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"I need a new PC!" 2010 Edition

grap3fruitman said:
HTPC mainly, some gaming. How's that overkill?
Click to expand...
Better off going for a discrete GPU then, not integrated. Does the case have to be small that a vid card won't fit?

What does ODD stand for btw?
 
msv said:
Better off going for a discrete GPU then, not integrated. Does the case have to be small that a vid card won't fit?

What does ODD stand for btw?
Click to expand...
It'll probably be mainly HTPC, I'd just try gaming on there just to see how it is. ODD stands for optical disc drive (CD, DVD, Blu-ray, etc).
 
grap3fruitman said:
It'll probably be mainly HTPC, I'd just try gaming on there just to see how it is. ODD stands for optical disc drive (CD, DVD, Blu-ray, etc).
Click to expand...
So gaming is not a factor at all? I assume you won't be doing Photoshop, or things like encoding on your HTPC? If so, you can spare alot on the CPU and vid card.

For example
2rh6wxx.png


Would suit your needs on 1080p fronts, normal browsing stuff and older games, but not recent ones. Well, on really shitty settings maybe.

If you do want to somewhat play games I'd suggest going for the 870 mobo (costs about the same as the 880GXH) with a discrete vid card.
 
grap3fruitman said:
So here's what I've got so far: http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=11501014. I'm not sure about that wireless card, I'm missing a case and PSU and I can live without an ODD. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

Here's an HTPC build I configured. Tried to get as close to your initial price range (though I went over a little bit) and formfactor specifications much as possible. The video card will be able to do audio over HDMI and it'll provide some room for some light gaming.

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=12334051
 
Ok, long post. I configured 4 different systems, 1 at CyberpowerPC, 2 at ava direct, 1 at NCIX (damn 100$ shipping at NCIXUS too):

CYBERPOWER:

CASE: CoolerMaster Elite 310 Mid-Tower Case with See-Thru Side Panel [-6] (Red Color)
CD: Sony 24X Double Layer Dual Format DVD+-R/+-RW + CD-R/RW Drive [+3] (BLACK COLOR)
CPU: [Special] Intel® Core™ i7-950 3.06 GHz 8M Intel Smart Cache LGA1366
CS_FAN: Maximum 120MM Case Cooling Fans for your selected case [+9]
FA_HDD: Vigor iSURF II Hard Disk Drive Cooling System [+21] (1 x System)
FAN: NZXT Liquid Cooling System 120MM Radiator & Fan (Enhanced Cooling Performance + Extreme Silent at 20dBA)
FLASHMEDIA: INTERNAL 12in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer (BLACK COLOR)
HDD: 1TB SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 64MB Cache 7200RPM HDD (Single Hard Drive)
MEMORY: 6GB (2GBx3) DDR3/1600MHz Triple Channel Memory Module (Corsair or Major Brand)
MOTHERBOARD: (3-Way SLI Support) MSI X58A-GD65 Intel X58 Chipset SLI/CrossFireX Triple-Channel DDR3 ATX Mainboard w/ 7.1 Audio, eSATA, GbLAN, USB3.0, SATA-III, RAID, IEEE1394a, 3 Gen2 PCIe, 2 PCIe X1 & 2 PCI [-10]
NETWORK: Intel Pro Gigabite 10/100/1000 Network Card [+34]
NOISEREDUCE1: Sound Absorbing Foam on Side, Top And Bottom panels [+29]
POWERSUPPLY: * 800 Watts - XtremeGear Gaming Power Supply - Quad SLI Ready
SOUND: Creative Labs SB Audigy SE [+30]
VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 1GB 16X PCIe Video Card [-15] (EVGA Powered by NVIDIA [+10])

$1350
-------------------------------------------------
AVADIRECT:

COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 II Black Mid-Tower Computer Case w/ Window, ATX, No PSU, Steel/Aluminum/Plastic
COOLER MASTER eXtreme Power Plus 600W, 600W Power Supply, ATX12V 2.3 EPS12V, Two 8/6-pin PCIe, Retail
ASUS P7H57D-V EVO, LGA1156, Intel® H57, DDR3-2133 (O.C.) 16GB /4, PCIe x16 SLI CF /2, SATA 3 Gb/s RAID 5 /6, 6 Gb/s /2, VGA+DVI, HDMI, HDA, GbLAN, FW /2, ATX, Retail
INTEL Core™ i5-760 Quad-Core 2.8GHz, LGA1156, 2.5 GT/s, 8MB L3 Cache, 45nm, 95W, EM64T EIST VT XD, Retail
COOLER MASTER Hyper 101i CPU Cooler, Socket 775/1156, Copper/Aluminum
CORSAIR 8GB (4 x 2GB) XMS3 PC3-12800 DDR3 1600MHz CL9 (9-9-9-24) 1.65V SDRAM DIMM, Non-ECC
EVGA GeForce® GTX 470 (AR) 607MHz, 1280MB GDDR5 3348MHz, PCIe x16 SLI, DVI /2, mini-HDMI, Retail
SEAGATE 1TB Barracuda® 7200.12, SATA 3 Gb/s, 7200 RPM, 32MB cache
LITE-ON iHAS124 Black 24x DVD±RW Dual-Layer Burner, SATA, OEM
CREATIVE Sound Blaster® Audigy® SE, 7.1 channels, 24-bit, 96KHz, PCI, OEM

$1236

COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 II Black/Silver Mid-Tower Computer Case w/ Window, ATX, No PSU, Steel/Aluminum/Plastic
HEC Orion HP 585D 585W Power Supply, 24-pin ATX, ATX12V, Dual 80mm Fans, OEM
ASUS P6T, LGA1366, Intel® X58, 6400 MT/s QPI, DDR3-2000 (O.C.) 12GB /6, PCIe x16 SLI CF /3, SATA 3.0 Gb/s RAID 5 /8, HDA, GbLAN, FW /2, ATX, Retail
INTEL Core™ i7-930 Quad-Core 2.8GHz, LGA1366, 4.8 GT/s QPI, 8MB L3 Cache, 45nm, 130W, EM64T EIST VT XD, Retail
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler, Socket 1366/1156/775/AM3/AM2, Copper/Aluminum, Retail
CORSAIR 6GB (3 x 2GB) XMS3 PC3-12800 DDR3 1600MHz CL9 (9-9-9-24) 1.65V SDRAM DIMM, Non-ECC
EVGA GeForce® GTX 470 (AR) 607MHz, 1280MB GDDR5 3348MHz, PCIe x16 SLI, DVI /2, mini-HDMI, Retail
SEAGATE 1TB Barracuda® 7200.12, SATA 3 Gb/s, 7200 RPM, 32MB cache
LITE-ON iHAS124 Black 24x DVD±RW Dual-Layer Burner, SATA, OEM
CREATIVE Sound Blaster® Audigy® SE, 7.1 channels, 24-bit, 96KHz, PCI, OEM

$1311
-----------------------------------
NCIX:

1 x Intel Core i5 760 Quad Core Processor Lynnfield LGA1156 2.8GHZ 8MB Cache Retail Box
1 x Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus Direct Touch 4 Heatpipe Heatsink AM2 AM3 LGA1366 LGA775 LGA1156 120MM
1 x MSI P55A-G55 P55 ATX LGA1156 DDR3 2PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 3PCI SLI CrossFireX SATA3 USB3.0 Motherboard
2 x G.SKILL F3-12800CL7D-4GBRH Ripjaws PC3-12800 4GB 2X2GB DDR3-1600 CL7-7-7-24 Core i5 Memory Kit
1 x GeForce GTX 460 675MHZ 1024MB PCI-E Dual DVI Mini HDMI
This video card is available only as part of a custom-built NCIX PC system.
1 x Coolermaster CM 690 II Advanced ATX Mid Tower Case Black 4X5.25 1X3.5EXT 6X3.5INT *No PSU*
1 x Seasonic S12II 620W EPS12V 20/24PIN ATX Power Supply Active PFC 80+ Bronze 6+8PIN PCI-E W/ 120MM Fan
1 x Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA3 6GB/S 7200RPM 64MB Cache 3.5IN Dual Proc Hard Drive OEM
1 x LG GH22NS50 Black 22X SATA DVD Writer OEM
1 x Creative Sound Blaster X-FI Xtreme Audio 24BIT Sound Card 7.1 PCI OEM
1 x Please Use The Onboard Network Ethernet Card Integrated On My Motherboard
1 x PC Assembly and Testing With 1 Year Limited NCIX System Warranty (PRE-CONFIG WIN. OS If Purchased)

