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[AstroLad]

I'm moving at the end of the month so it would be a perfect time to upgrade. But are there any sensible upgrades to be made to this at the moment?

CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-950 3.06 GHz 8M L3 Cache LGA1366
HDD: Single Hard Drive (300GB Gaming Western Digital VelociRaptor 10,000RPM SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache WD3000GLFS)
MEMORY: 6GB (2GBx3) DDR3/1600MHz Triple Channel Memory Module (Corsair Dominator)
VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce GTX295 1.7GB 16X PCIe Video Card (EVGA Powered by NVIDIA )

 

[Binabik15]

Any PCI-E card is fine.

Depending on your price range and current sales you could be looking at 9600GSO, 5650, etc. Most of the mid range cards today are low power so that 400W PSU should be fine.

Check to see if it has a 6 pin PCI-E power connector though. Some of the lower power cards won't need one though.

The card itself isn´t connected, I´ll have to look to see if the PSU has one, but I´m pretty sure it doesn´t. Too bad.


Btw, I found the mobo´s manual and it has a PCI-E x1 and a PCI-E x16, phew.

So I´m looking at a card between 50-100€ I´d say, depending on who else would be chipping in the gift fund and whether or not the PSU needs to be replaced.

Any recommendations, I´ve never looked for cards in that price segment.

PS: Concerning Crysis, my very slightly OC´d 5850 (just the max clock speed you can select) pushes easily over 30 fps at 1080p 0xAA 16xAF "very high" vanilla Crysis, sometimes between 40 and 50 even, EXCEPT after dying, then it drops to maybe 12 :lol I just got it working, so I haven´t played with AA settings, but there´s hardly any noticable aliasing. Me after playing for a few hours:

Playing on my brother´s now dead card at lowest settings and low, low res and still getting sub 30s I never knew just how fast you´re with the speed boost, holy shit :lol

 

[teiresias]

Thanks for the response! As far as crossfire / sli is concerned, that would be more for gaming purposes. The idea being that I can buy a second card at a cheaper price and see the same performance gain that I'd get with buying a single, newer more expensive card.

I'm open to either crossfire or sli - whichever one scales better. But it sounds like either way it's not a straight doubling of the performance. Is that right?

Speak of the devil. HardOCP just did another SLI vs Crossfire matchup with F1 2010, Civilization V, and Dead Rising 2. Where the multi-GPUs worked SLI seemed to come out ahead, but it does point out how support for SLI/Crossfire is still somewhat sketchy, as Civ5 doesn't seem to be working in SLI and DR2 doesn't seem to work in Crossfire.

 

[teiresias]

I'm moving at the end of the month so it would be a perfect time to upgrade. But are there any sensible upgrades to be made to this at the moment?

CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-950 3.06 GHz 8M L3 Cache LGA1366
HDD: Single Hard Drive (300GB Gaming Western Digital VelociRaptor 10,000RPM SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache WD3000GLFS)
MEMORY: 6GB (2GBx3) DDR3/1600MHz Triple Channel Memory Module (Corsair Dominator)
VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce GTX295 1.7GB 16X PCIe Video Card (EVGA Powered by NVIDIA )

About the only thing I'd think of would be a new graphics card or a second graphics card. I'd wait for the new AMD news to drop though.

I don't know how much you keep installed on your HDD apps and games wise but getting an SSD for an OS/Apps/Games drive might be good too (this one is more a suggestion if you're just itching to actually spend money on an upgrade and don't want to go the graphics card route).

And that's $730 Canadian but yeah, I used shopbot to find that price. It's not my primary gaming monitor as i'm more of a 120Hz or nothing type of guy. I use it more for productivity, but I do play the odd game on it and they all look stunning. It's noticeably slower than my 120Hz acer, but I many people would be hard pressed to tell the difference anyway.

As for videocards, the rig I have this thing connected to has a 5770, so yeah, a GTX 460 should be pretty great at driving one. The 5770 does a less than stellar job, but it's still solid.

