Building a RIG 101

[W1nTry]

This is actually an old topic that is in dire need of an update. Considering that it could be broken up into the various hardware parts or fall under PCGAming, I though it most prudent to place it in EVERYTECH, as we'll discuss EVERY piece of TECH that goes into your rig. The purpose of this thread will be to advise person/s on the parts available, performance and most important consideration of the PRICE ENVELOPE that an individual has to work with. That being said, we'll discuss all level of RIGs from the LOW COST OFFICE ONLY rigs to the BRAGGING RIGHTS platforms of today.

I propose that anyone (and EVERYONE is INVITED and ENCOURAGED to add positively to this thread) be very clear on their recommendations and be technical if necessary. I also advise that we use 3 catergories:
1. COST is NOT a consequence (Type 1)
2. Budget GAMING rigs (Type 2)
3. Office+ workloads. (Type 3)

There will inevitably be small sub catergories when rigs blur the financial lines, however ultimately what defines these catergories is simple:
Type 1: You have money to BURN 10K TT plus
Type 2: You have some money but you want BEST bang for BUCK
Type 3: You have a VERY tight budget but still want to play games better than WOW, spell UT3 and/or COD4


Let me start the ball rolling, i'll start from the perspective that potentially there are ppl who have never seen the inside of a PC far less to know what the heck is DDR2 vs. a Northbridge. So i'll list the basic components of the current day PC and give a brief description of what they are and what role they play.

The Basics:
All PCs of today have the following components
CPU - Central Processing Unit, Intel would have you believe this is the 'brain' of the whole PC and it is the unit responsible for all the calculations that make any other operation possible
RAM - Random Access Memory, this is as it sounds the memory of the system, with Operating systems becomig more bloated by the year the more of this you have generally the better
Motherboard - This is the piece that facilitate all the other pieces. If the CPU is the brain, this is most definitely the skeletal, muscular and nervous system. Everything plugs into this baby.
Hard Drive - Storage, this holds all your programs, your Operating system, and everything that comes with it.
Video - I use the term video as opposed to Video card as there is such a thing as on-board. The Video component is what drives your display, be it a monitor, LCD or TV (what you read off of)
Sound - This too can be on the motherboard or an ADD-IN part. All motherboards come with sound so this is not as worrisome as the video component.
Optical Drives - Your CD-ROM, DVD, Burners I think everyone who has internet and can read this knows enough that this requires no further explanation
Case - As it says, you put all the components into something to protect and hold them in place, a CASE is a very important part that usually gets little attention
Fans/Cooling - Again another important component that MANY ppl take for granted.
Power Supply - A CRITICAL component that is usually overlooked in terms of selection.
Display - self explanatory
Keyboard & mouse - also self explanatory
Speakers - ....

Well there you have it, all the parts that constitute what goes into a PC without getting TOO specific. Now I shall begin to explain the choices available to us in a VERY BROARD manner

CPU - AMD vs. Intel (x86 based architecture)
There are basically 2 choices for CPU in today's envrionment (no IA64 please) Both make very good products and both have offereing in the low to mid range both in terms of cost and performance. Intel's Core 2 marchitecture is the performance leader, however AMD's K8/10 based offerings do offer very cost effective solutions especially in the low end.

RAM - There are more brand names out there than their are types of underwear, that aside, when considering RAM aka MEMORY you must look carefully at the brand, type, speed, latency and compatibility. The 2 main standards used in desktops atm, are DDR2 and DDR1. Within a year DDR3 should also become a common place standard, but ATM it is only for the COST IS NOT A PROBLEM class.
THe most prominnant standard is DDR2. For most purposes nothing below DDR2 800 should be used unless otherwise required. A few good brands are: OCZ, Kingston, Crucial, Corsair.

Motherboards - This will require indept dialogue so I will just mention some of the important facts. The BRAND of CPU you choose will ULTIMATELY affect what Motherboard you use and vice versa. AMD motherboards use AMD, ATI, Nvidia, Via, Sis chipsets whilst Intel uses predominantly Intel and Nvidia based chipsets. The CHIPSET although not mentioned in the list is the part responsible for arbitrating the connections between all devices on the motherboard (yes including the CPU) without a chipset, the mobo would be dead as a duck. The brand of chipset is important as is the capabilities you're looking for. For AMD CPUs, the best chipsets are usually Nvidia and AMD/ATI, for Intel CPUs, the best chipset is usually Intel, but you will NEED the Nvidia chipset for SLI aka multi video card capabilities. The names that are at the top of the mobo maker list are Asus, MSI, Gigabyte, DFI and Abit. There are others that can be discussed as needed.

