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[Rezbit]

Hey dudes, I'm helping my brother out getting a basic gaming PC. I've already been expertly helped by my AusGAF brethren in terms of websites and some parts. He's happy to play at 720p resolution with good details. Will this accomplish that goal?

Basic Antec 300 case
Antec 500W power supply
ASUS P7P55-LX Motherboard
Intel Core i5 760
MSI GeForce GTX 460 768MB
G.Skill Ripjaws 2x2GB DDR3

Hard drive is 500gb 7200rpm. Keep in mind he won't be doing anything like overclocking. Any major issues there? Enough for games like Black Ops, Hot Pursuit 2 etc, to run sufficiently?

 

[opticalmace]

Hey dudes, I'm helping my brother out getting a basic gaming PC. I've already been expertly helped by my AusGAF brethren in terms of websites and some parts. He's happy to play at 720p resolution with good details. Will this accomplish that goal?

Basic Antec 300 case
Antec 500W power supply
ASUS P7P55-LX Motherboard
Intel Core i5 760
MSI GeForce GTX 460 768MB
G.Skill Ripjaws 2x2GB DDR3

Hard drive is 500gb 7200rpm. Keep in mind he won't be doing anything like overclocking. Any major issues there? Enough for games like Black Ops, Hot Pursuit 2 etc, to run sufficiently?

At 1280x720 that is more than sufficient. Looks good.
(But yes, you could play at 1080p with high graphics/low AA in most games with that setup.)

 

[Hazaro]

Hey dudes, I'm helping my brother out getting a basic gaming PC. I've already been expertly helped by my AusGAF brethren in terms of websites and some parts. He's happy to play at 720p resolution with good details. Will this accomplish that goal?

Basic Antec 300 case
Antec 500W power supply
ASUS P7P55-LX Motherboard
Intel Core i5 760
MSI GeForce GTX 460 768MB
G.Skill Ripjaws 2x2GB DDR3

Hard drive is 500gb 7200rpm. Keep in mind he won't be doing anything like overclocking. Any major issues there? Enough for games like Black Ops, Hot Pursuit 2 etc, to run sufficiently?

1080p High 4xAA sure.

 

[SumPog]

So I have recently built a new PC and I'm just wondering what game is best to use to "test" how good your PC is.

Crysis was the best one to test it from what I last heard, but I was wondering if there was anything more demanding?

Thanks in advance,

People consider in their own unique ways that Crysis, Far Cry 2, DiRt 2 and Unreal Tournament 3 to be the benchmarks. However with Crysis 2 coming out soon and a few other games, things will change. These days, any high end computer is quite capable of running and maxing out any game it sees.
I don't know about any of you, but I find Black Ops the most demanding. Not graphically though, it's just a real hardware hog it's not even funny.

 

[Rezbit]

Oh for real? Awesome. That's sub $700AU, which seems really good to me.

So no issues going with the basic/cheap case and PSU? The other parts I am pretty happy with.

 

[Jordan]

People consider in their own unique ways that Crysis, Far Cry 2, DiRt 2 and Unreal Tournament 3 to be the benchmarks. However with Crysis 2 coming out soon and a few other games, things will change. These days, any high end computer is quite capable of running and maxing out any game it sees.
I don't know about any of you, but I find Black Ops the most demanding. Not graphically though, it's just a real hardware hog it's not even funny.

Honestly, I'm only really going to play World of Warcraft.

I have:

i5 750 - not overclocked
ATI 5770 - not overclocked
4GB RAM
Windows 7 Professional 64bit
Running at 1600x900 resolution

Just want to see how much I can push it.

 

[mescalineeyes]

Honestly, I'm only really going to play World of Warcraft.

I have:

i5 750 - not overclocked
ATI 5770 - not overclocked
4GB RAM
Windows 7 Professional 64bit
Running at 1600x900 resolution

Just want to see how much I can push it.

starcraft 2 4v4 on Ultra. Make sure someone builds a Mothership.

 

[Hazaro]

Oh for real? Awesome. That's sub $700AU, which seems really good to me.

So no issues going with the basic/cheap case and PSU? The other parts I am pretty happy with.

