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"I need a new PC!" 2010 Edition

GullyJuice said:
k looks like i'm gonna go w/ this:

$200 CPU: Intel Core i7-930
$240 Motherboard: ASUS P6X58D-E
$040 CPU cooler: COOLER MASTER Hyper N 520
$110 PSU: Antec EarthWatts EA750 750W
$140 Case: COOLER MASTER HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP
$425 GPU: HIS Radeon HD 5870
$170 Memory: G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
$235 Hard drive: Intel X25-M 80GB SATA II MLC SSD
$027 Optical drive: Sony Optiarc 24X DVD/CD Rewritable
$090 Sound card: HT | OMEGA STRIKER 7.1
$100 OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

$1782 (- $50 after deals)
Click to expand...
You could easily do without the soundcard.

Smash88 said:
I hope some people would realize it isn't just about ordering from one website that can sometimes be expensive on certain parts. You shop around, doing it at one place is just more convenient. Look around, and you will be surprised at how different the prices of some parts might be.

Also why the hell would you waste so much money on a graphics card that will be obsolete in a couple of months. It's all about getting the best bang for your buck, and getting that is just overkill. A 5850 or even a 5870 would be good enough.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-490-_-Product

Game + Free Shipping + $20 off = Win (If you really want to just look at newegg for parts)
Click to expand...
I wasn't necessarily recommending that he buy a 5970, just trying to maximize the performance for the price point. In fact, I suggested that if he wanted to save money, he could get the 5870 with a lower Wattage PSU.
 
Regarding Windows 7...

Is this breakdown right?

Retail- multiple motherboard
OEM- one motherboard
MSDNAA- key disabled every so often

As far as win741.com goes. Can you install it on a new hard drive without a XP or Vista cd key? And how many motherboards is it tied to?
 
Does anybody have any suggestions as to why my computer is now locking up after a few minutes of gaming?

This machine worked great before i upgraded the CPU in it. Hardware monitor shows excellent temps all around. I RMAed the CPU just to be sure, and this apparently solved nothing. I did memtest86+ (i only let it run for an hour, I figured if the ram was shit it would have noticed by then) I ran chkdsk just to make sure my hdd wasn't full of bad sectors. I still need to double check the videocard, as when I swapped an ati gpu with an nvidia gpu windows freaked the fuck out, but there is no artifacting and the gpu doesn't go past 55 degrees so i doubt it is that.

So this pretty much leaves three possibilities. My psu (corsair tx750) has bit the dust (i suppose i'll swap the psu when i get home to check this) the motherboard is dead (POSTs fine, everything is working, other than locking up so i don't think it would be this) or I have astronomical bad luck in getting two consecutive defective cpus from tigerdirect.

Am I missing anything? I don't get blue screens, just lock ups. My chipset (780i sli) is the hottest component in my system going into the high 50s, but that seems to be normal for a chipset with such an astronomical TDP.

All this is on a brand-spanking new install of windows 7, and it will even lock-up before windows is loaded. All my clocks and voltages are of course on stock settings.
 
TouchMyBox said:
Does anybody have any suggestions as to why my computer is now locking up after a few minutes of gaming?

This machine worked great before i upgraded the CPU in it. Hardware monitor shows excellent temps all around. I RMAed the CPU just to be sure, and this apparently solved nothing. I did memtest86+ (i only let it run for an hour, I figured if the ram was shit it would have noticed by then) I ran chkdsk just to make sure my hdd wasn't full of bad sectors. I still need to double check the videocard, as when I swapped an ati gpu with an nvidia gpu windows freaked the fuck out, but there is no artifacting and the gpu doesn't go past 55 degrees so i doubt it is that.

So this pretty much leaves three possibilities. My psu (corsair tx750) has bit the dust (i suppose i'll swap the psu when i get home to check this) the motherboard is dead (POSTs fine, everything is working, other than locking up so i don't think it would be this) or I have astronomical bad luck in getting two consecutive defective cpus from tigerdirect.

