• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

"I need a new PC!" 2010 Edition

I'm thinking of building my own PC soon. Is there a site that shows which cases/mobos/cards/ram etc are all compatable with one another?

Sorry, PC building newb here.
 
brain_stew said:
That's impossible at the current moment in time I'm afraid.

There's nota rig on the planet that exists that won't suffer from dropped frames in WOW, especially after the expansion comes out.


Understood.

Any other opinions on that Dell rig? I should mentioned that I got financed for it, so that's a big part of the decision since I don't have the cash to drop on a system right now. It doesn't have to be the best deal in the world, but if you guys think it's a good deal then I'm getting it.
 
LaserBuddha said:
Understood.

Any other opinions on that Dell rig? I should mentioned that I got financed for it, so that's a big part of the decision since I don't have the cash to drop on a system right now. It doesn't have to be the best deal in the world, but if you guys think it's a good deal then I'm getting it.

Do you need financing for the entire system? Its not for me to judge but usually if someone is buying a machine on finance it means its a sizable amount of money for them, in which case I'd recommend that a ~$600 rig can accomplish what you actually want and is an option worth considering.
 
brain_stew said:
Do you need financing for the entire system? Its not for me to judge but usually if someone is buying a machine on finance it means its a sizable amount of money for them, in which case I'd recommend that a ~$600 rig can accomplish what you actually want and is an option worth considering.

I'll have the money to pay the machine off within the next month or so, I'd simply rather have it now than later. This machine also looks good because it includes a monitor, which I don't currently have. Plus I don't have experience building my own system.
 
brain_stew said:
I'm not actually sure of that. The 4550 is horiffically crippled and will be slower than Netbook integrated graphics within a few months.

A used 8800GT will probably offfer the best bang, if you're buying something new then a DDR3 4650 is the lowest end card I could reccommend in clear conscience, can be had for $45 after rebate:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131360&cm_re=4650-_-14-131-360-_-Product

Spending the extra $40 for a 4850 makes a hell of a lot of sense though assuming you have some sort of dual core CPU.
I actually have a 7600 GT and a single core. Don't know what I said 6800.

Was considering upgrading to a dual core, but I've having problems updating my chipset, and it says to do it before flashing the BIOS. I could use a new harddrive. I guess if I got a new one I could flash the BIOS without worrying about drivers to enable dual core, but that's racking up money that could be put toward a $500 dollar rig.

That's the motivation behind something cheap and similar to 7600 GT. Looks like the 4550 is balls compared to that too.

Anyways, how would a 4850 work with single core for the time being?
 
brain_stew said:
That's impossible at the current moment in time I'm afraid.

There's nota rig on the planet that exists that won't suffer from dropped frames in WOW, especially after the expansion comes out.

Are there any benches around, I haven't been paying attention, but I find WoW bringing down dual GTX 480s on an overclocked i7 to be a feat worth looking at!
 
LaserBuddha said:
I'll have the money to pay the machine off within the next month or so, I'd simply rather have it now than later. This machine also looks good because it includes a monitor, which I don't currently have. Plus I don't have experience building my own system.

Could you give us a rundown of the exact configuration you're considering?
 
Minsc said:
Are there any benches around, I haven't been paying attention, but I find WoW bringing down dual GTX 480s on an overclocked i7 to be a feat worth looking at!

Even vanilla WOW can do that. Its single threaded CPU performance which is the bottleneck, I believe.
 
brain_stew said:
Could you give us a rundown of the exact configuration you're considering?

The one in the link as-is, though I would be upgrading to the 24" monitor. I'm open to suggestions if there are any other small upgrades that I should go for.

