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[NinjaKixx]

Here's one for you:

Basic Desktop Questions:
Your Current Specs: Mac Mini PPC G4 First Edition (literally first five months of the Mini releasing), attempting to jump back on the PC gaming train.
Budget: Money's no Object, but pref. sub-$800 for this challenge.
Main Use: Heavy gaming. This means: Emulation of nearly everything under the sun non-PC gaming wise (EG: Wii, PS2, Saturn, PSX, GBA, ...) Replacement "console" for HD Twins. Battlefield 3's OMG EYE MELTING graphics required. Not melting the tower after five minutes of booting BF3 and having OMG EYE MELTING graphics, required.
Monitor Resolution: 1360x780, so I guess 720p for now. I'm willing to get a new monitor a few months later depending on heavy a cost this build/challenge is.
List SPECIFIC games that you MUST be able to play: Battlefield 3 on Glorious graphics setting. Battlefield 3 Battlefield 3, did I mention Battlefield 3? Oh, yeah, and Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition.
Are reusing any parts?: Nope.avi
When will you build?: Within two weeks or a month of Battlefield 3 launching.
Will you be overclocking?: No.

So, PC-GAF, who can give me a reasonable build for a PC able to do GLORIOUS BATTLEFIELD 3 GRAPHICS and have console-ability (EG: It just runs and has console-level graphics) for five years like a console generally has for a life-time. I really don't want to have to do a PC part rat-race for console performance. :/

Spoiler

In before thousands of mocking posts.

Gonna be hard to answer that because BF3 specs have yet to be released. For all we know right now the gtx580 will only be able to run it on medium settings at 30FPS.

 

[EricHasNoPull]

Well that's good I guess, It actually didn't crash during the "Windows Experience Index" weeee!

I went back and only tweaked a few things, and mostly turned everything back to stock settings, seems to run more stable now @ 3.2GHz, but it's definitely louder, I think the heat Sink is cranked up or something.. I hate loud PC, let's ee what we can do now

 

[Smokey]

FUUUUUUU

OC my ASUS DCII 580 to :

906mhz
4156mhz memory
70% fan

I'm getting a little artifacting. Some things which appear to be different colors flashing on screen (like dots) that are green, red, blue etc. Game is still playable and it seems like it comes and goes.

With all the extra cooling this card has thought I'd be able to push it pretty good. Read some reports on some sites that they were getting 900 - 950 clock speed (after upping voltage - which I have I'm at 1.088v)

Got to find a balance. I was getting 70 something fps in Crysis 2 (16x AF, 2X AA through Nvidia Control Panel) @ Extreme settings. I need dat.

May be getting addicted. Got Witcher 2 last yesterday and I barely played it..just been tweaking

 

[sk3tch]

May be getting addicted. Got Witcher 2 last yesterday and I barely played it..just been tweaking

I hear ya, man...part of the reason I bought an ASUS DirectCUII GTX 580 (it arrived today) was to tweak all over again. It's boring once you've wrung out all of the power you can get out of your components. Although...yeah...there's the games.

900+ is still good. You have to realize that the ASUS card is not speed binned like the Gigabyte or MSI "enhanced" 580s. So it's a trade-off - i.e. they do the work for you and you can likely push it a bit further, or you roll the dice and do the work yourself and perhaps get better results (and have more fun).

BTW - 1.088v is nothing. You'll get up there!

 

[Smokey]

I hear ya, man...part of the reason I bought an ASUS DirectCUII GTX 580 (it arrived today) was to tweak all over again. It's boring once you've wrung out all of the power you can get out of your components. Although...yeah...there's the games.

900+ is still good. You have to realize that the ASUS card is not speed binned like the Gigabyte or MSI "enhanced" 580s. So it's a trade-off - i.e. they do the work for you and you can likely push it a bit further, or you roll the dice and do the work yourself and perhaps get better results (and have more fun).

BTW - 1.088v is nothing. You'll get up there!

The voltage of gpu and cpu is one thing I still don't understand completely. How do you know much is too much without shit just blowing up.