Antec 300 is a nice case. Antec 500W is fine as well.

 

[sikkinixx]

As Boxing day approaches, I am thinking about upgrading a bit. Right now I have

E8400 3ghz C2D
4GB DDR2-800
8800GT


I was thinking of getting a 460 GTX to start, since getting a new processor means new mobo and ram as well. But do I really need to go i7? The i5 750 (I believe) looks pretty decent and goes on sale quite a bit. I'm not huge into overclocking and all that.

 

[beastmaster]

here are my specs for my first build. i just finished installing everything and hit the power button and nothing. lol. so im not sure where to proceed.

Coolermaster Storm Scout case

Asus M4A87TD EVO motherboard
amd 955 phenom ll x4 BE revision c cpu

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB hdd

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL ram

N460GTX Hawk gpu

xfx 650 watt black edition psu


so i put in everything to the best of my knowledge and pushed in the power button. everything seems like it is powering up but the monitor isnt showing anything it goes analog digital analog digital like it is trying to find an video source but cant find onel. And rthen the monitor goes in sleep mode.

I took out the vid card and put in and old one thqt i know works. and turned back on the computer and the monitor still did the same thing.

one thing on the motherboard I wasnt sure about was on the right side about middle of it there is the 24 pin connection. I have that plugged in. but at the top of the motherboard there is a 4 pin connection that says 12v atx? Do i also need to plug into this? or only the 24 pin? This is really the onlything i could think that wasnt connected correctly

Any help would be greatly appreaciated.

I got everything up and running. The only thing i cant figure out now is that when i go into bios and try and set ASCII on the sata port my hdd is connected to. It willl not show up.

I can only set sata ports 1-6 either ascii or ide if i set 1-4 ascii then i can choose 5-6 either ascii also or ide. But if i set 1-4 ide then i can only set 5-6 ide.

I put my hdd on port 1 and my dvd drive on port 5.

When i go into bios and set 1-4 ascii and 5-6 to ide and save restart. The bios does not recognize my hdd only my dvd on port 5. If i set everything ide it recognizes hdd and dvd.

Any ideas?

 

[JoeBoy101]

Two questions for the rest of PC Gaf:

Looking at doing my first build early this year, so on that note:

1) Is Sandy Bridge going to be worth it? To elaborate, I want to have my new machine squared away before Deus Ex in February and I question whether all the kinks in the new processor will be worked out and, way more importantly, if the costs of the new processor will not be prohibitive. Now I can definitely wait until it releases for it to drive costs down (looking at a Core i5 right now), but assuming costs around $500 and up for a processor, is there any compelling reason to go Sandy Bridge now instead of waiting for my next build three years or so down the road when the tech will be market-tested and prices cut?

2) If I'm not OC'ing my processor, is an after-market cooler necessary, or will the stock one be okay? I might OC in the future, but am a little leery of trying to use the thermal paste and attach it m'self, given the risks involved if I fuck it up.

Thanks!

I got everything up and running. The only thing i cant figure out now is that when i go into bios and try and set ASCII on the sata port my hdd is connected to. It willl not show up.

I can only set sata ports 1-6 either ascii or ide if i set 1-4 ascii then i can choose 5-6 either ascii also or ide. But if i set 1-4 ide then i can only set 5-6 ide.

I put my hdd on port 1 and my dvd drive on port 5.

When i go into bios and set 1-4 ascii and 5-6 to ide and save restart. The bios does not recognize my hdd only my dvd on port 5. If i set everything ide it recognizes hdd and dvd.

Any ideas?

Not to sound pissy, but have you given Asus a call? Alot of the parts manufacturer's have strong customer support, and given its their BIOS, they might be able to walk you through the selections.

 

[ColonelColon]

That's a overheated GPU sign. My PS3 did that before it died, and my GTX460 when overclocked wrong.

I suspected that was the case, but the problems persisted after the graphics card was removed. Games look virtually the same on my motherboard's integrated graphics.

 

[Akia]

PC-GAF: Can any Apple laptop run StarCraft II on Ultra at 60fps?

