BruceLeeRoy
Banned
Is it possible to build a pretty solid rig for 600? Without a monitor
-
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"I need a new PC!" 2010 Edition
- Thread starter Spy
- Start date
ThanksVision
Member
Introdacqua said:
Sweet. So the NVIDIA that is already installed can handle that kinda stuff? Good to hear.
-COOLIO- said:So this is my build. It's pretty much the Haz recommended build for the most part. The bolded parts are what I've already bought:
Case: Antec Sonata III with an Antec Earthwatts 500w PSU - $70
GPU: Gigabyte GTX 460 1GB - $200
Hard drive: Samsung F3 Spinpoint 1TB - $88
CPU: Phenom II x4 955 BE - $160
RAM: G.SKILL F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL Ripjaws PC3-12800 4GB 2X2GB DDR3-1600 CL9-9-9-24 Core i5 1.5V Memory Kit -$95
Now here's where I'm undecided
MOBO:
Asus M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 Socket AM3 $156
Or
GA-870A-UD3 $110
Specwise, the motherboards seem pretty similar but the M4A is $46 more. Also, it seems that neither board supports DDR3 1600 memory which is weird since the memory that Haz recommended is 1600 mhz.
I switched to an AMD CPU for the AM3 socket so I don't mind spending a good chunk on the board if the features are worth it since I'm hoping to upgrade my processor at least once in the distant future and keep the same board for a while.
So can anyone let me know what the big feature differences are between the motherboards is and if Im getting the right RAM?
Thanks a ton
edit: oh yeah, and i was also wondering if you need a case with usb 3.0 ports to utilize usb 3.0 on the board?
Judging from your post I'm sort of assuming you're not going to OC, so getting 1600 ram is probably a waste of money, just get a cheap 1333 set from a decent brand.
In case of the mobo, the asus has a better chipset, and is more fit for overclocking and probably crossfire. It also has USB3 and Sata600, which could be usefull in the future. But again, you could just save the money and buy a 870 board with USB3 and Sata600, unless you want to use crossfire.
I have a asus m4a785td evo which has the same chipset as the gigabyte, but also USB3, Sata600 and some OC related stuff.
And you don't need usb3 ports on your case since they are at the back of the motherboard.
brain_stew
Member
BruceLeeRoy said:
Absolutely. Something like:
Get GTX 465 (with Mafia 2 and Just Cause 2 for free)
4GB DDR3
870 AM3 motherboard
~500w+ PSU from a decent brand (OCZ are probably good for someone on a budget)
Athlon ii X4 635
1TB Smsung F3
brain_stew
Member
AvidNobody said:
Its a terrible buy if gaming is a priority, I'm afraid. For reference, by the end of the year an Intel integrated GPU will be significantly faster.
Expand? I haven't kept up too much and was considering the same laptop. Battery life and screen quality is the real priority for me, but if it's integrated I'd expect some good battery life. What do they have in the works for the end of the year and how much do you think they'll be?brain_stew said:
-COOLIO-
The Everyman
thanks, and i was thinking of overclocking the cpu a little bit if there's enough power left over in the 500w from the 460. is overclocking ram hard? i figure i might try that too, once again, if i have enough power.Mad Max said:
if not ill probably grab some OCZ 1333 ram. as for the board im not interested in crossfire, but somewhat interested in overclocking the cpu and possibly the ram if i get 1600. so should i grab the asus? the hdmi output is also of help since i want to hook this up to a tv in the near future.
and thanks again
BruceLeeRoy
Banned
I love you Stew. I'm ordering that exact setupbrain_stew said:
The Sandy Bridge PreviewFirestorm said:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3871/the-sandy-bridge-preview-three-wins-in-a-row/1
Sandy Bridge Integrated Graphics Performance
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3871/the-sandy-bridge-preview-three-wins-in-a-row/7
brain_stew
Member
Its worth noting those results will improve as well. They're on super early pre release drivers, graphics turbo wasn't working and there'll be parts with twice as many functional units. Should be a big step up from a Geforce 210 which is slower than a 5450 anyway.
All of Intel's mobile chips going forward will be using this IGP. So you should be getting similar performance from $500 machines in early 2011 as well. The TDPs for their mobile parts aren't increasing either and judging by the desktop part overall power consumption should decrease.
All of Intel's mobile chips going forward will be using this IGP. So you should be getting similar performance from $500 machines in early 2011 as well. The TDPs for their mobile parts aren't increasing either and judging by the desktop part overall power consumption should decrease.
brain_stew
Member
BruceLeeRoy said:
Look out for Newegg's combos, they can often save you a packet.
