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"I need a new PC!" 2010 Edition

Lord Phol said:
I'm scared D:, will my future PC die, will it not, PowerColor how good or bad are thy GPUs!
Click to expand...

They use to be pretty awful brand. Not really sure what are their current standards of quality. Had a line of faulty products 5-10 years ago. Afaik it still is a budget brand but quick googling tells it uses reference boards and basic fans. Also it has improved in matter of quality. Aslong as you get 24months warranty, you're covered.
 
hylje said:
They use to be pretty awful brand. Not really sure what are their current standards of quality. Had a line of faulty products 5-10 years ago. Afaik it still is a budget brand but quick googling tells it uses reference boards and basic fans. Also it has improved in matter of quality. Aslong as you get 24months warranty, you're covered.
Click to expand...

That sounds both :D and D:.
Perhaps I should spend an extra 55 bucks for the XFX Black edition GPU instead :x.
 
After looking over the guide that Minsc linked to, here's the build I am contemplating:


Antec 300 Case ($30 after promo and rebate) ALREADY PURCHASED
Windows 7 Home Upgrade ($50 after promo) ALREADY PURCHASED
Saitek Eclipse II keyboard ($20 after promo) ALREADY PURCHASED
Logitech G9 ($35 after promo and rebate) ALREADY PURCHASED
Intel Core i5-750 processor ($195)
GIGABYTE GA-P55A-UD3 motherboard ($143)
Kingston ValueRAM 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 RAM ($105)
SAPPHIRE Vapor-X 100283VXL Radeon HD 5770 Video Card ($155 after rebate)
CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V ($70 after promo and rebate)
Samsung SH-S223L Optical Drive ($29)
ASUS Xonar DX 7.1 sound card ($90)

Final Price $922

Anything look wrong? I'm going to do a little more research this weekend but unless there is a reason for me to wait a month I'm thinking about pulling the trigger. This is my first build entirely from scratch so I'm kinda nervous.

Edit: forgot PSU

Question:

How does the RAM I have listed above compare to the OCZ Technology 4GB DDR3-1600 (PC3-12800) CL9 Dual Channel Memory Kit (Two 2GB Memory Modules)they currently have on special at Microcenter for $80. (I have a Microcenter close by)
 
fatty said:
After looking over the guide that Minsc linked to, here's the build I am contemplating:


Antec 300 Case ($30 after promo and rebate) ALREADY PURCHASED
Windows 7 Home Upgrade ($50 after promo) ALREADY PURCHASED
Saitek Eclipse II keyboard ($20 after promo) ALREADY PURCHASED
Logitech G9 ($35 after promo and rebate) ALREADY PURCHASED
Intel Core i5-750 processor ($195)
GIGABYTE GA-P55A-UD3 motherboard ($143)
Kingston ValueRAM 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 RAM ($105)
SAPPHIRE Vapor-X 100283VXL Radeon HD 5770 Video Card ($155 after rebate)
CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V ($70 after promo and rebate)
Samsung SH-S223L Optical Drive ($29)
ASUS Xonar DX 7.1 sound card ($90)

Final Price $922

Anything look wrong? I'm going to do a little more research this weekend but unless there is a reason for me to wait a month I'm thinking about pulling the trigger. This is my first build entirely from scratch so I'm kinda nervous.

Edit: forgot PSU

Question:

How does the RAM I have listed above compare to the OCZ Technology 4GB DDR3-1600 (PC3-12800) CL9 Dual Channel Memory Kit (Two 2GB Memory Modules)they currently have on special at Microcenter for $80. (I have a Microcenter close by)
Click to expand...
I just bought these. And they work amazingly well. Cheaper than both your options with this promo: EMCYNNS22. $99.

As for the rest of your build, it looks pretty good.
 
I would also suggest getting a feel for video card performance, just to be sure you're not disappointed after you get your card. You might find out a $150 card would leave you wanting more performance, or it may even be overkill or just right.