Or is that the way to do it lol

 

[·feist·]

Got my FT02 from craigslist, damn thing was only purchased last week, unfortunately it has the old FN181 fans instead of the AP181 ones hopefully I have enough places on my mobo to power the fans since they're not molex connections

Had a feeling it had the FN181s. That deal was too good to be true. They aren't bad by any means, you'll just have less direct airflow.

You can pick up a few 3pin to molex connectors and run them through the PSU.

A while ago I was planning on getting the 4870. I never did because all the games I was playing ran fine and I decided I didn't care enough.

Now I can't play The Witcher 2 and have it look good at a decent and consistent framerate. I need something better than my 8800GTS.

I was looking at the 460 last night, but then decided I'd bump it up a notch and get the 560 Ti instead. Is there any reason I shouldn't? Is something on the ATi side better bang-for-buck?

Take a look at reviews and benches for the 6950 1GB and 2GB versions to see which of two (560 Ti or 6950) perform best overall in the types of titles that you play.

Alternatively, you may be able to find some good deals on the older GTX 470 and HD 5870.

I'm going to repost my request here, hope it doesn't bother anyone.

My motherboard just died, and I think it's high time to upgrade my GPU along with my motherboard.

So, what would a good GPU+Motherboard combo be with a Phenom II X4 (3.4 ghz quad)? Looking to get something that won't be bottlenecked by the processor, and hopefully around the budget of $200-$300.

Do you have a backup PC to tide you over for a bit? If so, wait ~3-4 weeks until the new 900-series AMD boards are released. If not, take a look at some 800-series models that either have a black AM3+ socket, or are listed as compatible by their manufacturers. Go here for more info.

GPU wise, most worthwhile models will eat into a big chunk of your budget. Starting point should be in the range of a GTX 460/560 (non-Ti), or HD 6850/6870.

shit..sorry I just noticed your post now, awesome stuff thanks, good to know someone else here also has my "Yesterday's News" CPU

yeah I kinda agree with the jump between 6x and 9x...(I never went up to 9 yet) but I noticed a hindering of overall performance when it was jumping back and forth, it wasn't efficiently or intelligently doing it, for example I would run a program (say Photoshop) the computer would chug trying to figure out the CPU's performance. (basically I noticed a decrease in performance and not sure if the chip is clocking up when it' suppose to) but I do like the energy saving feature of running at lower multipliers on idle.

I wonder what locked it at 8x now? was it me increasing the voltage or was it because I disabled C1E? and Speaking of voltage increasing, should I not shy away and boost it up to 1.4?

It was C1E, which is why I was saying you should adjust it.

Before getting into tweaking northbridge, or other volts, try vcore ~1.35-1.38v, and see about your LLC settings. Things are different with the newer gen of CPUs, but you'll most likely want to adjust LLC to avoid needing to increase vcore that much more.

As far as the HSF goes, it was installed like that when I purchased my Computer, there seems to be another one of those heat vent thingies on it's left side facing the rear exhaust fan, the one on the top is pretty much facing the blasting fan of the PSU, (My PSU is a decent quality 650W btw) which I'm assuming is redirecting the heat elsewhere, if not all over the place

Again thanks for your help.

No problem. Those blowers are there to help cool your mosfets and surrounding components. In the current orientation, your PSU is acting as a direct exhaust for your HSF. Not exactly ideal, or recommended.

Well that's good I guess, It actually didn't crash during the "Windows Experience Index" weeee!

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/1035/unled1hj.jpg

I went back and only tweaked a few things, and mostly turned everything back to stock settings, seems to run more stable now @ 3.2GHz, but it's definitely louder, I think the heat Sink is cranked up or something.. I hate loud PC, let's ee what we can do now

Sounds like your HSF may be spinning ~2,700rpm or so. See what the load temps are like after a nice stretch of time.

 

[Twig]

Take a look at reviews and benches for the 6950 1GB and 2GB versions to see which of two (560 Ti or 6950) perform best overall in the types of titles that you play.