$1285 (+100 Shipping)

Any suggestions which one is good and what I should replace/use in those?
 
grap3fruitman said:
Ack! I really like that case but I don't wanna go the AMD route. =\
Click to expand...

If you really must go Intel with Mini-ITX, you'll probably need to up your budget or go for a Core 2 setup instead of i3/i5.
 
grap3fruitman said:
Ack! I really like that case but I don't wanna go the AMD route. =\
Click to expand...
There's no good reason not to. Your Intel alternative would be these two I guess:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500050
+
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116076&cm_re=e5400-_-19-116-076-_-Product

No idea what Zotac boards are like, but they seem to be the only ones on Newegg with Mini ITX + Socket 775 + PCIE. Note that you'd have to change the RAM from the build above if you went with this.
 
msv said:
Why not? Best bang for buck ratio overall.
Click to expand...
See that's what I hear all the time and I put together an AMD based gaming PC for my brother like two or three years back and it was just awful. Two years ago I put together an i7-920 for my one brother and last year an i7-860 for my brother with the crappy AMD and took it off his hands. I really wanna replace it myself but can't bring myself to spend the money.

Mikhal said:
If you really must go Intel with Mini-ITX, you'll probably need to up your budget or go for a Core 2 setup instead of i3/i5.
Click to expand...
Doesn't have to be Mini-ITX. All the builds I was trying to put together were Micro ATX boards, I just couldn't find a suitable case.
 
grap3fruitman said:
See that's what I hear all the time and I put together an AMD based gaming PC for my brother like two or three years back and it was just awful. Two years ago I put together an i7-920 for my one brother and last year an i7-860 for my brother with the crappy AMD and took it off his hands. I really wanna replace it myself but can't bring myself to spend the money.
Click to expand...
What was awful about it then? And are you sure it was the CPU that was the bottleneck? You obviously have to adjust your needs to the hardware. Intel has the top of the line, but at the same cost lots of AMDs outperform Intels, depending on what you use it for.
 
grap3fruitman said:
See that's what I hear all the time and I put together an AMD based gaming PC for my brother like two or three years back and it was just awful.
Click to expand...
In terms of gaming PCs, they've been good bang for buck since the Phenom II's in Feb 09. Your "awful" machine predates that, but you can throw money away if you want.
 
brain_stew said:
For the love of God, don't buy an i5-650, its one of the shittiest deals around.
Click to expand...

They have the gull to charge almost as much as it costs to buy an i5 750 for that? :lol

I laughed at the prices when they launched, but I thought that surely they would fall once nobody bought them.

grap3fruitman said:
See that's what I hear all the time and I put together an AMD based gaming PC for my brother like two or three years back and it was just awful. Two years ago I put together an i7-920 for my one brother and last year an i7-860 for my brother with the crappy AMD and took it off his hands. I really wanna replace it myself but can't bring myself to spend the money.
Click to expand...

Yeah, there was a point in time a few years ago where AMD was awful. There was also a several year-long stretch where Intel was horseshit too. Don't keep grudges against tech companies because everything is always changing. The only real legitimate reason to go Intel over AMD for most people around here is for emulation purposes (or if you plan on installing OSX).
 
Just recently moved and after 3 weeks of one of my PCs being packed away i discover it is having a problem.
When I fire it up nothing displays on the monitor and no power to mouse and keyboard. The computer stays on for a few minutes every so often spinning an empty disc drive. It will then turn off by itself and turn back on by itself like I told it to restart. Still no display or power to kb/m.
Any suggestions?
 
grap3fruitman said:
Even without the turbo boost you'd recommend the i3 over an i5?

