Lookin' at getting back into the game...

Hipnotic_Tranz · Post by **Hipnotic_Tranz** » Wed Mar 30, 2011 10:25 am

Hey folks. Long time no see. Well, I'm finally getting settled into my first home that I bought back in June. After a lot of fixing up and making it how I like it I'm nearing the point where I don't have to dump all my 'extra' cash into the house and I can start planning on a few "fun" purchases....instead of tile and paint!

Looking at getting back into the gaming scene. Laugh now cause the last game I really played consistantly was Half-Life 2. I got Far Cry 2 from a buddy and played through it but once I beat it, it was deleted. It's pathetic because I don't even know what the "it" game is right now--a lot of friends on consoles playing COD but I'm still a PC gamer at heart. Heard about Crysis but never seen it and other than that I'm pretty clueless.

So here's the deal--build off what I have now and save a few bucks or build a new system? My machine now is a Shuttle SN27 box I put together some 4 years ago in college when I wanted something small in size that I could move around easily. I feel like technology doesn't move as fast as it did in my 'hayday' during the late 90's so it may be possible to just build off what I have with more RAM and a new card vs. a new machine all together. So, the important specs in short are:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ 3GHz
2gig RAM
Radeon x1950 Pro 512mb

So what are your thoughts? My concerns are with the shuttle box having a smaller PSU; I'm unsure of the power consumption of newer cards (runs my x1950 fine) and physical size of the card may also be a concern, I'll have to look at what I'm dealing with again.

As always, I appreciate all the thoughts and it's great to post on the boards again!

DaMaN · Post by **DaMaN** » Wed Mar 30, 2011 12:46 pm

I'd say get a great deal on AMD AM3 sockets setups now and forget the shuttle. I have some decent deals on ram in my FS/FT thread if you want to trade that shuttle setup in some sort of trade. I am sure more folks will chime in. It would help to know your budget.

Err · Post by **Err** » Wed Mar 30, 2011 1:12 pm

If I had to build a budget PC from scratch, I'd get the following:

Case: COOLER MASTER Elite RC-310-BWN1-GP Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case $39.99
--I like this case because the HD slip in from the side.

Power Supply: CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 (CMPSU-600CX) 600W ATX12V v2.3 Active PFC Power Supply $44.99 after rebate.
--Don't skimp on a PSU. Corsair are very reliable. This 600W unit puts out 40A across the 12V rail.

Motherboard: ASUS M4A87TD/USB3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 AMD Motherboard $92.99
--ASUS makes a reliable, easy to set up board.

Processor: AMD Phenom II X4 840 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor HDX840WFGMBOX $109.99
--Quad Core AMD will runn any game and is great for transcoding using copmatible multithreaded software.

Memory: Crucial 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model CT2KIT25664BA1067 $44.99
--While this board can handle 1333, 1600, and higher DDR3, you're probably not going to see the speed diffence anywhere except benchmarks.

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black WD5002AALX 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive $59.99

Windows 7 Home: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754 $99.99

Video Card: MSI R5770 Hawk Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card $144.99
--The 5770 cards are good midrange cards.

DVD Drive: LITE-ON Black 24X $22.99

Grand Total: $670.91 (645 after mail-in rebates)

Shipping will probably be ~$25.00

If you can recycle any drives or cases, you can save more. If you wanted to use your existing case, ASUS makes a micro AM3 board. However, you'll have problems getting a card you like that will fit. Honestly, they system you have is sufficient to get back into gameing. You'll just have to balance your resolution and details so you have an acceptable frame rate.

Hipnotic_Tranz · Post by **Hipnotic_Tranz** » Wed Mar 30, 2011 2:08 pm

Thanks for the suggestions thus far. Budget is around $5-600. I'm pretty ignorant with the latest and greatest which is why I was coming here for some opinions before I dive deep into research. I still have my old Lian-Li case that I never got rid of when I went with the Shuttle so the case is covered. Likely need a new PSU with all the power hungry devices now-a-days but a buddy of mine has one he's wanting to part with so I'll probably get a good deal from him.

Looks like my budget is totally do-able to get a decent gaming machine back up and running. Mine's not aweful but I'm seeing the badass graphics in some of the newer games and I'm jealous--starting to get sucked back into the scene!

normalicy · Post by **normalicy** » Wed Mar 30, 2011 4:21 pm

I think that $600 is reasonable. I'm a big fan of either the Radeon HD5850/6850 or the Nvidia GTX460 right now. Both are value powerhouses. They will take up 1/4-1/3 of the budget, but that's how it goes on a gaming machine. After that, just make sure you get a dual core or better CPU that can do 2.6+ ghz with 4gb of RAM & you're set for pretty much any game out there.

Honestly, I don't know if there's an universally loved game right now. Crysis is still one of the most demanding games for a computer as of right now. If you're looking at multi-player shooters, then it's either Battlefield: Bad Company, Team Fortress 2, or Call of Duty: Black OPs. If you're talking single player, there are many to choose from. Funny enough, you haven't missed anything on the Half Life front (unless you haven't played the two episodes).

Pugsley · Post by **Pugsley** » Wed Mar 30, 2011 4:36 pm

Get back into gaming... I still only play TF2. Besides, You can go fly a plane if i remember correctly. but PC gaming is probably a lot cheaper then flying.

Executioner · Post by **Executioner** » Wed Mar 30, 2011 6:20 pm

I also play TF2 only. Handle: Oldman1955
I only play on the map WarPath at least 99% of the time.

Hipnotic_Tranz · Post by **Hipnotic_Tranz** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 9:43 am

Right on everyone; looks like I have a good starting point to jump off of from now. Looks like I haven't missed out on much. It really seems that technology has kinda stalled compared to when I was in the scene more; looks like we're staying with the same speeds but just adding more cores.

Pugsly - You're right; a hell of a lot cheaper. It's too bad cause I'd pick flying over dicking around on the computer now-a-days 9 times out of 10 if it weren't for the fact that $200 only gets me about an 1.5/hours in the air. That same $200 can buy me a lot of games!

normalicy · Post by **normalicy** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 10:38 am

Speeds have been about the same (3-4ghz seems to be an upper limit), but yeah, those chips can do a lot more with what they've got though. Video cards on the other hand have skyrocketed in performance. At this point, it's hard to find games to push them unless you've got a very large high res monitor.

Hipnotic_Tranz · Post by **Hipnotic_Tranz** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 2:36 pm

Is that right? That's certainly a polar opposite of how it used to be. Room the grow with a graphics card is a great problem to have!

normalicy · Post by **normalicy** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 2:53 pm

I wouldn't say it's much of an overhead, but only the most intense games these days can push the top end cards for what they're worth. Mid-range cards can pretty much cover all the games (running a few at lower, but still high settings). Problem is that most developers are developing for the console's lower end specs & just porting over to PC & thus really don't push the PCs much.

Hipnotic_Tranz · Post by **Hipnotic_Tranz** » Fri Apr 01, 2011 7:38 am

Meh, I was afraid of that. Fact is there's more money and it's easier for developers to do consoles

I just can't stand the whole feel of consoles where they baby you through the entire game, telling you where to go, what to pickup, etc; maybe it's just me but I like to roam around and find my own way. That and I have terrible accuracy with a controller.

normalicy · Post by **normalicy** » Fri Apr 01, 2011 11:14 am

You & I are on the same plain. Fortunately, not everyone is doing that. Valve has very much stuck to their roots fortunately. A few other companies as well. On top of that, it appears that some of the companies have realized the mistake & are trying to rectify it before they lose their PC audience.