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[Rahnter]

Looking a decently priced 5850, prefer xfx, visiontek, or asus (or something with at least a 3 year warranty). It can be with Bing cash back, 5% cb through discover, or anything...ebay only if necessary. Found this XFX for $277 after BCB

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...?EdpNo=6078264&csid=ITD&body=MAIN#detailspecs

 

[·feist·]

What do you think about this gaf. I'm on a budget and I'm too lazy to build a pc but here are the specs.

AMD Phenom II X4 965(3.4GHz)
4GB DDR3 1333
500GB SATAII
ATI Radeon HD5770 1GB
700W
AMD 770

I guess no one could tell me if this is good. sadface

Do you know anyone who could build a system for you, either free or on the cheap?

 

[Deleted member 17706]

What do you think about this gaf. I'm on a budget and I'm too lazy to build a pc but here are the specs.

AMD Phenom II X4 965(3.4GHz)
4GB DDR3 1333
500GB SATAII
ATI Radeon HD5770 1GB
700W
AMD 770

Sounds pretty fucking awesome in my opinion. Can you afford to go up to a Radeon HD 5850?

Also, how much is all that?

 

[purg3]

So I'm going to be doing a full upgrade, currently on a C2D E6750, going to an i7 930. I have pretty much everything set except for a video card. I was going to go with something mid-range but not sure what to get. Every video card I've owned has been nvidia(currently have an 8800GT), but apparently their current mid range selection isn't as good as ati's offerings. So what does gaf recommend as the best mid range card(~$300) I would prefer to stick with nvidia, but if it's that big of a difference I might go with ati.

 

[Dina]

5850, purge.

 

[purg3]

5850, purge.

That's what I thought, but I'm afraid of change. Took me forever to go from AMD to Intel too :lol

 

[Jasconius]

Alright, looking to put together a new computer for the gf, she uses it mostly to play WoW and facebook, other internet stuffs but I'd like it to be able to play some newer games if we wanted and generally run lots of stuff/switch between programs including WoW without slowing down. Budget's about $500! Also would be nice if it would last a very long time as long as we aren't worried about always being able to play the newest games. ;p

Read through the tech report and have come up with some preliminary stuff:

$79.99 Western Digital Caviar Black WD6402AAEX 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

$79.99 GIGABYTE GA-770T-USB3 AM3 AMD 770 USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

$111.99 Crucial 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory

$99.00 AMD Athlon II X4 630 Propus 2.8GHz Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Processor Model ADX630WFGIBOX

$66.98 Rosewill DESTROYER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case + SAMSUNG DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S223L LightScribe Support - OEM

It will also have a Radeon HD 3850, 17" Viewsonic LCD monitor, and a 500W Antec power supply from my current computer, so the cost for this comes to about $448.66 with shipping. Seems pretty reasonable to me, but wanted to see if anyone had any recommendations for other stuff or against the ones that I've selected so far!


Also, I would be upgrading to:

$212.98 XFX HD-577X-ZNFC Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card + Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V Ver.2.2

In my computer, I have an E8400 processor, and I'm not much for FPS games, I tend to be looking forward more to stuff like Civ 5, Starcraft II, and Diablo 3, so it seems like the 5770 would probably be a good deal for me right now looking to keep it for quite a while. I'm also looking to buy a new widescreen monitor, so I was wondering if anyone had any insight into good deals for something like a decently-prices 24" or 22" monitor (it has to fit inside the cubby in my desk which is 23.75" wide) to buy to go with the 5770.

Anyway, I'm willing to look at pretty much whatever as far as any of this stuff goes!

Just a quick bump for this, think I'll just buy the comp stuff tomorrow afternoon but I'm really bad with monitors, could use some advice on what to look for. Was also thinking about checking out what they had at my local costco so I don't have to deal with dead pixel issues or shipping. ^^

 

[Shambles]

What do you think about this gaf. I'm on a budget and I'm too lazy to build a pc but here are the specs.

