I am finally planning out my gaming rig.

[Red October1984]

I probably wont have it until next summer when i get a summer job, but i am going to plan it out now.


I would like a high end budget build. Something powerful enough to run SH5 and ArmA 2 and 3. If we can accomplish that, I'll be happy.

I will create a MS Word document for all this. So, if i can have some help here....


I have been digging around other websites, but would like more options.

[CCIP]

Well, if it's next summer, you might as well wait until next summer. Hardware does change pretty drastically, as do the prices for it. What might be a good deal now will probably not be a good deal anymore next summer.

But you don't have to spend a fortune on it either. You build an entry-level gaming rig for as little as $600 or so (as long as you're willing to compromise on some things and possibly upgrade later).

[Red October1984]

Ok then. If that is the case, I should wait.

Is there a rough idea i can get and start from there?

[Herr-Berbunch]

I'd just wait and try to pile up the cash, start looking around spring, really is no point doing it now, all it takes is another tsunami and depending on where it hits it could double the price of a particular component.

Tease yourself, and dream, but wait to get your hopes up.

[CCIP]

Just set a budget goal. There's always gonna be something for your budget. I'm also hoping to build a new PC by next year, and I have no idea what it's going to be yet, except that I'm capping my budget at $1000 that I'm willing to sink into it. The only thing that I'm really shooting for at the moment is making sure that it has an SSD and/or a very fast main HD, mostly because I learned my lesson with that from my previous build. If I were buying one now, I'd also be aiming for a reasonably-priced Intel processor (probably in the upper range of the i5) and a reasonably-priced mid-upper-range nvidia card. But as Herr-Berbunch said, there's no telling what the price situation with any of those things is going to be like. So just set your budget and keep up with tech news.

[Skybird]

No matter the timetable, one truth remains true: there is little need to go for the latest, the neweset, the most expensive.

New released stuff usually is overpriced, especially in the gfx board department. Here, as well as with CPUs, you can usually find better bang-for-the-buck alternatives when avoiding the latest, and just pick something not old, not not totally new anymore. CPUs, one grade less in the price tree sometimes gives you almost the same performance for much less money. For example I choosed last year the i5 2500 over the i7. Tom's Hardware showed me that the performance is almost en par, but I have saved a hilarious ammount of money. In one year, there will be other CPUs, however.

Don't go for Windows 8. Pick 7.

600 dollars, somebody said above. Well, it'S true when I replace Dollars with Euros. But that is Germany. In America, prices may be slightly different. But 600 credits, yes, that can be done.

8 GB. You are always on the safe side with that, while games consuming 16 probbaly simply do not exist.

[Tchocky]

For most gamers the i7 is simply not something they will ever use. Video-editing, rendering, that kind of stuff is where you want the multi-threading and so on.

It'll be an i5 for me once I get up off my behind and build

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Tchocky

For most gamers the i7 is simply not something they will ever use. Video-editing, rendering, that kind of stuff is where you want the multi-threading and so on.

It might squeeze out a little, a tiny little bit, more from a sim like FSX that after so many incarnations still did not benefit from GPUs (somtimes I think it were idiots working at Microsoft, that sometimes they have done the same mistakes in the franchise again and again and again and again), but I doubt it is worth the additional cost. With "Prepar3d" it might be better, but I have no solid information to what degree Lockheed Martian have optimised the old FSX code for real multi-CPUs. In principle the sim's potential and performance should go right through the ceiling when it could use 4 cores for sure.

But from own experience I must say that an i5 is really enough to run FSX with PMDGs and voluminous clouds from weather addons and with complex airport sceneries. It works, plain and simple.

[Herr-Berbunch]

Originally Posted by Skybird

. . . Lockheed Martian . . .

The truth is out there!

[Skybird]

All you need is wanting to believe!

[Red October1984]

Cool. Thanks guys. I am shooting for something good next summer. I have a windows 7 disc that came with my laptop, it says that it will only work on samsung PC's. Can i use that or will i need to buy a new operating system disc?

[Herr-Berbunch]

Hard to say, some discs will indeed work in another machine, most won't.

At work we've a corporate license for x amount of PCs of any M$ OS from XP up. We only have an upgrade disk for Win 7 (actually, we don't, but the boss doesn't like us doing things the easy way when he may need to reinstall whilst working at home!), so if it's a borked drive I have replaced then I stick an old Dell XP recovery disc in, install XP and then Win 7. Technically we're illegal for a couple of hours whilst I do this, but it is only temporary.

Even if it worked, your license is only for one install so unless you destroyed your laptop install, or bought a separate license, you'd be illegal too. But not temporarily for a couple of hours.

I'd recommend budgeting for a new OS, and I'd recommend the Pro over any Home version. I honestly can't recommend spending extra on Ultimate. Pro here is running at about £100 (~160 usd).

[CCIP]

What's your disc and where'd you get it?

A lot of the windows installs are OEM, and are meant for one-time install, but if you install them again or in another system, they usually work - just that they will pester you about "Your copy of Windows is not genuine!". AFAIK that will not prevent your system from working normally otherwise. You can get rid of that message, either by paying M$ or by doing some google searching. But unless they've changed their policy, that doesn't mean they'll be suing you the moment you see that message.

I still suggest that you get a Windows install with your new system though. If you're getting your system build by someone else, you can always get them to install it OEM for you rather cheaply.

[Red October1984]

I have a buddy who has the Windows 7 Ultimate disc(s), maybe i can use those. I dont know about this licence stuff, but the disc came with the laptop and says: OS Recovery Windows 7 Home Premium SP1. For distribution with Samsung Computers. This disc contains a 64-bit version of the OS.