-COOLIO- said:thanks, and i was thinking of overclocking the cpu a little bit if there's enough power left over in the 500w from the 460. is overclocking ram hard? i figure i might try that too, once again, if i have enough power.
if not ill probably grab some OCZ 1333 ram. as for the board im not interested in crossfire, but somewhat interested in overclocking the cpu and possibly the ram if i get 1600. so should i grab the asus? the hdmi output is also of help since i want to hook this up to a tv in the near future.
and thanks again
It's not hard, but it doesn't really matter much in most real world applications. Most people buy OC ram so they can increase their FSB without having to resort to setting an unusual FSB/RAM ratio, or because they want the highest possible scores in benchmarks. And normally the first would apply to you, but the 955 has an unlocked multiplier so you don't have to increase the fsb to overclock your CPU.
And if you want to overclock you don't need the asus board, unless you really want to go high. The only difference you'll probably notice is that the asus is a little more reliable (for example when it comes to supplying the correct voltages), but it's nothing you can't work your way around with a cheaper board. As long as you buy something decent like that gigabyte, which also has the right bios options.
Also you might want to invest some money into a 3rd party cooler if you want to OC that 955, because AMD CPUs can't take heat very well, and when you start to increase the voltage and go past ~3,5ghz your CPU will probably melt with a stock cooler.
Although I guess having a hdmi output with sound would be nice if you want to hook up your PC to a tv, since a 460 will only send a video signal through a hdmi cable.
btw: http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=596023 (for more about Phenom II OCing)
Okay guys, I need your recommendations on a solid laptop that isn't going to fall apart on me. I'm just looking for something for traveling for work related purposes so it doesn't need to be amazing. It does need to have a decent sized screen though as work tech support, so I'll need some screen real-estate when I'm working.
Also, easy to replace HDD as I want to pop an SSD in.
I'm way behind on the laptop market, so your recommendations will be appreciated. Budget is about $500 - $600 for the laptop (doesn't include the SSD cost)
Also, easy to replace HDD as I want to pop an SSD in.
I'm way behind on the laptop market, so your recommendations will be appreciated. Budget is about $500 - $600 for the laptop (doesn't include the SSD cost)
-COOLIO-
The Everyman
Mad Max said:It's not hard, but it doesn't really matter much in most real world applications. Most people buy OC ram so they can increase their FSB without having to resort to setting an unusual FSB/RAM ratio, or because they want the highest possible scores in benchmarks. And normally the first would apply to you, but the 955 has an unlocked multiplier so you don't have to increase the fsb to overclock your CPU.
And if you want to overclock you don't need the asus board, unless you really want to go high. The only difference you'll probably notice is that the asus is a little more reliable (for example when it comes to supplying the correct voltages), but it's nothing you can't work your way around with a cheaper board. As long as you buy something decent like that gigabyte, which also has the right bios options.
Also you might want to invest some money into a 3rd party cooler if you want to OC that 955, because AMD CPUs can't take heat very well, and when you start to increase the voltage and go past ~3,5ghz your CPU will probably melt with a stock cooler.
Although I guess having a hdmi output with sound would be nice if you want to hook up your PC to a tv, since a 460 will only send a video signal through a hdmi cable.
btw: http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=596023 (for more about Phenom II OCing)
alright, thanks a ton!
i think ill go with the cheaper board and 1333 ram then.
and the video signal is good enough, since ill probably never be using the tv speakers.
Hawk269
Member
Another Noobish question...
I just tried running the Unigine Benchmark. When the results page comes up, it shows my Video Card is the Nvidia 460. The 460 I have is my physx card and my main card is the 480. When installing my GPU's the ASuS Instruction Manual for the Motherboard stated that I should put the Main GPU in the Slot Closest to the CPU, which would me this is the main slot for main GPU. This is where I placed my 480 and the HDMI cable is connected to this card.
In the Nvidia Control Panel it shows the 480 that it is in Slot 2, the 460 in Slot 1. I am just wondering, can this be impacting my performance at all? No matter what I try, the Unigine Benchmark alwasy comes back as a 460. I have not swapped positions of the cards since the the manual says the main card should be in the slot closest to the CPU...is that right?
Tahnks for any and all help as usual!
I just tried running the Unigine Benchmark. When the results page comes up, it shows my Video Card is the Nvidia 460. The 460 I have is my physx card and my main card is the 480. When installing my GPU's the ASuS Instruction Manual for the Motherboard stated that I should put the Main GPU in the Slot Closest to the CPU, which would me this is the main slot for main GPU. This is where I placed my 480 and the HDMI cable is connected to this card.
In the Nvidia Control Panel it shows the 480 that it is in Slot 2, the 460 in Slot 1. I am just wondering, can this be impacting my performance at all? No matter what I try, the Unigine Benchmark alwasy comes back as a 460. I have not swapped positions of the cards since the the manual says the main card should be in the slot closest to the CPU...is that right?
