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[Mindmaker]

I know there have been similar threads a while ago.
But I think enough time has passed and I need advice suiting my personal needs.

So years ago I would have been able to look up parts for myself, as I was still reading computer magazines.
However, I got tired of looking on games and hardware, which I could never possibly buy or play.
Now I have no idea how the current hardware market looks like.

Tired of having a 7-8 years old PC and a 1-2 year old crappy laptop, I decided to buy a new PC, which should at least get me through university.
I'd like to be able to to run X3: Terran Conflict on the highest settings (just to mention the game with the highest resource consumption I own), the upcoming Star Wars MMORPG, as well as any other game that will come along in the next time.

I'm not quite sure how the current prices are, but I'd like to have something with a good price-performance ratio.
So no overly expensive components, which I can buy for half the price in a month.
It would be great if you could give me a proposed price, based on your experience.

So hopefully there are some hardware experts here that can help me out.
I really feel lost, when trying to figure it out myself 

[DDR]

I advise buying a computer from a reliable shop. Find somewhere you trust, and talk to them.

[nenjin]

www.newegg.com

I trust Newegg to give some reasonable price averages for today's hardware. Sometimes the deals are great, sometimes they're average. But I don't think I've ever overpaid for anything from them. The site is also pretty user friendly, IMO.

For $500, you can get something with a dual core at least, 2gb - 3gb RAM, and a 512mg PCI-E card for....probably $500. That should be plenty to run everything on your list. Depending on peripherals you need (power supply, HD, drives, that stuff) it totals out to about $650.

You can go prebuilt if you have no desire to actually build one...but my experience has been:

a) You'll always over pay for the package.
b) You may end up with proprietary parts that are either less powerful, or that restrict your ability to upgrade in some way.

Then again, I haven't bought a prebuilt in probably 15 years.

For example...

Intel Core i7 - $289
Motherboard - $129
2 gigs of So-so Ram - $65
GeForce GT 240 512MB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 - $79.99

I'm a bit behind on my video cards, but the last one is fairly cheap and seems very good at that price.

$565. I didn't bargain hunt any of that either. With that set up, you could run most games today at max settings. (Another gig of RAM wouldn't hurt either, or a $200 video cad instead of an $80.)

Looking at X3's specs....if you're willing to spend ~$800, you could build something that should last you at least another 4 years. I'm on a PC I built...6 years ago, and have just Frankensteined new parts into.

[Nikov]

[ ] - I recognize I do not know everything, and can wait until I know for certain before acting.
[ ] - I know what 'overtightening' means, and can use force appropriate to a delicate mechanical task.
[ ] - I can connect color-coded electrical plugs.
[ ] - I am not afraid of BIOS.
[ ] - I have installed or reinstalled an operating system.
[ ] - I know how to isolate a hardware failure.
[ ] - I am prepared to send something back to the retailer.
[ ] - I am not afraid to call technical support.
[ ] - I am not afraid to fail.

If you answered yes to all of the above, you can build a computer.

[Mindmaker]

Thank you for the responses so far.
I've also been at the bay12 chat, where a friendly member gave me some advice on what to buy.
Feel free to discuss his choice.

Case: ATX form factor
PSU: something with 1000 W
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-P55-USB3 for ATX
Processor: Intel Core i5-680 Clarkdale 3.6 GHz for socket LGA 1156
Videocard: Nvidia GeForce GTS 250 1GB PCI Express 2x16 (PNY Manufacturer)
RAM: Corsair 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 (4 x)
HDD: Either 500 GB or 1 TB

I've still have to look up which of these parts are available in my country.

If you answered yes to all of the above, you can build a computer.

Thanks for the redundant info >.>
I know I can build it, but I have no knowledge of the parts needed.

[Nikov]

Thanks for the redundant info >.>
I know I can build it, but I have no knowledge of the parts needed.

Sorry. After the "I want to make a sword out of lead" thread, I feel the need to double check the sanity of OP's.

I doubt you'll need a kilowatt PSU, unless you intend to have multiple graphics cards. Mine is only 679 with the same gfx card and three hard drives. Oh yeah, get a RAID. Damn do I love this RAID.

[Pillow_Killer]

Leave the man some room for expansion. This beast will last for years.

[G-Flex]

Thanks for the redundant info >.>
I know I can build it, but I have no knowledge of the parts needed.

Sorry. After the "I want to make a sword out of lead" thread, I feel the need to double check the sanity of OP's.

I doubt you'll need a kilowatt PSU, unless you intend to have multiple graphics cards. Mine is only 679 with the same gfx card and three hard drives. Oh yeah, get a RAID. Damn do I love this RAID.

I'm not sure a RAID is the best idea. Either you have no redundancy (RAID-0), which is just a bad idea to begin with, or you lose something like 1/3 or 1/2 of the capacity you bought.

