Building the ultimate LFS Machine:
I want FPS around 80-100
Intel or AMD?
Socket type?
1GB+ Ram obviously
PCI-E or PCI good enough?
Graphics Card? I think 128MB is enough for LFS, what u think? Anyones i should avoid?
Hard Drive make any differnece?
Any socket 939 Athlon 64 or any socket A Athlon K7 above 2600+ rating.
Any DDR-RAM above 640 mb
Any GFX-slot
Any GFX-board above GF4 Ti 4200 (this one whirls ~60 fps at you)
No, harddrive doesn't affect fps. Slight impact on loading times though...
LFS isn't a demanding game.
Anything else:
Better get a nice wheel with 3-pedals and H-shifter.
Well, Niki, I would say LFS runs flat out, 120fps, on a "reasonable" spec machine, my machine isnt really top class anymore, it was a year ago when I built it, but not anymore.
My specs are 3.4ghz P4, 1GB Ram, ATIX800pro, this runs LFS flat out with everything on and everything thrown at it at 1280x1024 32 bit res.
All that said, if I were building a new system now, purely a gaming system, I would go for an AMD chip, more bang for your buck, as for socket type, the one that gives you the most upgrade possibilties.
1GB of ram is adequete for most gaming, TBH any more than that I would say is overkill, PCI-E graphics would be the way to go, if your pocket affords it, but LFS runs VERY well on AGP cards, I dont think there is much in the way of texture loading in LFS, therefore a 128mb card should be fine, but it may be worth going for a 256mb for futureproofing.
Obviously there are 2 major gfx card manufacturers, and everyone will tell you that there prefered make is better, I prefer ATI, simply because they offer the best performance in FS2004.
As for hard drives, IDE is perfectly adequete for LFS, but if you want to futureproof go for SATA.
The only other thing, is research motherboards with a fine-tooth comb, it is amazing how much difference a decent motherboard can make to overall system performace.
As said above, LFS is a very well programmed piece of software, and hence runs extremely well on modest spec'd machines.
I agree there Dan, except for that comment. 2 yes 2 Western Digital 160gb SATA Drives packed up in less that 12months. I would stick with IDE personally.
Regarding SATA: I would say go for a SATA disk. The ide cables are just so cumbersome. Plus harddrives can last 10 years if your lucky and i don't think a new 2015 motherboard will have IDE.
SATA drive, much faster. Maybe one of the Maxtor drives with 16mb of cache, meant to be really quick. A raptor would probably be stupidly overpriced for what your wanting it for, although insanely quick.
CPU - 64 bit PC. The 64 bit CPUs are aimed mainly at the gaming section of the PC market, whereas the Intel CPUs ae more aimed at faster encoding of files etc. Probably go for a 939 socket CPU, and go for a Venice core, they run cooler, and require less power, therefore need less noisy cooling equipment is needed unless you are into overclocking. probably the 3000 or 3200 chips will be the best to go for, or if you want that little extra, the 3500.
1GB of RAM, as long as you pick a reputible manufacturer you should be fine. Unless your overclocking there is no need to pay the prices for RAM such a G Skill. GeIL, Corsair and Crucial are very good and usually quite fairly priced. If you play Battlefield 2 then it can be very picky and you may want to get 2GB.
Since your doing a full overhaul of the PC, you might as well get into PCI Express, as no more future cards are going to be made in the AGP format. Depending on your budget, my 6800 runs LFS very smoothly at 1280x1024 with 8xAA and 16xAF enabled, although that might be overkill for what you want? The Nvidia 6600GT is a very reputible bang for buck card, as is ATi's X800XL.
Another thing to think about is your power supply. By no means use a rubbish PSU that came with a PC case, unless its a Seasonic, Shuttle or something reputible, and avoid Q Tec PSUs like the plague. Also you will probably need between a 400 and 450watt quality PSU to run a mid range system.
I would probably say for a good PC the following specs:
AMD A64 3000 Venice
Abit AV8 K8T800 motherboard
1GB GeIL Ultra or GeIL ONE
Nvidia 6600GT
Maxtor 16mb Cache hard drive (change size dependant on needs)
On board sound
on board LAN
Even XP Home will do the job, as long as you don´t want to join a domain ^^
The 64 version is incomplete, I can´t recommend using it.