Tahnks for any and all help as usual!
drhankmccoyphd
Member
My brother is looking to upgrade his 3 year old gaming PC. Is there any life to be had out of his C2D E6420 2.13Ghz? His 8800GTS is toast and he's looking into an i5, H55 mobo, and GTX 460 1GB. Is there any reason to hold off on a socket change or is now as good a time as any?
brain_stew
Member
-COOLIO- said:alright, thanks a ton!
i think ill go with the cheaper board and 1333 ram then.
and the video signal is good enough, since ill probably never be using the tv speakers.
You've got a $200 460 listed which probably means its the 768MB version? Yeah, don't get a 768MB 460.
I'd get an ASUS GTX 465 for $200 with Mafia 2 and Just Cause 2 personally.
brain_stew
Member
Hawk269 said:
That's usually right, yeah. Have you got the 480 setup for rendering and the 460 setup for PhysX in the control panel?
I'd still recommending testing both ways though, might as well be 100% sure.
brain_stew
Member
mikespit1200 said:
OC it to 3ghz (stock cooling can probably mange it) and see how he feels about the performance once he installs the new GPU.
Hawk269
Member
brain_stew said:
Yeah, it is set up in the control panel correctly. I know in other bench's and in Mafia 2 it detects the 480, so I know it is reading it right..I guess it is just the Unigine that is defaulting to the 460.
I am thinking of testing still, but the 480 is so large that I would need to move the HDD to another area so the 480 fits in the 2nd slot instead.
brain_stew
Member
Hawk269 said:
Well does your Unigine benchmark score lineup with other 480 results. It should be pretty easy to tell by comparing it to any 480 review that used unigine to bench it.
-COOLIO-
The Everyman
it's a gb 1gb. opening sale at ncix. i stood in line for 5 hours :[brain_stew said:
edit: lol, no nearby retailers are selling the GA-870A-UD3 and i wanna buy everything in store, so i guess ill cough up the extra $46 and get the M4A89GTD. the overclocking features look pretty newbie friendly too, and i dont wanna bork my shiny new computer (the case is literally quite shiny).
brain_stew
Member
-COOLIO- said:
Ah cool.
BruceLeeRoy said:
brain_stew said:
Newegg currently has the 1TB Samsung F3 for $60Hazaro said:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...52185&cm_re=samsung_f3-_-22-152-185-_-Product
Whenever that sale ends, Ewiz and Microcenter have it listed at $65
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name...-F3-HD103SJ-1TB-SATA2-7200rpm-32MB-Hard-Drive
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0340562
The 500GB is $45 at Microcenter and $50 at Ewiz
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0340804
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name...3-HD502HJ-500GB-SATA2-7200rpm-16MB-Hard-Drive
Has anyone here ordered from EXcaliberPC before?
http://www.excaliberpc.com/
I'm not at all familiar with them so I was wondering if any of you could share your thoughts on positive or negative experiences you have had (or anyone you know). So far I've come across some mixed views.
http://www.excaliberpc.com/
I'm not at all familiar with them so I was wondering if any of you could share your thoughts on positive or negative experiences you have had (or anyone you know). So far I've come across some mixed views.
toastyToast
Member
I got W7 for $10 from my uni. It's further discounted for comp science and eng students.
Flying_Phoenix
Banned
I'm planning to get a AMD Phenom II X6 for my upcoming birthday (yes I know I've been talking about this for a while. I'm most likely going to snag a GTX 460 with it too. Now I know this question is silly but will my electric bill go up significantly? I mean I leave my PC on for a while usually because I use it as a media center and I wonder if a more expensive but less wattage Intel CPU would be better for me.
Not very.Flying_Phoenix said:
CPU's idle pretty low, GPUs not bad either.
Try and grab a 95W 1055T, should be out soon.
One of the best ways to cut electricity bill is to have a good power supply as that is what converts the AC to DC. Things like 80+ certification (or higher) will help save you money in the long run.
A system like yours will probably run 130-160W idle.
Flying_Phoenix
Banned
Hazaro said:
Awesome. When's the 95W version due? Maybe I can grab it if it's cheaper or get the 125W version for a much lower cost. So in short it will only use up to it's potential during extreme times like very high end gaming and high end rendering? Or will it be a rarity even during then?
And yes I'll be getting an 80+ certified power supply. What's that mean anyway?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/80_PLUSFlying_Phoenix said:
It guarantees a certain efficiency at different load levels.
All done, here some pics.
Pile of what went into the box and right away successful boot of the unfinished setup:
Guts of the finished product and closed case:
Sporting stock clock at the moment (never exceeded 40C yet, even under full load), mem test okay after a couple of hours and many passes, raid initialized/verified without errors, win7 on ssd is god like, stress test of gpu also 100% okay (tops out a 63C under full load, gpu cooler at 50% rpm), the whole thing is surprisingly quiet. The Antec300 is awesome, with it's mesh front grill, black finish and the fan control it almost looks like a small guitar amp. Very happy.