This won't be just for WoW, this will also be my starting-off point for going back to PC gaming in general. I've been itching to play S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

EDIT: here's a nice list view of the whole system:
http://configure.us.dell.com/dellst...vw=icon&leadtime=10/29/2010&showleadtime=True
 
Kind of an odd question, but roughly how much does a new gaming PC add to your monthly electric bill? I've been going over my usage since my bill has been creeping up by something like $17/mo. As far as I can tell the appliances and TVs block of usage has remained static for a year. Could a decent gaming PC, albeit splitting gaming time between 360/PS3 be enough to account for an extra $15-20 a month? I always thought that even monster rigs were relatively tame when compared to a refrigerator, AC.
 
Hey, guys.

Thanks to the help from this thread, I've built myself a nice new rig. Everything works great, except I've been messing with Dolphin (the GC/Wii emulator) today and wanted to check how much the cpu turboboosts when using only two cores and, well, thats when things started to get weird.

It doesnt. And the cpu doesnt run at it's default frequency of 2.80 at all, but at 2.88 and it doesn't change from that at all. I've upgraded the bios to the latest version but it hasn't changed anything. Any ideas whats going on?

CPU: Core i5 760
MB: Gigabyte P55A-UD3
RAM: Kingston HyperX DDR3 2x2GB 1600MHz (KHX1600C9D3K2/4G)

Halp?
 
Hazaro said:
Ask here. List game, resolution, and your specs.

No games need more than 4GB of RAM right now.
Like I said, it's a older PC, but would like to run L4D and L4D2 on it.

The cpu is Pentium D 820 2.8 Ghz, 1 Gig of Ram, and thinking of upgrading the video card to GT240 for the low power consumption. Hoping to run at 1024 x 768 on XP. Just want some stable 30 FPS, doesn't need to be 60 FPS.

Is it going to work? Or am I out of luck.
 
mikespit1200 said:
Kind of an odd question, but roughly how much does a new gaming PC add to your monthly electric bill? I've been going over my usage since my bill has been creeping up by something like $17/mo. As far as I can tell the appliances and TVs block of usage has remained static for a year. Could a decent gaming PC, albeit splitting gaming time between 360/PS3 be enough to account for an extra $15-20 a month? I always thought that even monster rigs were relatively tame when compared to a refrigerator, AC.
Well your gaming PC is probably costing around $0.10 for 3 hours of gaming, assuming 350w and $0.10/kWh. $17 sounds to be on the upper end of things, and would only be moderately reasonable if your PC is on 24/7.
 
Okay, so my brother's got an i7-875k and a Radeon 5870 and he's running Fallout New Vegas maxed out at 1680x1050 right now. We're throwing in a second 5870 today, so what kind of benefits should we expect to see, if any?
 
Deathnote, check out this link.

Also, I need suggestions on getting a gpu for ~$50-60, preferably before rebates. My x1950pro is on dying legs and it can no longer play TF2 without crashing to windows after 10-20 minutes.
 
marathonfool said:
Like I said, it's a older PC, but would like to run L4D and L4D2 on it.

The cpu is Pentium D 820 2.8 Ghz, 1 Gig of Ram, and thinking of upgrading the video card to GT240 for the low power consumption. Hoping to run at 1024 x 768 on XP. Just want some stable 30 FPS, doesn't need to be 60 FPS.

Is it going to work? Or am I out of luck.

L4D 1 & 2 are going to be CPU bound on a rig like that, increasing your resultuon and using higher setting shouldn't have any real negative effect on your framerate so no need to turn them down like that.

Going to need to upgrade to 2GB/3GB RAM.

I'd pick a 5670 over a GT 240:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102871&cm_re=5670-_-14-102-871-_-Product

If you do go with a GT 240, make sure its the GDDR5 variant.
 
grap3fruitman said:
Okay, so my brother's got an i7-875k and a Radeon 5870 and he's running Fallout New Vegas maxed out at 1680x1050 right now. We're throwing in a second 5870 today, so what kind of benefits should we expect to see, if any?


I'm sure nothing at that resolution. One 5870 at 1680x1050 is probably overkill.
 
brain_stew said:
L4D 1 & 2 are going to be CPU bound on a rig like that, increasing your resultuon and using higher setting shouldn't have any real negative effect on your framerate so no need to turn them down like that.

