Build An Awesome Gaming PC... (12/16/2007)

A gaming computer is almost like building and modding a hot rod was for earlier generations. Simply put, a gaming PC is all about power, pure and simple. I've gone about selecting what I would look for today in a gaming PC by using a couple rules of thumb:

The video card and the RAM are the two most important parts of any gaming machine. I would argue that more RAM is absolutely more worthwhile an investment than a marginally faster processor. Without enough RAM, your gameplay will end up being slow and choppy and unenjoyable. Invest in RAM.

Video cards for good gaming machines generally have 256 MB of memory or more; look also for the most recent GPU (Graphic Processing Unit) out there, as they tend to render graphics much more rapidly than older cards with the same amount of memory. Keeping up-to-date on video cards is an important part of keeping a top-line gaming machine.

You don't necessarily have to own the fastest processor for your gaming machine; as long as it's coupled with decent RAM and a good video card, you should be fine. Also, the hard drive needs to be somewhat large, as game installations can take close to 1 GB of data by themselves.

Having the most recent version of DirectX is also critical to any game-playing machine.

Here is my up-to-date list of parts for your high-end gaming machine. If you purchase all of the recommended parts, you will undoubtedly have one of the fastest machines available on the market today.

Type Part Reasoning Price
Case PowerUp Midtower ATX Case; w/ 500W PSU An attractive midtower case built of steel; the case locks and is optimized for cooling. Also includes a powerful power supply for gaming. $39.99
CPU AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ (Socket AM2) A fast, reasonably priced dual-core processor. Also has twice the cache size at 2MB, which will let your system run even faster. $151.99
CPU fan Thermaltake Max Orb CPU fan  Even though the processor above includes a fan, the much higher air-flow and quieter operation is definitely worth the money.  $29.99
Motherboard MSI K9N SLI Motherboard This motherboard comes with all the options you could possibly need, with RAID, SLI, Firewire and many more features. It also uses a very good chipset and is made by a quality company. $129.99 
Memory Crucial Ballistix 2 GB PC2-6400 DDR2 RAM I recommend getting 2 of these, for a total of 4 GB of memory. The memory also comes with heat dissipaters, keeping it cool and allowing it to last longer.  2 x $49.99 
Video Card EVGA GeForce 8800 GTS Superclocked / 640MB GDDR3 Video Card This is one of the best video cards available, period. It has the best memory type (GDDR3) available for video cards, plus it also has one of the few chipsets designed for the new DirectX 10.   $364.99
Hard Drive Seagate 250GB SATA-II Hard Drive Good amount of storage; will work perfectly with the motherboard    $74.99
Monitor Hanns·G 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor I think a widescreen monitor is necessary for gaming, as it allows different game settings and also gives you more workspace overall.   $239.99 
Sound card CreativeLabs Sound Blaster Audigy Se Sound card Noticeably improves sound performance versus a motherboard sound card.   $29.99
Speakers Altec Lansing VS3251 5.1 6-Piece Gaming Speaker System Allows you to achieve true surround sound in your gaming setup, allowing you to more fully enjoy all of your video games.   $59.99
DVD Drive Lite-On Super-Multi LH20A1H Lightscribe DVD Burner Supports all common DVD and CD formats; it also allows you to burn dual-layer DVDs and also uses the Lightscribe technology   $34.99
Keyboard / Mouse Logitech Cordless Desktop S510 Keyboard and Mouse Combo Very similar to my current keyboard/mouse setup. Allows you a lot more mobility and use versus a tethered setup.   $44.99
Windows Windows XP Home Edition with Service Pack 2 For reasons that I explained elsewhere, I still think that Windows XP should be used. However, this system is more than 100% Vista capable when you decide to upgrade.  $89.99
     TOTAL $1,391.86
    Comparable Dell XPS 410 $2,426

 

This is a bargain for the type and quality of components that you recieve. As you see by the Dell comparison (the Dell option would cost even more with tech support!), it can really pay off financially to learn how to build your own PC.

Here again are my complete recommendations for building your computer with quality parts at a low price!

 

Tip: If you are looking to slightly lower the above recommended price, I would suggest looking for a video card in the $150-$200 range. You'll definitely notice a performance drop, but you'll save over $100. The only other thing you could do without severely changing the machine is not purchasing a sound card and going with the motherboard's on-board sound.