 

[BloodySinner]

So for those who follow the latest and greatest, what would you recommend for a user like me that's upgrading from a 9800GT? I would also like to double my RAM from 8 to 16GB. A quieter CPU fan would be nice too. All under $350 (CAN).

 

[Citizen K]

Posted this in the minecraft thread but thought i'd post it here too:

I cannot believe my pc doesnt run minecraft better. i get 10-20 fps at times! i thought it would be smooth as butter! my last pc game before this was starcraft 2 and that ran ok on lower settings.

spec:
athlon 64 3700+ 2.21ghz
2 gb ram
geforce 7600gt
win 7

i will be doing a major pc rebuild next year but does anyoine know if there is something i could do now. maybe a cheap graphics card/cpu to get a good performance boost? i'm a bit out of the loop in terms of pc hardware.

 

[Shambles]

Two questions for the rest of PC Gaf:

Looking at doing my first build early this year, so on that note:

1) Is Sandy Bridge going to be worth it? To elaborate, I want to have my new machine squared away before Deus Ex in February and I question whether all the kinks in the new processor will be worked out and, way more importantly, if the costs of the new processor will not be prohibitive. Now I can definitely wait until it releases for it to drive costs down (looking at a Core i5 right now), but assuming costs around $500 and up for a processor, is there any compelling reason to go Sandy Bridge now instead of waiting for my next build three years or so down the road when the tech will be market-tested and prices cut?

2) If I'm not OC'ing my processor, is an after-market cooler necessary, or will the stock one be okay? I might OC in the future, but am a little leery of trying to use the thermal paste and attach it m'self, given the risks involved if I fuck it up.

I assume that the initial SB lineup will be the midrange to high range chips but no matter what your budget is it is in your best interest to wait as if the price/performance is redefined on the higher end parts you should still see price shifting all the way down the price segments. On the other hand it seems like the SB mobile parts could be well under way as well so it's possible the lower end stuff could be retail ready by launch too. If you're looking at a 200$ CPU I would be surprised if Intel doesn't have a SB chip at that price point at launch. If you're looking in the 100-150$ range they might not. A reason you might be compelled to buy into the new chips is that it is more likely that when you upgrade in 3 years that there might be chips using the same socket (With Intel though who knows). If you end up wanting to stay with the old 1156 socket than SB should at least push the i5's down in price.

Yes, you'll want an aftermark cooler. And it's easy to attach before you install the motherboard into the case, or if you have a case that gives you access to the back of the motherboard to install the backplate. Youtube can guide you through the process.

 

[Ecto311]

The parts will work fine and you'll see a boost, but you are spending $300 on something that you can significantly improve for a little bit of your time.

I can't tell anyone today to get a dual core, so if you go intel your next choice is i5, but then Sandy Bridge is coming out <Jan 11th and pricing looks to be the same (along with being slightly faster, use less power, turbo mode).

For TF2 and SC II the dual core boost will be useful, but with so many more programs using 4 cores it's not worth the investment in a dead socket imo. Same goes for AM3 as AM3+ comes out in April and is not backwards compatibly either.

So... try to overclock. If you don't want to, you might as well put in a E8400/E8500 as the speeds aren't that off from an i3. Best budget option to to drop in a Q6600 / Q8___ and clock that to 3Ghz or so.

That's a bit jumbled, so ask if you any questions.

This is what I have currently:

c2d E6300 Conroe 65nm
Asustek p5n-e sli nforce 650i sli
corsair ddr2 at 4 gigs
1 GT240 video

so the board I listed before and the i3 at over 3ghz isnt worth a the under $300 to upgrade?

 

[JoeBoy101]

So for those who follow the latest and greatest, what would you recommend for a user like me that's upgrading from a 9800GT?

EVGA Geforce 460 GTX - $139.99 with Mail-in Rebate

I would also like to double my RAM from 8 to 16GB.

Easy. Don't. Save your money, your graphics bottleneck is not happening at your memory if you have that much. Hell, 8 gigs is already hitting long balls into the bleachers. Put that money to the graphics card and get a 470 GTX or go batshit and get the new 570's (what I'm looking at for my build).