CPU: AMD!! Faster for your money! (socket 939, 3200+ or better 3500+)
RAM: 1 GB for "normal" use, 2GB for Battlefield 2
Board: the Abit mentioned up there is ok ^^
GFX: yop, geforce 6600gt and above (I´d recommend a faster 6800gt )
HDD: I love Samsung, not the absolutely best in performance (but up top) but very quiet
To be honest, i have XP Pro and have no need for the extra features. It only does the odd thing, and usually things only used by businesses. X64 i have heard a lot of complaints about, simply beacause of the lack of drivers to support it. A lot of people for example seem to be having bother making their ipods (or other USB items that need drivers) work with X64, and other perpherals.
Save yourself the cash and go for XP Home, it will do everything you need more than likely, unless you run a business.
Only thing i can think of you may need XP Pro is if you have a huge amount of PCs networked. Cant remember how many computers Home lets you connect, but Pro is unlimited if i remember correctly.
Cant really see any problems there mate Other than the IDE Hard drive, but thats your choice.
Should all run fine.
The board is a tad overkill, but if your intending to go to an SLi setup at some point then it could be an advantage. Also, have a look at the DFI LANparty SLi board if thats the line you want to go to.
Man, thats not fair, everywheres cheaper for buying PC gear than this stupid little hole of a country.
your post isn't very clear. do you mean 'no' current hardware will get you 80FPS or the hardware i have listed wont get me 80FPS. If its the later i'd be rather suprised if it didn't hit 80FPS. would i not be right in saying that?
a bit too much imho i think your better off with a 3500 ot if you insist on 1 mb cach a 3700 ... plus i seem overpriced the 4000 should be more in the 350-360 euro range
im not very fond of abit anymoe so id rather go for a asus a8n-sli delux if you wans sli compability and dont want to overclock (should cost you about 130-140 euros) or if you dont want an sli board after all id go for the msi k8n neo4 platinum (should cost you about 110 euros is nice overclocker and has an amazing layout) or the sli version of the msi board ... if you want to go for a rally expensive board you should take a look at the dfi nf4 sli-dr
id rather buy a wd sata hdd but hdds are more of a religious choice
a bit underpowered fot that cpu and very overpriced (a 66gt shopuld cost you about 130-140 euros)
with 210 euros youre already calculation in the pricerange of the significantly faster 6800gt which should cost you about 260-270 euros
id prefer a plextor vurner but afaik lg is fine if you dont want anything special
assuing that the psu is from antec too its a good choice ... 450w is overkill though but the price seems fair
for 120 euro you shopuld be able to get a kit with cl2 rams (not the fastest tipe of cl2 rams but still a bit fater than what youve got on the list)
I have to disagree there. While the SATA interface obviously has improved throughput capabilities, current hard drives can't read data from the surface at more than ~80MB/s anyway. Hence why only Maxtor has bothered making ATA133, everyone else sticks with ATA100.
So the only bonus is you can read from the cache faster.
I agree the technology is more futureproof, has tidier cables, and is the most sensible purchase if you are replacing everything in your system. It's just not really any faster.
Yeah, I'm still running a 300W PSU here and have no problems. It's not like I haven't got much stuff in my system either. The important thing to remember though is that this 300W PSU (AOpen) weighs at least twice what my 550W PSU (Q-Tec) does. Probably more powerful too.
Oh, and, a beige optical drive in a black case? At least try and make them match.
@Shotglass: Where do you buy your computer stuff? because i have searched high and low and komplett are the cheapest i can find including shipping. All our computer shops in Ireland are majorly overpriced and that system is about €600 cheaper than in one of those shops.
Komplett only charges me €20 for the shipping which is great!
You got any links to those cheap places?
i took those prices of a german (or actually austrian with a german section) price comparison site so these are always the lowest price range from all the shops monitored on that site but since all the parts have been available for a few month at least i dont think the average prices will be siginificantly higher
but since all of those are prices from german online-shops i cant help you with finding a cheap one in ireland
)