Yeah, seems prices on the monitor were better back near the beginning of the year. There's a seller on ebay that has it for like $880 or so, just not sure I want to go the ebay route on a monitor (though from what I've read he apparently gets it shipped to you directly from Dell).

I'm not a competitive gamer by any means, so I think an extra 120Hz monitor is overkill for me (and I certainly don't care about 3D compatibility). The 27" Dell would be perfect for my photo work though in Lightroom, which is my main motivation behind it.

 

[crisdecuba]

Speak of the devil. HardOCP just did another SLI vs Crossfire matchup with F1 2010, Civilization V, and Dead Rising 2. Where the multi-GPUs worked SLI seemed to come out ahead, but it does point out how support for SLI/Crossfire is still somewhat sketchy, as Civ5 doesn't seem to be working in SLI and DR2 doesn't seem to work in Crossfire.

Thanks again! This is a helpful link!

 

[Dr.Acula]

I have a 60gig SSD, but the prices on SSDs are falling pretty rapidly. I'm thinking of picking up another one and doing a RAID 0 and doubling my space (right now 60gigs is kinda cramped). What's the easiest way to go about doing this? Making a ghost image of my drive then setting up a raid in my bios and dumping it on? Does that work? Any good instructions for going from single drive to raid with an image?

 

[Grimm Fandango]

First time builder here. Need some thoughts/suggestions on my build. I think it's complete as of now; I'm really building it from scratch as I've been a laptop owner for several years. A mouse and pad are the only things I'm carrying over. I'd like to keep games at a high level for a few years hence the fairly hefty price and the included monitor. Maybe I could use a GPU cooler? But I really have no idea how these things work as I'm a newbie at building.

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=13995625

Thanks for looking at it.

 

[teiresias]

I have a 60gig SSD, but the prices on SSDs are falling pretty rapidly. I'm thinking of picking up another one and doing a RAID 0 and doubling my space (right now 60gigs is kinda cramped). What's the easiest way to go about doing this? Making a ghost image of my drive then setting up a raid in my bios and dumping it on? Does that work? Any good instructions for going from single drive to raid with an image?

I don't really have anything to tell you, but I was reading about imaging software (since I would like to buy one for backup) and some of them do not properly deal with SSD's 4k sector size, nor do they keep the partition alignment properly when writing an image back to an SSD. This can seriously degrade the performance of the drive. So you need to be sure the imaging software you use works properly with SSDs and their 4k sector size and align partitions properly (WD's newest Caviar Greens - ones ending in EARS - also use 4k sector sizes despite being mechanical drives as well, so this is important on them too)

 

[Jin34]

Oh AMD what a stupid decision you seem to be doing:

Seems they are going with option 2.

 

[IrishNinja]

Yep, it will also house a 12" HD 5970.

speaking of - seeing as how a 5870 is gonna run me $350-400, apparently - is the jump to a 5970 worth it? im hoping to have a GPU that can ideally run upcoming big releases on high, is it a safe bet?
had this one in mind - i know best buy marks up, but 0% interest means i can toss this rig together sooner rather than later. anyone see any problems with that card & the setup i was looking at? again, im reading that the case should be good for it.

i can prolly find a slim optical drive tonight, and im told that if my board doesnt support wifi (doesnt seem to?) i can just find a wifi dongle without too much trouble. so once the GPU's picked, all ill need is cooling, any suggestions for that case, GAF?

 

[toastyToast]

Strange as that devalues the name of the 7 and 8 ranges from AMD and creates a completely useless 9 range.

Odd indeed.