Open up these two links from techPowerUp! and use the index at the bottom to see a few of the dozens of games and gauge performance on difference cards. I like techPowerUp! because they give a large range of results over a big number of games, but if they are games you want to play that aren't in there, definitely google your potential card + game name + review/benchmark to find how it performs.

5770 review and quick link to all their video card reviews.
 
Thanks Minsc. I will start researching it more tonight/this weekend. This sites you've been posting are very helpful as the only one that I was only slightly familiar with was Tom's Hardware.

Odious Tea said:
I just bought these. And they work amazingly well. Cheaper than both your options with this promo: EMCYNNS22. $99.

As for the rest of your build, it looks pretty good.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I will now look at getting these instead.

- - -

So, I was looking at the local Microcenter ad and stumbled across what I think would be very good prices for the i5 and i7:

Core i7-920 $229.99 (orig. $349.99)
Core i7-860 also $229.99
Core i5-750 $179.99

These are really good deals, right? Should I look at bumping up to the Core i7-920 for about $50 more? I would then have to change motherboards as well.
 
Okay, I admit it, I didn´t throw my not-booting pc out of the window, but it was a close thing. Had a IT guy from my mother´s workplace look over it and all the cables were at the right place, the site I bought the parts from wanted me to send the whole thing over and exactly one week it was there and back. The "repair" report doesn´t list any faults, but it says the graphics card was replaced. Then why was the mobo not beeping? Strange.

Anyway, now I´d appreciate some help with installing everything. Windows 7 is installed, now I throw in the dvd that came with the mobo and install everything on there? And the drivers for the 5850, install from the disc or can I download the new stuff from the ATI site right away?


After that, can I simply copy Dragon Age savegames (without the DLC codes used) from a 32-bit Vista system to my new 64-bit W7, using the same cd-key of course. Had to play it on my brothers pc for the last week and I don´t want to loose all my progress :/
 
fatty said:
So, I was looking at the local Microcenter ad and stumbled across what I think would be very good prices for the i5 and i7:

Core i7-920 $229.99 (orig. $349.99)
Core i7-860 also $229.99
Core i5-750 $179.99

These are really good deals, right? Should I look at bumping up to the Core i7-920 for about $50 more? I would then have to change motherboards as well.
Click to expand...

Whether you get a i5 750, i7 860, or i7 920/930, or anything else, your performance will likely be with 5-20% of each other, and to go to the i7 920 you need to get a different motherboard and triple channel ram, so price will go up a decent amount.

The 5770 is not a bad card at all, see those benchmarks again, but another spending another $100 on the GPU instead of the CPU puts you in the price range of a 5850, which I believe should score around double the performance of the 5770, you'd have to check. It's definitely a bigger gain. Don't forget Fermi is out end of March too! There's a good chance that will surpass ATI's offerings.

You might even be spending more money to move from the i5 to the i7 920, enough that you might have been able to get a SSD in addition to your HDD. Then you could have your OS on the SSD and be enjoying one of the fastest upgrades money can buy (non-gaming), instead of a minor CPU upgrade.
 
I have a lowly E6400 as my processor (2.2Ghz Core 2 Duo) and an 8800GT 512MB

If I upgrade my 8800GT to something like a 5770 will I see a noticeable improvement in frame rates or is my processor too much of a bottleneck? I'm gaming at 1080p and my computer has a hard time keeping up with new games past low settings.

* Upgrading the processor isn't really a great option right now because my motherboard only has a 1066Mhz FSB.
 
Houston3000 said:
I have a lowly E6400 as my processor (2.2Ghz Core 2 Duo) and an 8800GT 512MB

If I upgrade my 8800GT to something like a 5770 will I see a noticeable improvement in frame rates or is my processor too much of a bottleneck? I'm gaming at 1080p and my computer has a hard time keeping up with new games past low settings.

