For all Hardware enthusiasts!

[terrancelam]

What in your opinion are the 4 most important parts when building a complete computer system (and when I say build, I mean as in for you! Not your sister or father or mother. A comp for them would be VERY different I would expect, unless they are hardcore!)

For me they are, the motherboard, hard drive, power supply unit and ram. Everything else is an accessory to judgement!

Motherboard: Stability and overclockablity along with options for tweaking performance. Plus future compatibility and has to have had some of the newer standard of tech on it.

Hard drive: just because, if you sting here, performance loss is too great and installation pains and hd troubles will kill you later on down the road.

Power Supply Unit: It supplies all your components with power..You don't want a cheap psu feeding your components with ..."dirty" power that fluxes.

Ram: Without good ram, you can face instant instability and you cannot even consider tweaking or ocing.

[BaLa]

Mobo, Proc, RAM, Case/PSU

[Grimson]

ram, mobo, hdd, proc

[Easto]

A good upgrade path. Any parts as long as I buy quality but most important is that I don't get stuck with a dead end system.

[HalfLifer]

mobo, cpu, ram, harddrive.

[64bit]

case/psu, mobo, cpu, ram

[wip3out]

Motherboard, CPU, GRAPHICS CARD!!!, Memory.

You guys obviously aren't into games.

[BaLa]

no it's not really that..
if you have solid components you can switch out graphics card easily...

with a POS 300 Watt PSU your comp might not run, or runn correctly..lockups n stuffs...

[downhill]

Mobo, cpu, soundcard, harddisk....

(so I'm wierd. )

[el bob]

mobo proc mem cooling

[Qwijib0]

case fan, souncard, blue LED, floppy drive

[Zmoney]

Originally posted by wip3out
Motherboard, CPU, GRAPHICS CARD!!!, Memory.

You guys obviously aren't into games.

i second that...

[t]

YA ALL LEFT OUT MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!

[terrancelam]

everything else is optional and you see, this is all about prefference! I personally believe that what I listed above is what I need to have as a base platform for me to build a solid computer. Without it, I can't add a other devices onto it later on!! I mean when I build a computer, the cpu isn't a biggie, something better will come along to meet my needs, so buying a cheapo processor to save up for a better one is what most people usually do, staying a cut behind that isn't as bad as stay a cut behind on a motherboard (like buying a ECS ...*shudders*).

[bigswing]

CPU, RAM, V-Card, S-Card

[NuclearHeadache]

Hdd ( the larger the better, I don't care much for speed 7200 is suffice. Do I really need SCSI?)

Motherboard (Bug free, room for expansion, compatibility)

Ram (I'm not into OC ram so as long as the mobo likes it I like it)

PSU (MORE POWER is always better. Dual fans and cables long enough to commit suicide with are what I like in a PSU)

[YARDofSTUF]

Mobo, CPU, RAM, Video Card, the rest of thesystem is built around these components.

[YeOldeStonecat]

I wouldn't want to limit it to just naming 4....cuz there are way more. Also the answer depends on what you do with your computer, your primary purpose for it (IE gaming), in which case, besides CPU, you want vid card, sound card, speakers, monitor, motherboard of course, your internet connection and all it's equipment.

It's the sum of all the parts you put into it.

[wip3out]

no it's not really that..
if you have solid components you can switch out graphics card easily...

with a POS 300 Watt PSU your comp might not run, or runn correctly..lockups n stuffs...

The reason I decided GFX card instead of PSu is because i look at PC building in terms of money. You can go buy a new PSU whenever you like and stick it in because they aren't that expensive.

You can't however get a cheap GFX card until you can afford a new one because playing at 40FPS is totally unbearable for any hardcore gamer and graphics card aren't cheap. Yes the PSU is very important but they are very cheap compared to other components and so i never worry about them too much and concentrate and getting the more important parts installed.

[YARDofSTUF]

Originally posted by wip3out

because playing at 40FPS is totally unbearable for any hardcore gamer and graphics card aren't cheap

40fps is not unbearable lol its when teh lows go under 30ish that its unbearable

[wip3out]

In my oppinion 40FPS is way to low. I mainly play First Person Shooter games and the difference between 100FPs and 40FPs could mean your life. If you are only able to get 40FPS when in normal battle situations, then when you are faced by 15 enemies with explosions and smoke are all around you the FPS is obviously going to drop to unplayable levels where you cannot even see where you are being shot from.

Go play RTCW Multi @ 40FPS and see what score you get.

[YARDofSTUF]

Originally posted by wip3out
In my oppinion 40FPS is way to low. I mainly play First Person Shooter games and the difference between 100FPs and 40FPs could mean your life. If you are only able to get 40FPS when in normal battle situations, then when you are faced by 15 enemies with explosions and smoke are all around you the FPS is obviously going to drop to unplayable levels where you cannot even see where you are being shot from.

Go play RTCW Multi @ 40FPS and see what score you get.

i'm talkign at 40FPS not lower, 40FPS is fine!!!!

[terrancelam]

Originally posted by YeOldeStonecat
I wouldn't want to limit it to just naming 4....cuz there are way more. Also the answer depends on what you do with your computer, your primary purpose for it (IE gaming), in which case, besides CPU, you want vid card, sound card, speakers, monitor, motherboard of course, your internet connection and all it's equipment.

It's the sum of all the parts you put into it.

It does depend on what you do with your system, but you also have to realize, if you don't use certain parts for ANY basic system, whether it be for gaming or for regular CAD working or even just regular desktop usage, the system won't be very stable and will give you problems later on down the road. Like I said, for everything else, it's an accessory for the computer to suits the person who is using it ( if for gaming, fast cpu and video card. If for a home server, some 3com network cards or what not along side with a raid setup.) The rest should vary from person to person.

I'm not trying to say, what you should go out and buy specificly for gaming, but for any basic computer. Before anything else, these part are very important in my honest opinion compared to that of everything else.

The reason I limited it to four is to see what people find important. To see what they will build their system around them. Some people think video cards are more important then hard drives, so that tells you that they are more into gaming and video intensive usage, while people like me preffer faster and more reliable hard drive storage to start off with on the bat.

It's just to see what you would use as the base to build you system around.