 

[Kodiak]

Thanks for the advice. Here's what I think I'm going to go with:

CASE - Antec Three Hundred Gaming Case - $60

CPU - Intel Core i5-760 - $205

MOBO - GIGABYTE GA-P55A-UD3 LGA 1156 Intel P55 - $136

HARD DRIVE - Samsung SpinPoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB - Already have this drive on my current system, will be putting it in my new one

VID CARD - Galaxy GeForce GTX 460 GC Edtion 768MB - $160 (w/ additional $20 rebate)

MEMORY - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1600 - $85

POWER SUPPLY - Corsair CMPSU-650TX 650-Watt TX Series 80 Plus - $90 (w/ additional $10 rebate)

CPU COOLING - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus - $30

OPTICAL - LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R - $17

Total: $783 (and $30 in rebates)

I tried to avoid NewEgg wherever possible, unfortuantely I get charged tax with them by being in New Jersey. The monitor I'm currently looking at is the 23.6" Samsung SyncMaster 2494LW 1080p Widescreen LCD, but I don't know too much about monitor quality so I'll be doing some research on that today.

Any advice on any miscellaneous things I need to pick up in addition? Cables and such.

^^^^^

Sorry this is so janky. I'm posting from my iPhone bc my pc went kaput and as a result I'm in the market for a rock solid 800$ ish pc build. This seems like perfect fit for me, it was posted earlier. Still an optimal build for the price?

 

[Hazaro]

I'm posting from my iPhone bc my pc went kaput and as a result I'm in the market for a rock solid 800$ ish pc build. This seems like perfect fit for me, it was posted earlier. Still an optimal build for the price?

YES

 

[Fredescu]

speaking of - seeing as how a 5870 is gonna run me $350-400, apparently - is the jump to a 5970 worth it? im hoping to have a GPU that can ideally run upcoming big releases on high, is it a safe bet?

I'm not sure I'd go with something that big and hot inside such a small case. It can physically fit but it might limit your overclocking potential to do so. Personally I'd go with the GTX460 over both of those two since it should run cooler than them but still provide excellent performance. These guys tried overclocking a i5-760 with a 5870 in the case and found that it ran very hot: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cases/2010/06/28/silverstone-sugo-sg07-mini-itx-case-review/4

so once the GPU's picked, all ill need is cooling, any suggestions for that case, GAF?

The above bit tech review used this cooler http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835220033&Tpk=NT06-E and going on the pictures you should be able to attach this fan to it http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185006 .

I recommend reading all of that bit tech review by the way. They go through a lot of the weird ins and outs with building that case.

 

[Khaqan]

I'm trying to build a PC around a i7-950 and needed some advice. I want to spend around $1000, are these parts fine? I want the motherboard to have USB 3.0 and I want the video card to support atleast 2 monitors at a time.

Motherboard: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150467

Video card: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150467

Memory: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231322

 

[Corky]

I'm trying to build a PC around a i7-950 and needed some advice. I want to spend around $1000, are these parts fine? I want the motherboard to have USB 3.0 and I want the video card to support atleast 2 monitors at a time.

Motherboard: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150467

Video card: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150467

Memory: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231322

I'm pretty sure you'll be bottlenecking that cpu with that gpu. Maybe you're not planning to play newer games on the pc?

 

[Hazaro]

I'm trying to build a PC around a i7-950 and needed some advice. I want to spend around $1000, are these parts fine? I want the motherboard to have USB 3.0 and I want the video card to support atleast 2 monitors at a time.

Motherboard: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150467

Video card: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150467

Memory: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231322

If you think you need i7 stay with it. If not, go with the build 3 posts above yours (sub in a 1GB if you cannot find any good deals, or a 5850 if its the same price as a 1GB 460)

 

[IrishNinja]

I'm not sure I'd go with something that big and hot inside such a small case. It can physically fit but it might limit your overclocking potential to do so. Personally I'd go with the GTX460 over both of those two since it should run cooler than them but still provide excellent performance. These guys tried overclocking a i5-760 with a 5870 in the case and found that it ran very hot: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cases/2010/06/28/silverstone-sugo-sg07-mini-itx-case-review/4

...crap. just got done with your link (awesome review, thanks man!), yeah, kinda rough on my plans:

We overclocked the i5-750 from 2.66GHz to 3.6GHz, with a 1.28V CPU vcore, but the CPU would hit 90°C within minutes of stressing, so this was too ambitious. The H55 chipset became incredibly hot when overclocking our i5-750 too, idling at around 68°C when we checked the BIOS. If you're planning on using the SG07 for an overclocked, powerful gaming rig then you'll need to beef up the cooling.

discouraging, cause that's the setup that seemed optimized for my needs. the GTX460 doesnt look bad though, thoughts on this one? i was told ATI might be better for my purposes, im seeing them not too far off on benchmark tests (relatively), just wondering what else id be trading up here.