* Upgrading the processor isn't really a great option right now because my motherboard only has a 1066Mhz FSB.
Click to expand...
I upgraded from an 8800 GTS to a 5850 and saw major gains. This is with an E6600@3Ghz.
 
Houston3000 said:
I have a lowly E6400 as my processor (2.2Ghz Core 2 Duo) and an 8800GT 512MB

If I upgrade my 8800GT to something like a 5770 will I see a noticeable improvement in frame rates or is my processor too much of a bottleneck? I'm gaming at 1080p and my computer has a hard time keeping up with new games past low settings.

* Upgrading the processor isn't really a great option right now because my motherboard only has a 1066Mhz FSB.
Click to expand...

Ever overclocked? A nice aftermarket cooler and you can safely push it to 3GHz.
 
Violater said:
http://promotions.newegg.com/NEemai...c=EMC-IGNEFL022510-_-email-_-E0-_-Combo#Combo

My mobo cpu combo is $30 less right now :lol

Tiger strikes back amazing deal here http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=3228&sku=B69-1186
Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 3.0GHz system
Click to expand...

I was "" to jumping on the i5 combo deal for $558 but the MB looks pretty cruddy. While most of the problems seem to come from confusion about it having onboard video (only with a certain i5) there are quite a few other complaints.

How does the Tiger deal (Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 3.0GHz) compare to a Phenom x4 3.0?
 
So finally put in my parts order on Newegg. I'm pretty happy with what I got, but I now have a concern with the video card I got. Supposedly there are issues, ATI side, with this one (XFX 5770) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150462. I saw that it was recommended in here so I went with it. Any word on the driver/flickering issues with this card? Should I be worried or is this something that can be fixed with driver updates? I hope I didn't waste $160 on a broken card :(
 
Minsc said:
Whether you get a i5 750, i7 860, or i7 920/930, or anything else, your performance will likely be with 5-20% of each other, and to go to the i7 920 you need to get a different motherboard and triple channel ram, so price will go up a decent amount.

The 5770 is not a bad card at all, see those benchmarks again, but another spending another $100 on the GPU instead of the CPU puts you in the price range of a 5850, which I believe should score around double the performance of the 5770, you'd have to check. It's definitely a bigger gain. Don't forget Fermi is out end of March too! There's a good chance that will surpass ATI's offerings.

You might even be spending more money to move from the i5 to the i7 920, enough that you might have been able to get a SSD in addition to your HDD. Then you could have your OS on the SSD and be enjoying one of the fastest upgrades money can buy (non-gaming), instead of a minor CPU upgrade.
Click to expand...

Ah, very good points. I had no idea I would have to have triple channel ram as well (don't even know what that is). I will definitely do some more research tonight and check into the benchmarks.

It's not like I need all of these components right away (I could wait to see what the fermi is priced at), yet I remember people mentioning that I shouldn't wait too long when purchasing all of the components either. Maybe MB, proc and RAM is something to get pretty soon and video card/HDD within the next month? Decisions, decisions. Either way, the PSU seems like a really good deal to get now but with these other components I need to decide how much is really enough.
 
FoxSpirit said:
Ever overclocked? A nice aftermarket cooler and you can safely push it to 3GHz.
Click to expand...

I have overclocked, I do have an aftermarket cooler, I was actually running at 2.8Ghz or so for a long while. I started experiencing blue screens at one point and decided to clock it all back down but I think, in retrospect, the blue screens were unrelated (I had to replace some RAM a few months later). The problem is my computer always ran pretty damn hot when I overclocked, even at stock it runs warmer than normal with my big ass Nirvana cooler on it and ArcticSilver5 (I'll post some temps when I get home). It may be because I'm not getting good contact when I'm seating the heatsink, which I've done multiple times, or it may be because my processor is just faulty like that...

