Vast selection of hardware... help!

[Mat]

Hello,

I've been out of the loop for some time (been several years since I had a PC) and am thinking of building a new PC for gaming...

I'm not after anyone to spec me a PC particularly, but I'm dazzled by the number of different types of RAM, heatsink, graphics cards etc...

Are there any specific brands / types of hardware that are considered better that the others or work better with certain types of motherboard for example, or are they all pretty much the same and it doesnt really matter?

Any thoughts would be useful, thanks.

 

[UOcUK Poopscoop]

Rather than getting into a huge thread I would post a budget and get some people to spec you the best gaming PC they can within your budget.

Otherwise it just gets into a mismash of opinions and contradictions.

You *will* need 2 meg of RAM though and you need to decide whether you are overclocking or not and want to go dual core.

Remember you will be going AMD for a gaming rig and they are changing socket soon, that together with DX10 cards being on their way "soon" you can pretty much guarantee this won't be the last money you spend out on your PC with in the foreseeable.

Trouble is, if you hold out for the next "latest and greatest" you will never own a PC.

 

[Baddison]

You *will* need 2 meg of RAM though and you need to decide whether you are overclocking or not and want to go dual core.

A whole 2 meg. With that much you could take over the world.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

 

[fenderbass86]

I was thinking of a gag along those lines. But seriously, you *will* need 2 GIG of RAM nowadays.

If you wanna try out overclocking get a DFI motherboard, but don't get the corsair RAM with the DFI board, there are some known problems with the two.

If you want stability, go for an Asus board, the newest ones are supposed to be good as they have coolpipe as apposed to fans.

If it's a gaming PC, then you want one of the latest GPU's. Even though the newest ATI X1900 series are quite expensive you get your money's worth, they are the best single card around. If you want "bang for buck", the Nvidia 7800GT is a very good choice.