Am I missing anything? I don't get blue screens, just lock ups. My chipset (780i sli) is the hottest component in my system going into the high 50s, but that seems to be normal for a chipset with such an astronomical TDP.

All this is on a brand-spanking new install of windows 7, and it will even lock-up before windows is loaded. All my clocks and voltages are of course on stock settings.
Click to expand...

Sounds like bad memory. Run a memory testing program the full way this time to see if they pick anything up.
 
DeathNote said:
Regarding Windows 7...

Is this breakdown right?

Retail- multiple motherboard
OEM- one motherboard
MSDNAA- key disabled every so often

As far as win741.com goes. Can you install it on a new hard drive without a XP or Vista cd key? And how many motherboards is it tied to?
Click to expand...
Correct on Retail/OEM. MSDNAA is the same as retail, AFAIK. I ran an MSDNAA copy of XP for about three years and it was never disabled. They give you a disclaimer that you're not supposed to use it for professional purposes, but in practice it acts just like a retail license.

I'm pretty sure Win741.com is also a retail license, so you should be able to install it to a fresh hard drive and make as many hardware changes as you want.
Edit: Actually, it might be an upgrade version... I've seen reports of both, and the one I bought seems to be an upgrade. But you can still install it on a new PC by installing it once without activating it, then doing an "upgrade" install over that.
 
Okay, so recently my main hard drive died. It was an IDE drive, with my other drive being SATA which I stored my media on. After trying to freeze it (which ALMOST worked), I figured it was time for a new one. I order a new SATA drive, install it and keep my other SATA attached. I also made sure to have the new drive set as the master on the motherboard. Power on, and it sits at the initial BIOS screen, displaying the drives/attachments. My media drive clicks once or twice and that's it. Can't get to any other screen, it's stuck here.

Once I unplug the media SATA drive, I was able to boot and install the OS on my new SATA drive. Whenever I attach the media SATA drive, it won't go past the boot screen. I didn't think a bad hard drive that doesn't have the OS on it, would prevent the machine from booting.

So, a few questions.

1)Am I shit out of luck?
2)Has anyone else ever experienced this? I thought only my original IDE drive was fucked, but both of them died...at the same time? wat
3)I'm about to say fuck it to physical backups (except for a boot image). Any recommended online storage options?

Thanks.
 
Mr. Snrub said:
Okay, so recently my main hard drive died. It was an IDE drive, with my other drive being SATA which I stored my media on. After trying to freeze it (which ALMOST worked), I figured it was time for a new one. I order a new SATA drive, install it and keep my other SATA attached. I also made sure to have the new drive set as the master on the motherboard. Power on, and it sits at the initial BIOS screen, displaying the drives/attachments. My media drive clicks once or twice and that's it. Can't get to any other screen, it's stuck here.

Once I unplug the media SATA drive, I was able to boot and install the OS on my new SATA drive. Whenever I attach the media SATA drive, it won't go past the boot screen. I didn't think a bad hard drive that doesn't have the OS on it, would prevent the machine from booting.

So, a few questions.

1)Am I shit out of luck?
2)Has anyone else ever experienced this? I thought only my original IDE drive was fucked, but both of them died...at the same time? wat
3)I'm about to say fuck it to physical backups (except for a boot image). Any recommended online storage options?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Leaving both the drives in, boot up and goto your bios. Setup the primary drive and then the secondary drive in the bios. I'm thinking the order is wrong. Then try to load into windows by going to safemode and see if you're able to boot into it.
 
I can't find the extra cables that came with my modular power supply. It's an OCZ ModXStream 600W. I need a SATA to 6-pin power supply cable, but it doesn't seem like anyone makes them. All I can find are SATA to 4 pin molex cables. Can someone point me in the right direction?
 
dynamitejim said:
I can't find the extra cables that came with my modular power supply. It's an OCZ ModXStream 600W. I need a SATA to 6-pin power supply cable, but it doesn't seem like anyone makes them. All I can find are SATA to 4 pin molex cables. Can someone point me in the right direction?
Click to expand...