A quieter CPU fan would be nice too. All under $350 (CAN).

Not sure about this one. It strikes me that most aftermarket cooling is built for efficiency and power, but not necessarily for sound reduction.

 

[longdi]

SB looks pretty darn strong in games!
See what i mean
http://en.inpai.com.cn/doc/enshowcont.asp?id=7947&pageid=7718

 

[JoeBoy101]

I assume that the initial SB lineup will be the midrange to high range chips but no matter what your budget is it is in your best interest to wait as if the price/performance is redefined on the higher end parts you should still see price shifting all the way down the price segments. On the other hand it seems like the SB mobile parts could be well under way as well so it's possible the lower end stuff could be retail ready by launch too. If you're looking at a 200$ CPU I would be surprised if Intel doesn't have a SB chip at that price point at launch. If you're looking in the 100-150$ range they might not. A reason you might be compelled to buy into the new chips is that it is more likely that when you upgrade in 3 years that there might be chips using the same socket (With Intel though who knows). If you end up wanting to stay with the old 1156 socket than SB should at least push the i5's down in price.

Yes, you'll want an aftermark cooler. And it's easy to attach before you install the motherboard into the case, or if you have a case that gives you access to the back of the motherboard to install the backplate. Youtube can guide you through the process.

$200 is the upper range of my budget for a CPU, but if I can go towards the SB chips I'd like to. Not for the performance gains, but as you said, to get up to date on the new socket mobo's. I'm suffering under a 775 which is why I'm not just upgrading my memory and going for a new machine. My other concern though is whether the new mobo's will break my budget, but i've got almost $200 tucked away there too, so I think I'm good.

Thanks!

SB looks pretty darn strong in games!
See what i mean
http://en.inpai.com.cn/doc/enshowcon...47&pageid=7718

Ironically, that left me a bit cool on SB as a replacement. With the 2300 compared to the 760, its not showing a major jump, maxing out at about 10% higher, and sometimes even lower than it. Coming in at a purported price of $280, and given the uptick of costs that will happen with the new 1155 mobos, I'm leaning more to grabbing the savings on the 1156 sockets and upgrade CPU and mobo 2-3 years down the road.

 

[-COOLIO-]

Hey dudes, I'm helping my brother out getting a basic gaming PC. I've already been expertly helped by my AusGAF brethren in terms of websites and some parts. He's happy to play at 720p resolution with good details. Will this accomplish that goal?

Basic Antec 300 case
Antec 500W power supply
ASUS P7P55-LX Motherboard
Intel Core i5 760
MSI GeForce GTX 460 768MB
G.Skill Ripjaws 2x2GB DDR3

Hard drive is 500gb 7200rpm. Keep in mind he won't be doing anything like overclocking. Any major issues there? Enough for games like Black Ops, Hot Pursuit 2 etc, to run sufficiently?

you could max everything except crysis and metro

 

[Mr.Green]

My turn!

So after years of consoles-exclusive gaming this has-been hardcore PC gamer finally decided to build a new rig, and now that everything is already ordered, I figured it would be a good time to post my specs and have you guys tell me the stupid mistakes I have made!

• Intel Core i7 870 Quad Core Processor Lynnfield LGA1156 2.93GHZ Hyperthreading 8MB Cache Retail Box
• MSI P55A-G55 P55 ATX LGA1156 DDR3 2PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 3PCI SLI CrossFireX SATA3 USB3.0 Motherboard
• G.SKILL F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL Ripjaws PC3-12800 4GB 2X2GB DDR3-1600 CL9-9-9-24 Core i5 1.5V Memory Kit
• XFX Radeon HD 6870 900MHZ 1GB 4.2GHZ GDDR5 2XDVI HDMI 2x Mini Display Port PCI-E Video Card
• Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA3 6GB/S 7200RPM 64MB Cache 3.5IN Dual Proc Hard Drive OEM
• Antec Three Hundred Mini Tower Gaming Case 300 ATX 3X5.25 6X3.5INT No PS Front USB & Audio
• Corsair TX650W 650W ATX 12V 52A 24PIN ATX Power Supply Active PFC 120MM Fan
• Samsung SH-S243D/BEBE 24X Black DVD Writer SATA OEM

I didn't order a soundcard yet. I figured I could always get one later if the on-board sound doesn't cut it.

