Building a computer for TC (Noob alert!)

(A new computer in general not just for TC). I would post this in hardware forum, but we don't exactly have one.

Well, some commented that they would "NEVER pay $3000 for a computer" so I thought I'd build one from the ground up. UnNerved showed me Newegg so I decided to take a look around..... and I have no idea what any of this technical jumbo is, or why a processor thats 2.4Ghz costs $600 more than a 2.6Ghz processor. If one of you really technical guys could help me out I'd be fine.

I was wondering what price could be achived for a computer with the following statistics (same as the one I was considering in a previous post):

• Windows Vista Ultimate (32-bit)
• Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Quad processor Q6600 (2.4GHz)
• 4GB DDR2-800MHz dual channel SDRAM (4x1024)
• 640MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS, 2 DVI, TV-Out
• 800GB RAID 0 (2 x 400GB SATA HDDs)
• LightScribe 16X DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti drive
• 16x max. DVD-ROM
• Sound Blaster Audigy X-Fi, 24-bit Xtreme Fidelity
• 22-inch LCD Wide Flat Panel Monitor
• Logitech X-530 5.1 Speakers
• Wireless keyboard and wireless optical mouse
• 400VA UPS and Surge Protection

But not just Newegg, maybe some other sites I don't know about. And yes, voice opinions.

Cheers. :wave:

Nice rig !

Don't expect it cheap though

And get rid of Vista, get XP, much better.

Gangsta_Boi

And replace the raid 0 array with a 1TB hard disk from the off...

That processor that runs slower yet is 600 notes more has more processing power than the 2.6GHz even though the core ticks slower. In this case, it's not the speed that's important. it's the raw processing power per clock tick.

regards

Harry

No, I'm asking what that would cost! If it's maybe in the lower $2000 range I would consider upgrading to better options (Like Harry said) but I just want to know what the lowest plausible price for a computer with that configuration would be.

No offense....but is this some kind of Tom Sawyer whitewashing the fence sort of thing?

You have all the specs you are looking for, just visit pricegrabber or something and get the lowest prices.

Why are you trying to get someone else to give you prices?

Ed

Euphod said:

Why are you trying to get someone else to give you prices?

Ed

Click to expand...

Because I didn't know "PriceGrabber" existed. Although I still would need help with technical mumbo jumbo. Oh, and pricegrabber seems to have less stuff than the other site and has nigher prices. And I'm having trouble finding those specific parts on Newegg. I hope that explains.

Lo_Poly said:

(A new computer in general not just for TC). I would post this in hardware forum, but we don't exactly have one.

Well, some commented that they would "NEVER pay $3000 for a computer" so I thought I'd build one from the ground up. UnNerved showed me Newegg so I decided to take a look around..... and I have no idea what any of this technical jumbo is, or why a processor thats 2.4Ghz costs $600 more than a 2.6Ghz processor. If one of you really technical guys could help me out I'd be fine.

I was wondering what price could be achived for a computer with the following statistics (same as the one I was considering in a previous post):

• Windows Vista Ultimate (32-bit)
• Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Quad processor Q6600 (2.4GHz)
• 4GB DDR2-800MHz dual channel SDRAM (4x1024)
• 640MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS, 2 DVI, TV-Out
• 800GB RAID 0 (2 x 400GB SATA HDDs)
• LightScribe 16X DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti drive
• 16x max. DVD-ROM
• Sound Blaster Audigy X-Fi, 24-bit Xtreme Fidelity
• 22-inch LCD Wide Flat Panel Monitor
• Logitech X-530 5.1 Speakers
• Wireless keyboard and wireless optical mouse
• 400VA UPS and Surge Protection

But not just Newegg, maybe some other sites I don't know about. And yes, voice opinions.

Cheers. :wave:

Click to expand...

RAID 0 means when one drive dies you have a horrible mess. Seriously look at an Inter chip set and go Raid 5 on three disk drives. One dies you pull it out and put a new one in and continue to run without rebuilding the system. Disk drive performance is not especially important for Trainz.

22 inch monitor will kill your performance, Samsung syncmaster 906bw 2 ms 19 inch wide screen is reasonable. 1440 by 900 native resolution. You normally run native resolution on these things anything else looks terrible. The 22 inch monitors have more pixels which in turn means you need more cpu and video card for Trainz.

Vista has some memory issues at the moment with video cards, especially with 640MB video cards. XP is better for Trainz until they get this sorted out. Nvidia is aware of the issue, Microsoft have released a patch but it's still not as good performance wise as XP.