I may be wrong but I think you have to go to molex first and then to 6-pin. Seems a bit dodgy but I've never had any problems. ;)
 
Here is what I picked out for my new PC. Can someone look it over and tell me if anything is incompatible. Also let me know what you think. I mainly play SC2 and WOW. I'm hoping this set up can run those games at max rez in 1080p with a good frame rate.

CPU $199.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115215
Mother Board $124.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128437
Hard Drive $79.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185
Video Card $129.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161296
PSU $99.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371015
DVD $25.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204
Cooler $29.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835106139
Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit $99.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754
Ram 4GB $107.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231180

I already have a case for it but I forget what it is. Comes out to about $885.37
 
Is now a good time to upgrade from a 8800GT to a GTX 470? Am I going to see a big performance difference? or should I try to hold off for another 6 months to a year? I don't necessarily need it since I can still play most modern games on high with around 25-30 frames. 30-60 on medium.
 
Replace the GPU with at least a 5770.
There's actually someone in the buy/sell thread selling 2 4850's for $80 but you'll need aftermarket coolers for them (or a fan on them).

As for upgrading I'm always the type who waits for a really value oriented card (see: 8800GT) so I'm waiting it out with a GTX 260 that I got a good deal on. I planned to wait with my 8800GT.

In general the longer you can wait the better but nVidia showed its hand this month with GTX 470/480/465 and it's not that impressive at the price right now imo.
 
Adent said:
Here is what I picked out for my new PC. Can someone look it over and tell me if anything is incompatible. Also let me know what you think. I mainly play SC2 and WOW. I'm hoping this set up can run those games at max rez in 1080p with a good frame rate.

CPU $199.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115215
Mother Board $124.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128437
Hard Drive $79.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185
Video Card $129.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161296
PSU $99.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371015
DVD $25.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204
Cooler $29.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835106139
Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit $99.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754
Ram 4GB $107.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231180

I already have a case for it but I forget what it is. Comes out to about $885.37
Click to expand...

Well, I agree that you should probably bump the card up to at least a 5770 for SC2. A 4850 will do fine but it's not at a great price/performance point right now.

Probably overkill on the PSU wattage unless you're going to add another card later (and even then if it's 2x4850 or 2x5770 you wouldn't need 650w). If you're just getting a PSU for future-proof purposes, I'd recommend upgrading slightly to the 650w TruePower New over the EarthWatts (I think it is $101 right now with free shipping).
 
That TruePower is a nice deal, esp since it has 4x6/6+2 pins.

Otherwise a Corsair 550w would be fine too for a bit less.
 
maybe wait till this motherboard comes out, comes with integrated Radeon 5770 GPU:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/05/asus-demos-immensity-x58-hydra-mainboard-with-integrated-ati-rad/

Adent said:
Here is what I picked out for my new PC. Can someone look it over and tell me if anything is incompatible. Also let me know what you think. I mainly play SC2 and WOW. I'm hoping this set up can run those games at max rez in 1080p with a good frame rate.

CPU $199.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115215
Mother Board $124.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128437
Hard Drive $79.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185
Video Card $129.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161296
PSU $99.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371015
DVD $25.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204
Cooler $29.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835106139
Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit $99.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754
Ram 4GB $107.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231180

I already have a case for it but I forget what it is. Comes out to about $885.37
Click to expand...
 
Adent said:
Here is what I picked out for my new PC. Can someone look it over and tell me if anything is incompatible. Also let me know what you think. I mainly play SC2 and WOW. I'm hoping this set up can run those games at max rez in 1080p with a good frame rate.
Click to expand...
Looks fine to me. The 4850 might not be quite up to totally maxing SC2, but I've read that it can handle it just fine if you lower the shader/lighting settings a bit.

Everdred said:
Is now a good time to upgrade from a 8800GT to a GTX 470? Am I going to see a big performance difference? or should I try to hold off for another 6 months to a year? I don't necessarily need it since I can still play most modern games on high with around 25-30 frames. 30-60 on medium.
Click to expand...
If you're satisfied with your performance now I'd wait (or shoot for something a little cheaper). The performance/dollar for new high-end cards is always insanely poor, so the longer you can hold off, the better.
 