Hard Drive - These are a dime a dozen lately, but amoung the best of late are Seagate, Western Digital (raptors) and Samsung. The choice of drive comes down to size requirements more times than not. Also worth noting, is the interfaces associated with Hard Drives. There is PATA - Parallel ATA, and SATA - Serial ATA. All current motherboards support at least 1 PATA connection and up to 4+ SATA connections. It is advisable to get drives that use the SATA II or SATA 3.0 interface for better performance,

Video - This is another topic that will require TONNES of correspondence. However in a nutshell your options are Nvidia and ATI aka AMD. The Nvidia 8800 series cards are the performance kings, however the ATI HD3000 series cards are very attractive cards from a price performance point of view. The choice of card comes down to price usually. Some of the more recoginised names are Sapphiretech for ATI cards and eVGA for Nvida, there are others, but we'll discuss on a need be basis.

Sound - Whilst many users have onboard, enthusiasts know that add-in cards are superior. We will discuss this a bit more, but the name that usually resounds when audio is concerned is Creative Labs.

Optical Drives - These are cheap, a gabillion brands and easily gotten locally. We can recommend if anyone asks.

Case - In T&T, the Case is usually a very neglected item save for those who are a bit more hardcore. Also becuase prices of cases are a bit ridiculous, most ppl opt for cheap cases but that does not necessarily mean the best scenario for your parts. We'll discuss different things to look for in a case later on. A few good brands are Thermaltake, Lian Li

Fans/cooling - Very important in this HOT country we live in. This will also require indept conversation. So we'll address this later on. A good brand is Vantec

Power Supply - A critical component that most ppl ignore. Usually ppl just choose a PSU Power Supply Unit based on wattage, but as we progress through this thread you'll come to appreciate that there's alot more to consider. Some good brands are Enermax, OCZ, Thermaltake.

Displays - with the variety we now have CRT, LCD, HD TV what's important is refresh rate, power consumption, reliability and quality. Most ppl have had a CRT in their time and its an analog solution that still offers the best refresh rates, however it is rapidly going the way of the do do and as such we'll focus more on LCD displays. A well known brand in T&T is AOC which is decent, but there are better out there. We'll discuss as we go into the rigs themselves.

Everything else - only hardcore gamers usually harp over things like the choice of keyboard and mouse or controllers, so we'll let this discussion be on a need to know basis.

I've laid the ground work, so I leave it to men like Arc, captain awesome, crixxx and others to start laying down the tech on our readers. We'll start with the 2nd option BUDGET GAMING SYSTEMS, we're a gaming site after all.

Each month this list of who's doing what will change, so below is the list of what catergory and who's in charge of it

High end Intel - Crixx
High end AMD - W1nTry
Top Mid Range Intel - Captain Awesome
Top Mid Range AMD - Arcman
Bottom Mid range Intel - unassigned
Bottom Mid Range AMD - unassigned
Low end Intel - Crixx
Low end AMD - unassigned

[W1nTry]

Just an update, i've messaged some of GATT's top 10 RIGers and asked that we make this a collaborative effort. As such each person will do 1 type of machine to avoid be repetitive. Captain Awesome being the first to respond has gotten dibs on putting forward his take on the TOP side of MID RANGED PCs. Meaning in T&T let's face it an 8800GT is a HIGH end part in T&T but mid range WORLD over. THus the mid range was broken up to a TOP and BOTTOM. Also ppl can opt for amd vs intel etc. I await your responses. We're going with first come first serve, so if you call ur category first, you get dibs to proclaim what you sumise as the best bang for buck in that catergory.


I myself will attempt to put forward a similar solution in the AMD camp. That leaves Bottom Mid range and low budget systems on BOTH platforms still available.

[Crixx_Creww]

ill take top end intel (as in money is no option)  and also the low budget for the person willing to oc on intel again, which id like help with.

also id like to suggest that our approach to this be like the monthly round ups from toms and anandtech.

So we prebuild the rig, make a chart, host it on image shack, then post it up for discussion.

and at the end of january we make a thread with the reccomended rigs like how the round ups are done.

[W1nTry]

Great idea crixx, we'll definitely look to work on something like that. On another note, yuh sure yuh want to do 2 categories? keep in mind the LOW end is more important in T&T markets.

Update: Arcman has taken AMD TOP mid range. I will now focus on AMD HIGH end.

[Crixx_Creww]

the top end intel will be very easy to bang out lol

the low end, well, trinidad nabs like stock stuff
i wanna deal with the scrunting people who willing to oc to get true bang for buck
i like those kinda peeps

[W1nTry]

That leaves Bottom Mid range AMD, low end AMD and Bottom Mid range Intel up for grads. Still waiting on feedback from dani and 1 other person. I'll put who's doing what at the bottom of the FIRST POST.