I'm not clear which motherboard you are putting this on. Look at things like an Antec case, and a decent power supply there is one very quiet Antec case that comes with a 550 watt power supply. Add in a APC UPS.

There is some hardware benchmarking going on at the moment, you might like to see what Overmars comes up with score wise before purchasing he has a similar rig. Also benchmark your current system to get an estimate of performance you have at the moment to see if the new system would be that much faster.

Cheerio John

Sorry john ive given up with the H line evan with a freash install it still crashes.

overmars said:

Sorry john ive given up with the H line evan with a freash install it still crashes.

Click to expand...

Since your machine is close to what lo_poly is proposing could we find something that runs on your machine then build a session and modify the .bat file? Either TC or TRS2006 should be doable. Then I'll try it on mine and we can do a rough compare.

Thanks John

Sure ill post in your other thread.

Lo poly

It probably depends which part of the Universe you intend to purchase your computer BUT a friend of mine bought a similar computer as you have mentioned for about $2 K. ( Australia )


cheers
errol

You can Google each piece of hardware you are considering......that will provide you with many links to different pricing services.

Usually New Egg and Zip Zoom Fly will have the best price among reputable E Tailers, but New Egg has been slipping a bit lately.....

Ed

AAAGH

Look, forget the first post, what I am trying to say is that I have NO idea how to build a computer even if I had to do it to save my life! I mean, WTH would "250-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 PC2 6400" mean? "RAID"? "4×240pin"?? "BURST TRANSFER RATE: 33.3 MB/s Ultra DMA33 Mode 2"???? Don't ask me, I don't know! :'( And my fear is I'm going to build a system that has parts that won't even work, stuff I don't need, or just a huge mess. And on a sidenote, don't bring up monitor size or Vista, as I really do have my mind set on Vista and a large monitor.

I don't mean to sound rude if I do there. Just I'm hopeless with building computers from the ground up. Those sites like HP, with customizing, tell you what you are getting in a to-point simple explanation. These just give you a lot of weird info only computer saavy people would understand.

I would like for someone to work their magic to get as powerful as possible computer for $2,500 USD or less, perferrably inside this case.

Sorry for the misunderstanding

Try this:

http://www.sharkyextreme.com/guides/MHGSBG/article.php/3684486

Of course, none of this will help you if you don't know how to assemble a PC. It's easier than you think, though, you shouldn't be intimidated by it.

I will question your decision to go with Vista, but I suppose that's your business.

Ed

my 64 bit machine with 64 bit Vista loves TC and CMP with video card drivers for 64 bit Vista.
You should be able to get heaps for $ 2500.

errol

If you want to build a PC, You can buy "For Dummies" books on how to do it and the hardware you get usually has instructions on how to install it. Most of it is pretty straight forward hardware wise, (If it looks like it goes there, it probably does) It's when you get to drivers it gets a bit messy. PS. I reckon a PC like that would cost upwards of $2400AUD, Pre built, $3000AUD maybe. But hey, that's Australian.

Lo_Poly, That computer case is a good choice, I have it and I am very happy with it. As to building your own PC Iam sure you could do it, but I would suggest that you do some research on the various options by reading reviews from reputable web sites so that you learn the terminology and what works from a price /performance point of view.

The main sites I would suggest are -

http://www.anandtech.com/ - they have regular buying guides eg http://www.anandtech.com/guides/showdoc.aspx?i=2998 that might help. There are others as well which you should look at.

http://www.hardocp.com/ - has good reviews based on real world usage of various components or prebuilt systems which can help you determine if something is worth your money

http://techreport.com/ - also has good reviews on components etc

http://www.tomshardware.com/us/ - good articles as well but I prefer the others.

These sites should also have guides on how to build a system as well.

Unfortunately there is no quick way to get this knowledge on what you should buy and everyone will give you an opinion, right or wrong. I would suggest going to a reputable PC shop in your area and ask them for advice as well on what will work and what wont. Also ask if they offer a service to put the pc together from parts you have bought ( no harm in asking) if you not sure you want to do it yourself.

Also look at Dell and Hp etc and price the pc as a guide.

I bought my Pc earlier this year and thought about doing it myself but in the end I bought it from a good local PC shop that I had used before as I was more comfortable doing that way compared to the possible risk of doing it myself. I selected the parts I wanted with their advice on whether they would work together and they put it together.

Iam sorry that I didnt really answer your question but I hope this helps you.

