New Gaming Box

<b>Introduction</b>

In keeping with the grand tradition of telling you folks the intimate details of the hardware I'm piecing together for a new system, I have created this thread. The rumors are true - I am building a gaming box.

In the following writeup (and in the months and days ahead) I will cover the goals I wish for this system to meet, the constraints I am placing upon it, the parts I intend to use, what finally comes together and, most importantly, how you can adapt my basic design to fit your needs, whatever they may be.

<b>Introduction, Part Two</b>

I was recently approached by my division manager with a simple task - create a computer that's insanely good, and do it with $2,000. The monitor, speakers, and other accessories will be purchased separately. Just the computer. $2,000.

His list of requirements was not short but not overly long. Fast Pentium 4 processor, a gig of RAM, top-of-the-line video and 240 gigs of hard drive space. If we had money for it, a DVD writer would be nice. Nice case, but nothing fancy. USB & FireWire. Preferably on the front.

That was about it. So I started looking, thinking about what to put in it. And it was this system that got me thinking it was time to finally build the gaming box I've been wanting to build.

Using his system requirements as a baseline, I began thinking of my goals and what I would need to change in his system to make it work for me (and my budget).

<b>Goals</b>

Firstly, the system must be fast. But not just fast as in "wow, Mozilla starts up in under an hour" fast. Fast for Quake 3 fast. <i>Fast</i>.

The graphics board must be able to deliver a high framerate in Q3 and yet render some very nice looking images. Anti-aliased would be a very nice touch.

The system also needs to be relatively cheap. I don't want to spend $3,000 on a gaming computer that's totally tricked out. I want to spend a reasonable amount of money on a gaming computer that's just <i>mostly</i> tricked out. Reasonable is "more than a grand but not much".

It should be stated again that I am looking for pure game performance from this system. So it doesn't need to have a big hard drive, DVD writer or even FireWire. It simply needs to play Quake and run mIRC (so I can grab Q3 servers).

Keeping these in mind, we can begin discussing parts.

<b>Tentative Parts List</b>

<i>Processor</i> - Intel Pentium 4 2.26GHz 533MHz FSB. The performance of the Pentium 4 at Quake is exceptional (and untouched by any AMD offering) and it's not too shabby at most other things as well. Unfortunately, we don't care about the other things. It must run Windows, games (Quake specifically, though others may be added in the future) and mIRC. So a 2.26GHz Pentium 4 is in the sweet spot of the price/performance arc and should do quite nicely.

<i>Motherboard</i> - Abit IT7 MAX. I have a love affair with Abit spanning many years. They've never done wrong by me, so I tend to choose their boards when I'm building a new system. This is also convenient, as they tend to make great boards with lots of features. This one will support up to 2 GB's of RAM, 12 IDE devices, has audio & LAN integrated (important when we're keeping price in mind), has FireWire and USB 2.0 support (and boatloads of ports) and is reasonably priced. This is a fairly easy pick for me.

<i>Hard Drive</i> - IBM 40GB 120GXP. I really don't need much hard drive space as I'm not going to be putting MP3's and other such things on this computer. Windows & Intel are good at games, and I'm not going to force them to do anything that's better done elsewhere (like on my two other stupidly fast dual processor boxes). 40 gigs is much more than adequate, but it's the sweet spot in hard drive prices these days. I tend to pick IBM because I've had great luck with their drives.

<i>Memory</i> - 512 MB Crucial PC2700. This is such a no-brainer it's not even funny. I don't buy anything but Crucial anymore and you shouldn't either. 512 MB, while less than I have in my other two main machines (<b>tier</b> and <b>pimpintosh</b> both have over 1024 MB), it should be very adequate for gaming. If it becomes an issue, I will add 256 MB later on.

<i>Case</i> - Antec SX1040B with a 400 Watt PSU. This is the same type of case that Alienware uses in their machines. I have the 1030B for another machine I have (that's sitting in my office right now, being my Linux box at work) and it's a solid case. It will allow relatively good airflow, it's plenty roomy and it looks nice. I can expand into this case if I want to (4x5.25" bays, 2x3.5" bays external, 6x3.5" bays internal), so it leaves the future open.

<i>Keyboard</i> - Microsoft Natural Elite. I don't use anything else and I won't as long as this keyboard is available. I will be using a PS2->USB adaptor, however, as the IT7 does not have any legacy ports.

<i>Mouse</i> - Logitech Wingman Gaming Mouse. The goal of this system is gaming only, and this mouse is the best at that (in my not-so-humble opinion). Since I'm not going to be doing web browsing or other things that would require a scroll wheel, I don't need a mouse that has one. I already have this mouse, so it's free. Unfortunately, it's no longer produced, so it's difficult to obtain.

<i>DVD-ROM</i> - Sony DDU1621 16x DVD-ROM drive. I wouldn't put this in if I didn't have to, but, unfortunately, I do. Loading games (and the operating system) is impossible without some type of media reader and the optical drive seems to be the way to go. I would have gotten a straight CD-ROM drive but I am convinced that in a year or two or three, most games are going to be coming on DVD, and I want this system to be at least semi-usable at that time.

<i>Video Card</i> - ATi Radeon 9700 PRO. Yes, the all-important video card will be ATi's latest offering. Its FSAA leaves almost nothing to be desired, it's fast and the drivers don't seem to suck like past ATi efforts. The Linux support will undoubtedly be shabby as far as OpenGL is concerned, but since Linux isn't going to touch this box, I'm not worried about it. It'll work in Windows and that's what matters for gaming. The Radeon 9700 PRO is the obvious choice when the requirement is "fastest consumer 3D card available on the market today".

<b>Price List</b>

All prices obtained from NewEgg.com, my favorite online computer store, except for Crucial memory (http://www.crucial.com) and a guess on the retail price of the Radeon 9700 PRO, which will eventually be ordered from NewEgg.

Processor ------------- $ 269.00
Motherboard ----------- $ 152.00
Hard Drive ------------ $ &nbsp;71.00
Memory ---------------- $ 177.00
Video Card ------------ $ 400.00
Case ------------------ $ 100.00
Keyboard -------------- $ &nbsp;17.00
DVD-ROM --------------- $ &nbsp;40.00

Grand Total ----------- $1226.00

<b>Accessories</b>

I will be purchasing a monitor to use with this system, but it is not a part of the system. When this system is dead and gone, the monitor will still be around. The Sony CPD-E540 is a relatively nice 21" FD Trinitron and at $515, the price is right.

I'll also be using a set of Koss UR-30 headphones for gaming, though I already have them so I don't need to buy them.

I will be using a fUnc Industries sUrface 1030 mousepad, which I already have.

<b>Conclusion</b>

For a hair over $1,200 I am building a <b>very</b> capable gaming system. It should be noted that a CD-RW drive could be added for ~$80 and one would have what is considered a "complete" system, one like you would buy from Dell (albeit at a higher price).

It is not intended as a general use system, so it lacks a larger hard drive. However, for the price, it packs a very strong punch.

The intended finish date of the system is "late October", mainly because October is a triple paycheck month.

Comments and suggestions are welcome. Please keep in mind that this is a sort of "living thread" and it won't be "finished" until after the system is. Many updates will be coming in the near future.

Tomorrow I will look at how you can adapt my "Gaming System" design to meet your specific needs. There might be something more satisfying than having a computer that does everything you want it to and nothing more, but that's beyond the scope of this thread.

[ Edit - fixed retardified spelling - s/hare/hair, s/time/type ]