Work In Progress - Rig Building Explained
Rig Building Explained v1
Part 1
Okay, so with the advent of Doom3 and the coming release of Halflife2 I may need a new system. As fate would have it, I have begun the lengthy research that goes into buying an almost entirely new rig. On my agenda is: a new mobo, new processor, new ram, new videocard. However, because I am doing so much already I figured I would just do the whole 9 yards and try and whip up a Rig Building guide for the "new at rig-building" type. So by no means is this going to be extensive, but it should shed light on some FAQs and allow you to build a box from scratch. This is going to be geared towards performance, and I am not going to say what exactly you should buy until the very end when I decide what I am going to buy.
So, the first question you need to ask yourself is, "what goes into a computer?"
Requirements
-core components
case
PSU (power-supply unit)
motherboard
processor(s)
ram
video card(s)
-add-on/accessories
hard-drive(s)
removable media drive(s)
burner(s)
network card(s)
soundcard(s)
The First Stage of Rig Building - Plan & Purchase
Before anything else you need to figure out what kind of budget your on, decide what parts of the computer are important to you, choose the parts, and buy the parts. You can either choose to make a juggernaut that can do everything or mix and match the below. The below is debatable, but it would serve as a good outline for new-comers.
Gaming Machine: Decent CPU, Good Ram, Excellent Videocard
Workstation: Good CPU, Good Ram, Decent Videocard
Server: Excellent CPU, Good Ram, Optional Videocard
Already, you should see a few trends. First, for all computers, ram is a very important resource. I would say any computer should invest in good ram, if not excellent ram. Second, for gaming machines, the most important component is going to be your videocard, because that is the device that pushes the pixels. As long as you buy components that do not create bottlenecks (like running a radeon9800 on a 400mhz) you can go economy on the processor.
If you are on a budget you should really try and specialize your machine, so it can a at least do one thing really well. If you got say, 800bucks or something and you want a gaming machine, then you should drop $300 on the video card and use the other $500 for the rest (ram, mobo, cpu, hard-drive, disc-drives). Hopefully you have a case and PSU, as they can get pricey, but usually they are the things you have to update the least frequently- that is, if you think in the longterm when purchasing them.
After prioritizing your budget and deciding what you want the computer to do, you need to strap down and find reviews on various manufacturers. When I was a younger lad I would buy the Hercules Prophet Series because they had the most professional look. Looks can be deceiving as a lot of companies that sell their stuff for cheaper run just as well as the more expensive stuff. Computers are just like clothes, you WILL pay for brand names and logos. Here are some suggestions for each component.
Case - Depending on who you ask, the most important or least important component. There are a wide range of cases. I only have three case recommendations, but truth be known, as long as its not made out of cardboard you should be okay, and even then you could be okay. First recommendation is a Chieftec Dragon tower (link: http://www.chieftec.com/products/dragon/da01wd.htm). Dragon's are big and easy to work in, and the important crap is all tool-less. My second recommendation is a Kingwin KT-424. They are completely tool-less and have filters and stuff for their fans to keep the dust out (link: http://www.kingwin.com/ ). Thirdly, any case from Lian-Li. They charge you top-dollar, but they make some of the best cases for overclocking or to house beast systems. (link: http://www.lian-li.com/ ).
PSU (power-supply unit) - You can either go expensive or cheap. Cheapsters get CompUSA dealies that cost significantly less then brand-name. People who want quality buy from a variety of places but I recommend something from Antec's Truepower line. You can find the True**** models at www.antec.com. The important thing here is to make sure your power supply is 400+ watts.
Processor(s) - Two Choices Yield Four Options. Single Processor or Multiprocessor. AMD or Intel. I am an advocate of AMD for price reasons, I haven't used modern Intels enough to judge them. If you want an intel which is single processor your getting a pentium 4. If you want multi-proc intel you are getting xeons. If you want an AMD which is single proc you are getting an Athlon XP or 64 FX. If you want an AMD multi-proc your getting Opterons.
