Building PC / Have Questions

[Shawn]

^ Back at my mom's house I used to pull up this ridiculous looking rocking chair, but my new place is so small I can't do that anymore. Heck, my couch is like only 3 feet from the 42" TV... that's how bad my sight is!

[jeffy777]

Yeah, I'm pretty much the same way, very nearsighted.

If you're that close, I'd just go with the wired 360 controller, especially if you are using a wireless mouse or keyboard. I heard some people have complained about the wireless 360 controller interfering with other wireless devices, though my brother hasn't had any such problems, and he uses a wireless controller in combination with his wireless mouse/keyboard.

[Shawn]

^ It'll be cheaper as well to go wired I assume.

Thanks Jeffy... I still gotta buy a controller and an HDD enclosure to complete my new setup. Oh, and I'm gonna swap this busted front USB hookup that came with my case with my card reader.

[Serj]

wow. I'm frankly surprised nobody Recommended you get an 8800GTS 512MB(G92) video card. it's essentially 2% slower for 20% cheaper (according to reports, the 9800GTX is actually a slight variation on the very same card).

Setup looks great though, so no worries

As for On-board versus add-in Soundcard. It's really very simple. Most (85-90%) use a codec(read: software-controlled) sound-chip. this means any electrical noise in your system is a potential invader to sound quality. It also means that if your system is bogged, it is more likely to have the sound stutter and corrupt itself. Most Add-In soundcards, on the other hand, rely on a dedicated hardware sound processor. Not necessarily a DSP, but, long story short, data goes across the PCI bus to the card, the card figures it out and sends it out the ports. an on-board solution sounds like it does the same, right? well, no, not really. It has to go back to the CPU to process the data, into sound, then back through the chip to the output ports. a single gun blast could make as many as 4 trips between the chip, and the cpu, and even involve the ram in the process, degrading the audio stream, increasing latency, and occupying the computer with processes it could have offloaded. An inexpensive Turtle Beach or Phillips card even could improve upon what you're hearing. In fact, I know some people prefer the Turtle Beach card to the SoundBlaster solution.

If you want a controller to game on the PC, a Logitech Gamepad in wired/wireless, PS2 or xb360 controller look alikes for as little as $10. Best policy, is find a big retail store like Fry's or Best Buy that has some models available to handle, and pick your fave.

[jeffy777]

We originally did suggest the 8800GT, but he said he didn't mind spending more on the 9800GTX.

Originally Posted by Serj

If you want a controller to game on the PC, a Logitech Gamepad in wired/wireless, PS2 or xb360 controller look alikes for as little as $10. Best policy, is find a big retail store like Fry's or Best Buy that has some models available to handle, and pick your fave.

The nice thing about getting an official X360 controller is that a lot of the "Games for Windows" games are designed specifially for 360 controller compatibility, and the cheaper controllers don't perform nearly as good on some games. Take for instance racing games such as DiRT or GRID. With a Logitech controller, these games do not support the analog stick properly, so the steering is either "on or off", basically making the game unplayable, whereas with a 360 controller, the analog is fully supported so the steering is fluid and gradual as it should be. Also, only the 360 contoller allows you to control the menu in these games, which is nice if you aren't sitting right next to your mouse/keyboard all the time.