Any thoughts?

 

[desu]

Personally I would have waited for sandy bridge cpu/mb, but thats just me .

 

[vocab]

PC-GAF: Can any Apple laptop run StarCraft II on Ultra at 60fps?

No. Ultra is an unoptimized piece of shit.

 

[Mr.Green]

Personally I would have waited for sandy bridge cpu/mb, but thats just me .

Yeah... I'm a little worried about that. =/ But you know how it is, well maybe you do, when you want something, you need it yesterday...

But aren't games limited by the graphics card anyway?

 

[desu]

Yeah... I'm a little worried about that. =/ But you know how it is, well maybe you do, when you want something, you need it yesterday...

But aren't games limited by the graphics card anyway?

Yeah why didnt you get a 580 GTX then ? (or at least a 570 GTX )

 

[Pimpbaa]

you could max everything except crysis and metro

He could max Crysis easily at 720p. I run Crysis Warhead maxed out on my overclocked Geforce GTX 460 1GB at 1080p.

 

[Azzurri]

Is there any place to get a GTX 580 for 500$?

 

[Mr.Green]

Yeah why didnt you get a 580 GTX then ? (or at least a 570 GTX )

Heh! :lol

I can always throw another 6870 in!

 

[desu]

I can always throw another 6870 in!

Couldn't resist :lol

 

[JoeBoy101]

Yeah why didnt you get a 580 GTX then ? (or at least a 570 GTX )

Hey don't bullshit. I'm tossing down $350 for a 570 GTX in my build.

 

[Azzurri]

Couldn't resist :lol

I know it has that power. :lol

 

[Citizen K]

Posted this in the minecraft thread but thought i'd post it here too:

I cannot believe my pc doesnt run minecraft better. i get 10-20 fps at times! i thought it would be smooth as butter! my last pc game before this was starcraft 2 and that ran ok on lower settings.

spec:
athlon 64 3700+ 2.21ghz
2 gb ram
geforce 7600gt
win 7

i will be doing a major pc rebuild next year but does anyoine know if there is something i could do now. maybe a cheap graphics card/cpu to get a good performance boost? i'm a bit out of the loop in terms of pc hardware.

Can anyone help please?

 

[Shambles]

Can anyone help please?

It's not as easy on your system as you might assume. You could try disabling your anti-virus as some people have had reduced performance from their real-time virus scan bogging down the HDD access for the game.

 

[longdi]

Ironically, that left me a bit cool on SB as a replacement. With the 2300 compared to the 760, its not showing a major jump, maxing out at about 10% higher, and sometimes even lower than it. Coming in at a purported price of $280, and given the uptick of costs that will happen with the new 1155 mobos, I'm leaning more to grabbing the savings on the 1156 sockets and upgrade CPU and mobo 2-3 years down the road.

I think the pricing is wrong. 760 cost for cost replacement is i5 2500, i5 2300 should be cheaper than i5 760, unless intel revised latest prices upwards.

http://vr-zone.com/articles/report-intel-sandy-bridge-prices-and-release-dates/10377.html

 

[Hazaro]

Two questions for the rest of PC Gaf:

Looking at doing my first build early this year, so on that note:

1) Is Sandy Bridge going to be worth it? To elaborate, I want to have my new machine squared away before Deus Ex in February and I question whether all the kinks in the new processor will be worked out and, way more importantly, if the costs of the new processor will not be prohibitive. Now I can definitely wait until it releases for it to drive costs down (looking at a Core i5 right now), but assuming costs around $500 and up for a processor, is there any compelling reason to go Sandy Bridge now instead of waiting for my next build three years or so down the road when the tech will be market-tested and prices cut?

2) If I'm not OC'ing my processor, is an after-market cooler necessary, or will the stock one be okay? I might OC in the future, but am a little leery of trying to use the thermal paste and attach it m'self, given the risks involved if I fuck it up.

Thanks!

The 2500K is what I am looking at. NA prices are usually lower per $ (USD) conversion so I'm guessing it'll retail $220-$250. The basic P67 motherboards are already being listed at $140 and $160 (GB and ASUS). DDR3 is cheap as heck, and Intel and Sandforce will be releasing their new SSD's with double capacity at the same price and faster speed around that time. Sounds like a good deal to upgrade to me. Hello 5Ghz on 4 cores

I'd go with aftermarket if you are dropping that much on a new PC. It's not needed for stock though.

This is what I have currently:

c2d E6300 Conroe 65nm
Asustek p5n-e sli nforce 650i sli
corsair ddr2 at 4 gigs
1 GT240 video

so the board I listed before and the i3 at over 3ghz isnt worth a the under $300 to upgrade?

You are going from a slower obsolete dual core to a slightly faster obsolete dual core.
Certainly not worth it.
Budget: Get a Q6600 / Q8___ and overclock it to 3Ghz.
Otherwise: Wait for an upgrade down the line.

My turn!

So after years of consoles-exclusive gaming this has-been hardcore PC gamer finally decided to build a new rig, and now that everything is already ordered, I figured it would be a good time to post my specs and have you guys tell me the stupid mistakes I have made!

• Intel Core i7 870 Quad Core Processor Lynnfield LGA1156 2.93GHZ Hyperthreading 8MB Cache Retail Box
• MSI P55A-G55 P55 ATX LGA1156 DDR3 2PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 3PCI SLI CrossFireX SATA3 USB3.0 Motherboard
• G.SKILL F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL Ripjaws PC3-12800 4GB 2X2GB DDR3-1600 CL9-9-9-24 Core i5 1.5V Memory Kit
• XFX Radeon HD 6870 900MHZ 1GB 4.2GHZ GDDR5 2XDVI HDMI 2x Mini Display Port PCI-E Video Card
• Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA3 6GB/S 7200RPM 64MB Cache 3.5IN Dual Proc Hard Drive OEM
• Antec Three Hundred Mini Tower Gaming Case 300 ATX 3X5.25 6X3.5INT No PS Front USB & Audio
• Corsair TX650W 650W ATX 12V 52A 24PIN ATX Power Supply Active PFC 120MM Fan
• Samsung SH-S243D/BEBE 24X Black DVD Writer SATA OEM

I didn't order a soundcard yet. I figured I could always get one later if the on-board sound doesn't cut it.

Any thoughts?

Looks good to me. I'm pleased with my Xonar DG which has an amp and is $30.
If you want more features you can pay more, but I like it.

 

[Cosmonaut X]

Usually people go with the easier (generally the more expensive) approach and go out to buy a PC itself. I agree with the Core i5 though, it's probably a good idea to get a 760, a more upgraded version of the 750. The Motherboard and RAM shouldn't be too hard; a reasonable P55 with 4Gb of DRR3 RAM. I recently got a 1900 x 1400 screen for a near $300, but by the looks of the uses for it, you should should get away with something much smaller for much less money. You're going to have to worry about other things, like a case, power supply and accessories.
I'm not familiar with UK Prices, someone else probably is on here, but good luck!

Would this be a reasonable start (rough costs noted):

• i5 760 (£150)
• GA-P55-UD3L (£50)
• Samsung F3 (1TB) (£50)
• G.Skill Ripjaw 4GB DDR3 (£50)
• Antec 300 (£50)
• Windows 7 Pro OEM (£100)
• Samsung SH-S223L (£20)

That's £470, and I'm still looking for:

• Monitor (considering a Benq E2220HD)
• Keyboard & mouse
• PSU
• GFX card
• Anything else I've forgotten!

I reckon I can get the monitor for £120, so that leaves around £150-200 for the other components, unless I can maybe down-spec some of the other components to make savings, especially bearing in mind the end-use of the PC.

 

[Hazaro]

I think you could easily go for an x4 640 instead and save some money.
Antec Case + PSU combo will help too.
GPU... 5770 / 6850
Why Win 7 Professional?

 

[Cosmonaut X]

I think you could easily go for an x4 640 instead and save some money.
Antec Case + PSU combo will help too.
GPU... 5770 / 6850
Why Win 7 Professional?