Alternatively, you may be able to find some good deals on the older GTX 470 and HD 5870.

That's pretty much what I've been doing.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161368&cm_re=6950-_-14-161-368-_-Product

Can I flash that to a 6970? And how much trouble is it to actually do that? And/or dangerous.

 

[·feist·]

That's pretty much what I've been doing.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161368&cm_re=6950-_-14-161-368-_-Product

Can I flash that to a 6970? And how much trouble is it to actually do that? And/or dangerous.

Well, there's some degree of danger involved, as the 6970 and 6950 have different voltage tolerances. Straight flashes can be troublesome.

Most people just start with shader unlocks, and then move on to overclocking and any potential voltage increases needed.

Here's a link I grabbed quickly, you can probably find some better or more in depth guides.

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=335318

XFX has limited lifetime warranties on some of their cards (like this one), so that's another possible 6950 option.

 

[Wallach]

The voltage of gpu and cpu is one thing I still don't understand completely. How do you know much is too much without shit just blowing up.

Or is that the way to do it lol

Read - a lot. And go in very small steps. Either that or don't mess with it at all.

 

[sk3tch]

Read - a lot. And go in very small steps. Either that or don't mess with it at all.

Yeah...this. And just take it slow. You definitely don't want to just pop 1.3v in there or anything. Watch temps very closely and go gradually - when you see artifacts or get lockups, roll it back until they do not appear - or up voltage slowly and incrementally. Recognize that even if you get to 1000 with your GTX 580 it won't be worth it if it melts.

 

[Chris R]

A new motherboard (different brand) would require a W7 reinstall right? But just dropping in a new CPU wouldn't? Also, what is the sweet spot when it comes to AM2 price/performance? Brother was going to build a Sandy Bridge system, but the cost of a new mobo/cpu/ram was going to be a bit much. I got a throw away mobo from work that will do great, just need to slot in a PhenomX4 and maybe 4GB more ram to make the system last another year+

edit: Hmmn, guess there are a bunch of different sockets for the past few years of AMD. Motherboard is ASUS M2N-E, it would be able to support a PhenomII X4 965 right?

Anyone???

 

[knitoe]

Anyone???

It is recommended to reinstall Windows when you put in a new MB. You might get it to work w/o reinstalling Windows, but you could run into problems later on.

And, yes, upgrading the CPU doesn't require a Windows reinstall. At most, you need to upgrade your MB bios.

 

[SublimeO12]

can anyone describe what the CPU landscape looks like for the rest of this year? Situation I'm in now is I've got a Core Duo, so to upgrade to an i7 would require a new motherboard. I want to build a new rig some time between now and when Skyrim/BF3 come out in the fall, but I don't want to get screwed again in terms of CPU socket. Is there some new big new thing just around the corner that I should be waiting for, or will I be safe going with the i5/i7 line in a few months, so that down the road I can upgrade my CPU without a whole new rig? Or is it just a lost cause because things are moving too fast?

 

[Twig]

Well, there's some degree of danger involved, as the 6970 and 6950 have different voltage tolerances. Straight flashes can be troublesome.

Most people just start with shader unlocks, and then move on to overclocking and any potential voltage increases needed.

Here's a link I grabbed quickly, you can probably find some better or more in depth guides.

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=335318

XFX has limited lifetime warranties on some of their cards (like this one), so that's another possible 6950 option.

Yeah, I'd read about the XFX lifetime warranty, but wouldn't doing any overclocking, etc. void that warranty?

 

[·feist·]

Yeah, I'd read about the XFX lifetime warranty, but wouldn't doing any overclocking, etc. void that warranty?

Some manufactures cover overclocking in both standard and lifetime warranties. I haven't dealt with XFX in that regard, though.