The above bit tech review used this cooler http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835220033&Tpk=NT06-E and going on the pictures you should be able to attach this fan to it http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185006 .

I recommend reading all of that bit tech review by the way. They go through a lot of the weird ins and outs with building that case.

yeah, one line of the review mentioned having to take off the top fan for the GPU to fit, or something? trying to find the exact line...i'm wondering if, even with going with that cooler & fan and the nvidia GPU, would i then have a stable environment for an overclocked i5, or should i consider another case/setup? that review mentioned the Fractal Design Array R2 and mini-ITX lian li, guess i should look into those as well. i liked what i saw of some shuttle cases but they weren't cheap.

 

[Milpool]

...yeah, one line of the review mentioned having to take off the top fan for the GPU to fit, or something? trying to find the exact line...i'm wondering if, even with going with that cooler & fan and the nvidia GPU...

There's a sort of rail on the fan when you buy it, I'm not sure what its purpose is but I had to remove it to fit a Gigabyte GTX460. On the official site it says you have to remove it when using a GTX480 along with a guide.

Lemme know if you need any specific pics of the ins or outs of the case, though I don't have the GTX460 anymore, just a HD 4550.

 

[IrishNinja]

ah, really? pics'd be awesome (i'll totally take you up on the offer for specifics if i do end up with this case), what CPU did you use along with the GTX480, and what temperatures did you get?
that Lian Li PC-Q08 looks interesting, but the SG07 still looks like the one to beat. no idea how to make an OC'd i5 + high end GPU cool enough if that review said they were seeing 90c though...

 

[BigAT]

Sorry this is so janky. I'm posting from my iPhone bc my pc went kaput and as a result I'm in the market for a rock solid 800$ ish pc build. This seems like perfect fit for me, it was posted earlier. Still an optimal build for the price?

As the person who put this one together, I have to urge you to check out the deal NewEgg is running right now for the 650TX power supply and a 1GB GTX 460. It ended up being only $23 more than the combined cost of the PSU and video card in my original build, and that was with me paying about $20 in tax which should bring your cost down even more potentially. It's the exact same power supply as above and the extra $23 was definitely cheap enough for me to upgrade from the 768MB 460 to the 1GB/256-bit version.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Combo...ickDeals-_-NA-_-NA-_-NA&ItemList=Combo.514515

Make sure you enter the promo code EMCYTZT182 for another $22 off at checkout.

 

[Milpool]

ah, really? pics'd be awesome (i'll totally take you up on the offer for specifics if i do end up with this case), what CPU did you use along with the GTX480, and what temperatures did you get?
that Lian Li PC-Q08 looks interesting, but the SG07 still looks like the one to beat. no idea how to make an OC'd i5 + high end GPU cool enough if that review said they were seeing 90c though...

i5 750 which I ran at 4.0GHz for a while was around 70c under load iirc(with milder overclocks it's usually around 40-50c), that was with the top fan on low. Can't remember the temps on the GTX460 since it only lasted a week, but about 60c under load sounds about right, the 180mm fan blows right on it.

For some scale:

I posted pics of the motherboard and cooler a few weeks ago but can't check my post history...