[Jetsquirrel]

Get a ati videocard they are better in some ways than a geforce and cost much less with higher output

[alway]

Also remember to leave room in your budget for parts which aren't internal components; you may need speakers, montior, ect. And of course the OS. Windows 7 is what I would recommend if you aren't brave enough to use Linux.

To be honest, the most improtant thing is to read reviews. They help avoid things like "PSU lighting up like a Christmas tree."

[Grimlocke]

Get a ati videocard they are better in some ways than a geforce and cost much less with higher output

Same goes for AMD processors vs Intel processors.

Sticking with reliable brands for the rest of the parts is a decent way to keep away from malfuntioning parts, though reading reviews is allways a good idea. Newegg has a review system that can help even if you cant order anything there due to where you live.

As for the parts mentioned above, a 1000 W PSU is a massive overkill, something you buy if you want to build crazy machine with multiple high-end GPUs, watercooling, etc.

Not sure about those memory chips. Might want to go with DDR3.

Also, the size of harddrive wont affect performance unless its too small to house windows' processes. The speed of a harddrive however does affect performance, faster harddrives give shorter load (and write) times. I would recommend buying a 7200rpm harddrive, its fast but affordable.

RAIDs are said to be good, they can increase speed and reliablity by a lot. Note that you will need to buy a RAID controller for that. Simplers RAIDs arnt so expensive, more complex ones can be very costly.

[G-Flex]

Get a ati videocard they are better in some ways than a geforce and cost much less with higher output

I hear bad things about ATI on a fairly consistent basis. Whenever I hear about people having obscure video problems with old games, OpenGL games, etc. (including Dwarf Fortress's SDL versions), nine times out of ten it's some ATI card/driver issue.

RAIDs are said to be good, they can increase speed and reliablity by a lot. Note that you will need to buy a RAID controller for that. Simplers RAIDs arnt so expensive, more complex ones can be very costly.

Unfortunately, it's never really that simple. A mirrored RAID will necessarily take longer to write to, a striped RAID seeks more slowly since multiple disks have to access the information (but has better write/read performance once it does), etc. I'm not sure what the overhead on parity is, where that applies.

[nenjin]

AMD v. Intel, Nvidia v. ATI, I tend to tell people to pick whatever they're more comfortable with. There's a ton of spin and often the differences can be minute. Price differences on the other hand...

My experience with AMD and Intel has been thus:

Intel - Pricier, but comes with better tools and are probably the most reliable processors.
AMD - Cheaper for about the same power, intended for overclocking and modification...slightly less reliable.

I've had better luck with Nvidia than ATI. That rests largely on who gaming devs choose to work with when they develop games though. And I do know that the most recent gen of Nvidia top performers are power hungry monsters.

Either or will be fine. Don't let fanbois on either side of the fence convince you one is absolutely better than another. I suppose I choose Intel because I know a guy that works there.

PSU- You don't need anywhere near that much juice unless you plan to crossfire video cards, or are allotting power use for the next couple gens of hardware.

RAM: Corsair 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 (4 x)

Spend the money, get the best you can (which I guess is still DDR3). Corsair is a brand I trust, but memory is dirt cheap. There's no reason to not get the best you can afford unless your board doesn't support it.

HDD: Either 500 GB or 1 TB

Other than size, make sure you look at all the specs on a HDD. People tend to write them off because they just store data...but RAID and basic drive architecture have actually improved them in the last few years to where they can impact performance. So it's worth looking for a GOOD hard drive...as everyone loves lower read/write times.

And lastly, as some have said....leave yourself room to work inside your case. Get a ruler out and actually visualize the dimensions of your case. There shouldn't be a case where stuff can't fit.....but if the case is too small, you may have clearances between parts of less than an inch....and that's no bueno.

[Mindmaker]

Other than size, make sure you look at all the specs on a HDD. People tend to write them off because they just store data...but RAID and basic drive architecture have actually improved them in the last few years to where they can impact performance. So it's worth looking for a GOOD hard drive...as everyone loves lower read/write times.

Yeah, I know.
I just wasn't familiar what good specs for an HDD were.

I considered RAID, but I already had some disc Failures and see no need in halfing the MTTF.

Either or will be fine. Don't let fanbois on either side of the fence convince you one is absolutely better than another.

Don't plan on doing that
I started out with a Nvidia card, but had to change when I needed a card supporting the new DirectX.
Had a lot of problems since then.
I guess i'll stick with Nvidia.

Thank you again for all the responses.
I think I know what to do now.
Once I've completed my list of available parts, I'll post it here, for one last check.

[Mindmaker]

So how much Watt will my PSU need?
The bigger ones are quite expenisve...

Also about memory...
With an 32 bit operating system I can adress up to 4 GB of RAM.
Is ist worth getting the 64 bit version (looks like there is no additional charge) and stuff more RAM in it?
Are there any games that utilize more than 4GB?
I highly doubt it, but as I already told you, I haven't been following any recent developments, so I'm just asking.