Win 7 Pro 'cos Dad has a rake of software that may require XP Mode, so erring on the side of caution.

Thanks for the tips - will have a nosy and pop back...

 

[JoeBoy101]

I think the pricing is wrong. 760 cost for cost replacement is i5 2500, i5 2300 should be cheaper than i5 760, unless intel revised latest prices upwards.

http://vr-zone.com/articles/report-intel-sandy-bridge-prices-and-release-dates/10377.html

Alright, that makes me feel better. Hell, the 2400 gets me just over 3ghz unclocked, so I'll probably drop-trou on that and the Asus mobo. I doubt I'll pull the trigger until late January, so I'll have plenty of time to soak in reviews and possibly even some for buyer feedback.

Would this be a reasonable start (rough costs noted):

* i5 760 (£150)
* GA-P55-UD3L (£50)
* Samsung F3 (1TB) (£50)
* G.Skill Ripjaw 4GB DDR3 (£50)
* Antec 300 (£50)
* Windows 7 Pro OEM (£100)
* Samsung SH-S223L (£20)

That's £470, and I'm still looking for:

* Monitor (considering a Benq E2220HD)
* Keyboard & mouse
* PSU
* GFX card
* Anything else I've forgotten!

I reckon I can get the monitor for £120, so that leaves around £150-200 for the other components, unless I can maybe down-spec some of the other components to make savings, especially bearing in mind the end-use of the PC.

Make sure you put in as much research and time considering your PSU as you do your CPU or case. The PSU is the most critical part of the computer as it has the potential to fry your entire system, not just itself. Also, based on what I've seen and read, you often get what you pay for, which can be good if you put the money for it, or bad if you didn't. I'm looking at a modular Cosair 650W for about $120 US. (Link) Non modular will cost upwards of $40-$50 less, but you have to deal with all the wires secured on it.

 

[Hazaro]

Alright, that makes me feel better. Hell, the 2400 gets me just over 3ghz unclocked, so I'll probably drop-trou on that and the Asus mobo. I doubt I'll pull the trigger until late January, so I'll have plenty of time to soak in reviews and possibly even some for buyer feedback.

Pah!
Why have 3Ghz when you can have 4.8Ghz? Keep in mind that only the K version can be overclocked via multiplier (until someone figures out something around it).

 

[Cosmonaut X]

Make sure you put in as much research and time considering your PSU as you do your CPU or case. The PSU is the most critical part of the computer as it has the potential to fry your entire system, not just itself. Also, based on what I've seen and read, you often get what you pay for, which can be good if you put the money for it, or bad if you didn't. I'm looking at a modular Cosair 650W for about $120 US. (Link) Non modular will cost upwards of $40-$50 less, but you have to deal with all the wires secured on it.

Aye, it was one of the things I spent a lot of time on when I built my own PC. I eventually settled on a Corsair HX 620W, and I've been delighted with it so far.

 

[Ecto311]

You are going from a slower obsolete dual core to a slightly faster obsolete dual core.
Certainly not worth it.
Budget: Get a Q6600 / Q8___ and overclock it to 3Ghz.
Otherwise: Wait for an upgrade down the line.

Would you suggest a heat sink for a decent over clock or is the stock one good if I'm just using the bios presets for over clock?

 

[Hazaro]

Aye, it was one of the things I spent a lot of time on when I built my own PC. I eventually settled on a Corsair HX 620W, and I've been delighted with it so far.

No doubt. I have a HX520W myself. Thing is built like a tank. Will be using it for quite a while.

Would you suggest a heat sink for a decent over clock or is the stock one good if I'm just using the bios presets for over clock?

TF2/SCII are both reliant on dual core speed and don't really make use of a quad so overclocking your current chip to 2.8Ghz would be a good start. (About 1.32V, 350*8).
You want to manually set CPU Voltage.

A good heatsink is the Hyper 212 Plus: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065
You can overclock on stock cooler, but you should cap the voltage at or slightly above your VID (Check with RealTemp/CoreTemp). You want load temperatures under 70C when using Prime95/OCCT.