XFX Warranty Info
http://xfxforce.com/Help/Support/WarrantyInformation.aspx

XFX Double Lifetime Warranty - Overview
http://xfxforce.com/en-us/features/doublelifetimewarranty.aspx

XFX Double Lifetime Warranty - Warranty Details
http://xfxforce.com/en-us/features/doublelifetimewarranty.aspx#2


You could also try contacting their customer service for any further details.

http://xfxforce.com/en-us/Help/ContactUs.aspx

 

[Smokey]

UMMMMMMMMM

I left my computer on as I usually do...I come back maybe 1.5 hours later...and I see that my motherboard is 123 c with a warning from the ASUS tool...

what the fuck

I'm freaked out now because i have no idea how long it was at that temperature. I even left all 3 of the fans in my FT02 on...and this motherfucker said 123 degrees celsius?
Can somebody explain this to me because I'm a bit freaked out

 

[momolicious]

What is the benefits of using a PC monitor instead of a TV monitor? Shouldnt PC monitors be obselete now that you can use larger LCD TV monitors as a PC monitor?

 

[Twig]

What is the benefits of using a PC monitor instead of a TV monitor? Shouldnt PC monitors be obselete now that you can use larger LCD TV monitors as a PC monitor?

TV monitors are stuck at 1080p max (for the time being). PC monitors can go higher.

I ended up going with the 6850 2GB because I hate having money. U:

Oh man get here faster please. U:

 

[Chris R]

It is recommended to reinstall Windows when you put in a new MB. You might get it to work w/o reinstalling Windows, but you could run into problems later on.

And, yes, upgrading the CPU doesn't require a Windows reinstall. At most, you need to upgrade your MB bios.

Ya I figured that much. What about dropping an AM3 CPU into an AM2+ slot? I'm guessing that varies bios to bios?

 

[Fredescu]

What is the benefits of using a PC monitor instead of a TV monitor? Shouldnt PC monitors be obselete now that you can use larger LCD TV monitors as a PC monitor?

PC monitors are designed to be viewed from close up, so they tend to have larger resolutions on a smaller area. Most 27" monitors for eg are 2560x1600. Not many TVs go above 1080p. You can get the odd 1920x1200 PC monitor, and personally I dig the extra vertical resolution.

 

[darthbob]

UMMMMMMMMM

I left my computer on as I usually do...I come back maybe 1.5 hours later...and I see that my motherboard is 123 c with a warning from the ASUS tool...

what the fuck

I'm freaked out now because i have no idea how long it was at that temperature. I even left all 3 of the fans in my FT02 on...and this motherfucker said 123 degrees celsius?
Can somebody explain this to me because I'm a bit freaked out

123C doesn't seem right at all...I'd check in the BIOS too, besides, how can a motherboard get that hot anyways? GPUs don't really get that hot!

 

[Coldsnap]

Time for guess that noisey!~

GRRRRRRRR GRRRRRRRRRR *PAUSE* GRRRRRRRRRR GRRRRRRRR *PAUSE* GRRRRRRR GRRRRR

answer:

Spoiler

my caviar black

 

[TheExodu5]

You order an SSD yet?

 

[Smokey]

123C doesn't seem right at all...I'd check in the BIOS too, besides, how can a motherboard get that hot anyways? GPUs don't really get that hot!

I dunno...but that's what it said. I restarted and now it's back at 30 C...still a little freaked out. Unless a temp sensor fucked up or something I don't understand how the mobo can get that hot..

 

[Coldsnap]

You order an SSD yet?

Dude I am so close. Only thing is moving my windows, video games, and music onto the drive; that seems complicated.

 

[TheExodu5]

I dunno...but that's what it said. I restarted and now it's back at 30 C...still a little freaked out. Unless a temp sensor fucked up or something I don't understand how the mobo can get that hot..

It has to be a faulty reading.

 

[weekend_warrior]

Heys duders. I'm need to get a new computer soon and I'm looking at the low end laptops and so I have a few questions about CPUs/GPUs.

1. Most of the laptops ~$500 have one of 3 CPUS- Dual-Core, i3/i5, and AMD Athlon II. Now I know the i3/i5's are the best but are the dual-cores and AMDs so outdated now that it'd be stupid to buy one? Like I said I have a pretty low budget, but I'd also like something that's going to be reliable and useful for 3+ years. I'm coming off a 2008 Mac Whitebook.