Motherboard - Your selection of a motherboard is really dependent on everything else and how much you want to spend. If you have a SATA hard-drive then you need one that supports SATA hard-drives. If you got an AMD chip, then I am sorry, but you cannot get an intel board. Either way, I recommend nForce chipsets from Gigabyte and Asus. (links: http://www.giga-byte.com/ http://www.asus.com/ ).
ram (random-access memory) - RAM is very important. There are tons of different speeds, manufacturers, error-checking levels, sizes, and prices. I won't go beyond saying that your RAM should all be from the same manufacturer and have the same CAS level. As for recommendations, if you want something that you know will work, then you can get memory from Crucial Technologies. (link: http://www.crucial.com/ ). If you want power, I would go with Corsair. (link: http://www.corsairmicro.com/ ). Just remember, you want your RAM to run at the same speed, and have the same CAS level. Also, don't buy DDR that is too fast for your FSB.
Video Cards - You have a this or that choice to make first. nVidia or Radeon. Now, you aren't actually choosing who you are going to buy from, you are choosing what kind of GPU you want on your chip. After you decide on what company you want you need to decide on much money your willing to pay. If you want an x800 or gf6800 then you gotta shell out alot of cash. Truth be known, it isn't even needed for alot of games. I find Radeon9600-9800 can handle mostly everything very well. Basically every company that makes mobos also makes videocards, so if you feel comfortable with the mobo your buying you could probably avoid compatibility issues by ordering from the same company.
The above is pretty much what allows your computer to boot and give you video feedback. With the above setup I *think* you could boot into knoppix, a linux distribution which runs off CD. What you could do aside however, who wants to boot into knoppix? What we want is a fully functional Windows XP gaming machine (or something else of that nature). So, time to accessorize. I consider this kind of stuff accessories because they usually do not cause hardware conflicts and are a lot more generic.
Hard-drive(s) - Storage can be very important to some people, especially people who run ftp servers and the like. Believe it or not, many people despise deleting things! For this reason hard-drives become a very important asset to your PC. There are a few commonly known companies that have been around since the beginning of personal computing: seagate, western digital, and maxtor. Now, as far as hard-drives go there are four elements which need to be taken into account when making your purchase. Speed, connection type (largely tied in with speed), buffer, and size. Hard-drive speeds range from 5400 (?) to 15,000+. The latter speeds can only be approached using RAID or SCSI interfaces. There are three connection types, IDE, SCSI, and the new and my personal favorite SATA. IDE has basically been the standard for a long time, and SCSI hard-drives have never really been popular among consumers, though they are really fast. The new SATA technology over-time should have performance increases over IDE of up to 4x. SATA run cooler and have smaller cables then both other technologies, and are as fast if not faster. Hard-drive buffers are pieces of solid-state memory similar to RAM which are really fast. The bigger the buffer the faster your CPU can send data to your hard-drive. Size is self explanatory, I wouldn't recommend anything under 80gigs in this day in age though. (links: http://www.seagate.com/ http://www.maxtor.com/ http://www.westerndigital.com/ )
Removable Media Drive(s) - Include DVD and CD readers. I would suggest picking up a generic model from a place like http://www.newegg.com/ or http://www.zipzoomfly.com/. They come in a lot of colors, and are just as fast as any brand-name drives. The only technology I have encountered which offers significant access time increases are the TrueX series, which I don't even think exist anymore. They differ from standard CD readers in that they have multiple lasers. They usually are 72x.
Burner(s) - For backing up your precious data. Before now DVD burners were inaccessible due to price, but have seen a huge price-drop over the last few months. Burners are the same as Readers, and obviously, if you have a burner you don't need a reader. Either way, go with a generic model that is the color of your case. If quality is really important to you in this department then check out Plextor devices, they are my personal favorites. (link: http://www.plextor.com/ ). Quick recommendations on burning media. Fuji-film, TDK, and Verbatim are high-quality stuff if you want high-quality media.
Network Card(s) - Three speeds, 10/100/1000 mb/s. The important thing with network cards are making sure they can run on generic driver's and trying not to spend too much money. 3com sells high-quality NICs but they really aren't necessary. Infact, if you can get a motherboard with built on ethernet, that is probably ideal.
Soundcard(s) - I am an advocate of nForce mobo's Soundstorm system. Basically, it supports EAX and Dolby Digital 5.1. Add-on cards are typically poor performers, though alot of people like getting the Creative cards and stuff like that. This is really up in the air because I am not an audio-phile and am content with the Soundstorm if you go nForce. If you go VIA or SiS, I am pretty sure they have built-in audio as well.