Going to need to upgrade to 2GB/3GB RAM.

I'd pick a 5670 over a GT 240:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102871&cm_re=5670-_-14-102-871-_-Product

If you do go with a GT 240, make sure its the GDDR5 variant.
Ah, yeah. That's what I was afraid of. I guess I'll try it out and see how it performs. I won't be shocked if it drops in the teens when there's tons of action. Thanks for the 5670 recommend, can I run it on a stock 300 watt power supply and I'm assuming it doesn't need a power rail.

edit:BTW, anyone have success with Game Booster?
 
bumpin' hoping for help.


My only worry is that the proc (Phenom II X6 1045T) isn't quite going to cut it for something like WoW.


I also configured this Studio XPS 8100 system, which might be better for what i need due to the processor:

PROCESSORS Intel® Core™ i5-760 processor(8MB Cache, 2.8GHz)
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64Bit, English
MEMORY 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz - 4 DIMMs
MONITOR Dell ST2420L 24"W Full HD Monitor, 24.0 VIS, VGA Cable supplied only
VIDEO CARD ATI Radeon HD 5450 1GB DDR3
HARD DRIVE 1TB - 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 16MB Cache
OPTICAL DRIVE 16X DVD+/-RW Drive

Comes out to $1207.99 before my $75 employee purchase program discount. I would be upgrading the video cards in either machine at some point so those aren't a big concern for me right now. Same with the optical drive.
 
Dr. Acid Avatar said:
Is that your drink on the left side of the desk? If so, I hope you are not as clumsy as I am with spilling shit, that would really suck.

Heh, last time i cleaned my computer there was still stains on my 5870 from me knocking blueberry smoothie ontop of my computer (the top of my case is all fan grilles). Yeah, kinda freaked me out for several minutes there. :lol
 
grap3fruitman said:
Okay, so my brother's got an i7-875k and a Radeon 5870 and he's running Fallout New Vegas maxed out at 1680x1050 right now. We're throwing in a second 5870 today, so what kind of benefits should we expect to see, if any?
You'll be able to turn on all kinds of crazy anti-aliasing, and keep 60fps.
 
Anyone know if it's possible to get windows 7 to automatically login and have a password for a user? I have a box that I'd like to startup automatically, login, run some scripts, etc... but I also need to be able to remote and file share and whatnot... and it doesn't seem like I can do both those things right now. If I have a user with a password the starts to the login screen, if I take away the password none of the sharing or remote things work.
 
Alright friend mine has a prebuild workstation,with the power supply below:

2a66m1v.jpg


Will this be enough for a 5670? or should I wait for the 6xxx series version.
 
Hi guys: monitor/display question here.

I'm looking to buy a monitor/display that's between 24/29 inches for connecting my laptop, a rig I'm putting together and one or two consoles. Its in my room, so it's doubling as sort of my workstation (when I'm not elsewhere on my laptop) and my "I got they lady over and we're gonna curl up with movie" display.

Going the monitor route, I can't find anything with multiple HDMI inputs and if I go with a nice TV (which has it's upside, especially with a super-thin LED LCD) its tough to find something that's going to have high enough res for me when I hook up a computer (especially under 32")

Thoughts? Displays you REALLY like, even if they don't fit my unreasonable requests? Knowledge of a solution that will make you my favorite person? Looking at spending less than 500 bucks but I can be convinced to spend money like a crazy person for the right piece of hardware).

Thanks, this is the best collection of smart dudes for hardware on the internet.
 
Crap, I bricked my pc trying to flash the bios. It won't go past the windows loading screen.

-Reset it using the jumper, no dice.
-can't boot up on windows cd. Says "file \i386\ntkrnlmp.exe can't load. Error code 4."
-don't have my mobo disk
 
Making one more pass through here to show the latest config I'm going for. Just looking for thoughts before I take the plunge.