I picked that PSU mostly because of the modular cables. Thanks for the advice. Does everything look compatible though?
 
Adent said:
I picked that PSU mostly because of the modular cables. Thanks for the advice. Does everything look compatible though?
Click to expand...

Yeah, you're in the clear there.

Bear in mind, Antec "modular" PSUs really have a lot of hard-wired cabling still. They are only semi-modular; you will probably not be using any modular cables to connect all of the devices you have listed there.

Edit - Wait, the EarthWatts you linked has no modular cabling whatsoever.
 
Adent said:
lol I guess your right. Would a 550W psu be enough? The video card recommends 450W, I think.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341022

This one doesn't say i5 compatible but it would still work, right?
Click to expand...

A good 450w would run that rig fine. 550w is plenty and a good one would Crossfire 5770s in that kit.

Personally, I would not use OCZ as they are pretty hit or miss depending on which OEM they actually come from.

If you really want a 550w the TruePower New would be my recommendation:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371020

I'd recommend the Corsair 550 as well but I'm pissed at them so they can go screw.
 
I'm not going to add more hard drives or dvd drives so I guess I should not be trying to overcompensate. So basically if it says on the video card to get a 450W then get a 450W?
 
Adent said:
I'm not going to add more hard drives or dvd drives so I guess I should not be trying to overcompensate. So basically if it says on the video card to get a 450W then get a 450W?
Click to expand...

Well, the manufacturer's recommendations are actually generally going to be overshot, to keep them in the clear.

Thing is in the 450w range I'm not sure what's solid anymore. There's the VX450 from Corsair which I'm sure is a great PSU but like I said they can go screw right now.

Basically right now you should just consider what you might upgrade and/or if you want to carry that PSU into your next rig (and whether or not you might "go bigger" in your next system). 550w is a good number for pretty much any single GPU card that's ever been... though the GTX 480 is the first one to make me feel uncomfortable with that statement. Thing is a god damn power-eating golem.
 
TouchMyBox said:
Does anybody have any suggestions as to why my computer is now locking up after a few minutes of gaming?

This machine worked great before i upgraded the CPU in it. Hardware monitor shows excellent temps all around. I RMAed the CPU just to be sure, and this apparently solved nothing. I did memtest86+ (i only let it run for an hour, I figured if the ram was shit it would have noticed by then) I ran chkdsk just to make sure my hdd wasn't full of bad sectors. I still need to double check the videocard, as when I swapped an ati gpu with an nvidia gpu windows freaked the fuck out, but there is no artifacting and the gpu doesn't go past 55 degrees so i doubt it is that.

So this pretty much leaves three possibilities. My psu (corsair tx750) has bit the dust (i suppose i'll swap the psu when i get home to check this) the motherboard is dead (POSTs fine, everything is working, other than locking up so i don't think it would be this) or I have astronomical bad luck in getting two consecutive defective cpus from tigerdirect.

Am I missing anything? I don't get blue screens, just lock ups. My chipset (780i sli) is the hottest component in my system going into the high 50s, but that seems to be normal for a chipset with such an astronomical TDP.

All this is on a brand-spanking new install of windows 7, and it will even lock-up before windows is loaded. All my clocks and voltages are of course on stock settings.
Click to expand...


I actually had a very similar problem after upgrading to Windows 7. Took me over a week to resolve, but now I'm about 2 weeks free of random hard locks. Check your RAM voltage, and see if it's set to spec. If it is, up the voltage. My RAM is recommended to run at 1.8v, but my system wouldn't stay stable in Windows 7 until I upped it to 2.01. It's red in my BIOS, but I ran memtest for 13 hours with no errors at that voltage. Just for comparison's sake, my setup is:

eVGA nforce 790i SLI FTW
Intel QX9770
BFG 295 GTX
8GB 1600mhz Corsair XMS3 DHX PC3-12800 (4x2GB)
 
Wallach said:
A good 450w would run that rig fine. 550w is plenty and a good one would Crossfire 5770s in that kit.

Personally, I would not use OCZ as they are pretty hit or miss depending on which OEM they actually come from.

If you really want a 550w the TruePower New would be my recommendation:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371020

I'd recommend the Corsair 550 as well but I'm pissed at them so they can go screw.
Click to expand...

Yeah looking at that OCZ 25 amps on the 12V rail is on the weaker side. I think that corsair you mentioned is pushing around 40 amps. Basically anything with that stupid Fatal1ty hax0rz!1 branding is bait for suckers. I like the Antec's too and I hear Seasonics are built fairly well. I'm running an OCZ 520W with an overclocked Q6600 and 4870 and still have plenty of power to spare.
 
So gaf I was wondering if I was to buy a pre made computer from Dell or hp. Could I still upgrade it later using parts from new egg or other sources?
 
Shambles said:
Yeah looking at that OCZ 25 amps on the 12V rail is on the weaker side. I think that corsair you mentioned is pushing around 40 amps. Basically anything with that stupid Fatal1ty hax0rz!1 branding is bait for suckers. I like the Antec's too and I hear Seasonics are built fairly well. I'm running an OCZ 520W with an overclocked Q6600 and 4870 and still have plenty of power to spare.
Click to expand...

That OCZ has close to 38A on the 12v rail, not 25A (I can't see the sticker that well, somewhere around 37.5A). Still, I have no idea who actually makes that particular PSU so I'd be wary of it.

Seasonic branded PSUs are pretty awesome most of the time (their high end PSUs are among the best on the planet), and a lot of other brands like Antec have Seasonic build their PSUs for them. So the TruePower New for example - which is a phenomenal PSU built on the M12D platform - is actually a Seasonic as well. Corsair is another that doesn't actually make their own PSUs, I think most of theirs are Seasonics as well right now. Supposedly the new Antec Signatures are Delta and the newest Corsair at 1KW is actually a Flextronics.
 
shadowcomplex said:
So gaf I was wondering if I was to buy a pre made computer from Dell or hp. Could I still upgrade it later using parts from new egg or other sources?
Click to expand...
Yes. You will just need to see what expansion slots you have available and if the included power supply can handle whatever you are adding.
Edit: Assuming we are talking desktops. I have no idea about adding parts to laptops.
 
My computer died a few days ago, and I've finally given up on getting it working again properly. It was four years old anyway (Athlon 64 X2 2.2GHz, GeForce 7800GT); my Xbox 360 is much faster. I haven't payed any attention to computer hardware for the past four years, so I've spent a lot of time getting up to speed on my options. My final list ended up looking almost identical to the one Adent posted, except that I went for a Radeon 5770 instead. A few questions:

1) I've seen a lot of recommendations in this thread for various P55-based motherboards, but they seem to cost a bit more than H55-based boards. Is the P55 a substantially better north bridge chipset? I don't care much about bells and whistles; I probably won't be overclocking, I won't be using a SATA 6Gb/s drive, and I doubt I'll use any USB 3.0 devices any time soon. I'm slightly interested in FireWire support, but I'm unsure whether I'd use it or not, and boards with FireWire support are often quite a bit more expensive. That Gigabyte GA-H55-USB3 board looks like a good deal; anything I should know?

2) I have an Antec LifeStyle SONATA II ATX Mid Tower Case w/ 450W SmartPower 2.0 Power Supply. It sounds like the power requirements for my new system will be pretty modest; could I save some money and stick with what I have, or will I run into compatibility issues?

3) The cheapest Radeon 5770s are from Biostar and PowerColor. Any issues with those brands? The brand names I recognize as quality brands are all a bit more expensive.

I'm also a little reluctant to upgrade to Windows 7, but from this thread it sounds like I should just bite the bullet and do it.
 
Adent said:
I'm not going to add more hard drives or dvd drives so I guess I should not be trying to overcompensate. So basically if it says on the video card to get a 450W then get a 450W?
Click to expand...
You want to look at the amps on the 12V and who makes it + reliability.
The 650w TruePower New is a good deal.
Otherwise I'd suggest the Corsair 550w (not modular though).

