N3O Age Of Empires and Starcraft 2 Clan

Spending other people's money is always fun ...

So $1300 for a pimped box that can fit your 800 PSU then. I assume that your 21" monitor can support 1680 * 1050, so will work to that. No limits on case size ... and lots of lights are de rigeur!

I will play on the interweb and see what I can find ...

Kaiser, not so sure how prices compare across the Atlantic so I looked at UK prices and then divided by 0.61 to get near to $1,300 ...

I think i7s and S1366 mobos are currently overpriced and you get more bang for your buck with a Core 2 Duo. Also don't go top top end for a graphics card, next tier down is still OP for most people.

Suggested options:

Core 2 duo E8400
Biostar TPower or decent ASUS, Gigabyte board for LGA775 depending on if you plan to OC or not.
Freezer 7 Pro cooler - cheap but good as things twice it's price
4GB OCZ or Corsair RAM - ensure buy a known brand with good latency
Samsung Spinpoint F1 HDD - 1TB will store a lot of lederhosen movies
HD4870 graphics card (x2 is too pricey) or 4850 if money if a bargain
XFi Xtreme Gamer Sound Card - sooooo much better than onboard sound

Cases are very subjective so look yourself. Best brands are Antec, LianLi and Coolermaster.
A set of 5.1 surround speakers (say Logitech or Creative) are well worth the spend.
Any DVD rewriter will do unless you want to go blueray.
Get some decent heat compund for the CPU as well.

You should still have some pennies left for shiny lights and extra fans! I think watercooling (although totally cool) is maybe a bit too much for this build price wise but if you have a good enough case you can add later.

I assume you have XP/Vista etc already.

Let me know what you can pick up locally and we can advise ...

ruminator posted good stuff.
atm, the new stuff (corei7, new chipsets for motherbaords) are still too new to be recommended for normal people to buy (only enthusiasts maybe)
i guess it will take another year until corei7 and stuff will be recommended only, so go with the core2dueo e8400 or an equivalent quad

i don't recommend the HD4870 at all, it is so damn loud and fails at power consumption, takes too much voltage also, even when it's idle , get the GTX275
(btw i got a HD4870, firsthand-expereince, so to speak )

I would buy an Intel Core i5-750 or a Phenom II X4. Also i would never recommend a dual-core for a computer which Kaiser will use a few years. Here i would recommend a quadcore.
Also i wouldn't invest money in an old plattform like 775 and the Intel Core platform isn't only for enthusiasts anymore

[quote=""Comadevil""]
Also i wouldn't invest money in an old plattform like 775 and the Intel Core platform isn't only for enthusiasts anymore[/quote]

it isn't anymore (the corei7)? ye that's why i mentioned the quad core too
i was usnure of the corei7, being new and all but maybe not worth it ?

i'm still a "take an E8400 & overclock it to 4ghz fanboy" :-P

but ye, for a new computer, this wouldn't be too recommendable

i take away my recommendations and resort to comadevil's suggestion

I miss my quadcore

Intel Core platform has different sockets
LGA 1156 supports the mid-class processors and dual-channel ram
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGA_1156

LGA_1366 supports high-end processors and triple-channel ram
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGA_1366

Kaiser should buy an Intel based on LGA 1156 or a Phenom II X4
LGA1156 boards with chipset P55 i have seen already for roundabout 85 € here in Germany

Thanks for all the input, guys! In about 2 weeks I will have the cash to start buying. Currently, I have my eye on a quadcore. I also really like nVidia graphics cards and I am going whole-hog on that: GTX 295 with 1 Gig of discrete video memory!

I will do my best to work in all the other suggestions and will certainly take some pics before casting off into the world of high-frames-per-second! Of course, despite all my investments, I doubt I will be able to overcome ESO lag ops:

It might be wise 2 save just a little bit on ur hard ware and spend a little more with a diferent ISP. Its ur internet connection that 9/10´s produces the lag. Well in all fairness its everbodies internet connection, ie not just ur own, which will influence gameplay lag.

out

If you're going quad core - go for a Q6600 with GO stepping and get a decent mobo for some overclock ability.

[quote=""ruminator""]If you're going quad core - go for a Q6600 with GO stepping and get a decent mobo for some overclock ability.[/quote]

The i-series of chips petty much beat the pants off the Q6600, and prices are down quite a lot so some are not much more $$$ than the Q6600.

Considering that Kaiser speaks german

http://ht4u.net/reviews/2009/intel_lynn ... 5_core_i7/

Well, I'm working my way through. I should be done by next Wednesday.

Here's what I'm working with at this point:

Processor Intel Core i7 950(3.06GHz)
Processor Main Features 64 bit Quad-Core Processor
Memory 9GB DDR3
Hard Drive 1TB SATA
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285, with 1GB Discrete Video Memory
PSU 800W

I spent a little more than I thought, but when it comes to buying technology, I try to get the best I can at the moment, since it will be obsolete by Christmas.

NINE f´ing gigs of RAM. Woot woot

when I grow up I wanna b like Ben!

Ben, if I ever catch u lagging with ur new pimped up "calculating machine" ( as most germans still refere to the computer - rechner) ur in for some seriously pimped up amount of telling off

My philisophy is simple: if u can afford it, go 4 it. After all its just "just money", and that 2 will b obsolete by christmas; but thats an entirely diferent thread right there.

I could keep on writing but that would just bore the heck out of our members and soon they would just scroll down to the end of this post in order 2 read some1 elses opinion. I do no want 2 bore any more than I have. I would like to take this opportunity to thank them in advance for having taken the time, dedication and perseverance of reading this in the first place. I hope it was as entertaining to read as it was 2 write. And with this in mind I bid the reader farewell and hope 2 make a new encouter with them soon, in another exciting and thrilling post 2 be read somewhere else on these unforgiving forums. Have fun. Stay fanpatched and pls pls pls help change the current affairs regarding lag in that wonderful and peace loving island called Cuba. If u can stretch ur monthly expenses by just another €uro feel free 2 sponser a little Cuban in exchange for Christmas pictures of him and his 13 brothers trying 2 connet 2 ESO.

out

poor cubans