 

[Grimm Fandango]

First time building a PC here. Could use some thoughts on my current build before I commit.

from newegg.com

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory
Item #:N82E16820231277
$84.99 -$10.00 Promo Code
$74.99

LITE-ON 24X DVD Writer Black SATA Model iHAS-324-98
Item #:N82E16827106334
$19.99

ASUS VH226H Black 21.5" 2ms(GTG) Widescreen LCD Monitor Built-in Speakers
Item #:N82E16824236051
$199.99-$25.00 Instant
$20.00 Mail-in Rebate Card 
$174.99

TP-LINK TL-WN722N USB 2.0 High Gain Wireless Adapter
Item #:N82E16833704045
$19.99

LITE-ON 2-Tone Wired Keyboard
Item #:N82E16823107120
$6.99

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 1TB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Item #: N82E16822152185
Nippon Labs 18" (1.5 ft.) SATA II Cable with locking latch
Item #: N82E16812816027
$81.98-$5.00 Combo 
$76.98

AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 3.4GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor
Item #: N82E16819103727
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders
Item #: N82E16832116754
$259.98-$30.00 Combo 
$229.98

MSI GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) N460GTX CYCLONE 1GD5/OC Video Card
Item #: N82E16814127510
OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ600MXSP 600W Power Supply compatible with core i7
Item #: N82E16817341017
$332.98-$40.00 Instant-$30.00 Combo
$15.00 Mail-in Rebate
$20.00 Mail-in Rebate Card 
$262.98

ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO ATX AMD Motherboard
Item #: N82E16813131398
RAIDMAX SMILODON ATX-612WB Black Foldout MB Computer Case With Side Panel Window
Item #: N82E16811156063
$189.98-$15.00 Instant-$18.00 Combo
$15.00 Mail-in Rebate 
$156.98

GIFT StarCraft2 - FREE Trial Version Game coupon
Item #:N82E16800999244

 

[grap3fruitman]

Okay, so here's what I got on my "~$1k" budget: link.

Turning my current PC into an HTPC for my ma, so I'm taking all the HDDs out of here and throwing in that WD 640GB drive. The 2TB drive I ordered is going to be additional storage for my media, I need to get back to ripping the rest of my DVDs into x264. My brother's getting the i7-875k and 5870, I'm taking his i7-860 and I was originally planning on taking his 5870 but instead I just got myself a 5850. I kind of need a monitor and keyboard that don't suck but I'll just wait until Black Friday and other holiday deals to secure those.

...Why didn't you guys let me know the Radeon 6800 series was coming out so soon? =(

 

[isamu]

avadirect shipped my PC. So excited !!

Congratulations

Spoiler

I hope they ship mine back soon

 

[Danne-Danger]

I need to buy a PC microphone. I don't want a headset, but one of those you just put on the table. Analogue if possible, good quality. Tips appreciated!

Or if anyone could just point me to a place that has a lot of mic reviews, as I can't seem to find a good one!

 

[TouchMyBox]

Oh AMD what a stupid decision you seem to be doing:

Seems they are going with option 2.

I remember when ATI was cool and nvidia was poo.

 

[cartoon_soldier]

I need to buy a PC microphone. I don't want a headset, but one of those you just put on the table. Analogue if possible, good quality. Tips appreciated!

Or if anyone could just point me to a place that has a lot of mic reviews, as I can't seem to find a good one!

Amazon is always a good place to start looking and reading the user reviews

 

[msv]

I need to buy a PC microphone. I don't want a headset, but one of those you just put on the table. Analogue if possible, good quality. Tips appreciated!

Or if anyone could just point me to a place that has a lot of mic reviews, as I can't seem to find a good one!

Logitech has a good desktop mic. If you want actual better quality you're going to have to go with a mid-high end condensator studio mic. You want to use it for chatting right?

 

[Shambles]

Logitech has a good desktop mic. If you want actual better quality you're going to have to go with a mid-high end condensator studio mic. You want to use it for chatting right?

I'd also be interesting in finding out what a good mic is these days. Normally I just use the mics attached to my webcams but I hate having to deal with feedback, feedback cancellation cancelling people talking, and background noise. If there was a decent mic at a decent price I'd consider spending good money to get it. From what I've seen though I'd have to spend the big dollars for professional level directional mics. If anyone has good knowledge about mics I'd appreciate recommendations.