AMD Phenom II X4 965(3.4GHz)
4GB DDR3 1333
500GB SATAII
ATI Radeon HD5770 1GB
700W
AMD 770

Save yourself the money and get the 955 instead. They offer very similar performance and OC pretty much the same. Also your PSU overkill for your needs. Of course you'll have to provide a make/model of the PSU for a real opinion and rated wattage means far less than the reputation of the maker. Something like this will suit you fine and it's going for a good price at the moment as well.

Just a quick bump for this, think I'll just buy the comp stuff tomorrow afternoon but I'm really bad with monitors, could use some advice on what to look for. Was also thinking about checking out what they had at my local costco so I don't have to deal with dead pixel issues or shipping. ^^

Looks pretty solid. Grab this harddrive instead though. Depending if you want a true 16:10 monitor or one of those pathetic 16:9 ones will change where you look. Any retail store is only selling the 16:9 monitors nowadays, if that's what you want Costco is always a good choice as they provide an additional year of warranty as well. If you want a true 16:10 you'll have to go hunting online. I picked up a 24" HP L2445M for 200$ CDN on a sale a while back. Nothing fancy, just a typical cheap TN panel but it does the job great.

 

[cws]

is it still possible to unlock additional cores on a phenom2 x3 or x2 ?

 

[kinggroin]

Save yourself the money and get the 955 instead. They offer very similar performance and OC pretty much the same. Also your PSU overkill for your needs. Of course you'll have to provide a make/model of the PSU for a real opinion and rated wattage means far less than the reputation of the maker. Something like this will suit you fine and it's going for a good price at the moment as well.

Thats a terrible suggestion. Never, EVER, skimp out on the PSU. Assuming he has one that actually outputs up to 700w, he'll be future proofed if he wants to throw in a second 5770 down the road (or move to something like a 5870).


I made the mistake myself of only buying JUST what I needed, and now my 5970 just sits in the case with the PC off until I get a new PSU.

 

[cws]

700 without any further information on the psu means nothing though - and why spend that much more if a 400/550 cougar psu will do thee job just as fine ?

if you have the money for a 5970 than i guess you wont mind paying for a new psu... but thats probably not the case for a budget gaming pc

 

[NIN90]

GUYS I NEED HELP

So I had the bright idea to update my GPU drivers. First I uninstalled my old drivers. Then I installed the latest ATI drivers (HD4850 here). Then I noticed that my PC won't let my set my resolution past 720x480? There's only two options displayed, 640x480 and 720x480.
So did I install my drivers "wrong"? I already uninstalled and installed them a few times. Downloaded them from different sources. No dice. Am I missing something?

This is why I usually don't update my drivers. Something's always fucked up.

 

[Revolution number one]

Alright GAF, I've had my pc for 2 and half years and its time to get a new one. I'm willing to spend 1000 dollars on one (I live in Australia btw). Also I don't need a new monitor or keyboard and mouse. Any suggestions?

 

[Scipius]

GUYS I NEED HELP

So I had the bright idea to update my GPU drivers. First I uninstalled my old drivers. Then I installed the latest ATI drivers (HD4850 here). Then I noticed that my PC won't let my set my resolution past 720x480? There's only two options displayed, 640x480 and 720x480.
So did I install my drivers "wrong"? I already uninstalled and installed them a few times. Downloaded them from different sources. No dice. Am I missing something?

This is why I usually don't update my drivers. Something's always fucked up.

Sounds like your PC thinks it's hooked up to a TV or similar. Does the OS recognise the monitor?

 

[NIN90]

Sounds like your PC thinks it's hooked up to a TV or similar. Does the OS recognise the monitor?

According to CCC it's detected as ASUS VH242H + Default CV.
I guess my OS detects my monitor.

 

[Lafiel]

Thats a terrible suggestion. Never, EVER, skimp out on the PSU. Assuming he has one that actually outputs up to 700w, he'll be future proofed if he wants to throw in a second 5770 down the road (or move to something like a 5870).