Part 1
Okay, so with the advent of Doom3 and the coming release of Halflife2 I may need a new system. As fate would have it, I have begun the lengthy research that goes into buying an almost entirely new rig. On my agenda is: a new mobo, new processor, new ram, new videocard. However, because I am doing so much already I figured I would just do the whole 9 yards and try and whip up a Rig Building guide for the "new at rig-building" type. So by no means is this going to be extensive, but it should shed light on some FAQs and allow you to build a box from scratch. This is going to be geared towards performance, and I am not going to say what exactly you should buy until the very end when I decide what I am going to buy.
So, the first question you need to ask yourself is, "what goes into a computer?"
Requirements
-core components
case
PSU (power-supply unit)
motherboard
processor(s)
ram
video card(s)
-add-on/accessories
hard-drive(s)
removable media drive(s)
burner(s)
network card(s)
soundcard(s)
The First Stage of Rig Building - Plan & Purchase
Before anything else you need to figure out what kind of budget your on, decide what parts of the computer are important to you, choose the parts, and buy the parts. You can either choose to make a juggernaut that can do everything or mix and match the below. The below is debatable, but it would serve as a good outline for new-comers.
Gaming Machine: Decent CPU, Good Ram, Excellent Videocard
Workstation: Good CPU, Good Ram, Decent Videocard
Server: Excellent CPU, Good Ram, Optional Videocard
Already, you should see a few trends. First, for all computers, ram is a very important resource. I would say any computer should invest in good ram, if not excellent ram. Second, for gaming machines, the most important component is going to be your videocard, because that is the device that pushes the pixels. As long as you buy components that do not create bottlenecks (like running a radeon9800 on a 400mhz) you can go economy on the processor.
If you are on a budget you should really try and specialize your machine, so it can a at least do one thing really well. If you got say, 800bucks or something and you want a gaming machine, then you should drop $300 on the video card and use the other $500 for the rest (ram, mobo, cpu, hard-drive, disc-drives). Hopefully you have a case and PSU, as they can get pricey, but usually they are the things you have to update the least frequently- that is, if you think in the longterm when purchasing them.
After prioritizing your budget and deciding what you want the computer to do, you need to strap down and find reviews on various manufacturers. When I was a younger lad I would buy the Hercules Prophet Series because they had the most professional look. Looks can be deceiving as a lot of companies that sell their stuff for cheaper run just as well as the more expensive stuff. Computers are just like clothes, you WILL pay for brand names and logos. Here are some suggestions for each component.
Case - Depending on who you ask, the most important or least important component. There are a wide range of cases. I only have three case recommendations, but truth be known, as long as its not made out of cardboard you should be okay, and even then you could be okay. First recommendation is a Chieftec Dragon tower (link: http://www.chieftec.com/products/dragon/da01wd.htm). Dragon's are big and easy to work in, and the important crap is all tool-less. My second recommendation is a Kingwin KT-424. They are completely tool-less and have filters and stuff for their fans to keep the dust out (link: http://www.kingwin.com/ ). Thirdly, any case from Lian-Li. They charge you top-dollar, but they make some of the best cases for overclocking or to house beast systems. (link: http://www.lian-li.com/ ).
PSU (power-supply unit) - You can either go expensive or cheap. Cheapsters get CompUSA dealies that cost significantly less then brand-name. People who want quality buy from a variety of places but I recommend something from Antec's Truepower line. You can find the True**** models at www.antec.com. The important thing here is to make sure your power supply is 400+ watts.
Processor(s) - Two Choices Yield Four Options. Single Processor or Multiprocessor. AMD or Intel. I am an advocate of AMD for price reasons, I haven't used modern Intels enough to judge them. If you want an intel which is single processor your getting a pentium 4. If you want multi-proc intel you are getting xeons. If you want an AMD which is single proc you are getting an Athlon XP or 64 FX. If you want an AMD multi-proc your getting Opterons.
Motherboard - Your selection of a motherboard is really dependent on everything else and how much you want to spend. If you have a SATA hard-drive then you need one that supports SATA hard-drives. If you got an AMD chip, then I am sorry, but you cannot get an intel board. Either way, I recommend nForce chipsets from Gigabyte and Asus. (links: http://www.giga-byte.com/ http://www.asus.com/ ).
ram (random-access memory) - RAM is very important. There are tons of different speeds, manufacturers, error-checking levels, sizes, and prices. I won't go beyond saying that your RAM should all be from the same manufacturer and have the same CAS level. As for recommendations, if you want something that you know will work, then you can get memory from Crucial Technologies. (link: http://www.crucial.com/ ). If you want power, I would go with Corsair. (link: http://www.corsairmicro.com/ ). Just remember, you want your RAM to run at the same speed, and have the same CAS level. Also, don't buy DDR that is too fast for your FSB.