 

[JoeBoy101]

Pah!
Why have 3Ghz when you can have 4.8Ghz? Keep in mind that only the K version can be overclocked via multiplier (until someone figures out something around it).

I'm not a speed freak when it comes to CPU's. Don't get me wrong, I can respect the attitude of 'red onez go fasta!', but that's just not my issue. Now, gettin more into the guts of my PCs, my opinion might change...

 

[Double D]

So my GTX 465 arrived in the mail and I cracked open my PC to install it. Immediately realized I have noe fucking clue what I'm doing. I'm replacing an 8800 gt. So, I need to have two power connector thingys as opposed to the one that my 8800 was connected with. I assume that I can use the one that I already have and just attach one extra that was supplied with my card, right? Also, if that's the case, what the hell am I connecting the two other white connections to? There are two connections floating around in my bundle of cords in my machine, and they seem to connect. Also, if I connect both of those white ends, the cord isn't long enough to reach my card. Can I daisy chain this with another type of these cords or something? Help! I'm completely befuddled!

 

[Hazaro]

http://www.playtool.com/pages/psuconnectors/pcie6.jpg
Right?

Also you should be able to reach the card... can you change the molex (That 4x1 pin connector) on your HDD and swap so it does reach?
Also make sure your PSU is up to the task, what is it?

I admire your initiative.

 

[ghst]

So my GTX 465 arrived in the mail and I cracked open my PC to install it. Immediately realized I have noe fucking clue what I'm doing. I'm replacing an 8800 gt. So, I need to have two power connector thingys as opposed to the one that my 8800 was connected with. I assume that I can use the one that I already have and just attach one extra that was supplied with my card, right? Also, if that's the case, what the hell am I connecting the two other white connections to? There are two connections floating around in my bundle of cords in my machine, and they seem to connect. Also, if I connect both of those white ends, the cord isn't long enough to reach my card. Can I daisy chain this with another type of these cords or something? Help! I'm completely befuddled!

got a camera lying around somewhere?

 

[Double D]

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. Obviously the existing 6-pin cord reaches, but when I connect the one you linked to, the 6-pin end won't reach. Also, maybe I don't have this 4-pin connector? I googled it, and I don't have that anywhere. I have something that looks similar, but it doesn't have 'pin-holes' per se. Just kind of a thin black connector. I have one connected to each HDD and one connected to my DVD drive. I can swap those around without screwing anything up? I also seem to have 2 extra connections floating around in here.

Power supply looks like 400 watt. Looking in the manual for the card, I'm pretty sure that ain't gonna fly. What's next folks? Clearly I've bitten off more than I can chew, but I'm going to make like courage wolf and chew it.

edit: Ok, I got impatient and started swapping around those connections between my HDD's and my DVD drive. Everything is connected. Clearly I need a new PSU, though. Should I even bother booting this thing up at this point, or should I just order a new power supply and get that going first? Judging by this operation, and the streaming mess of cords flowing from my existing power supply, that should be a bit of a hairy ordeal.

 

[Hazaro]

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. Obviously the existing 6-pin cord reaches, but when I connect the one you linked to, the 6-pin end won't reach. Also, maybe I don't have this 4-pin connector? I googled it, and I don't have that anywhere. I have something that looks similar, but it doesn't have 'pin-holes' per se. Just kind of a thin black connector. I have one connected to each HDD and one connected to my DVD drive. I can swap those around without screwing anything up? I also seem to have 2 extra connections floating around in here.

Power supply looks like 400 watt. Looking in the manual for the card, I'm pretty sure that ain't gonna fly. What's next folks? Clearly I've bitten off more than I can chew, but I'm going to make like courage wolf and chew it.

the 4 pin is molex which is what is in the linked picture.
Your DVD (and HDD) most likely use a SATA power connector, which is a much smaller thin connector.

*Oh I bet your case has the PSU on top which is why it's not reaching. You can swap power connectors no problem. Just make sure the PC has been off and than you unplugged it (and/or turn the power supply I/O switch to off).
Unless that is a Seasonic or Corsair 400W specced for 12V you might run into some issues. What is the model and brand?