The video card will be upgraded at some point in the next year.

Studio XPS 7100 - 1324.99
PROCESSOR & GRAPHICS CARD AMD Phenom™ II X6 1045T + ATI Radeon HD 5870 1GB
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64Bit, English
MEMORY 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz - 4 DIMMs
HARD DRIVE 1TB - 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 16MB Cache
OPTICAL DRIVE Blu-ray Disc (BD) Combo (Reads BD and Writes to DVD/CD)
MONITOR Dell ST2420L 24"W Full HD Monitor, 24.0 VIS, VGA Cable supplied only
SOUND CARD THX® TruStudio PC™
BLUETOOTH Dell Wireless 365 Bluetooth 2.1 Module
 
LaserBuddha said:
Making one more pass through here to show the latest config I'm going for. Just looking for thoughts before I take the plunge.

The video card will be upgraded at some point in the next year.

Studio XPS 7100 - 1324.99
PROCESSOR & GRAPHICS CARD AMD Phenom™ II X6 1045T + ATI Radeon HD 5870 1GB
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64Bit, English
MEMORY 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz - 4 DIMMs
HARD DRIVE 1TB - 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 16MB Cache
OPTICAL DRIVE Blu-ray Disc (BD) Combo (Reads BD and Writes to DVD/CD)
MONITOR Dell ST2420L 24"W Full HD Monitor, 24.0 VIS, VGA Cable supplied only
SOUND CARD THX® TruStudio PC™
BLUETOOTH Dell Wireless 365 Bluetooth 2.1 Module

When buying a prebuilt that you plan on upgrading, you'll want to check the power supply they include. It may not be suitable for the graphics card you plan on getting.
 
JudgeN said:
Alright friend mine has a prebuild workstation,with the power supply below:

Will this be enough for a 5670? or should I wait for the 6xxx series version.

If I am reading that right, that PSU has a max power of 280w, so no, that wouldn't be anywhere near good enough for a 5670.
 
Felix Lighter said:
When buying a prebuilt that you plan on upgrading, you'll want to check the power supply they include. It may not be suitable for the graphics card you plan on getting.

It's 460w, how does that sound?
 
Bought 2 Samsung Spinpoint F3 (1TB) HDDs. Wondering what RAID should I use.
I will mainly use them for gaming/storing/some cs5 photo editing. Any help would be appreciated.
 
Nvidia has dropped the price of the 1GB 460 to $199 and the 470 to $259.99 FYI

Update: Prices already in effect on newegg.

MSI Cyclone version is $199.99 - $15 rebate = $185

Gigabyte is 199.99 - $20 rebate = $180

MSI Hawk is 214.99 - 20 rebate = 195

Also new Hawk Talon version with higher OCs. 810 versus 780 on the core and 1620 versus 1560 on the memory. This new Hawk is $214.99.

Update 2: There is an EVGA 470 @ $259.99 - $30 rebate = $239.99 WITH MAFIA 2!

Well I would say this should keep AMDs prices in line just in case they had any ideas of taking advantage of the X800 name.
 
Looks like reports of the price drops happening today or tomorrow were true. There's absolutely no way AMD can launch the 6870 higher than $250. The $270-280 estimates were almost certainly never going to happen, so now that they've gotten Nvidia to show their hand, I wouldn't be surprised if they try to undercut the 470 and 1GB 460 by ~$15-20.
 
Hey guys, i was thinking of this build -

bcgIz.jpg


Any changes anyone would recommend?
Im not too bothered about the price, but if anyone could suggest any cheaper alternative parts without loosing much performance it would be welcome :lol

Also - would i be better waiting for the new AMD cards?
 
Adamm said:
Also - would i be better waiting for the new AMD cards?

That is what I'm doing. I am going to probably change out my case and get a 750 watter separately (don't think the 500 watt is beefy enough). Anyway, here's my (modest) build:

Untitled.jpg


It should be enough to run pretty much anything, once I drop a 6870 in there. I'm going to order this as soon as the 6870s are available. Any comments welcome!
 
