ok building a computer.

DarkSymphony

hey all, I'm not new to building computers, but I'm out of the loop on what to look for. The last system I built was in 2005 and it was based on AGP for videocard and socket 9 AMD CPU. Clearly this has been outclassed since then.

I know I'm looking for PCI Express, but what else?

-What kind of CPU chipset?
-What kind of RAM
-power wattage from the PSU?
-What kind of good case should I look for?
-Decent price on a (roughly) 100 gig HDD?

I'm not looking to spend a thousand bucks here so really I'm not looking for the highest end stuff. Like, something that could possibly run Crysis on good settings, but not necessarily have to run it on the *highest* settings.

or conversely, if there is a way to build a computer that can run Crysis on high settings but not be super expensive. I'm not looking for a new monitor and I have the keyboard, mouse, speakers and so forth.

BlindZenDriver

You will find you get a lot for your money today on the other hand Crysis is demanding :-)

Tom's Hardware did an article on DIY PC's for different budgets not long a go. That should give you an overview.

My advice would be to look for a mid-range Core2Duo CPU, 2x2 GB ram, 500 watt PSU, a Radeon 4870 1 GB ram graphics card and a SATA drive (500 GB or so). As for case and optical drives just use what you have today.

WickerBasket

Try posting in the Computer Build Thread in the Tech Forum.

There's a lot of ideas in the thread and a lot of people who know what they're talking about who post in it.

DarkSymphony

excellent thank you very much