2. Most of the graphics cards are the "Intel HD Graphics" variety, but a few have an ATI Radeon HD 4200/4250/4270 or NVIDIA GeForce 310M. Are these totally shit and not worth paying extra for? I'd love if I could play some Civ5 on this (on lowest settings of course.)

But mostly I just care about finding a reliable, durable, quality built, affordable laptop for your basic internet/ multitasking stuff.

edit: Also, are there any good forums I could check out to hear some real world opinions and discussion about laptop buying?

 

[ColonelColon]

I'm having an odd problem with my computer. Aside from the horrible stuttering whenever I play games, I recently found out that I can't format my hard drive and reinstall Windows. Whether I use a Windows XP or Windows 7 OS CD, my computer crashes just after loading installation files. When I use the XP disc, I get this error message: "The file QL1240.SYS is corrupted." I put memtest through 4 passes, and no RAM errors were found. The Hitachi HDD Fitness Test also found no errors on my hard drive. I tried two power supplies, but neither have allowed me to reinstall Windows, and neither have fixed the stuttering. I've also tried using a graphics card as well as my computer's internal graphics. I have no idea how to fix these technical issues so I have a couple questions.
For one, are there any decent, cheap multimeters or power supply testers that you would recommend?
Also, do you think it's likely that both of the power supplies have been damaged in precisely the same way, causing the same symptoms? If not, then what else should I look into fixing? If so, how could I prevent this from happening in the future? I've always used a surge protector for my computer, but maybe the outlet is providing unstable electricity? I don't know. *sigh*

That's pretty odd, perhaps it has a corruption bug in the bios? I had an Asrock that did that if the floppy port was enabled, had to keep it disabled until they released a BIOS fix. It was really weird and something I've never run across before or since.

I honestly don't think it'd be the PSUs if they both produce the same error in the same spot.

I'd also be prepared for the possibility that the two problems may NOT be related as a bad HDD won't usually make games stutter, that points to something else like memory or something borked on Windows but not being able to install XP in it's install mode when not in Windows points to a hardware issue for sure, either memory, bad bios or sata port, bad HDD or just bad BIOS settings that are too aggressive.

What are your full system specs, what games stutter and what other issues have you been having?

My full system specs are:
Biostar A880G+ motherboard, AMD Athlon II X3 450 CPU, 4 GB Patriot 1333 MHZ memory, 1 TB Hitachi Deskstar HDD, Antec Neo Eco 520c power supply (also have an OCZ ModXStream 600w PSU), XFX 5750 video card (right now I'm just using integrated), and an LG DVD RW drive.
I think every game I've tested has had a stuttering framerate issue. It's most noticeable in Mirror's Edge, and the stuttering always seems to happen in very specific areas. The video just sort of freezes for a split second, then resumes.
One other, totally unrelated issue I've had is that my computer hard locks whenever I try right clicking on cmd (I right clicked on cmd once because I wanted to run cmd as administrator). Also, there have been a few instances when I haven't been able to shut down the computer without actually pressing the power button on the tower. After clicking "shut down", the system wouldn't get past "logging off". I don't know why, but this doesn't happen anymore.

 

[·feist·]

For the AIO water cooling fans...

Corsair Hydro Series H80

Corsair Hydro Series H100

CoolIt must be happy. Now for Antec to rebrand one of Asetek's 240mm rads for their Kuhler line.

Don't expect the Corsair H80 or H100 to be price competitive with the top air coolers, or entry level custom water loops.

 

[RS4-]

Had a feeling it had the FN181s. That deal was too good to be true. They aren't bad by any means, you'll just have less direct airflow.

You can pick up a few 3pin to molex connectors and run them through the PSU.

Lol yeah, oh well, I couldn't pass up on it since it was only 160 compared to the 220 and up stores were charging here, then throw in the awful Canadian taxes.