Video Cards - You have a this or that choice to make first. nVidia or Radeon. Now, you aren't actually choosing who you are going to buy from, you are choosing what kind of GPU you want on your chip. After you decide on what company you want you need to decide on much money your willing to pay. If you want an x800 or gf6800 then you gotta shell out alot of cash. Truth be known, it isn't even needed for alot of games. I find Radeon9600-9800 can handle mostly everything very well. Basically every company that makes mobos also makes videocards, so if you feel comfortable with the mobo your buying you could probably avoid compatibility issues by ordering from the same company.
The above is pretty much what allows your computer to boot and give you video feedback. With the above setup I *think* you could boot into knoppix, a linux distribution which runs off CD. What you could do aside however, who wants to boot into knoppix? What we want is a fully functional Windows XP gaming machine (or something else of that nature). So, time to accessorize. I consider this kind of stuff accessories because they usually do not cause hardware conflicts and are a lot more generic.
Hard-drive(s) - Storage can be very important to some people, especially people who run ftp servers and the like. Believe it or not, many people despise deleting things! For this reason hard-drives become a very important asset to your PC. There are a few commonly known companies that have been around since the beginning of personal computing: seagate, western digital, and maxtor. Now, as far as hard-drives go there are four elements which need to be taken into account when making your purchase. Speed, connection type (largely tied in with speed), buffer, and size. Hard-drive speeds range from 5400 (?) to 15,000+. The latter speeds can only be approached using RAID or SCSI interfaces. There are three connection types, IDE, SCSI, and the new and my personal favorite SATA. IDE has basically been the standard for a long time, and SCSI hard-drives have never really been popular among consumers, though they are really fast. The new SATA technology over-time should have performance increases over IDE of up to 4x. SATA run cooler and have smaller cables then both other technologies, and are as fast if not faster. Hard-drive buffers are pieces of solid-state memory similar to RAM which are really fast. The bigger the buffer the faster your CPU can send data to your hard-drive. Size is self explanatory, I wouldn't recommend anything under 80gigs in this day in age though. (links: http://www.seagate.com/ http://www.maxtor.com/ http://www.westerndigital.com/ )
Removable Media Drive(s) - Include DVD and CD readers. I would suggest picking up a generic model from a place like http://www.newegg.com/ or http://www.zipzoomfly.com/. They come in a lot of colors, and are just as fast as any brand-name drives. The only technology I have encountered which offers significant access time increases are the TrueX series, which I don't even think exist anymore. They differ from standard CD readers in that they have multiple lasers. They usually are 72x.
Burner(s) - For backing up your precious data. Before now DVD burners were inaccessible due to price, but have seen a huge price-drop over the last few months. Burners are the same as Readers, and obviously, if you have a burner you don't need a reader. Either way, go with a generic model that is the color of your case. If quality is really important to you in this department then check out Plextor devices, they are my personal favorites. (link: http://www.plextor.com/ ). Quick recommendations on burning media. Fuji-film, TDK, and Verbatim are high-quality stuff if you want high-quality media.
Network Card(s) - Three speeds, 10/100/1000 mb/s. The important thing with network cards are making sure they can run on generic driver's and trying not to spend too much money. 3com sells high-quality NICs but they really aren't necessary. Infact, if you can get a motherboard with built on ethernet, that is probably ideal.
Soundcard(s) - I am an advocate of nForce mobo's Soundstorm system. Basically, it supports EAX and Dolby Digital 5.1. Add-on cards are typically poor performers, though alot of people like getting the Creative cards and stuff like that. This is really up in the air because I am not an audio-phile and am content with the Soundstorm if you go nForce. If you go VIA or SiS, I am pretty sure they have built-in audio as well.
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Comments
Citrix, Sounds good to me-- (we should publish that on the front page!)
Maybe put it in the Articles section, so everyone can check it on a regular basis to see whats new.
/me likes pictures :jelly: