CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

I'm getting a new computer sometime soon, custom made, but I need to know all the parts I need. In other words, what is the best graphics card, sound card, and such out there? And the best mouse and keyboard for gaming? I also need some other stuff, like info on speakers and such. Also, the best OS for gaming. My expertise as a gamer lies with consoles, not with computers. Haha. Anyway, thanks.

is money an issue?

Not really.

Money not an issue....Let's see. This guide (http://www.anandtech.com/guides/showdoc.aspx?i=2753) from anandtech attempts to build the best system possible for under $1500, which is a good idea for your first system. You want the best out there, you'll be wanting to look for an AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 processor or an Intel Extreme Edition Dual Core processor (either one costing ~$800-$1000, with AMD being a bit cheaper and just as good if not better), a good motherboard (MSI is a great company, and I understand their MSI K8N Diamond Plus is a good board for the AMD chip), 2-4 GB of good memory (I would recommend Kingston Tech), a Sound Blaster X-Fi soundcard (although a Soundblaster Audigy 2 card would do nicely as well), an ATI Radeon X1900XTX or (even better as it is faster) a dual-processor GeForce 7950GX2 card (or two of them in SLI, which means they share the video processing and increase the computer's speed, when the drivers come out). The speakers and keyboard/mouse mentioned in the above guide are supposed to be good, although I personally am a fan of the Logitech X700 or X1000 cordless mouse, and type of keyboard is really a thing of personal preference. The article also mentions good choices for a DVD/CD burners and hard drives, and if you want a larger hard drive simply buy a bigger model from Maxtor, Western Digital, or Seagate. I would estimate the no-holds-barred machine as costing upwards of $3000 easily, and very likely more like $4000, but the lower end machine would play games really well, and the extra cost isn't always worth it. As for the best gaming OS, right now it would be Windows XP, no contest. No other OS has the number or quality of games that Windows XP does. You may pick other OS's for other reasons, but for gaming it has to be Windows XP (although Windows Vista might be better after it comes out and gains support).

Ah, what is 'overclocking'?

A really bad idea for an amature (And I'm not kidding, I had a friend literally melt a processor by overclocking it). It's taking a computer component beyond the factory recommendations, and generally requires better system cooling and whatnot. Unless you have somebody explain how to overclock, don't worry about it. However, a component that overclocks well is generally very stable when run at factory specs, so overclockable components usually make for a very stable computer.

You mean running it too hard or something?

Ah, noob question time...what is the difference between a computer case and an external enclosure? The latter sounds like an oxymoron.

Yep, overclocking a processor is making run faster than it says it can. And I have no idea what the difference is between a computer case and an external enclosure, although I can't remember using the latter, so I would use the former.

Thanks. I forgot about the case, I was more worried about the components...I'll need to get parts taht will all work with each otehr, and still fit inside the case. I suppose I should wait until later to get the case, so I will know everything will fit.

and external enclosure is for something like a hard drive or a cd rom drive that you want to run outside of your case, to make it portable and whatnot

Okay, can someone give me a list of all the essentail components for a computer? Like the processor, harddrive, ram, graphics cards, sound cards, and stuff? Also, this computer is supposed to be a gaming computer, but I also needed it to run a few other programs, such as video editing programs and the normal word processors and such. THere won't be a problem, will there?

You will need:
A Case
A Motherboard
A Processor and processor fan (comes with most commerical processor packages)
RAM
A Computer Power Supply (comes with some cases, but you will need a good one for a high-powered video card and processor)
A device to connect to the internet (a LAN connection, which is on most motherboards today, or a phone modem connection)
A Sound Card (comes onboard most motherboards, but a card can have better quality and more gaming support)
A Video Card
A Hard Drive
A CD/DVD Drive (a burner is useful)
Possibly a floppy drive, although I like USB storage devices better
A Mouse
A Keyboard
A Monitor

As long as you have Windows XP and the components for a good gaming machine your computer should be able to do all the tasks you mentioned if you buy the correct programs.

I'm going to second Puritan on the Kingston RAM. It's good stuff. Also, any of the latest GeForce cards are awesome, simply because the patching is laid bare to one simple patch covering all of the cards. And if money's not going to be any object and you're goign to be playing FPS' alot, I would recommend thisbad boy. It's a nice little piece, even for the amount you're gonna pay for it. Whilst you're on Thinkgeek, you might also want to consider getting one of the duckie-in-water mice. Beating anyone with that awesomeness is sheer embarrassment.

/end geek helpline

Thanks. I will have enough to get everything for the comp around December, so that will give me plenty of time to research what I needed, and what I"m going to get. An Zilch, that keyboard is AWESOME. First game I want for the new PC - Half Life 2.

BTW, I am going to have a wireless connection. How well does that work for high speed gaming?

if you want wireless, some motherboards have it onboard, but i would recommend a wireless card, also, what type of router do you have?

A D-Link Wireless Router. 802.11g/2.4gH

Ah, I've checked some of the parts you showed me. There are some variations among some of them, and I don't know what is what. There are five different choices for the Sound Blaster X-Fi, but I want surround sound, so I don't know what to pick. BTW, surround sound can be just a bunch of different speakers, right?

Also, what is a good power supply to get for something that will be running what I have?

Here are the links to waht you showed me:
Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?DEPA=0&type=&Description=MSI+K8N+Diamond+Plus&Submit=ENE&Ntk=all&N=0&minPrice=&maxPrice=&Go.x=0&Go.y=0

Sound Card:
Sound Blaster X-Fi:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?DEPA=0&type=&Description=Sound+Blaster+X-Fi&Submit=ENE&Ntk=all&N=0&minPrice=&maxPrice=&Go.x=23&Go.y=47
Sound Blaster Audigy 2:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?DEPA=0&type=&Description=Sound+Blaster+Audigy+2&Submit=ENE&Ntk=all&N=0&minPrice=&maxPrice=&Go.x=0&Go.y=0

Thanks.

BTW: I do have a 2K Budget, so...