In regards to monitors, I'm looking at this guy: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236075
Looks pretty nice for the price I think, any thoughts?
Click to expand...


Well I wouldn't recommend a dual core chip full stop, in anything but the most niches of circumstances. 3ghz quad core chips are $100 these days so spending nearly $200 on a dual core CPU just seems insane.
 
L0st Id3ntity said:
Help, I keep getting a continuous short beep while trying to boot my system for the first time. According to the manual this indicates a "power error". Mobo is GA-X58A-UD7 and PSU is ATX1200 Gold.

I disconnected and reconnected almost everything, still the same beep.

What other options do I have?
Click to expand...
Nevermind. I booted. :D

161191888-2faf21a116e8428c467229b9b1663c95.4c8da8c8-scaled.jpg


Feels good man.
 
grap3fruitman said:
Okay, so you've got me reconsidering AMD, hopefully I won't get burned again. Right now here are my two possible builds:

AMD http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=10041469
Intel http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=10040829
Click to expand...
Okay, I bit the bullet on the AMD build. I hope you guys are happy. >=(

Didn't end up getting the monitor for myself. I feel kind of selfish getting a monitor considering I'm getting myself an iPod soon (whenever Amazon feels like shipping them).

Edit: Canceling the order. Having second doubts.
 
grap3fruitman said:
Okay, I bit the bullet on the AMD build. I hope you guys are happy. >=(

Didn't end up getting the monitor for myself. I feel kind of selfish getting a monitor considering I'm getting myself an iPod soon (whenever Amazon feels like shipping them).

Edit: Canceling the order. Having second doubts.
Click to expand...

The Phenom II 955 is a black edition part with an unlocked multiplier. The Samsung spinpoint F3 is still the 1TB champion. And for the 80$ range you're better off with a much faster older generation part like the 4850 or GTS 250 if you can find it for 80$. Not sure how price strapped you are but that's what I notice off the top of my head. If you can't afford the 955 just go with a 100$ Athlon II quad core and put the extra money towards the GPU.
 
grap3fruitman said:
Okay, I bit the bullet on the AMD build. I hope you guys are happy. >=(

Didn't end up getting the monitor for myself. I feel kind of selfish getting a monitor considering I'm getting myself an iPod soon (whenever Amazon feels like shipping them).

Edit: Canceling the order. Having second doubts.
Click to expand...

Hey man I have the phenom 2 x4 945 deneb in my current machine, and holy shit its fast dont worry soo much about it jeez :lol I can assure you will be happy with its performance, you just got unlucky last time, cpu's rarely have any faults to them
 
Fredescu said:
Not on a 300w PSU he isn't.
Click to expand...

Yeesh 120$ for the case/PSU eh? Unless you're in love with the styling do yourself a favour and grab whatever Antec 300-ish 50-60$ case is on sale and throw a Corsair 400W PSU into it (Looks like it's now the CX430 instead of the CX400). Baring the GTXC 470/480 it'll power anything you throw into there. The HAF 912 case recently came out and looks pretty compelling for 60$. Granted these are mid-ATX cases so they won't be as small as what you have on your wishlist.
 
Shambles said:
Yeesh 120$ for the case/PSU eh? Unless you're in love with the styling do yourself a favour and grab whatever Antec 300-ish 50-60$ case is on sale and throw a Corsair 400W PSU into it (Looks like it's now the CX430 instead of the CX400). Baring the GTXC 470/480 it'll power anything you throw into there.
Click to expand...

Its a Mini-ITX case.

A 5670 is a good fit.
 
Naturally i'm more inclined to worry about price/performance than styling and size. That's the sacrifice you make though as you get into smaller and smaller sizes.
 
Shambles said:
Naturally i'm more inclined to worry about price/performance than styling and size. That's the sacrifice you make though as you get into smaller and smaller sizes.
Click to expand...

Its a HTPC, the size and design are hugely important.
 