Mad Max said:
Well if his fsb really can't go much higher overclocking isn't an option obviously.
Click to expand...
Well, I'm kind of confused now. I have overclocked successfully like I said, the motherboard I have is: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128017 . As far as I know that won't support most of Intel's 45nm processors save for the already outdated E7k series. There were multiple revisions of that motherboard, I have rev. 1, but rev. 3 has a firmware update that specifically allows it to support processors that require 1333Mhz (an update released around the time the E8400 launched) I'm not eligible for it though since I don't have that revision of the motherboard. Can I seriously just overclock and put a newer processor in there without a problem without the firmware update?

I can test with overclocking again but I was curious just how much a new GPU would be bottlenecked even if couldn't overclock again. I'm pretty bummed I'm forced to run Bad Company 2 at low settings to get reasonable frame rates.
 
I'm about to overclock my Phenom II X2 550 from 3.1GHz to wherever it may take me. On load, I currently hit around 39-40 degrees, so I guess I have an overhead of around 10-15 degress. How much more MHz do you think I should safely squeeze out of it? I have a good aftermarket cooler by the way.
 
I put my new computer together the other day, everything is running great. All my games play so much better than before. 3x the framerate in some games.

gigabyte m770 ud3p, amd x3 435, HD5770, 4gb ddr3, 550w antec basiq, antec 300 case

I'm particularily happy with how the Antec 300 case looks. Lots of room, and the fans it came with are very quiet (compared to my old computer at least). I'm also very happy with the 550w antec basiq. It's a great little modular psu.

All I had to do was backup my stuff onto my external hard drive, and install my harddrive, dvd drive, and sound card. Everything went very smoothly.

still using windows xp :(

That ninite site was great too. Saved me a lot of time.
 
Binabik15 said:
Anyway, now I´d appreciate some help with installing everything. Windows 7 is installed, now I throw in the dvd that came with the mobo and install everything on there? And the drivers for the 5850, install from the disc or can I download the new stuff from the ATI site right away?
Click to expand...

yeah grab the latest from the ATI site, been hearing good things about the 10.3 beta drivers.

Then you can start installing all your programs etc
this site seems pretty handy as previously mentioned in this thread http://ninite.com/
 
OK, I'm a bit confused here. I was looking at this ASUS motherboard. It says it can do SATA 6 Gb/s and USB 3.0. The thing is, if you turn those options on, the PCIE x16 only works at x8. It's cheap though, so I still might get it.

Great. Now my PSU fan is making a grinding noise. Looks like I need to get a new PSU as well. Any suggestions? I plan on getting an i5-750 and have an 8800GT. I will most likely upgrade the 8800GT sometime in the future, so I would like to take that into account as well.

My initial motherboard/cpu/ram upgrade has now turned into a motherboard/cpu/ram/psu/hdd upgrade. Hey, I might as well get a new SATA DVD drive as well.
 
Big Baybee said:
My Budget is somewhere between the $800-$900 dollar range. closer to $800. I'm buying the parts over time. I figured I might as well do this right the first time instead of going the cheapo route. Whadayathink?
Click to expand...
If you're going to buy parts over time, leave the motherboard/cpu/ram/video card to last. They're the things that fluctuate the most. The best bang for buck CPU and video card changes on an almost monthly basis, and the motherboard and ram you get will be determined by your choice of CPU. You'd be better off buying a nice case, power supply, and optical drive to get yourself started. Maybe peripherals and monitor if you're doing that too. Hard drive if you don't mind missing out on a bit of capacity, because those are always going down in price too. Then save up and buy your mbd/cpu/ram/video card all at once.

Binabik15 said:
Then why was the mobo not beeping? Strange.
Click to expand...
So many motherboards don't have onboard speakers these days. Beep codes are almost a thing of the past.
 
So I just tried to unlock my AMD X3 435 processor on my Gigabyte MA770T-UD3P motherboard. I went into BIOS and enabled Advanced Core Calibration, then set the ECC Firmware to Hybrid. The computer rebooted, and got into windows.