I made the mistake myself of only buying JUST what I needed, and now my 5970 just sits in the case with the PC off until I get a new PSU.

Yeah, i was almost going disagree with this, until i clicked the link. 400w seems way to low. I'd definitely aim for a 500-650w corsair psu though.

 

[Scipius]

According to CCC it's detected as ASUS VH242H + Default CV.
I guess my OS detects my monitor.

CCC is the ATI control panel I guess? What does the standard Window display control say? Do you have a TV hooked up to your PC?

 

[NIN90]

I worked it out. Had to uninstall the driver through the hardware manager. I did it through the installer before and apparently this doesn't really uninstall the drivers.

 

[Frankfurter]

Yeah, i was almost going disagree with this, until i clicked the link. 400w seems way to low. I'd definitely aim for a 500-650w corsair psu though.

So, just out of curiosity, between a CPU with 125w TDP and a GPU with a ~110w "TDP", where do your 500w+ come from?

 

[Jasconius]

Looks pretty solid. Grab this harddrive instead though. Depending if you want a true 16:10 monitor or one of those pathetic 16:9 ones will change where you look. Any retail store is only selling the 16:9 monitors nowadays, if that's what you want Costco is always a good choice as they provide an additional year of warranty as well. If you want a true 16:10 you'll have to go hunting online. I picked up a 24" HP L2445M for 200$ CDN on a sale a while back. Nothing fancy, just a typical cheap TN panel but it does the job great.[/QUOTE]

Thanks, looks like I will be getting that HDD! Have to run to work right now, but I'll look into monitors this afternoon. Is there a good place to explain why it's awesome to have a true 16:10 monitor vs a 16:9? Something that is cheap but works great for just regular use sounds good to me, and I'm no videophile so I don't get really obsessed over minor differences between displays... I just need to find what to look out for (like this resolution thing) when I'm looking through all the different types. ^_^

 

[kinggroin]

So, just out of curiosity, between a CPU with 125w TDP and a GPU with a ~110w "TDP", where do your 500w+ come from?

It comes from the common sense that whatever components you start with, will probably not be what you have 6 months down the line.

400w might be fine for that system, but you're seriously hamstringing yourself as far as future upgrades and additions to the system go.

I'd personally jump to a 650w PSU, just to play it safe. That way if next year he wants to go CF or jump to the 58xx series cards (maybe even a 59xx >, he'll have one less component to worry about.

he's already figured the 700w into his budget, so leave him be. It's a smart decision.

 

[derder]

It comes from the common sense that whatever components you start with, will probably not be what you have 6 months down the line.

400w might be fine for that system, but you're seriously hamstringing yourself as far as future upgrades and additions to the system go.

I'd personally jump to a 650w PSU, just to play it safe. That way if next year he wants to go CF or jump to the 58xx series cards (maybe even a 59xx >, he'll have one less component to worry about.

he's already figured the 700w into his budget, so leave him be. It's a smart decision.

700W is not a smart decision for a budget build. 550W should be the max if hes using a single card.

I agree that you shouldn't skimp on the PSU, but there's no sense in putting money into something he won't use.

 

[kinggroin]

700W is not a smart decision for a budget build. 550W should be the max if hes using a single card.

I agree that you shouldn't skimp on the PSU, but there's no sense in putting money into something he won't use.

Wont use yet.

I'm also assuming that this rig is already parted based on his budget anyway. So he isn't spending more than he wants.

If he hasn't come up with a budget however, and he's looking to save as much cash as possible. Then yeah, go with like a Raidmax 530w for $49 (I still wouldn't deop the cash on the 400watter).

So my apologies in advance for assuming anything

 

[jbpaz]

Sounds pretty fucking awesome in my opinion. Can you afford to go up to a Radeon HD 5850?

Also, how much is all that?

It is $859.99. It's a pre-built from newegg.

 

[kinggroin]

It is $859.99. It's a pre-built from newegg.

Heh.


Guess the 700w stays

edit: That come WITH Win7/XP?

 

[Petrie]

This thread was very helpful a year or so back when I wanted to build myself a gaming rig, now I'm hoping to find a different type of advice though. My friends asked me to piece together a PC for him that will fit nicely in his entertainment center in order to run XBMC, emulators, and some very light gaming (we're talking Diablo 2 here). I've never really pieced together this sort of build, so I was hoping I could get some advice and/or suggestions here.

I may take the opportunity to sell him a few things from my gaming rig and upgrade. I'm currently GeForce 9500 GT and this here processor:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116072

Along with 4 gigs of ram. If I can save him some cash and get some upgrades of my own than it's a win/win, but it isn't necessary, just putting it out there as though I'm not really a serious PC gamer, I do enjoy keeping a decent rig around for when it's required.

Thanks for any advice or suggestions!

 

[jbpaz]

Heh.


Guess the 700w stays

edit: That come WITH Win7/XP?

Win7 Home Premium 64 bit

 

[kinggroin]

Win7 Home Premium 64 bit

Nice!

That 5770 should perform admirably at 1600x900 (or whatever the 16:10 equivalent is) for demanding games. I think most others that are ports from consoles will be perfectly playable at 1080p with no AA, or 2xAA at most.

 

[DanDeschain]

PC Gaf, I need your assistance. I'm building a new PC in a week or two, and have a mobo question. Here's the mobo I'm planning on getting
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128425

Can somebody explain the difference between the 2 PCI express x16 slots? Specifically the one that runs at x4. Will the x4 slot effect crossfire if I decide to add another video card down the line? Thanks

 

[subversus]

I sort of want 5870 but there is an inevitable refresh down the line and I want a single card that runs Metro 2033 in its full glory not dipping under 30 fps (1360*768). I think this kind of card will be futureproof for the next 3 years or so.

So I'll wait for autumn.

 

[Labombadog]

This thread was very helpful a year or so back when I wanted to build myself a gaming rig, now I'm hoping to find a different type of advice though. My friends asked me to piece together a PC for him that will fit nicely in his entertainment center in order to run XBMC, emulators, and some very light gaming (we're talking Diablo 2 here). I've never really pieced together this sort of build, so I was hoping I could get some advice and/or suggestions here.

I may take the opportunity to sell him a few things from my gaming rig and upgrade. I'm currently GeForce 9500 GT and this here processor:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116072

Along with 4 gigs of ram. If I can save him some cash and get some upgrades of my own than it's a win/win, but it isn't necessary, just putting it out there as though I'm not really a serious PC gamer, I do enjoy keeping a decent rig around for when it's required.

Thanks for any advice or suggestions!

Kind of confused by your post. Are you saying that you have the 9500GT, and the cpu in your current pc. Right?

If so, I would give him that 9500GT, and you should upgrade to a 4850. They are pretty cheap now a days, and is an awesome little thing. Keep the cpu, and get him something similar to that cpu as well. Dual cores are awesome for light (and heavy but thats slowly changing) gaming. And as far as the RAM, for his situation he would only need 2gb of ram but as for me personally I would get 4gb just in case, but that's just me.

 

[Krispy Killa v3]

Sooo, I just spent $2570 total on an Alienware m15x laptop.
Am I totally crazy? (got 10% off)

Alienware M15x - Alienware M15x, Cosmic Black, Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
Unit Price: $2,603.00
Quantity: 1
Total Price: $2,603.00

-- Base System Color --
-- Alienware M15x, Cosmic Black
-----------------------
-- Processor --
-- Intel® Core™ i7-820QM Quad Core Processor 1.73GHz (3.06GHz Turbo Mode, 8MB Cache)
-----------------------
-- Memory --
-- 6GB DDR3 at 1333MHz
-----------------------
-- LCD Display --
-- 15.6-inch WideFHD 1920x1080 (1080p) WLED
-----------------------
-- Video Card --
-- 1GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 260M
-----------------------
-- Hard Drive --
-- 250GB SATAII 7,200RPM
-----------------------
-- Operating System --
-- Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
-----------------------
-- Optical Drives --
-- Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
-----------------------
-- Sound --
-- Internal High-Definition 5.1 Surround Sound Audio
-----------------------
-- Wireless --
-- Wireless 1520 802.11n Half Mini-Card
---------------------
-- Office Productivity Software --
-- Microsoft® Office Home and Student 2007 - English
-----------------------
-- Primary Battery --
-- Primary - 6-cell (56Watt) Lithium-Ion Battery
-----------------------
-- Factory Installed Games --
-- Steam and Portal™ Factory Installed

straight up foolish, you put dancing Christopher Duncan Turk to shame with these antics