 

[msv]

I'd also be interesting in finding out what a good mic is these days. Normally I just use the mics attached to my webcams but I hate having to deal with feedback, feedback cancellation cancelling people talking, and background noise. If there was a decent mic at a decent price I'd consider spending good money to get it. From what I've seen though I'd have to spend the big dollars for professional level directional mics. If anyone has good knowledge about mics I'd appreciate recommendations.

Yeah, I tested the cheaper ones out in the stores, and they're pretty shit. You really need to go at least to 100-200 euro for something decent. But then you will have a big improvement on the normal desktop or headphone mics. Eventually I went with the logitech mic for 15 bucks, works great for voice, clear sound etc. Good enough for chatting, so I stuck with it.

If you're gonna do casting, might be worth it to buy a studio mic, otherwise, just go for for the 'PC' mics.

 

[vulva]

I was thinking about doing this, does gaf have any yays or nays about it?

http://www.canadacomputers.com/prod...item_id=026049&sid=vga1ck453hpqjsb6cqo2g6on23

and then adding this to it

http://www.canadacomputers.com/prod...item_id=026405&sid=vga1ck453hpqjsb6cqo2g6on23


does this make sense? I've never had a PC that could game at all and I'm a total fish out of water

 

[Danne-Danger]

Logitech has a good desktop mic. If you want actual better quality you're going to have to go with a mid-high end condensator studio mic. You want to use it for chatting right?

Yeah, I tested the cheaper ones out in the stores, and they're pretty shit. You really need to go at least to 100-200 euro for something decent. But then you will have a big improvement on the normal desktop or headphone mics. Eventually I went with the logitech mic for 15 bucks, works great for voice, clear sound etc. Good enough for chatting, so I stuck with it.

If you're gonna do casting, might be worth it to buy a studio mic, otherwise, just go for for the 'PC' mics.

Yeah, chatting. Only ones I've used before have been no-name crapsticks. It'd be nice to have one with somewhat good audio quality for once, but at the same time it's hard to know what you're gonna get since the price-range is huge (starting at £0.70) with very few reviews out. But I guess it doesn't really matter that much if you stay below £40.

 

[bhlaab]

Why the hell are motherboard manufacturers dialing back on the PCI slots? Thanks, get rid of the most versatile slot and give me 5 useless pci-e x1's this will come in handy if I decide that one sound card just isn't enough

 

[bhlaab]

I was thinking about doing this, does gaf have any yays or nays about it?

http://www.canadacomputers.com/prod...item_id=026049&sid=vga1ck453hpqjsb6cqo2g6on23

and then adding this to it

http://www.canadacomputers.com/prod...item_id=026405&sid=vga1ck453hpqjsb6cqo2g6on23


does this make sense? I've never had a PC that could game at all and I'm a total fish out of water

That's pretty good. Decent price/power.

Only problem is that the processor is sort of on its way out, and it's LGA 775 which is also on its way out. I mean, what you have picked out is great for the time being (wayy better than my current cpu, for example, and I do fine for myself) but if you want to upgrade anything besides the graphics card in the future it will probably mean buying a whole new system. Just FYI.

 

[Sanic]

I'll probably be looking to build a rig in 3-4 weeks. I haven't purchased any kind of gaming PC since 2003, so i'm really out of the loop.

I checked out the budget rig on the first page, but some of the links are dead and I imagine at least some of it is outdated (seeing as it's from January), so does anyone have some recommendations for a ~$500 USD PC? With the special request that the casing, if at all possible, be on the compact side, since I would like to move the computer back and forth between my desk and TV, since I find gaming on a small monitor with a mouse and K/B to be uncomfortable.

 

[Hazaro]

I'll probably be looking to build a rig in 3-4 weeks. I haven't purchased any kind of gaming PC since 2003, so i'm really out of the loop.

I checked out the budget rig on the first page, but some of the links are dead and I imagine at least some of it is outdated (seeing as it's from January), so does anyone have some recommendations for a ~$500 USD PC? With the special request that the casing, if at all possible, be on the compact side, since I would like to move the computer back and forth between my desk and TV, since I find gaming on a small monitor with a mouse and K/B to be uncomfortable.