As for the Hydra board with a 5770 :lol
It's a nifty technology but it is not there yet. Especially on an x58 board that is just iffy as crap.
Anyone going for a board with Hydra will be wanting something much better no doubt.
Kenaras said:
2) I have an Antec LifeStyle SONATA II ATX Mid Tower Case w/ 450W SmartPower 2.0 Power Supply. It sounds like the power requirements for my new system will be pretty modest; could I save some money and stick with what I have, or will I run into compatibility issues?

3) The cheapest Radeon 5770s are from Biostar and PowerColor. Any issues with those brands? The brand names I recognize as quality brands are all a bit more expensive.

I'm also a little reluctant to upgrade to Windows 7, but from this thread it sounds like I should just bite the bullet and do it.
Click to expand...
Dunno about mobo, seems fine.

Amp wise you would probably be ok with a 5770 and that PSU but PSU's wear down and a 4 year PSU is probably pushing it a bit with its capacitors. I'd go ahead and upgrade to a new PSU, the better efficiency will save you some money back on your electric bill anyway.

For a 5770 I'd go with an XFX for their warranty. It ups resale value and they offer a good service which is worth the extra to me.

Definitely upgrade to 7.
 
Kenaras said:
1) I've seen a lot of recommendations in this thread for various P55-based motherboards, but they seem to cost a bit more than H55-based boards. Is the P55 a substantially better north bridge chipset? I don't care much about bells and whistles; I probably won't be overclocking, I won't be using a SATA 6Gb/s drive, and I doubt I'll use any USB 3.0 devices any time soon. I'm slightly interested in FireWire support, but I'm unsure whether I'd use it or not, and boards with FireWire support are often quite a bit more expensive. That Gigabyte GA-H55-USB3 board looks like a good deal; anything I should know?
Click to expand...
H55 should be fine in your case. It's a pretty minor step down.
 
4 years isn't really a big deal with a solid PSU at all. Hell, a lot of mid-range warranties are like 5 years for RMA (stuff in the $70-80 range). Unless you're constantly putting 80%+ load on it the whole time (and unless you're running a server farm with it, I promise you you're not) you're probably fine. I have a couple older Enermax units that will pull 500w loads without breaking a sweat and they're at least 6 years old.

It's the cheap PSUs that have crappy capacitors in them that you have to worry about, and really they tend to die sooner than later with serious draws on them. A solid PSU is something you should keep; don't upgrade unless you need to.
 
Wallach said:
4 years isn't really a big deal with a solid PSU at all. Hell, a lot of mid-range warranties are like 5 years for RMA (stuff in the $70-80 range). Unless you're constantly putting 80%+ load on it the whole time (and unless you're running a server farm with it, I promise you you're not) you're probably fine. I have a couple older Enermax units that will pull 500w loads without breaking a sweat and they're at least 6 years old.

It's the cheap PSUs that have crappy capacitors in them that you have to worry about, and really they tend to die sooner than later with serious draws on them. A solid PSU is something you should keep; don't upgrade unless you need to.
Click to expand...
If I had a 4 year old rig I'd personally upgrade since I would feel iffy about it.

I'm pretty sure the Antec would run the 5770 fine.
 
 
Guys a little help here please. My hard disk is making strange noises these days, high pitched noise every now and then, but it passed all the tests in Seagate sea tools diagnostics. Its a 750GB Seagate barracuda 7200RPM. My PC has also hanged a few times but has come back within a few seconds without restarting. Interesting thing is that it started only after I installed new graphics card, it didnt use to make any noises before. Is my hard drive bad or is it something else? I am confused as the hard disk passes all tests in all diagnostics softwares.
Config, if needed-

Core i7 920 at stock.
Gigabyte Ex58-UD3R mobo
Nvidia Geforce GTX470 card
3x2GB DDR3 RAM
1x750GB seagate barracuda 7200RPM
1x320GB Western Digital 7200RPM

Thanks.
 
