Can Anyone Offer What Is Hardware Needed and An Estimate?

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Smudge738

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#34630 26-May-2009 12:50

I don't even know if im posting in the right place but here goes.

I'm going to buy a new computer and i know for a fact that its cheaper to buy the parts to put it together yourself than buy a premade computer.
Thing is i dont know everything that is needed, and i dont understand alot of what it is does ( Is a 16 yr old)

My question to you is:

Can someone give me some good systems specs, that would run Neverwinter Nights 2 and Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion without lag and quite decent graphics, with good storage (maybe around 200gb?) and with a cap of about 1800 NZD $ ?

Could you also include the rough price of the parts themselves?

Thanks in advance, i dont even know if ill get an answer, but i hope so.

magu

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#217993 26-May-2009 13:29

Assuming you need to buy everything from scratch, here's a normal rundown of what parts are needed:

- Motherboard (depends on choice of processor; get one with support for more than 4GB of RAM and a good on-board audio card.
- Processor with cooler (Intel Core 2 Duo is minimum, Core i7 is the newest Intel offering, but a bit expensive for now)
- Memory (aka RAM, 2GB is minimum nowadays, go for 4GB or more)
- Hard-drive (500GB is a good start)
- Case (to put all this stuff in) and power supply (500W+)
- Graphics card (this is where it can get expensive; it is dependant on your choice of motherboard, but get something like a Radeon HD48xx or HD46xx that are better-priced than NVIDIA's cards; granted, NVIDIA will perform better at the higher end)
- DVD writer
- Monitor
- Keyboard/mouse

Considering 200GB as 'good storage' made me laugh. You'll probably find that it is easier (and cheaper on the long-run) to buy bigger HDDs. Start with 500GB or more if you want just one single HDD to store everything, so that you have space to spare in the near-future.

For pricing, I would recommend jumping onto PriceSpy.co.nz and picking out the best deals. Add them to the 'wishlist' feature on the site, then have a look at the bottom of the 'wishlist' page to see an aggregated list of parts and places where to get them at the lowest price.

Start with the CPU (processor) choice, and go from there. CPU > Motherboard > Graphics card > RAM > HDD > Case > everything else

"Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads." - Doc Emmet Brown

garvani

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#217994 26-May-2009 13:30

To be honest if you dont know what you are doing i would not attempt to put a computer together! Do you know ESD precautions? Know that you have to ground the motherboard to the case properly? Cooling requirements? The list goes on.. Every month or so we get a computer in that someone has put together, bent cpu pins, thermal paste in the cpu socket, ive seen the lot!! and have even managed to do it myself! :) When i was your age and thought i knew what i was doing, i attempted to be cheap and put together a pc (pentium 100mhz at the time lol) i fried my new motherboard (admitedly this was when there were jumpers etc, i beleive i put the cpu fan on the turbo jumper... oops! burnt motherboard, smoke, $400 out of pocket, not good!

You can get good premade computers on trademe for $1800 that will play the games you want to play easily, and at a LOT less risk for you.. Buying a store made HP, isnt good value for money, buying from a trademe supplier with a good reputation is, they dont make much margin on it as they have to be competitive.

If however you still think you can do it, and dont mind shelling out more money for something you might static as your putting it together then we could list some parts. Upto you!

Edit: As above, if you still want to go through with it :)

magu

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#217996 26-May-2009 13:34

Good addition garvani. I should probably state here that I'm assuming you want to know the parts and prices to buy a built-up computer, not a brand one, but that you will leave the assembling to someone with knowledge of it, preferably the store where you would eventually buy all (or most) of the items.

"Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads." - Doc Emmet Brown

Smudge738

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#217999 26-May-2009 13:42

My dad is an IT Hardware Specialist/Software Designer but he has been too busy to actually sit down and explain evertything to me. I have no internet at home currently (wireless acting up, something to do with IMIE no.s) so its hard to get the actual information.

I need the cheapest overall possible, my money is limited, i will have to save for it. My dad has said he will assemble it and also install a spare liquid cooling unit (or something similar to that) that he has spare.