Pile of what went into the box and right away successful boot of the unfinished setup:
Guts of the finished product and closed case:
Sporting stock clock at the moment (never exceeded 40C yet, even under full load), mem test okay after a couple of hours and many passes, raid initialized/verified without errors, win7 on ssd is god like, stress test of gpu also 100% okay (tops out a 63C under full load, gpu cooler at 50% rpm), the whole thing is surprisingly quiet. The Antec300 is awesome, with it's mesh front grill, black finish and the fan control it almost looks like a small guitar amp. Very happy.
Mango Positive
Member
I'm in...
My GT8800 was overheating every time I played Borderlands. I thought I'd replace it with a 460 1GB (Cyclone) and beef up cooling. Then I thought "Hey... why don't I update my Core 2 Duo 2.2 to i5-760?", so I put all of that together and discover that my power supply fan isn't spinning and was probably the reason for the overheating. So I replaced that and upgraded Vista to 7.
After much work over the weekend, I've basically got it running well... except for the whole "shutting down randomly" thing, usually when installing a new program.
Any ideas what might cause that? It basically works perfectly until it thinks too much is going on. Borderlands runs awesome, but it seems to struggle staying on with Crysis.
MB, PSU, GPU, CPU, memory, OS, and case are all new.
My GT8800 was overheating every time I played Borderlands. I thought I'd replace it with a 460 1GB (Cyclone) and beef up cooling. Then I thought "Hey... why don't I update my Core 2 Duo 2.2 to i5-760?", so I put all of that together and discover that my power supply fan isn't spinning and was probably the reason for the overheating. So I replaced that and upgraded Vista to 7.
After much work over the weekend, I've basically got it running well... except for the whole "shutting down randomly" thing, usually when installing a new program.
Any ideas what might cause that? It basically works perfectly until it thinks too much is going on. Borderlands runs awesome, but it seems to struggle staying on with Crysis.
MB, PSU, GPU, CPU, memory, OS, and case are all new.
Posted?
AMD will be retiring the ATI branding
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/amd-to-retire-ati-branding/9514
AMD Radeon
AMD will be retiring the ATI branding
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/amd-to-retire-ati-branding/9514
AMD Radeon
Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew
Banned
Yeah. It has a thread dedicated to it.Salaadin said:
MomoPufflet
Member
Mango Positive said:
That happened to me years ago when my processor would overheat due to improperly applied thermal paste (it was just slopped on; built by dumb friend). No idea if this is what's causing it for you, but that was my problem. Also make sure your video card's fans are spinning. Make sure CPU is seated properly.
Mango Positive
Member
Corky said:
Thermaltake 850W
Mango Positive
Member
MomoPufflet said:
All fans are working great. I'll reseat my CPU when I get home to see if anything is amiss. I thought I did a good job with the thermal paste, but it was my first "build from scratch" project, so you never know.
MomoPufflet
Member
ChryZ said:
Do these panels work with any fan or does it have to be a certain type? Seems like this would be pretty handy for noise control.
brain_stew
Member
teepo said:
total was actually 1231.
woo...?
Don't pay $255 for a GTX 460. You can almost get a 470 for that much.
What's the 8400GS for? Its too slow for PhysX, fyi.
brain_stew
Member
Omiee said:
Nhancer in an ideal world its pure perfection but sadly doesn't yet work with the last couple Nvidia driver updates. You can use the Nvidia control panel for now (still 100x better than CCC at least) or roll back to an older driver release to get nHancer support. Hopefuly nhancer updates soon.
Bumping this from a page or so back because the deal runs out 1st September. Don't want to miss out if it's worth it..
Looking at this bundle to go in a gaming rig. http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-038-OB&groupid=43&catid=339&subcat=
Is it worth buying? Seems about the same as the parts priced separately but it's the 95w version pre overclocked or am I missing something?
Budget approx £800. Looking at also using a Gigabyte 460 1gb, Corsair 750w PSU, 500gb spinpoint F3 and the Coolermaster CM-690 II Advanced Dominator case. Wanting to game at 1080p.
Looking at this bundle to go in a gaming rig. http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-038-OB&groupid=43&catid=339&subcat=
Is it worth buying? Seems about the same as the parts priced separately but it's the 95w version pre overclocked or am I missing something?
Budget approx £800. Looking at also using a Gigabyte 460 1gb, Corsair 750w PSU, 500gb spinpoint F3 and the Coolermaster CM-690 II Advanced Dominator case. Wanting to game at 1080p.
brain_stew
Member
LukeT said:
Seems a decent deal (although I'm not a fan of overclockers.co.uk since they're owned by a BNP supporting racist/homphobic/xenophobic asshole) and they usually dick you over on delivery.