Making the ultimate Doom 3 PC

[Alientank]

I was thinking about getting an Area 51 next spring however they look extremely high priced. What do you guys think. Go or no?

[david_a]

I guess it depends how you look at it. If you're not going to overclock anything, probably. If you are, an Alienware can save you time and possible further expenses by giving you parts that are pre-tested for that kind of stuff.

I'm thinking of buying a prebuilt system next simply because I'm too lazy to buy everything seperately (plus, I always have horrid luck with getting the worst hardware ever; like my Radeon 7500 that turned out to have SDR RAM). Prebuilt systems nowadays are a ton better than what they used to be...

Check out this article: http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,644505,00.asp

[Linguica]

If Katarhyne were here she would tell you that Alienware is an incredibly overpriced piece of shit scam.

But she is here, in spirit:

Listen to me, and listen well because I'm only going to say this once.

DO NOT BUY A COMPUTER FROM ALIENWARE.

You will spend a ridiculous amount of money for something you could build for literally less than half, and get more performance out of it, to boot.

You would be much better off with that Compaq. Compaq has cleaned up their act a lot in the last year or two. My personal laptop is a Compaq - and I normally don't accept anything but the highest performance from a computer system.

Not to advertise myself shamelessly, but I could build you a decent system off of pricewatch a lot cheaper than anything you're going to buy from anywhere else. My brother builds Intel machines, I build AMD, and if you want something else, kill yourself, because you'd be better off doing that than spending a minute trying to use anything besides an Athlon or P4.

[Fredrik]

I'd buy an Alienware computer.

If I just arbitrarily won a million bucks.

Otherwise, I'll continue to put together my own computers, saving money.

[Use]

It's okay, she's not here, but I am, and I build machines often as part of my job (and all of my own computers). And yes, Ling is correct. Alienware is a colourful lump of overpriced garbage. They prey on the thickheaded and the thick pocket..booked..er yah. Build your own machine. You'll save money and have fun a the same time.
Now my paws are cold so i gonna warm 'em up on a plasma gun.

[Naked Snake]

I got a Gateway. I went with a crappy prefab computer as a base and had them slap in parts I wanted and told them I wanted ones straight from the manufactuer and I ended up saving a lot of money.

[Alientank]

Hmm well the thing is I don't know how to make a computer. Well...I do know how to assemble them and all that but I mean the jumper settings on motherboards, things like that. If and when I do make a computer (around February or March) it WILL be an absolute top of the line Intel P4 chip, The new NV 30 card, 1 gig of ddr ram (or is RD better? I hear they have it out now and it's over 1000 mhz) top of the line Motherboard (need your help here), 80 gig hard drive, Burner and DVD player, and 17 inch view LCD monitor. Also, what is this Audigy 2 I hear of. What cards do they use for that? The 1394's? It's supposed to be crystal clear sound and the best so far. I would get that too. I will just run an ethernet cable from my router to my room (I'm on cable internet). And can anyone recommend some really good speakers? I'd like to have surround sound speakers and a Subwoofer is something that I MUST have, so I need recommendations for the Subwoofer as well. Just need to figure out where the best spot would be to put it. Probably under the desk near my feet. This will be going in my room which is down here in the basement too. Keep in mind money is not an issue since I'm 18 have a great job and no bills to pay, but I don't want to spend rediculous amounts of money on something somewhere, when I can get it somewhere else cheaper (but at the same quality). Oh and this computer is being solely designed to run Doom 3 at full detail, over 40 fps at all times :) Of course I'll use it for homework and that but this is really just for the ultimate Doom 3 experience! As well as any other good games that come along :p My current computer if your wondering, is my parents. A P3 500, 256 SD RAM, cd burner, crappy speakers and sound card, geforce 4 mx 440. Only good thing about it is it runs XP good and it has cable internet which is very fast. Everything else about it sucks. We all share this computer even though I'm the only one that really uses it.

[SpammerMike]

Ah jest have ma brother piecmeal me one'a dem der 'puter thangs! ...I'll let him do the thinking. 0_o

[Sephiroth]

umm jumper are all but a thing of the past, yea they are still around but nothing like they use to be. most of the stuff is done in the bios. and what is still jumpers(or dip switches) is in the instruction book. build your own

[Alientank]

Alright what do you guys think of pricewatch do they generally sell good stuff on there or what

[JavaGuy]

Alright, I hope you're listening because I've got this to say. I found something called the Sonic Aviator. It's the Area 51 laptop under a different name from Hyper Sonic pcs. Provided you get a silver casing rather than a color one, it'll cost -at least- $200 less. I'm getting one for Christmas. I don't remember the exact site, but I'll give it to you next time I go on there.

[Alientank]

I already have a laptop and I don't think laptops are for games. Desktops are so much better but thanks anyways. I just gotta find good stuff on pricewatch I think. I dunno, I was on there looking before and found some OK stuff but they want $700 american for a 3 ghz p4 chip.

[Fletcher`]

I've gotten some good deals from Tiger Direct. I got my comp for maybe 500$? whereas anywhere else I'd pay round 900-1000$ (AMD K6-2 500mhz, 20gb hdd, 48x cdrom, 256mb ram, geforce 2 64mb) (this doesn't include teh speakers, sound card, keyboard, or mouse mind you)

[Alientank]

Cool BUT I still don't know if making it myself will save money for me over buying one premade.