Thanks for the 3 pin to molex thing, I could definitely use one of those since all four fans are 3 pin and...I've only got space for three of them on my mobo. So I ignored the HDD one for now. I really have to change one of my HDDs, it's still using IDE. Need to grab some right angle SATA cables as well, I kind of have a bad feeling about squeezing the normal ones between the tray and case.

When I was putting my PC back together I wanted to make sure the fans were powering up properly and I was getting one long ass beep and it wouldn't post. I reseat the ram a few times and I'm like...fuck, I didn't put power to the GPU.

 

[evil solrac v3.0]

For the AIO water cooling fans...

Corsair Hydro Series H80

Corsair Hydro Series H100

CoolIt must be happy. Now for Antec to rebrand one of Asetek's 240mm rads for their Kuhler line.

Don't expect the Corsair H80 or H100 to be price competitive with the top air coolers, or entry level custom water loops.

can i have a link?

 

[·feist·]

A few retailers put up early pages (ahead of official debuts at the upcoming tech shows), and have quickly removed them, though some of the image uploads are still in the database (for now).

Doubtful Corsair will release figures early, even with the leak, but they're just evolutions of some of CoolIt's latest models.


Komplett:

Produkt: Corsair H100 Hydro Series CPU Kylare, Kategori: Kylning/vattenkylning / Vattenkylning, Tillverkares artikelnr: CWCH100.
http://www.komplett.se/k/ki.aspx?sku=635806


Scan:

Corsair H100 Hydro Series Extreme Performance CPU cooler, S775/1155/1156/1366/2011/AM2/AM3.
scan.co.uk/products/corsair-h100-hydro-series-extreme-performance-cpu-cooler-s775-1155-1156-1366-2011-am2-am3

Corsair H80 Hydro Series High Performance CPU cooler, S775/1155/1156/1366/2011/AM2/AM3.
scan.co.uk/products/corsair-h80-hydro-series-high-performance-cpu-cooler-s775-1155-1156-1366-2011-am2-am3

 

[Le-mo]

Gaf, I want to build a computer for my dad. He will only be using it to surf the web and watch movies.

Budget: $300 United States
Main Use: Web browsing and watch videos
Monitor Resolution: Doesn't matter
Are reusing any parts?: I will be reusing my old motherboard MSI 870-G45 AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard
When will you build?: Anytime
Will you be overclocking?: No

 

[kevm3]

Got everything hooked up and it all works! Pathetic as it sounds, I'll probably be playing Terraria with this new machine for a while lol.

 

[Le-mo]

Ok gaf, how is this for a $300 PC. Let me know if it's strong enough to run Windows 7.

Motherboard: MSI 870-G45 AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard
GPU: Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD4350 512 MB PCI-Express Video Card GV-R435OC-512I
CPU: AMD Sempron 140, Socket AM3, 2.7 GHz, 1 MB Cache, 45 Watts, SDX140HBGQBOX
PSU: Corsair CMPSU-430CX CX Series 430-watt Power Supply Compatible with Intel Core I7 and Core I5

 

[Hazaro]

Ok gaf, how is this for a $300 PC. Let me know if it's strong enough to run Windows 7.

Motherboard: MSI 870-G45 AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard
GPU: Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD4350 512 MB PCI-Express Video Card GV-R435OC-512I
CPU: AMD Sempron 140, Socket AM3, 2.7 GHz, 1 MB Cache, 45 Watts, SDX140HBGQBOX
PSU: Corsair CMPSU-430CX CX Series 430-watt Power Supply Compatible with Intel Core I7 and Core I5

Drop that mobo and GPU.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138283

Spend another $50 on CPU.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103896

 

[French]

Just bought a new PC, after like 1 year of saving money.

 

[opticalmace]

Ok gaf, how is this for a $300 PC. Let me know if it's strong enough to run Windows 7.