If you drop in a GTX 460 you can find on sale for $140 that'd be a very nice upgrade.
Compact cases will cost you a bit more and you might need an MATX board.

 

[Kodiak]

As the person who put this one together, I have to urge you to check out the deal NewEgg is running right now for the 650TX power supply and a 1GB GTX 460. It ended up being only $23 more than the combined cost of the PSU and video card in my original build, and that was with me paying about $20 in tax which should bring your cost down even more potentially. It's the exact same power supply as above and the extra $23 was definitely cheap enough for me to upgrade from the 768MB 460 to the 1GB/256-bit version.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Combo...ickDeals-_-NA-_-NA-_-NA&ItemList=Combo.514515

Make sure you enter the promo code EMCYTZT182 for another $22 off at checkout.

Thanks for the heads up on those. I think I'm gonna copy your build pretty much exactly. I take it you've been happy with it- or have you not built it yet?

 

[Sanic]

If you drop in a GTX 460 you can find on sale for $140 that'd be a very nice upgrade.
Compact cases will cost you a bit more and you might need an MATX board.

http://i36.tinypic.com/33ubz2q.jpg[/IMG[/QUOTE]

I really appreciate the help :) So if I was interested in spending another $50 or so, I would get the most bang for my buck by upgrading the graphics card? I intend to stick with this one for quite a while, so if it would really help on the long run, i'll spend more.

 

[Hazaro]

I really appreciate the help So if I was interested in spending another $50 or so, I would get the most bang for my buck by upgrading the graphics card? I intend to stick with this one for quite a while, so if it would really help on the long run, i'll spend more.

You are getting a bit more fps/$ so yes it's worth it.

If you intend to do some more CPU intensive work, upgrade that first, or later if you don't need to now. An x6 1055T would be a solid step up if you are doing something that uses 6 cores. Otherwise an overclocked x4 955 is a bump up.

 

[Sanic]

You are getting a bit more fps/$ so yes it's worth it.

If you intend to do some more CPU intensive work, upgrade that first, or later if you don't need to now. An x6 1055T would be a solid step up if you are doing something that uses 6 cores. Otherwise an overclocked x4 955 is a bump up.

Thanks!

Now that I look back at your item list, i've noticed the red writing. That's yours, I presume? the 5770 comes out 5 dollars cheaper, but I was under the impression that it is a superior card to what's listed, or is the numbering just confusing?

Also, a variant (I guess?) of the GTX 460 is $160 on newegg, so should I pay the extra 20 and go for that?

 

[Hazaro]

Thanks!

Now that I look back at your item list, i've noticed the red writing. That's yours, I presume? the 5770 comes out 5 dollars cheaper, but I was under the impression that it is a superior card to what's listed, or is the numbering just confusing?

Also, a variant (I guess?) of the GTX 460 is $160 on newegg, so should I pay the extra 20 and go for that?

The 4870 has a $30 rebate which will make it $100. The 4870 is actually on average a slightly faster card, but the 5770 is the updated model and consumes much less power and has more features. It also can be slightly faster in a few games.

The 460 (Which comes in 768MB and 1GB) is a very good step up in price / performance, especially if that $25 rebate comes through from ZOTAC making it only $140.

 

[JesseZao]

I've never built my own PC, but I have no problem following directions to assemble things. How involved is building a PC? I've only soldered a few capacitors when replacing bad ones on my samsung LCD, so I hope it wouldn't involve much if any of that. Is it mostly just pluging in/installing things to case and then installing software?

 

[Hazaro]

I've never built my own PC, but I have no problem following directions to assemble things. How involved is building a PC? I've only soldered a few capacitors when replacing bad ones on my samsung LCD, so I hope it would involve much if any of that. Is it mostly just pluging in/installing things to case and then installing software?