Hazaro said:
If I had a 4 year old rig I'd personally upgrade since I would feel iffy about it.

I'm pretty sure the Antec would run the 5770 fine.
Click to expand...

Decent PSU's last far longer than 4 years. Buying a new one just because it's old would be a complete waste of money. I'm using units a lot older than that.
 
Brannon said:
Backup and replace right now.

Nope, don't even ask questions, just do it.
Click to expand...

Damn!
I checked on Seagate website and its still under warranty. That means I just have to go to local seagate center and they will replace or repair it right? I bought it in a different city and dont have the receipt (been more than 2 years, lost it :(). But I do have the serial number and on website it shows that its under warranty till Feb 9, 2012.
Thanks for the help.
 
Anyone wanna help me with a build inspection? A friend of mine wanted me to help him with a new build but I haven't done anything in a while so I'm not too sure what's a good deal these days.

i7 930
OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W
Radeon HD 5770
ASUS P6T SE X58
OCZ Gold OCZ3G1600LV6GK 6GB DDR3
Antec Three Hundred Mini Tower Gaming Case
Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB


He does a lot of Photoshop and some 3d work and stuff as well as gaming, so he wasn't just wanting a top of the line GPU. The general idea is that he can buy a Radeon 7870 or whatever in a few years and stick it in there and still have a pretty awesome gaming rig, but for now it will let him do non gaming stuff really nicely.
 
IcedTea said:
Anyone wanna help me with a build inspection? A friend of mine wanted me to help him with a new build but I haven't done anything in a while so I'm not too sure what's a good deal these days.

[...]

He does a lot of Photoshop and some 3d work and stuff as well as gaming, so he wasn't just wanting a top of the line GPU. The general idea is that he can buy a Radeon 7870 or whatever in a few years and stick it in there and still have a pretty awesome gaming rig, but for now it will let him do non gaming stuff really nicely.
Click to expand...
Looks fine to me, good parts and everything is compatible. The 700W PSU is overkill if he's not going to Crossfire or overclock, but that one's not too expensive and it doesn't hurt to have some headroom.
 
rohlfinator said:
Looks fine to me, good parts and everything is compatible. The 700W PSU is overkill if he's not going to Crossfire or overclock, but that one's not too expensive and it doesn't hurt to have some headroom.
Click to expand...
Yeah, for that price I figured it would be nice to leave the option open. Thanks!
 
Okay, I am getting the parts I want for my new comp ready. Here is what I have come up with so far:

Intel I7 930 Yes I know this is in store pickup only. I live quite close to one, lucky me ^_^
Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3 LGA 1165
G.Skill 6GB DDR3 1600

Not sure which Vid Card I should get:

Sapphire 5850 This has MW2 with it. I would never play it so I could sell it and make back some money on that.
HIS 5850 This one is just the cheapest, so not sure if that brand is any good or not.

That about covers it I think. I will mostly be playing games at 1920x1200 and would like to run most with high settings. One thing I am not sure about is if I am going to need a new PSU. I have a 500w right now and that has been working fine for my system, but these new upgrades might take a lot more power to run. Thanks for the help guys ^_^
 
Arsin said:
Okay, I am getting the parts I want for my new comp ready. Here is what I have come up with so far:

Intel I7 930 Yes I know this is in store pickup only. I live quite close to one, lucky me ^_^
Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3 LGA 1165
G.Skill 6GB DDR3 1600

Not sure which Vid Card I should get:

Sapphire 5850 This has MW2 with it. I would never play it so I could sell it and make back some money on that.
HIS 5850 This one is just the cheapest, so not sure if that brand is any good or not.

That about covers it I think. I will mostly be playing games at 1920x1200 and would like to run most with high settings. One thing I am not sure about is if I am going to need a new PSU. I have a 500w right now and that has been working fine for my system, but these new upgrades might take a lot more power to run. Thanks for the help guys ^_^
Click to expand...