Ran CPU-Z and, I have a 4th core that appears to be working. It's reporting my CPU as a Phenom II x4 B35.

I suppose I should test it for stability correct? And to do this I should use prime95? Or is there some other software that's better now?
 
Violater said:
Ok PC gaf.
Laptop seems to have died, it just went down the only light I see is the power light nothing else coming on.
Click to expand...
Does the AC light come on when plugged in?

Have you tried booting with the battery removed?

Does the fan start when you attempt a power up?

What's the make and model, and hardware specs?
 
nitewulf said:
i want a very silent pc, that can also run mass effect 2 and dragon age decently. what are my options?
Click to expand...

STOP!

If you're looking to build a PC, let us know what you want it for by filling out this template.

Budget: ($500, $1,000, $2,000...)
Main Use(s): (Gaming, Video Editing, Web Browsing...)
Monitor Resolution: (1280x1024, 1680x1050 ,1920x1080...)
List SPECIFIC games that you MUST be able to play: (Starcraft II, Diablo III, Half-Life 2, Crysis...)
Click to expand...
.
 
K.Jack said:
Does the AC light come on when plugged in?

Have you tried booting with the battery removed?

Does the fan start when you attempt a power up?

What's the make and model, and hardware specs?
Click to expand...

Still under warranty.
Have not tried booting with battery removed.
Fans start up
Gateway T-6859U
Will have to look at it when I get back home.
 
Violater said:
Still under warranty.
Have not tried booting with battery removed.
Fans start up
Gateway T-6859U
Will have to look at it when I get back home.
Click to expand...
Troubleshoot as best as you can, otherwise make use of that warranty while you still have it.
 
Dipper145 said:
So I just tried to unlock my AMD X3 435 processor on my Gigabyte MA770T-UD3P motherboard. I went into BIOS and enabled Advanced Core Calibration, then set the ECC Firmware to Hybrid. The computer rebooted, and got into windows.

Ran CPU-Z and, I have a 4th core that appears to be working. It's reporting my CPU as a Phenom II x4 B35.

I suppose I should test it for stability correct? And to do this I should use prime95? Or is there some other software that's better now?
Click to expand...

No. Use OCCT.


Houston3000 said:
I have a lowly E6400 as my processor (2.2Ghz Core 2 Duo) and an 8800GT 512MB

If I upgrade my 8800GT to something like a 5770 will I see a noticeable improvement in frame rates or is my processor too much of a bottleneck? I'm gaming at 1080p and my computer has a hard time keeping up with new games past low settings.

* Upgrading the processor isn't really a great option right now because my motherboard only has a 1066Mhz FSB.
Click to expand...

You should really look into picking up a second hand Q6600 imo. Clock it to 3ghz and you're laughing.
 
Houston3000 said:
I have a lowly E6400 as my processor (2.2Ghz Core 2 Duo) and an 8800GT 512MB

If I upgrade my 8800GT to something like a 5770 will I see a noticeable improvement in frame rates or is my processor too much of a bottleneck? I'm gaming at 1080p and my computer has a hard time keeping up with new games past low settings.

* Upgrading the processor isn't really a great option right now because my motherboard only has a 1066Mhz FSB.
Click to expand...

Went from a 9600GT to a 5770 and it nearly doubled my performance in most games.

Intel Core i3
4GB DDR3

Big Baybee said:
Friend recommended this video card. Thoughts?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102858
Click to expand...


In that price range you will not get a better card, especially for a budget PC.

I have this one.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102868
 
oh, alright!

Budget: $500 - $800
Main Use(s): Web browsing, entertainment, some gaming
Monitor Resolution: 1680x1050
List SPECIFIC games that you MUST be able to play: Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age, Bioshock 2

Has to be very quiet, it'll be always on, and in the living room.
 
Looking at Hard Drives at the moment.