[Spazosaurus]

Yes I liking this idea. I'll start working on it.

[W1nTry]

Any feedback yet guys? I was just looking at the Intel camp for a forward looking AFFORDABLE rig and I hit a wall like Michael Jackson trying to get into a cathlolic boys pre-school accompanied by Charles Manson... to begin with the best bet for forward looking is X38... and those mobos START at close to 200USD, then its DDR3 which for 2GB (1GBx2) STARTS at 200+ USD the ONLY part you can SKIMP on is the CPU, get an allendale cpu till you recover from selling your kidney to afford the mobo and ram alone... after taking those price hits, how's someone supposed to buy a 8800GT or 3870... geeez... so yeah would the GATTer in charge of that segment please put up their references ASAP?

[Spazosaurus]

Why do you say the best bet is x38? P35 supports support 45nm (read alll the new unreleased intel cpu's). And DDR3? Well even the new Nforce 7 chipset doesn't even support ddr3. So, nice cheap p35, high end ddr2, gosu cpu and video of your choice makes one monster system.

A side note on the ddr3...the decent dd3 modules are soooo expensive that you would have to sell a kidney or other body part to pay for your basic components and sell something else to buy your video. As far as i'm concerned, the extra memory speed eh worth the cost.

[Crixx_Creww]

lol @ winny trying to make an inty rig awww how cutee

well just to dissuade you from that insane build yur thinking
this is something i threw together today for an idea for say an internet cafe, and this is pretty high end for medium
Video Card :- EVGA 512-P3-N802-AR GeForce 8800GT Superclocked 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 .- $269.99
Processor :- Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 Conroe 2.33GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor. - $174.99
Motherboard:- ASUS P5E LGA 775 Intel X38 ATX Intel Motherboard                                      .- $229
Ram        :-CORSAIR 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory .-$114.00 ($40 mail in rebate)
HDS        :-Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive .- $69.99
OPtical Drive:- LITE-ON Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R .- $27.99
Case       :-SIGMA La Vie LBYWBP Leather Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 500W Power Supply.- $79.99
Keyboard   :
Mouse      :
Mouse pad  :
Total.- $964

[Spazosaurus]

Wow those specs pretty high end. I dont know any internet cafe that will buy machines like that in any quantity, ESPECIALLY if its an INTERNET cafe. A gaming cafe, maybe.

[TriniXaeno]

I'd say a cafe machine should cost no more than $4500.00 landed (with monitor) so that's a bit pricey but that is a monster rig for John Doe GATTer looking to get his game on.

I'd be proud to come home to a rig like that.

Estimated 3DMark score would be double my best rig at the moment.

[W1nTry]

I was more or less looking at similar parts to what crixx mentioned otherwise, however I would bump up the memory to DDR2 1200 as that is what teh X38 DDR2 mobos run as specified, and you can get 2GB of that for around 100USD. That aside, that's still a pretty expensive lot... I am really waiting on someone to pick up the LOW middle range of the Intel side. I have my questions about those 2MB cache allendales being able to compete with thier conroe brendren.

[Crixx_Creww]

ok guys just a reminder

month almost up

start putting together the presentation of your selected machines plixx

Iam naming my high end INtel rig, and thinking bout naming the low end oc intel rig as well.

Think i even impressed myself with this intel rig lol w000000000000 bank busser machine no jutsu lol

[Spazosaurus]

I'm about halfway through mine. Already completed the bulk (CPU, memory, mainboard). I'll try tofinish up by the weekends.

[W1nTry]

Well this thread died an unnatural and early death... either way, here is an article from anandtech about building an affordable rig with some overclocking Caveats to make it worth the wild and GUESS WHAT MOBO IT'S USING.... wait for it.... (hint I had a convo with Shiv and men like arc and dem say its a CRAP chipset)..... wait for it.... it's a 650i B1TCHES!!!... well anyways here's the link:
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3227&p=1

[Spazosaurus]

I didnt forget about this. In fact I'm done with the majority of the article I just need to update the part with the prices. I'll get a draft to you W1n this week and we'll see how it goes from there.

[Arcmanov]

'...650i a crap chipset'?   ME!!?  Aww HELL naw.  I aint NEVER said dat.
In fact, if you remember my 'Core 2 goodness' thread, I actually considered a 650i mobo.

Remember now.....?

That aside...don't worry, we shall update this eventually, but right now, time is my enemy.

[Spazosaurus]

WTF how they get a 650 chipset to support 45nm. Nice one Asrock. SHows that you don't necessarily need expensive 7 series chipset to run 45nm cpu's and SLI.

[W1nTry]

Perhpas it was Cpt that told shiv the 650i was a crap chipset... his comments above seems to suggest as such :p