Your CPU and motherboard choice are not compatible. You need an LGA 1366 socket CPU for an i7-930 (LGA 1156 is for CPUs like i5-750).

Both Sapphire and HIS are good brands. Remember that the Sapphire MW2 bundle is a redemption code on Steam, may be harder to resell than a physical copy. Would prefer HIS for a non-reference card (both of those are non-reference cards) as I do not hear great things about the part quality on Sapphire's custom stuff, much like XFX. Personally though I would try to get a reference card (the ones that look like classic Batmobiles) because they are guaranteed to have software voltage control which makes them beastly OCers. Some non-reference cards do as well (I know ASUS' DirectCU cards do) but a lot of them use cheaper voltage regulators that don't support software control.
 
Wallach said:
Your CPU and motherboard choice are not compatible. You need an LGA 1366 socket CPU for an i7-930 (LGA 1156 is for CPUs like i5-750).
Click to expand...

Thanks for the input I will be sure to find a new motherboard that works with that processor.

Which 5850 would you go with? Or should I go with another card altogether?
 
Arsin said:
Thanks for the input I will be sure to find a new motherboard that works with that processor.

Which 5850 would you go with? Or should I go with another card altogether?
Click to expand...

Between those two? Brand-wise I would go with the HIS. The Sapphire might be a better deal if you were going to play MW2, but since you are not I would stick with the HIS.

On the other hand, Best Buy has the VisionTek 5850 for $289 right now online, and that is not only a limited lifetime warranty but one of the reference cards. I actually just bought a 5850 last week and that was my choice. Newegg has the VisionTek is now as well but it's more expensive there for once.

The 5850 is the card to get right now, but quite frankly this is not the greatest time to be buying a video card at all. The 5850s are well over MSRP because of nVidia's shite competition with Fermi. Were my 9800GTX+ not showing signs of a slow death I would have waited a bit longer until prices came down, which should happen before the end of the year.
 
So to follow up with my problems, turns out that the motherboard (P5N-T Deluxe) is being the stick in the mud. The board is still under warranty so i'm RMAing it.

Oddly, this means I will be RMAing two different 780i SLI based boards at the same time... :lol
 
DeathNote said:
Regarding Windows 7...

Is this breakdown right?

Retail- multiple motherboard
OEM- one motherboardMSDNAA- key disabled every so often

As far as win741.com goes. Can you install it on a new hard drive without a XP or Vista cd key? And how many motherboards is it tied to?
Click to expand...

rohlfinator said:
Correct on Retail/OEM.
Click to expand...

Really? Awesome. For some reason I thought OEM was limited to just one install, not multiple installs on the same computer, so I had planned on buying two retail copies in the near future (one for current laptop, one for future desktop). Being able to go OEM will save me some decent scratch.

At any rate, this is what my possible build is looking like right now -


Processor.......$289.99 Intel Core i7-930 Bloomfield
Motherboard...$239.99 ASUS P6X58D-E LGA 1366 Intel X58
Video Card.....$389.99 XFX HD-587X-ZNFV Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress XT) 1GB
Case..............$149.99 Antec P183 Black Aluminum / Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower
HDDs.............$159.98 ($79.99 each, buying 2) SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 1TB 7200 RPM
Sound Card....$89.99 ASUS Xonar DX 7.1
Power Supply..$119.99 CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V
Memory..........$179.99 G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
OS.................$99.99 Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OEM
Disc Drive 1....$25.99 SAMSUNG DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S223L
Disc Drive 2....$64.99 LITE-ON Black 4X Blu-ray Disc Reader SATA Model iHOS104-08

Total Cost of ~1,850.

Will that power supply be enough? I put it on there from a previous recommendation but I have upgraded several parts since then so the power requirements have gone up a fair amount. I basically started with the TechReport "Sweeter Spot" build and have modified from there.
 
Thinking about getting a new machine (my current machine isn't really dated, per se, but could be used as a family computer).

What's nvidia's response to Radeons HD5870 or whatever the best Radeon is? I'm not a fan of ATI and would like to find a suitable nvidia substitute.

Thanks!
 
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