John

p.s. Of the parts you have mentioned the only one I would question the need for is the quad core processor. You could probably get a faster dual core ( which would be better for programs written for single core eg TRS2006 etc )cheaper than the quad core. While quad core is the way things are going in processors there are still only a very few programs ( eg video processing ) that can actually use all the cores (the same applies to dual core as well ), although that will probably change over the next few years.
Also there is not much point in having 4GB of memory and a 32bit operating system, either just get 2GB or opt for a 64bit operating system (but there can possibly be more compatibility problems with 64bit, though it is getting better).

Lo_Poly said:

AAAGH

Look, forget the first post, what I am trying to say is that I have NO idea how to build a computer even if I had to do it to save my life! I mean, WTH would "250-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 PC2 6400" mean? "RAID"? "4×240pin"?? "BURST TRANSFER RATE: 33.3 MB/s Ultra DMA33 Mode 2"???? Don't ask me, I don't know! :'( And my fear is I'm going to build a system that has parts that won't even work, stuff I don't need, or just a huge mess. And on a sidenote, don't bring up monitor size or Vista, as I really do have my mind set on Vista and a large monitor.

I don't mean to sound rude if I do there. Just I'm hopeless with building computers from the ground up. Those sites like HP, with customizing, tell you what you are getting in a to-point simple explanation. These just give you a lot of weird info only computer saavy people would understand.

I would like for someone to work their magic to get as powerful as possible computer for $2,500 USD or less, perferrably inside this case.

Sorry for the misunderstanding

Click to expand...

I had my first custom built PC done about 18mths.I did a web search for ( high end gaming pc ) found something close to what I wanted in specs & price & then took all the prices to my local PC shop & said what can you build it for? I ended up with a PC a bit better as they got the parts at trade price which allowed me to slightly upgrade on a few things & remain in budget.Mine was based on AMD 939 socket so I'm now looking to upgrading to ( am2 6000 x 2 cpu ga-m59sli-s5 mobo + ram ) about $550-$600 as 939 is no longer supported & evry little in the way of parts now.

Dave

Lo_Poly said:

AAAGH

Look, forget the first post, what I am trying to say is that I have NO idea how to build a computer even if I had to do it to save my life! I mean, WTH would "250-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 PC2 6400" mean? "RAID"? "4×240pin"?? "BURST TRANSFER RATE: 33.3 MB/s Ultra DMA33 Mode 2"???? Don't ask me, I don't know! :'( And my fear is I'm going to build a system that has parts that won't even work, stuff I don't need, or just a huge mess. And on a sidenote, don't bring up monitor size or Vista, as I really do have my mind set on Vista and a large monitor.

I don't mean to sound rude if I do there. Just I'm hopeless with building computers from the ground up. Those sites like HP, with customizing, tell you what you are getting in a to-point simple explanation. These just give you a lot of weird info only computer saavy people would understand.

I would like for someone to work their magic to get as powerful as possible computer for $2,500 USD or less, perferrably inside this case.

Sorry for the misunderstanding

Click to expand...

OK but that case only has a 350 watt power supply and additionally it probably lacks the fans you need to run this beast to keep it cool. Translated it won't work and may damage your components.

Basically start with a good motherboard, ASUS or INTEL, you want the best Vista drivers, the ones with the fewest problems, read tomshardware.com articles, they recently put a few systems together for a reasonable price. Don't worry about the Jargon, www.crucial.com will tell you which memory will work with your motherboard.

For you disk drives are irrelevant, SATA 3.0 is probably the best but more important Western digital come with a five year warrenty. 320 mb min and I'd go with 2 but do not use RAID, for you it's probably too complicated and you don't need the hassle.

By the way you can either have a big monitor or high frames per second. 1024 by 768 is 786,432 pixels. 1920 by 1200 is 2,304,000 pixels. This means your cpu and video card have to work three to four times as hard to get the same frames per second and it gets worse than that because now you need to transfer three to four times the amount of data around and you start to hit the 2 gig memory limit which limits you plus the 640 mb of video memory, you need something like 2 gigs on the video card etc. The whole system runs warmer which means special liquid cooling systems etc. This is more a law of physics thing than anything else limited by the power of computers at the moment.

Cheerio John

Yes you do need at least a good approx 500 watt or more ( mine is 620 watt )power supply with that graphics card, though my exact same case didnt come with a power supply ( its normally optional ). The case has very good air flow, though you might want to get at least a second case fan.

John