 

[jbpaz]

Nice!

That 5770 should perform admirably at 1600x900 (or whatever the 16:10 equivalent is) for demanding games. I think most others that are ports from consoles will be perfectly playable at 1080p with no AA, or 2xAA at most.

I've read reviews on that particular system and most owners said it ran every game they threw at it on max on 1920x1080 with great fps. But I was wondering if there was a better pre-built pc that is cheaper and could beat this system in performance.

 

[The Lamonster]

Tech question. I need to install a new hard drive but I've never opened my computer before.

Is it simply a matter of getting a new internal hard drive at Best Buy (are there different sizes or anything?), and taking out my old one and snapping in the new one?

Are there any online tutorials that could help me?

 

[teh_pwn]

I haven't played PC games in 4 years because my PC is 7 years old. Because my PC is getting so old I decided to build a new one for general use and gaming as a nice plus.

I didn't go all out with solid state HDDs and whatnot, I learned that high end wastes away into nothingness within a two years in 2003.

Intel i5 750 (seemed like one of the better performers, less power hog, $200 sweet spot)
Some MSI P55 mobo
4 GB of RAM
AMD 5850
2 SATA 640 GB 3.0 Gb/s (probably will do RAID redundancy, because I'm getting older and paranoid like my parents.)
Win 7 x64 Pro
Some bitchin full tower ATX Coolmaster case
1000 Watt PSU

~$1350

Now the questions:
1. Is it worth upping my RAM to 8 GB now?

2. How easy is it to connect this to my 1080p TV if I decide to put this in the living room?

3. For TV + PC, any good furniture to use as keyboard/mouse for RTS games/general use? I can use my 360 controllers for other games.

4. What the FUCK is this DRM shit and how does a legitimate customer get around it? (I may have to look into this outside of GAF)

 

[teh_pwn]

It comes from the common sense that whatever components you start with, will probably not be what you have 6 months down the line.

400w might be fine for that system, but you're seriously hamstringing yourself as far as future upgrades and additions to the system go.

I'd personally jump to a 650w PSU, just to play it safe. That way if next year he wants to go CF or jump to the 58xx series cards (maybe even a 59xx >, he'll have one less component to worry about.

he's already figured the 700w into his budget, so leave him be. It's a smart decision.

I'm out of the loop by several years, and I would have strongly agreed with this advice back in 2003-4. 400W + gaming does not compute. Unless it's a compact system like a 360 or PS3.

 

[Labombadog]

I haven't played PC games in 4 years because my PC is 7 years old. Because my PC is getting so old I decided to build a new one for general use and gaming as a nice plus.

I didn't go all out with solid state HDDs and whatnot, I learned that high end wastes away into nothingness within a two years in 2003.

Intel i5 750 (seemed like one of the better performers, less power hog, $200 sweet spot)
Some MSI P55 mobo
4 GB of RAM
AMD 5850
2 SATA 640 GB 3.0 Gb/s (probably will do RAID redundancy, because I'm getting older and paranoid like my parents.)
Win 7 x64 Pro
Some bitchin full tower ATX Coolmaster case
1000 Watt PSU

~$1350

Now the questions:
1. Is it worth upping my RAM to 8 GB now?

2. How easy is it to connect this to my 1080p TV if I decide to put this in the living room?

3. For TV + PC, any good furniture to use as keyboard/mouse for RTS games/general use? I can use my 360 controllers for other games.