Cheech said:
That is what I'm doing. I am going to probably change out my case and get a 750 watter separately (don't think the 500 watt is beefy enough). Anyway, here's my (modest) build:

Untitled.jpg


It should be enough to run pretty much anything, once I drop a 6870 in there. I'm going to order this as soon as the 6870s are available. Any comments welcome!
That's the case I'm using right now...it's pretty sweet. Let me know if you have any specific questions.

Only thing that sucks is that the motherboard plate or whatnot isn't removable. A minor annoyance.
 
There's a 768MB G460 for $150 after a rebate. Should I buy that over the R6850? Will the 6850 offer a performance boost worth $50 more? I can afford either one but spending less is always a good thing.
 
So much for pricing...

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=410880

Now to wait for legit benches to come in from more sites.



ChoklitReign said:
There's a 768MB G460 for $150 after a rebate. Should I buy that over the R6850? Will the 6850 offer a performance boost worth $50 more? I can afford either one but spending less is always a good thing.
Have a look at the link above. Benches will continue to come in, and in the next week or so, you should have a better feel for which card meets your need/budget. No need to rush, as the GTX460 rebates + drops won't be going anywhere anytime soon. Also, who knows what retailers will do with their 5850/5870 inventory.



TheEastonator said:
That's the case I'm using right now...it's pretty sweet. Let me know if you have any specific questions.

Only thing that sucks is that the motherboard plate or whatnot isn't removable. A minor annoyance.
Most cases lack a removable motherboard tray. You really can't expect to find an enclosure in the Sonata's price bracket to have that feature.
 
DeathNote said:
Crap, I bricked my pc trying to flash the bios. It won't go past the windows loading screen.

-Reset it using the jumper, no dice.
-can't boot up on windows cd. Says "file \i386\ntkrnlmp.exe can't load. Error code 4."
-don't have my mobo disk

Try to re-flash it... I hope you used the cd-rom method. I did it and it worked fine.
 
Ah, I think my wording could've been better. I meant I wouldn't been surprised if AMD tried to undercut the newly announced 460/470 prices. Since the 68xx seem set at $200/$250 (instead of the rumored $230/$280), they really don't need to (assuming benches hold steady), but it would just increase the pressure on Nvidia.

As much as most of us dislike AMD's restructured line-up, I always saw it as another way for the company to easily compete at every price point with high level products. They simply need to adjust prices accordingly.
 
·feist· said:
So much for pricing...

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=410880

Now to wait for legit benches to come in from more sites.



Have a look at the link above. Benches will continue to come in, and in the next week or so, you should have a better feel for which card meets your need/budget. No need to rush, as the GTX460 rebates + drops won't be going anywhere anytime soon. Also, who knows what retailers will do with their 5850/5870 inventory.



Most cases lack a removable motherboard tray. You really can't expect to find an enclosure in the Sonata's price bracket to have that feature.
This case has one, link and its only 69 dollars buddy had one said the removable tray was badass
 
Adamm said:
Hey guys, i was thinking of this build -

bcgIz.jpg


Any changes anyone would recommend?
Im not too bothered about the price, but if anyone could suggest any cheaper alternative parts without loosing much performance it would be welcome :lol

Also - would i be better waiting for the new AMD cards?
I was going to comment on getting an i5 rig, but then I say you had 2x GTX 480. :lol

Buying high end right now is not what I'd do. 2 new chipsets around the corner and little to no upgrade path on your current socket. Dual 480's will suck power like mad and with AMD releasing their new flagship card and nVidia making a response I'd definitely wait it out.

Will be a few months though. So it's up to you.
 
Damn. I just found out that I bought DDR3-2000 memories for my i7-960, and that it only supports up to 1066.

How the hell should I act now? :lol

Should I go back to the store and get DDR3-1066 memories? Should I OC my processor?
 
Top Bottom