Motherboard: MSI 870-G45 AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard
GPU: Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD4350 512 MB PCI-Express Video Card GV-R435OC-512I
CPU: AMD Sempron 140, Socket AM3, 2.7 GHz, 1 MB Cache, 45 Watts, SDX140HBGQBOX
PSU: Corsair CMPSU-430CX CX Series 430-watt Power Supply Compatible with Intel Core I7 and Core I5

How about something like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103916&cm_re=phenom_ii-_-19-103-916-_-Product
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371033
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102874

I assume you already have RAM with your mobo? The 3 above is $200 and you get a 2.8Ghz quad core, a better vid card, and a good psu. I assume you also have other things, like a HDD etc? Or did you need those too?

 

[ZombieFred]

Just a question to duel GPU people here. I've got a AMD 6970 GPU for my computer and wondering in a few months time, I'm tempted to crossfire it with another 6970. Is this worth doing if I want to enjoy Direct x 11 games in the future for a higher FPS rate and tensellation? (My reosolution is 1920 by 1200). Thanks guys

Specs:
10 GIG DDR3
I7 Sandy bridge 3.4 ghz clocked at 4 ghz.

 

[Le-mo]

Drop that mobo and GPU.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138283

Spend another $50 on CPU.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103896

What GPU would you suggest?

How about something like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103916&cm_re=phenom_ii-_-19-103-916-_-Product
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371033
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102874

I assume you already have RAM with your mobo? The 3 above is $200 and you get a 2.8Ghz quad core, a better vid card, and a good psu. I assume you also have other things, like a HDD etc? Or did you need those too?

I have the ram, but not the case, HDD, dvd drive. I just listed the main components.

 

[Hazaro]

What GPU would you suggest?


I have the ram, but not the case, HDD, dvd drive. I just listed the main components.

G and GX and FX mobos have onboard video that is decent.

Actually looking at the budget...
Intel 2100 (Integrated video) ($125)
MSI H61 board (HDMI out) ($70)
CX430w ($40)

If you don't feel that the Intel graphics are up to par for DVD viewing just toss in a $30 card later. Should be enough though
This way you get a partially upgradable system, solid board, very fast CPU.

 

[Le-mo]

G and GX and FX mobos have onboard video that is decent.

Actually looking at the budget...
Intel 2100 (Integrated video) ($125)
MSI H61 board (HDMI out) ($70)
CX430w ($40)

If you don't feel that the Intel graphics are up to par for DVD viewing just toss in a $30 card later. Should be enough though
This way you get a partially upgradable system, solid board, very fast CPU.

Thanks. I doubt I'll be getting him a video card then since the motherboard has that covered. He will only use it for web browsing and stream videos. I'll list the complete specs and will make the purchase if everything looks good and confirmation that it can run Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit.

CPU: AMD Athlon II X2 255 Regor 3.1GHz 2 x 1 MB L2 Cache Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail ADX255OCGMBOX
MOBO: Biostar AMD Motherboard A880G+
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 250 GB 7200 RPM SATA 3Gb/s 8MB Cache 3.5 Inch Internal Hard Drive ST3250318AS-Bare Drive
PSU: Corsair CMPSU-430CX CX Series 430-watt Power Supply Compatible with Intel Core I7 and Core I5
DVD: Lite-On LightScribe 24X SATA DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Drive IHAS424-98 - Retail (Black)
CASE: Cooler Master Elite Mid Tower Case, RC-310-BWN1-GP (Blue)
RAM: 4GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1600 CMX4GX3M2A1600C9

Total cost: $338.87

 

[Hazaro]

Ah, ok so you did need more components!

Budgetwise for a general user an x2 is just fine.
If it was just $300 for those 3 I'd go with the 2100. Sorry to give you so many options

 

[Le-mo]

More options the better. When I build another one I will know which to purchase. Thanks Hazaro and opticalmace.

 

[Hazaro]

Also, in case you run into this problem:

Other Thoughts: Could not get audio from a DVD played over the HDMI cable to my TV even thoug Videos played via the Browser had audio over HDMI.. Found an option that corrected that for me.
Control Panel/Sound/HDMI RealTek out/ Properties/ advanced options, Turned off EXCLUSIVE MODE.

