For I fear they will someday destroy themselves and their children, As they have done so Mother Earth. I plead, I cry. After all, They are my Brothers.... ~ Prayer ~

Rampax

I agree. If you have the money to get an intel extreme, then get a AMD FX processer instead. Many programs that will come out in the near future will require 64bit processing (theres a rumor floating around that longhorn will only be 64bits). Also, with the 64bit processor, you can support up to 4gb/processor of ram, rather than 2gb.

If you have the money, get the new 512Mb nvidia geforce card instead. This gives you the edge in gaming. Also have you considered the raid format for your hard drives. Depending on your spending budget, (~$1600 USD for the HDD only) you can get a 1.4 TB hard drive system with ultimate performance and security. Of course smaller hard drives costs less (~$200 USD)

Also, consider what monitor you want to use. The big bulky monitors that weigh about 40 pounds for a 21 inch are likely to be better for gaming (especially shooters) than a lower end LCD monitor which costs about the same.

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Karim

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blues

Without question, get a Plextor DVD burner. If you want the best drive out there, Plextor is the best. Who else upgrades their drive firmware as often as Plextor does? Nobody.
http://plextor.com/english/products...drw_drives.html

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zackepceo

I agree..

10.

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"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism."

SamuraiCatJB

Although I agree it is bad advice, each one are simple exaggerations of actual advice. The bulky CRT monitors, although I hate them, and were glad to be rid of them, have been a choice of 1st person frag matches. But only if they can be tuned to 120hz and color and resolution tuned specially. I've seen some of hte players playing these in special modes and it is wierd, they are not looking for detail, they are looking for motion only. But in all of his advice you really have to be an obsessed, single track mind, hard-core gamer to follow such things -- but those people do exist *sigh*.

I got my RAID at work at far less costs, 1.6TB. I do recommend RAIDs for those who need speed (or reliability), but if you want to save money on RAID, plan it, don't just plop down as much money as you can on multi-disk. RAID theory is that you are trying to maximize the theoretical bandwidth to the RAID card/chip while splitting the signal and sending it to slower drives that cannot handle that kind of bandwidth. But again, you have to be a single minded, hard-core gamer to want such a monstrosity without need. I easily process a TB of data a year, so I actually have a need -- and this is the 3rd above 1 TB system I have put together for work. At home, I haven't this need -- research in 3D requires a nice system, but I am not processing mult-TB datasets at home.

There are people who buy the FX chip, it is hugely expensive and outperforms Intel.... but I have never bought top of hte line for home. I am not in frag-matches, but my system is still "decent". The computer company I buy from tried to talk me into buying an FX chip instead of planning an upgrade to dual core. Although their reasoning was "sound" -- if I was only interested in gaming speed, completely obsessed with outperforming everyone on the market enough to lay down that kind of money, sure, maybe. But my problem is more complex than that, I have been desperately trying (and failing mostly) to fit my hobby and research stuff onto a single processor. I come from a largely SMP environment (Symmetric Multi-Processing). Although I am going X2, I don't recommend that to others until industry catches up on the software side -- then prices will be cheaper and more software to use it. FX chips again are for single minded gaming obsessed folks who have to beat the jones' in benchmarks and frag matches. But those folks do exist.

The 512 ultra, like the FX is only for bragging rights, or obsessions, or very specific purposes. There is one game on the market who can use it, and only in one mode. Doom3 in ultra-high detail uncompressed texture mode. If you are a hard-core gamer like all the other things above, you wouldn't touch one of these with a 10 foot pole. A hard-core gamer would be going for 120hz speed, low detail to frag oponents. Memory on a card for ultra realistic texturing is not an issue he would consider. Plus the next higher mode in doom is near indestinguisable to the uncompressed mode, and is actually faster because of moving around all that graphics texture memory in uncompressed mode slows you down. So who pays twice the cost for slower performance? Someone obsessed with paying the most, bragging about their machine, or someone with a specific need.

There is midpoint in price/performance anyone pricing computers should look for and start at. Anytime you think of going higher, ask yourself is the price worth what that buys me, and do I understand what that buys me. If 10% improvement in speed is worth 40% increase in price then go for it. But I don't recommend anyone go out and spend $5000 on the above equipment just to brag to their neighbors that they spent $5000 on the ultimate gaming machine. Plus, the military buys me the real ultimate gaming machine at work, so you are out of luck anyway -- they have the real money, so everyone can save their money and go for what they need, cause if you try to out-do my machine at work, you will go broke long before the military does.

__________________
And now, Grandfather, I ask you to bless the White Man. He needs your Wisdom, your guidance. You see, for so long, he has tried to destroy my people, and only feels comfortable when given power. Bless them, show them the peace we understand, teach them humility. For I fear they will someday destroy themselves and their children, As they have done so Mother Earth. I plead, I cry. After all, They are my Brothers.... ~ Prayer ~

SamuraiCatJB

Oh, and BTW... for those confused on memory. 32 bit processing limits you to 4gig of addressable memory space. It is Windows XP that utilizes equal "virtual memory" and "real memory" that limits you to 2 gig (2gig real + 2gig virt == 4gig addressable). So, in reality 64bit doesn't buy you addressable space equal to 4gig, it buys you addressable space beyond 4 gig. There is a hack to fool windows into providing only 1 gig of virtual memory and allow you 3gig of addressable real memory -- but I also hear it leaves windows more unstable.

64bit OS buys you more memory, but so far even more instability, fewer programs running safely, and massive headaches from lack of 3rd party support. If you want to think 64bit, buy one capable of switching later, don't jump 64bit OS tomorrow -- give it a chance to stablize.

__________________
And now, Grandfather, I ask you to bless the White Man. He needs your Wisdom, your guidance. You see, for so long, he has tried to destroy my people, and only feels comfortable when given power. Bless them, show them the peace we understand, teach them humility. For I fear they will someday destroy themselves and their children, As they have done so Mother Earth. I plead, I cry. After all, They are my Brothers.... ~ Prayer ~

JackAxe

Besides a hack, could also only be possible, because a P4 can actually address 36-bit physical memory?

<]=)

__________________

I be a hearty pirate that plunders many waffles.

The Dread Pirate Monkey Gizmo has scurvy! :)

Nintendo DS and Wii, me gaming machines of choice.