[Fletcher`]

Mine wasn't premade. That price was the parts. I had to search around for them though. I had to assemble the thing by myself.

[Black Void]

If I only I could get something better than my damn DELL, I'd be happy - oh and don't make me ressurect my compaq - laptops they might make well, but that's it.

As for me, I'm off to go find a missing envelope of money... one that's filled with 100s - ah... the life...

[IMJack]

Plan of battle for the spring semester is to take the motherboard and processor out of this remaned Gateway and replace it with the best mobo and processor I can get at Fry's (paying cash), in addition to a second hard drive and a new hotness CD-RW to replace the old and busted generic Gateway CD-ROM. Everything else will be refitted into the new mobo, except the piece-of-shit network card that I blew $100 on two years ago and didn't last half as long as this one I got free from one of Peter's buddies.

[david_a]

You didn't read that article, did you? :)

The conclusion was that the speed difference in home built systems, large retail (Gateway, Compaq), and specialty (Falcon, Alienware) were negligible. The only real difference is the price; the specialty systems are really pricy while you only pay a small bit for the retail systems over the homebrew ones.

If every penny matters, then of course building a system is the cheapest. If you don't care about spending a hundred or so more, you would get the same thing in a retail system with less hassle (and a warrenty).

[Sephiroth]

i dont know weather to tell you to get an AMD chip or a P4. I am sure AMD still gets more work per clock cycle, but i dont know what there fastest clocked CPU is. well i mean i dont know what its speed is, i think in is either the athlonXP 2800 or 2900. i know p4's are up there in the speed, but up there in price too.i havnt seen any apps that put either chip to the test. personaly i would wait until first quarter, i have heard new chip makeing technologies will start being used then. however if u are going to build now i would recomend AMD out of price. i can get the newest AMD cpu for $190 from the local computer shop, they got great prices! i think, at least last time i checked, the newer p4's were over $250. now lets do a quick pricing of parts
AMD ~200
mainboard basic(no onboard trash) 75-150 depends on extras and shit
soundcard ~40 and up
DVD/CD drive ~50
hard drive 20gb can be gotten for around ~50-70
burner a basic can be gotten with rebates, as low as 40. but look to about 80
ram= lets say 100, i think that would buy 512ddr
case w/powersupply 60
total price useing min stats is about 1015. so expect to spend at least that on a good doom3 rig right now. either build your self or buy one from a local computer shop. however research the shop first, there is one at my grandparents home that rips u off. also there work is trashy, and they overprice every thing

[Alientank]

I'm waiting until the spring however I'm suspicious about the 64 bit chips because I'm not sure how they would match up performance wise with 32 bit apps.

[Fredrik]

Alientank said:

I'm waiting until the spring however I'm suspicious about the 64 bit chips because I'm not sure how they would match up performance wise with 32 bit apps.

They won't be faster.

[Alientank]

I'd suspect not which is why I'll stick with a P4 based computer. Can someone recommend a top end sound card and surround sound speakers/subwoofer

[dsm]

Making a dream Doom 3 pc

Why isn't this thread in the Doom 3 technical forum if it's related to Doom 3 and a system that can run Doom 3???
[edit]Thanks IMJack[/edit]

[IMJack]

Right, hadn't thought of that...

[Torn]

I also need to build a new computer some time before doom 3 comes...
I was thinking of a AMD 2400+, 512mb samsung ddr3200, geforce4 or radeon 9700 (pro), seagate 80gb or 120gb. But I am not sure, I think it will change before doom3 comes... but I want to play it. :)

[Fredrik]

I have an Athlon 1400, 512MB DDR RAM and a GeForce 2 Ti. Before DOOM 3 comes out, I'll upgrade CPU and motherboard (mainly to get a more silent computer) and also the gfx card to something slightly better.

[dsm]

Bah, my brother claims that I'll be needing a new motherboard to be able to have a better graphics card than I have now and a a better processor.
That's what thoroughly annoys me about new hardware - it rarely seems compatible with older motherboards.

[Fredrik]

dsm said:

That's what thoroughly annoys me about new hardware - it rarely seems compatible with older motherboards.

Would it really be a good idea to trade performance and/or price for backwards compatibility?

[Alientank]

Alright guy's I've figured it out. Pentium 4 3.06 ghz, 512 (or 1 gig) of 1066 mhz RD RAM, NV 30 gfx card, 80 gig hard drive, 17 inch visible LCD monitor, CD burner. HOWEVER I still need suggestions for my sound card and I still need suggestions for my surround sound speakers and my Subwoofer.

[Shaviro]

Alientank said:

Alright guy's I've figured it out. Pentium 4 3.06 ghz, 512 (or 1 gig) of 1066 mhz RD RAM, NV 30 gfx card, 80 gig hard drive, 17 inch visible LCD monitor, CD burner. HOWEVER I still need suggestions for my sound card and I still need suggestions for my surround sound speakers and my Subwoofer.

Are you sure you don't wanna wait until 1 week/month before the game is released? (Very nice specs, tho) I'd chose RDRAM as well.