Either Samsung F3 1TB or WD Caviar Black 1TB.
It will basically be used for video & steam game backup as well as pretty constant itunes access.

What do you guys think? the black has shorter access times but the samsung has overall more mb/s.
With mp3s I'd be better off with shorter access times right? (makes it feel more snappy?)


Finally is a 64MB cache over a 32MB cache worth the $20 for performance?
 
Well I have a WD Green which is apparently 5400-7200, and changing song has a noticeable pause, which is why I'm relegating that to external backup and going for a new hdd.

Still I guess that's fine the F3 and black are the same price so I guess I'll go for the 5 year warranty with the black then.

Cheers :)
 
Tisan said:
Looking at Hard Drives at the moment.

Either Samsung F3 1TB or WD Caviar Black 1TB.
It will basically be used for video & steam game backup as well as pretty constant itunes access.

What do you guys think? the black has shorter access times but the samsung has overall more mb/s.
With mp3s I'd be better off with shorter access times right? (makes it feel more snappy?)


Finally is a 64MB cache over a 32MB cache worth the $20 for performance?
Click to expand...

What music player are you using? Most music players keep a small cache so you should never really experience any delays.

For the record, I store all my MP3s on my 1TB WD green and there's been no issue. The access times are in the milliseconds range, and you're reading sequential data when playing MP3s...there shouldn't be a pause because of HDD latency. Maybe your HDD is going into sleep (check your windows power management settings)? Maybe your drive is extremely fragmented (unlikely)?
 
Fredescu said:
If you're going to buy parts over time, leave the motherboard/cpu/ram/video card to last. They're the things that fluctuate the most. The best bang for buck CPU and video card changes on an almost monthly basis, and the motherboard and ram you get will be determined by your choice of CPU. You'd be better off buying a nice case, power supply, and optical drive to get yourself started. Maybe peripherals and monitor if you're doing that too. Hard drive if you don't mind missing out on a bit of capacity, because those are always going down in price too. Then save up and buy your mbd/cpu/ram/video card all at once.
Click to expand...


This is what I was going to do. I have my eye on a particular case, but its like $140, and I want to get the best bang for my buck. Too much?
 
TheExodu5 said:
What music player are you using? Most music players keep a small cache so you should never really experience any delays.

For the record, I store all my MP3s on my 1TB WD green and there's been no issue. The access times are in the milliseconds range, and you're reading sequential data when playing MP3s...there shouldn't be a pause because of HDD latency. Maybe your HDD is going into sleep (check your windows power management settings)? Maybe your drive is extremely fragmented (unlikely)?
Click to expand...
I have two disks, one 640GB (W7/XP), and a 1TB. I used to have itunes running off the 1TB while I did whatever with the 640 web/gaming etc. But there would be a little delay in switching songs which annoyed me, so I moved my music to the 640, and while I now have almost no space, there's no delay even when music + games.

e: I have diskeeper kicking in the background, so it's not a defrag issue.
 
So here's what I've decided on. I'm going to buy one or two pieces every two weeks. I already have an 800 watt PSU and a hard drive. Please tell me if all the parts are good!

Case:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129043
MB: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131614
Video Card:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150454
CPU:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202
RAM:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145260
CPU Cooler:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118051

Stew, say something about my choices please!
 
I have the X5 which is the cheaper version of that and I love it. Logitech mice seem more popular with enthusiasts, so check out their stuff too like the MX518 and G9, but I've always preferred MS mice. Personal preference I guess.
 
I just got the razer mamba. The mouse is amazing. I know I paid way to much but it's just great. If you have the cash to drop just go get it.(the sidewinder was my second choice,hear it's a great mouse)
 
Having had a look at the Sidewinder keyboard, I'd steer clear of the range personally.
The quality of plastic was pretty average on the keyboard I saw :/

I've only had good experiences with logitech mice & keyboards, so there's a recommendation I guess.
 
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