4. What the FUCK is this DRM shit and how does a legitimate customer get around it? (I may have to look into this outside of GAF)

Before I answer any of your questions, that PSU is way over board. Get a 700 watt psu (check the rail specs too), 1000watt is way too much.

1. 4gb is enough for right now, but if you dont want to upgrade in the future then I will def. get 8 gb now.

2. Very easy. I use my tv as my main 'monitor' use for my pc. I just used an vga to vga for my tv and it works perfect.

3. Not too sure.

4. Look around. I personally never had any trouble with it.

 

[phinious]

Anyone check out this Asus G73 laptop from BB for $1199?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+Laptop+with+Intel%26%23174%3B+Core%26%23153%3B+i7+Processor+-+Black/9741729.p?id=1218165344675&skuId=9741729

Its got a ATI 5870 video card, looks like a sweet deal to me.
i7 processor
6Gigs of Ram

 

[Shambles]

Thats a terrible suggestion. Never, EVER, skimp out on the PSU. Assuming he has one that actually outputs up to 700w, he'll be future proofed if he wants to throw in a second 5770 down the road (or move to something like a 5870).


I made the mistake myself of only buying JUST what I needed, and now my 5970 just sits in the case with the PC off until I get a new PSU.

A 400W Corsair is more than he'll even come close to with his current system. The only reason to go any higher is if he wanted to upgrade down the road. Don't compare your experience with your 5970 with a 5770. The power consumption difference is comparing a vespa to an S2000. People are running 4870's on that PSU which use quite a bit more power and are having no problems. I'd like to see you find a single review that puts 5770 usage at anywhere close to pushing that PSU to 80% of it's full capacity.

Due to the absoltely horrible quality of the budget PSU manufacturers a lot of people are misinformed as to what their actual PSU needs are. Don't skimp out on the PSU, but not by buying far more than you'll ever need 'just in case'. Spend the extra money to get a PSU from a quality maker that is pushing good amperage on the 12V rail and you'll have nothing to worry about. Hell, I bet you could run crossfire 5770's on his setup with that PSU and it would run ok, not that I would recommend it for a day to day setup, but that should give you an idea of how much headroom the unit would have with what he has now.

If you're worried about an upgrade path the Corsair 550W will cover all your bases for a single GPU setup or CF mid-high cards. Unless you tend to make a habit of spending 4-500$ on GPUs I wouldn't worry about it. Judging by the fact that you're limiting yourself to a 150$ GPU I'm guessing you aren't the type to care to throw buckets of money at a GPU upgrade.

 

[teh_pwn]

Before I answer any of your questions, that PSU is way over board. Get a 700 watt psu (check the rail specs too), 1000watt is way too much.

1. 4gb is enough for right now, but if you dont want to upgrade in the future then I will def. get 8 gb now.

2. Very easy. I use my tv as my main 'monitor' use for my pc. I just used an vga to vga for my tv and it works perfect.

3. Not too sure.

4. Look around. I personally never had any trouble with it.

Yeah, I think you're right about the PSU. But it's already ordered. I know I could have shaved off about $250 with that rig and gotten about the same thing, but I was lazy. More money to spare than in my college days.

And I also know that the 5850 was pricey at $300 this late in the product's lifetime, but it plays every game that I plan on playing like butter than 1080p, and should play Starcraft 2, Diablos 3, and Civ5 at max or near max settings. It's going to be my primary multi-platform gaming machine until next gen consoles come out.

So for PC to TV connectivity, am I going to need an audio card? Or is there someway to mux an HD audio channel into the 5850's HDMI?

This is my motherboard:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130246

I'm guessing I need something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102019

Or are there other audio solutions?

 

[logen9999]

What do you think about this gaf. I'm on a budget and I'm too lazy to build a pc but here are the specs.