Looks like he's willing to go mini-ATX as well which opens a lot more doors as far as the PSU goes. Also if he wants to shrink it it could be worth his while to wait for the next generation of processors. The APUs with the on-die graphics look like they could give the budger discrete graphics a run for their money. For just moderate gaming it could easily be enough. One less part to buy, one less fan running in the HTPC.

grap3fruitman: Just a note, the 5670 is a good choice for you, i'm just presenting more options. If it's just confusing the shit out of you just ignore it. Your preferences can drastically change what parts you should pick up. For a low powered HTPC I'd still go with a Athlon II x4 than the 945. It won't bottleneck the 5670 at all. Looks like the 920 is down to 90$ now. It's a simple task to overclock it up to the same level as the 105$ 940.
 
What's the ideal temperature range for a CPU? How hot is ok?

I'm looking into overclocking my i5-750. I have a Scythe Mugen2 Rev B cooler.

Currently, with my chrome, my media player and steam and other things going it's sitting at high 20s low 30s for CPU temps (28-31C).

With Prime95 going, 4 instances of the "Blend" test going. The temps seem to sit around the high 40s (47-49C), sometimes going as high as 51C. But for the most part sitting around 49.

Are these temps good? Is that about where I should be for idle/stress?

These temperatures are from Speedfan.
 
WEGGLES said:
What's the ideal temperature range for a CPU? How hot is ok?

I'm looking into overclocking my i5-750. I have a Scythe Mugen2 Rev B cooler.

Currently, with my chrome, my media player and steam and other things going it's sitting at high 20s low 30s for CPU temps (28-31C).

With Prime95 going, 4 instances of the "Blend" test going. The temps seem to sit around the high 40s (47-49C), sometimes going as high as 51C. But for the most part sitting around 49.

Are these temps good? Is that about where I should be for idle/stress?
Click to expand...

Tcase max is 72.7.
 
OK, GAF, I'm facing a dilemma.
I have recently bought a GTX460, and I'm thinking whether I need to upgrade my whole system. I currently have a Core 2 Duo @3Ghz with 4Gb ram.
I'm considering a Core i7 930 with 6Gb DDR3 ram. The upgrade would be quite expensive, close to $700, as I also have to upgrade the motherboard.
My current machine is holding out very well, and I think it'll be even better when I install the 460 but maybe the Core 2 Duo would bottleneck it? Please advise. Thanks :)
 
WEGGLES said:
Is that the absolute highest temperature my CPU should reach, then?
Click to expand...
You should try to keep it below that, but the CPU will slow down and even shut off to prevent damage so no worries. Those are great temps. Make sure you have the lastest version of RealTemp and CoreTemp to check.
O.DOGG said:
OK, GAF, I'm facing a dilemma.
I have recently bought a GTX460, and I'm thinking whether I need to upgrade my whole system. I currently have a Core 2 Duo @3Ghz with 4Gb ram.
I'm considering a Core i7 930 with 6Gb DDR3 ram. The upgrade would be quite expensive, close to $700, as I also have to upgrade the motherboard.
My current machine is holding out very well, and I think it'll be even better when I install the 460 but maybe the Core 2 Duo would bottleneck it? Please advise. Thanks :)
Click to expand...
Stick with your rig.
 
What the hell is going on? I've just finished installing windows 7 and checked my temps, everything is perfect except cpu.

Using Corsair H50 my cpu temp is 90c :lol took it off and used the intel air cooler, temp went up to 98c, I shut it off immediately.

As I said before this my first time, so I bet whatever my mistake is it's silly. :/


i7 930/gtx 280/1200w psu/x58a-ud7
 
L0st Id3ntity said:
What the hell is going on? I've just finished installing windows 7 and checked my temps, everything is perfect except cpu.

Using Corsair H50 my cpu temp is 90c :lol took it off and used the intel air cooler, temp went up to 98c, I shut off immediately.

As I said before this my first time, so I bet whatever my mistake is it's silly. :/


i7 930/gtx 280/1200w psu/x58a-ud7
Click to expand...
There is thermal paste and the screws/ latched are securely locked right?

Otherwise check your temps with realtemp/coretemp
 
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