 

[SneakyStephan]

Drop that mobo and GPU.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138283

Spend another $50 on CPU.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103896

Why on earth have him replace that mobo?
There is absolutely nothing wrong with a 770 chipset mobo.

@ op : Put this cpu in it :

AMD Athlon II X2 250 Regor 3.0GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM3 65W
$60.99


This GPU
PowerColor Go! Green AX6450 1GBK3-SH Radeon HD 6450 1GB 64-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready

$52.99

It's passively cooled and perfectly suited for a HTPC.
Supports hardware videodecoding of MKV and h264 movies.

For the HDD if you need a new one: samsung spinpoint f3 line are cheap, fast and quiet.

Seriously, if you keep your old (and perfectly fine motherboard), and put that gpu in it it will do an amazing job at viewing dvd and blu ray quality movies for years to come.

Intergrated gpus (especially on older am3 mobos) are rubbish for everything but browsing and watching some non hd youtube videos.

I'm assuming Hazaro didn't see this line two posts above your last post.

Are reusing any parts?: I will be reusing my old motherboard MSI 870-G45 AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard

 

[Hazaro]

Why on earth have him replace that mobo?
There is absolutely nothing wrong with a 770 chipset mobo.

For the HDD if you need a new one: samsung spinpoint f3 line are cheap, fast and quiet.

There is nothing wrong with it, it's just more money that I don't think has a purpose for what he put out ($300 parts for a web/video watching machine). If there is $40 to cut that will do the same then...

A nice dedicated card is fine if he's willing to pay a bit more. I think that one it a touch overkill though. If you can spend $50 on a 6450 then it's worth it to get a 2100 and a H61 board since you get a much faster CPU out of it imo.

Low end and integrated AMD GPUs are not my forte, am I wrong in assuming that a 4250 is enough for web and video?

 

[SneakyStephan]

There is nothing wrong with it, it's just more money that I don't think has a purpose for what he put out ($300 parts for a web/video watching machine). If there is $40 to cut that will do the same then...

There is nothing wrong with getting a nice dedicated card if he's willing to pay a bit more. I think that one it a touch overkill though. If you can spend $50 on a 6450 then it's worth it to get a 2100 and a H61 board since you get a much faster CPU out of it imo.

Low end and integrated AMD GPUs are not my forte, am I wrong in assuming that a 4250 is enough for web and video?

He already has the mobo (so replacing it when it's great mobo already is pointless)

And the reason to spend an extra 20 dollars on a hd 6450 is that it's good enough to watch smooth mkv codec video.
One of the big new features of the 6xxx series was the new hardware encoding.

That pc will last him pretty much indefinitely for movie viewing.
Since it more than fits in his 300 dollar budget because he already has the mobo, the passive cooling and performance will make it the perfect little budget HTPC.

edit: after soms searching:
Apparently the 4250 can handle h264 codec, but it can only handle 2 channel LPMC (lossless) audio output alongside with it.
The 6450 series has way better video decoding features, it does a much better job at upscaling dvd quality video to a 1080p screen for a much better (sharper) image quality.

If his dad will be using it to watch movies on his tv, then upscaling (SD) dvd content is a big deal.
Most lcd tv's make sd content look like crap and having the graphics card upscale it for you in advance gives you great image quality.

second edit: is a 4250 even sold seperately? it's an integrated part only it seems, so it doesn't even matter anyhow.
He has the mobo so the cheapest solution is to buy a nice little htpc card, and the passively cooled 6450 seems to fit the bill really well.

 

[Hazaro]

He already has the mobo

Well if he didn't post right after with parts and it wasn't 3am and I wasn't watching Starcraft I probably would have noticed!

x2 250 + 6450 is fine by me.

 

[SneakyStephan]

Well if he didn't post right after with parts and it wasn't 3am and I wasn't watching Starcraft I probably would have noticed!

x2 250 + 6450 is fine by me.

yeah not sure why he made the second post right underneath the first

edit : @ the sd upscaling importance: even my dad and grandmother noticed when they bought a hdtv that upscaling looked like crap compared to watching it on their old tv.