Screw in 10 screws. Stick stuff into slots. Press power button and install OS.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_EysKuQ5wk

3) 15 minute video how-to
http://vimeo.com/5685229
40 minute how-to
http://www.tested.com/news/video-how-to-build-the-best-1500-gaming-pc-step-by-step/152/

 

[Sanic]

The 4870 has a $30 rebate which will make it $100. The 4870 is actually on average a slightly faster card, but the 5770 is the updated model and consumes much less power and has more features. It also can be slightly faster in a few games.

The 460 (Which comes in 768MB and 1GB) is a very good step up in price / performance, especially if that $25 rebate comes through from ZOTAC making it only $140.

Ah ok, well in that case I think i'll just pay extra for the 460, specifically this one http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...ffiliateID=lw9MynSeamY-vmdXPFWG8rYZqkRkPEFayw

Just curious, is there a difference between cards that are made by different vendors (like Asus) or is a 460 a 460, excluding memory differences?

 

[JesseZao]

Screw in 10 screws. Stick stuff into slots. Press power button and install OS.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_EysKuQ5wk

3) 15 minute video how-to
http://vimeo.com/5685229
40 minute how-to
http://www.tested.com/news/video-how-to-build-the-best-1500-gaming-pc-step-by-step/152/

Cool, thanks!

 

[vulva]

That's pretty good. Decent price/power.

Only problem is that the processor is sort of on its way out, and it's LGA 775 which is also on its way out. I mean, what you have picked out is great for the time being (wayy better than my current cpu, for example, and I do fine for myself) but if you want to upgrade anything besides the graphics card in the future it will probably mean buying a whole new system. Just FYI.

to give some context, my current PC is 8 years old and on its death legs. I don't really PC game much, but figure this would be a nice way to catch up on some of the older games I always wanted to play. If possible play starcraft 2 on mid settings or so. Should this set up do me fine?

 

[Hazaro]

Ah ok, well in that case I think i'll just pay extra for the 460, specifically this one http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...ffiliateID=lw9MynSeamY-vmdXPFWG8rYZqkRkPEFayw

Just curious, is there a difference between cards that are made by different vendors (like Asus) or is a 460 a 460, excluding memory differences?

In most cases they are the same cards. That card is fine.

to give some context, my current PC is 8 years old and on its death legs. I don't really PC game much, but figure this would be a nice way to catch up on some of the older games I always wanted to play. If possible play starcraft 2 on mid settings or so. Should this set up do me fine?

See the above build. Cheaper, better parts, and an upgrade path. Easy!

Your option should be ok if the included PSU can handle a 5770.

 

[·feist·]

.

ah, really? pics'd be awesome (i'll totally take you up on the offer for specifics if i do end up with this case), what CPU did you use along with the GTX480, and what temperatures did you get?
that Lian Li PC-Q08 looks interesting, but the SG07 still looks like the one to beat. no idea how to make an OC'd i5 + high end GPU cool enough if that review said they were seeing 90c though...

i5 750 which I ran at 4.0GHz for a while was around 70c under load iirc(with milder overclocks it's usually around 40-50c), that was with the top fan on low. Can't remember the temps on the GTX460 since it only lasted a week, but about 60c under load sounds about right, the 180mm fan blows right on it.

For some scale:

I posted pics of the motherboard and cooler a few weeks ago but can't check my post history...

I recently got the board you pictured and love it. I was worried about the socket placement on H55 boards as well but I notice most low profile coolers have a massive overhang on one side of the socket so the H55 placement works well. I think if I got the P55 board my cooler would hang off the edge of the motherboard making it unable to fit in my SG07. Plus all the reports of borked bios' after updating on the zotac boards put me off.

Of course for most it would be a non issue since you can fit a H50, H70 or an ALC eco in most m-itx cases.

 

[vulva]

See the above build. Cheaper, better parts, and an upgrade path. Easy!

Your option should be ok if the included PSU can handle a 5770.

I'm an idiot. I'm looking at this page and not seeing which one you're referring to =(

edit: as for the PSU, I can swap that one out for a bigger one I have hanging around