AMD Phenom II X4 965(3.4GHz)
4GB DDR3 1333
500GB SATAII
ATI Radeon HD5770 1GB
700W
AMD 770

my advice:

what kind of mobo? i'd get a crossfire compatible mobo since that 5770 will feel outdated pretty soon. you will be happy to have that option in a year when that card will be around 90$ and games will need the extra horsepower.

if you are against crossfire then think about a 5850. and get a phenom 955 to save some money. you will be able to OC a ton anyway.

also the psu is overkill. read into PSUs and make a better decision that will end up saving you some money.

 

[logen9999]

A 400W Corsair is more than he'll even come close to with his current system. The only reason to go any higher is if he wanted to upgrade down the road. Don't compare your experience with your 5970 with a 5770. The power consumption difference is comparing a vespa to an S2000. People are running 4870's on that PSU which use quite a bit more power and are having no problems. I'd like to see you find a single review that puts 5770 usage at anywhere close to pushing that PSU to 80% of it's full capacity.

Due to the absoltely horrible quality of the budget PSU manufacturers a lot of people are misinformed as to what their actual PSU needs are. Don't skimp out on the PSU, but not by buying far more than you'll ever need 'just in case'. Spend the extra money to get a PSU from a quality maker that is pushing good amperage on the 12V rail and you'll have nothing to worry about. Hell, I bet you could run crossfire 5770's on his setup with that PSU and it would run ok, not that I would recommend it for a day to day setup, but that should give you an idea of how much headroom the unit would have with what he has now.

If you're worried about an upgrade path the Corsair 550W will cover all your bases for a single GPU setup or CF mid-high cards. Unless you tend to make a habit of spending 4-500$ on GPUs I wouldn't worry about it.

A+ advice. i agree most people dont need more then a 400-500W PSU from a good manufacturer.

reading reviews is key here. most psu companies try to fool people into thinking more is better. it's not. it's just a marketing strategy.

 

[BravoSuperStar]

Yeah, I think you're right about the PSU. But it's already ordered. I know I could have shaved off about $250 with that rig and gotten about the same thing, but I was lazy. More money to spare than in my college days.

And I also know that the 5850 was pricey at $300 this late in the product's lifetime, but it plays every game that I plan on playing like butter than 1080p, and should play Starcraft 2, Diablos 3, and Civ5 at max or near max settings. It's going to be my primary multi-platform gaming machine until next gen consoles come out.

So for PC to TV connectivity, am I going to need an audio card? Or is there someway to mux an HD audio channel into the 5850's HDMI?

This is my motherboard:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130246

I'm guessing I need something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102019

Or are there other audio solutions?

I have a 5850 and it outputs audio from HDMI just fine, DTS-MA and Dolby TrueHD. Are you going to be using a DVI-HDMI adapater or something?

 

[teh_pwn]

I have a 5850 and it outputs audio from HDMI just fine, DTS-MA and Dolby TrueHD. Are you going to be using a DVI-HDMI adapater or something?

Nope, just HDMI.

If that wasn't going to work, I was looking into HDMI video + Optical Audio (audio card) which my receiver can handle too. But if HDMI works out of the box with both video and audio, looks like I'm set. I guess that's why there's so few PCIe audio cards these days. Thanks!

 

[Frankfurter]

It comes from the common sense that whatever components you start with, will probably not be what you have 6 months down the line.

400w might be fine for that system, but you're seriously hamstringing yourself as far as future upgrades and additions to the system go.

I'd personally jump to a 650w PSU, just to play it safe. That way if next year he wants to go CF or jump to the 58xx series cards (maybe even a 59xx >, he'll have one less component to worry about.

he's already figured the 700w into his budget, so leave him be. It's a smart decision.

There really is no reason at all to go with a 700w PSU (from which we do not know if it's actually a quality brand), unless you plan to go with sth. like 2x5870. And how likely is that if he now builds a system with a HD5770?
400w is okay for the planned system, 500w means he has lots of room for an upgrade to for example a HD5870 (or 2xHD5770), 600w already seem like a waste and 700w just don't make sense.
All imo of course, but I'd always tend towards buying a good brand PSU, which is efficient and silent.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Anyone check out this Asus G73 laptop from BB for $1199?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+Laptop+with+Intel%26%23174%3B+Core%26%23153%3B+i7+Processor+-+Black/9741729.p?id=1218165344675&skuId=9741729

Its got a ATI 5870 video card, looks like a sweet deal to me.
i7 processor
6Gigs of Ram

That seems like an extraordinarily good deal. The same laptop is on Newegg for $1599.99.

