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I'm fairly new here but I'm going to build a computer I believe very soon. I was wondering what some of the highend Gamer Motherboards are.
Also can anyone answer me on what are the key components of a computer to running a game really well? Thank you for your time.
Running a game really well? A good graphics card usually does the trick. ;)
Well, a good processor, good ram, and the least important is a good hard drive. If it is online gaming, dual lan is supposed to be great for that as I understand it.
Processor: Conroe (Core 2 Duo)
RAM: DDR2 800 (or higher)
HDD: 7200RPM (or higher)
Everything else depends on your price range really. But I would say that those are the basics for a good gaming rig. Are you looking to buy or looking for knowledge?
-SnowFire
Gaming rig eh? High end eh? It seems like you've come knocking on my door =]
Like Snow said, it's basically all in the video card, processor and RAM.
CPU: Core 2 Duo
RAM: Corsair TWINX series
GFX: nVIDIA cards
I'm going with the seagate 7200.10 320gig HDD =]
Oh and if you want a high end mobo. Go with either the Asus Striker Extreme or the Asus P5N32 SLI Se Deluxe. Those are the two top motherboards for the core 2 duo CPU's. I was gonna go with the P5N32 SLI Se Deluxe, but then the Striker was announced. Now i'm waiting til Jan 12th.
If the game you play does a lot of zone loading then a fast HDD is good.
this 32G flash drive from samsung looks like fun to me. Its not big but its wicked fast and stable as hell.
if you really want performance. go with the Gigabyte iRam. But you need a lot of ram and a lot of money lolz. Way too expensive for now... It acts lika a HDD on your RAM =P I think it's like around 130mb/s constant speed.
now that is something i gotta have. imagine a nice raid array built out of those things. who would have guessed ATA66 could kick so much ass :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Cevinzol
as for motherboard, you have a lot of options. anything high end from ASUS, Abit, MSI, DFI, or the likes will serve you well. all of them vary so little in performance, it really just comes down to price and features. I'm an AMD kinda guy myself, but Intel's Core 2 Duo seem to be the way to go right now.
I suggest, for gaming, a Core 2 Duo, good brand name motherboard, at least 1gig of decent ram(preferably low latency), and for an intel systen, any of nVidias 7series card(8800 is you want bragging rights)
i dont see a reason to get SLI unless youve got money to burn. youre better off running one powerful high end card as opposed to 2 mid range cards in SLI. this also leaves the door open for a nice upgrade later on, since its easier to buy one matching card and run the 2 in SLI instead of replacing 2 aged cards
i love bragging rights. me and DaJe might be the first ones on these forums to get them :think: ..... sweet :banana:Quote:
Originally Posted by AKA_RA
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...cture=GigabyteQuote:
Originally Posted by Ronyx
lookin at like 150 bucks for the iram module, and then you will prob want at least a good 2 gigs of ram on it, so.. another few hundred bucks.
but its like twice the speed of a raptor.
NOTE: when buyin ram, low latency ram is good, but.. not worth the money. benchmark my ram (kingston valueram 2.5-3-3-7)against some corsair low latency stuff, (2-2-2-6) and you'd be lucky to get a 1 or 2% increase in framerates.
but.. like others said. its mostly video card. all motherboards are relatively the same, even when they are sold as "gaming motherboards". its most often a sales pitch. But, you need to look at chipsets, because thats what sets a good board apart from garbage. if you're building am2, stick to a nforce 570 or 590 chipset.
you buy a motherboard for options and quality. if i could make one suggestion, stay far away from a motherboard with chipset fans. stick to the new heatpipe designs. those fans are notorious for being annoyingly loud.
when lookin into buyin a gamer comp, you essentially have to look at this.
15% CPU
35% Ram
50% GPU
i'm getting 4-4-4-12 latency RAM and i KNOW that it's gonna be good even tho people say to get around 3-3-3-8. Latency doesn't influence all that much but it doesn't mean you should disregard it. It's more of a guide for getting good RAM.
You have to look at latency in respect to frequency. Here is a nice page that I found that explains what I'm saying. Just stick with DDR2-800 with a CAS latency of 4. Go with 5 if you want to save a bit more money.
Don't forget to get a really good monitor to display all the eye candy. I'm getting the Dell 2007WFP (20" widescreen). It is a pretty good monitor and it is at price I am willing to pay.
For a motherboard, I would go with a nForce 690i chipset on it since Core 2 Duo is hot right now. Depending on your budget, you could go with the 650i chipset.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hot Hardware
What is your budget anyways?
3-3-3-8 is ddr400 timings, 4-4-4-12 would be for decent ddr2-800 ramQuote:
Originally Posted by Ronyx
ok wat about 5-5-5-18?
5-5-5-18 Cas Latency at DDR2-800 is okay, but I wouldn't recommend it. I'd only recommend 5-5-5-18 Cas Latency with DDR2-1000 or higher.
The way system memory works is you want high speeds and low cas latency. Speed being the DDR/DDR2 part and cas latency being the timings.
DDR is 184pin while DDR2 is 240pin. More pins is obviously better but it also allows you to have "dual channel" memory. But just in case you didn't know, you can't put DDR in DDR2 memory slots and vise versa. Also, I am not sure if "dual channel" memory is relative to DDR2 only, but then again I don't think I have ever seen "dual channel" DDR memory. I think you get the "dual channel" from the higher pin count? I'm not entirely sure though. If I am wrong, then someone will correct me.
Everything I just said is, of course, my opinion. I'm sure someone else will have a different one. But if you have any more questions, feel free to ask.
-SnowFire
DDR2 with a CAS latency of 5 is fine. You won't see that big of a difference. Max of 6 fps in games according to this article (Link).
DDR and DDR2 can utilize dual channel. It has nothing to do with the pin count.
I hate to be harsh and pick on you. But... everything you said is NOT your opinion. In that post, they are statements. I don't want people asking questions to get wrong info. Your "opinion" about DDR and dual channel is wrong. That is ok since you later said at the end of the paragraph that you weren't sure and that someone would correct you if you were wrong. But I felt that your last sentence (quoted above in my post) would confuse the reader. The only real opinion you said was recommending 5-5-5-18 for DDR2-1000+. More mobo pins is obviously not better and one should never consider that is a measure of performance. Look at latency and timings for that.Quote:
Originally Posted by "SnowFire
I'm sorry if I was out of line or if I didn't handle this in the right way.
Don't apologize for correcting me. I don't mind at all if people do, but just don't apologize and be like I'm sorry if this was harsh. lol It makes me super uncomfortable. Just tell me I am wrong and then correct me. It's the best way to learn right? :)
But thank you for correcting me! It seems I was a bit off, which you know, happens from time to time. ;)
Ronyx: Just ignore everything I said and listen to Silenced_Coyote. Sorry for giving you false information! I thought I understood it, but apparently not. :p
-SnowFire
lolz well i'm just glad people are replying and not ignoring my questions =]
Silenced_Coyote has helped me a LOT! Most of my decisions on what to buy for a computer were because he recomended it. Thxs dude, you've been a great help =]
Dun worry Snow i haven't forgotten bout you either lolz. You guys are great =]
(it might be the beer talking but hey atleast it's not doing harm)
lolz
Thxs everyone who helped me out =]