Need Help In Building A PC

[spacescreamer]

Hi Guys..

Found this great site after googling and been reading few stuff offlate. Liking it :)


I would also like to take this opportunity to ask for lil help.
I am looking to build a pc (CPU Only actually) for a friend who has some specific requirements.
I found myself not too well informed on this subject hence thought about asking from fellow programmers.


Requirements:

1) Plans to run s.w like IBM RAD as he is into JAVA based projects.

2) He also has keen interest in gaming and would like to try for a machine which would be future ready.
Prefers games like Assassins Creed 2, pretty much the next gen gaming types.

Preferring Intel Based Machine. Plans to run winxp/win7

Basic plan is to let him continue the coding business and with time add grafix card and use the machine for gaming as well.
Taking few things into account that newer motherboards are offering HDMI ports as well for the output, something like that would be of added advantage.

I am not putting any config as i been out of PC building scene for quite sometime.
Pls do pour your suggestions in.

[oracleguy]

What is the budget?

If they specifically want an Intel CPU, look at the i5 and i7 processors. Put at least 4GB of RAM into the machine.

[spacescreamer]

Let's just forget about the budget for a while.

Suggest me the minimum PC config which ll allow me to run software like IBM RAD and run a few other apps in the background like utorrent in the background.
I mean from where should one start looking for with these two mentioned criteria..??

[oracleguy]

Well what are the system requirements for RAD? If this is the right version, they appear to be pretty low: http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=2042&uid=swg21327294

If that is the right version then something like a Core i5 processor and 4GB of RAM would be more than adequate. Add in a 1 or 2 terabyte hard drive, your choice of optical drive (dvd burner, blu-ray reader or blu-ray burner), case, power supply (550-650 watt) and the only thing left to decide is how much money you want to spend on a video card. You can net a decent video card for gaming for 190-250 bucks but they can go as high as 500. And don't forget the cost of a copy of Windows 7 64-bit.

[spacescreamer]

Well the RAD requirements are pretty low. Thats true.
It ll run fine on Pentium 3 proccy with 2 Gigger RAM. But i doubt it ll be able to handle any other application running side by side, like utorrent.


The current system is pretty old (Intel P4, 1GB DDR1 ) and its time for an upgrade.
With HD movies and HDMI ports jazz flowing around, i was asked to provide a good solution. Thrown in was a request for games support as well.

The first thing sprung to my mind was that it wd be better to ask people having similar rigs at their place.


So with P4 as the current system i need to suggest a good rig good for professional s/w like RAD and which ll be fine for running HD movies, Games to boot.

[Apostropartheid]

Oracle's suggestions match up to your spec, but choose a Blu-ray reader if you want HD movies (burner not necessary.) The video card is hard to provide without more information like the modernity of the games, graphics level required and expected life span.

[spacescreamer]

Thanks guys.. seems to be getting somewhere.
Oracleguy's config goes right to the top on priority list.

How about if i pair a Xpert Vision Radeon HD4850 512 MB GDDR3 with i3 proccy ..? Will that be good combo with say 2GB/4GB DDR3 RAM ??
Just trying to toggle some options here.

[oracleguy]

It might but based on the current system specs are they wanting this computer to last for 5-6 years? If so, spending a little bit more now will save a lot more money later. (e.g. i3 versus i5, 2gb versus 4gb)

If they want to be able to play games like AC2, you'll want at least 4GB of RAM. Right now games such as AC2 already require at least 2GB, so putting in more memory will make it more future proof.

Don't forget too that with 4GB of RAM and up you should be running a 64-bit OS.

[Apostropartheid]

You should really be looking at an i5 rather than an i3. As oracle said, buying 4GB now would be better but if you wish you may skimp on it now and add in an extra two sticks in the future. Remember that for this to work you must buy a motherboard with four DIMM slots.

[spacescreamer]

Which mobo is most cost effective with i3 based machine..

H55
P55
H57

Should cover major functions keeping cost as less as possible.
No designs of overclocking.

[oracleguy]

There is more to a motherboard than just the chipset it uses. Form factor, PCIe slot quantity and type, what onboard audio and network chipsets it uses, number of memory slots, what speed of memory it supports, etc.

It sounds like you have a price in your head that you want to stay under, it would help if we knew what it was.

And I agree with Apostropartheid that you should be looking at the i5 unless you budget is really tight. The i3 is the entry level budget CPU whereas i5 is the mid range processor.

[primefalcon]

Don't forget fsb