The impressions over at a Newegg sound pretty good as well.

I'm almost tempted to grab that laptop myself as a secondary computer that I can take to friend's houses.

 

[kinggroin]

A 400W Corsair is more than he'll even come close to with his current system. The only reason to go any higher is if he wanted to upgrade down the road. Don't compare your experience with your 5970 with a 5770. The power consumption difference is comparing a vespa to an S2000. People are running 4870's on that PSU which use quite a bit more power and are having no problems. I'd like to see you find a single review that puts 5770 usage at anywhere close to pushing that PSU to 80% of it's full capacity.

Due to the absoltely horrible quality of the budget PSU manufacturers a lot of people are misinformed as to what their actual PSU needs are. Don't skimp out on the PSU, but not by buying far more than you'll ever need 'just in case'. Spend the extra money to get a PSU from a quality maker that is pushing good amperage on the 12V rail and you'll have nothing to worry about. Hell, I bet you could run crossfire 5770's on his setup with that PSU and it would run ok, not that I would recommend it for a day to day setup, but that should give you an idea of how much headroom the unit would have with what he has now.

If you're worried about an upgrade path the Corsair 550W will cover all your bases for a single GPU setup or CF mid-high cards. Unless you tend to make a habit of spending 4-500$ on GPUs I wouldn't worry about it. Judging by the fact that you're limiting yourself to a 150$ GPU I'm guessing you aren't the type to care to throw buckets of money at a GPU upgrade.

I never, not ONCE said that the 400w PSU you recommended wouldn't be enough for the current rig. I simply said, I wouldn't replace the 700w PSU (that btw, comes WITH the pre-built config - it's a set price for those components together) with one as low as a 400w. Even a quality one. I brought up the 5970 to illustrate the point that getting just enough can hurt you in the future (of course, my situation is a liiitle extreme).

700w IS MUCH more than enough, but it's inclusive.

Are you guys reading this:

IT'S A COMBO DEAL for that price (almost $900, so hardly a "budget" deal anyway).

How much is he really going to save by killing the combo savings and losing 300w? you guys sound insane. I'm all for a quality PSU (why I recommend the single rail CORSAIR), but the las thing you want to worry about in the future is power headroom just because you saved, what, $40 on a near $900 PC?!?


I think the best advice would be for him to build a rig from scratch for the same price. Then we can talk about which PSU to build around.

edit: Meant Corsair, not antec.

 

[ChronicleX]

well I ordered my PC, should turn up tomorrow hopefully

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition
CPU Cooler: Coolermaster Hyper TX3
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Motherboard: Asus M4A89GTD Pro USB3
Memory: 4.0GB Corsair DDR3 1600mhz DHX CL9
Hard Drives: 1TB S-ATAII 3.0Gb/s
Optical Drive: 22x DVD±RW DL S-ATA
Graphics card: ATI Radeon HD 5850 1GB
Case: Antec Three Hundred
PSU: 700W EZCool Tornado

minus the OS cost me around £800. What you think?

 

[kinggroin]

well I ordered my PC, should turn up tomorrow hopefully



minus the OS cost me around £800. What you think?

That power supply is overkill.

 

[platypotamus]

I've read reviews on that particular system and most owners said it ran every game they threw at it on max on 1920x1080 with great fps. But I was wondering if there was a better pre-built pc that is cheaper and could beat this system in performance.

Damn, I think I'm just going to get that system rather than the custom rig I had set up on ncix. Only 500GB instead of a TB hard drive, and a different (but better according the the benchmarks I'm seeing) processor, but it's quite a bit cheaper.

Thanks jbpaz!