Help selecting a quad core gaming rig

[Caruthers612]

     Well. There it is. I am baffled. Bagled. Gobsmacked. Me wants a ripping new gaming desktop, with an Intel quad core processor. I would appreciate suggestions, wisdom, even chive cream cheese for my onion bagel (toasted, of course). It will probably be Dell or Alienware, I guess, unless y'all can suggest something else. Whatchya think?

Mordred, in a light clam sauce with a side of mash

[MV/Liberace!]

while i'm not a gamer, i do know computers, and i'll say this:

when it comes to purchasing hardware, there is a point at which the effectiveness of your dollar is highly diminished.  if you go leading edge, you'll probably be fine.  if you go BLEEDING edge, you're probably paying more than it's worth when you consider the practicality of what you're buying.

from my understanding, there aren't a whole hell of a lot of apps out right now that can even take advantage of a quad core processor.  i'm sure someone is going to start listing examples of apps that do support it... but that's not my point.  i know it's not absolute... but it's close enough to "absolute" for my taste.

with that in mind, i'd say if you want to get together a good gaming system, i'd recommend you focus your efforts on the video card.  a leading-edge video card coupled with a nice new intel dual core and ten pounds of ram will give you maximum benefit for each dollar spent.  those are my thoughts.

[Max]

from my understanding, there aren't a whole hell of a lot of apps out right now that can even take advantage of a quad core processor. 

video editing?
web hosting?
Porn? :p

I dont know..

[EvB]

video editing?
web hosting?
Porn? :p

I dont know..

If I understand this correctly (truthfully my son is better at this part than I) the type of RAM is more important than quad-core - but if you're what I've heard called a "power user"  (I'm never quite sure how to take that one - I think of it as digital multitasking) and you tend to have a number of programs running at once, particularity memory-hog ones - then you need all the help you can get. But for gaming, I'm told by my gamer son, a good quality duel-core and as much ram as your system will hold is what matters more.

The thing is (and THIS is an actual conspiracy! - Complicity to ensure planned obsolescence)  it seems that every time you've got more than enough - someone comes out with some ap you want that likes MORE. 

Siiiigh

Ev

Who is planning to build the next bigger and better in a couple of months. Bigger and better for ME that
is.

And yes, Max - that will include a bigger, better quality screen with this little booker on the side to keep my tools visible.

[Max]

actually...

your computer is as fast as the slowest piece of hardware in it.

so basically you need everything running at the same speed.

[EvB]

actually...

your computer is as fast as the slowest piece of hardware in it.

so basically you need everything running at the same speed.

That may be what Jared (my son) was saying.

[Camazotz Automat]

CAMAZOTZ  AUTOMAT

[EvB]

True enough - I have have lots of those - just got three more today in fact.  But, they're not quite the same, are they? 

[Camazotz Automat]

True enough - I have have lots of those - just got three more today in fact.  But, they're not quite the same, are they? 

Indeed.  I was waiting for your response and I'm afraid you walked right into it.  You are fencing with a professional, my dear.  My apparent Luddite stance was a mere turn of the oblique to draw your playful t(h)rust.

Amazon would do well to have me in their fold.  Imagine the illustration below is "page 2" of an Amazon ad in WIRED magazine.  I designed the phrase, layout, concept, etc in a matter of minutes, yet it is worthy of a national goddamn campaign!

(laughing)

I am not haphazard, Evb.  Not by any    s t  r   e    t     c      h.

CAMAZOTZ  AUTOMAT

[EvB]

I designed the phrase, layout, concept, etc in a matter of minutes, yet it is worthy of a national goddamn campaign!

(laughing)

I am not haphazard, Evb.  Not by any    s t  r   e    t     c      h.

Oh!  Well aren't YOU the proud little - um - rooster!   

Touche.

[Loui Zoot]

If you can build your own, newegg has great prices on parts. They send me an email, because I signed up for it, that has specials running in it all the time. A first generation quad core intel, the q6600, is a good price to performance ratio right now, and overclocks very well. For a video card, the 8800 GT series of the nvidia chipset is also a very good deal for being able to running most modern games smoothly at high resolution, and is both xp and vista compatible. So it has directx 10 under the vista OS. 500GB and 750GB Sata hard drives are also a very good deal at the moment. 4GB of ram, a kit of 2GBX2 DD2 800 or faster is dirt cheap right now. They have user ratings and reviews. They also sell already constructed computers as well.

The parts I have listed will build a decent gaming system without breaking the bank. There are newer and more overpriced parts out there. But those were very much top of the line and very expensive in December when I did lots of research before building two computers at that time. Soyo makes a decent 24 inch lcd for the price. Abit and Asus are good motherboard manufacturers.

Like I said though, Newegg has vast amounts of reviews on most of the products they carry. So that's a good place to research part quality, even if you choose to buy elsewhere. I have bought a thousand or two dollars worth of stuff from them over the years and have never ripped off by them.

If you do go for a dual core, check out the "pentium dual core", it's actually a core 2 duo with a little less cache and a slower bus, and of course much, much cheaper. I bought a 1.8ghz version that has been running stable at 3.2ghz for over 7 months. Dropped the multiplier by one, and doubled the bus speed. The q6600 I mentioned earlier is suppose to easily run at 3.2ghz and higher, as well, with twice the cores. Which does come in handy for file compression, and video encoding.

[EvB]

I intend to buy though NEWEGG - so THANKS!  I'll contact you in 6 weeks or so . . .

[MV/Liberace!]

newegg all the way.  definitely.  i've built 4 machines now with all parts purchased through them.  they don't hassle you if you return an item.  their prices are USUALLY the best.  you can find a part cheaper elsewhere from time to time, but keep in mind you're taking your chances with some of the lesser known parts outlets out there.

[slipstream]

  The only time I don't buy from Newegg is when I have an emergency.  I bought all the components for my new system from Newegg knowing that if I had a problem with any of them they would deal with me fairly.