"I need a New PC!" 2011 Thread of reading the OP. Seriously. [Part 2]

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Chinner said:
the R3 is for the sophisticated man, like robert de niro, the 400r is for the common man, like mark warlberg.

also clydefrog, make your pc now man. i've been doing what you've been doing (holding it off) for like 6 months until i built my pc last week. it feels good man.

LOOOOOOOOOL
 
Ok, so I managed to fit the CPU, fan and memory onto the motherboard and put the PSU into the case.

Then I looked at all the cables and realised it would take me hours to fit them all into place. And even then I probably would have put a few in the wrong place. So I caved and asked my brother to help me. Result:

WLgfu.jpg
 
Bungieware said:
Ok, so I managed to fit the CPU, fan and memory onto the motherboard and put the PSU into the case.

Then I looked at all the cables and realised it would take me hours to fit them all into place. And even then they probably would have put a few in the wrong place. So I caved and asked my brother to help me. Result:

http://i.imgur.com/WLgfu.jpg

Wires all over the place.

Almost done? Does it boot up?
 
Bungieware said:
Ok, so I managed to fit the CPU, fan and memory onto the motherboard and put the PSU into the case.

Then I looked at all the cables and realised it would take me hours to fit them all into place. And even then they probably would have put a few in the wrong place. So I caved and asked my brother to help me. Result:

http://i.imgur.com/WLgfu.jpg

Congratulations on the build man.

Hopefully your brother is GOING to help you and hasn't already?
 
Bungieware said:
Ok, so I managed to fit the CPU, fan and memory onto the motherboard and put the PSU into the case.

Then I looked at all the cables and realised it would take me hours to fit them all into place. And even then I probably would have put a few in the wrong place. So I caved and asked my brother to help me. Result:

WLgfu.jpg
There's a hole right where the wires come out of the PSU. Put them through that and route them through the back panel. Then stick them back through the holes where they need to be plugged in. Additionally, you'll plug in the wires to the HDD on the other side. This keeps all the wires hidden, improving visuals and airflow in the case, which will improve temps.
 
What I do, is get all the parts in the microcenter cart, and then look at it for hours. I tell myself "Your computer is already fast!" and "Your games already run fine!" while struggling to push the purchase button.

During this process, it is a good bet that I've purchased fifty or sixty dollars in shirts from various online retailers. Thus is my process.

Edit: Nice job Bungieware.

I wouldn't worry too much about the cables; The R3 doesn't have a side panel anyway, does it?

Double Edit: Why did he put the video card in the bottom PCI-E slot? (not that it really matters, I guess.)
 
My Current Specs (Built 2007):
Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Windsor 3.0GHz Socket AM2CPU
CORSAIR XMS2 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe
EVGA 512-P3-N802-A3 GeForce 8800GT 512MB
Budget: ~$600 US
Main Use: Gaming, general usage (Word, Web, 1080p playback)
Monitor Resolution: 26" @ 1920x1200
Games: Witcher 2, SC2, Diablo 3, BF3, Skyrim, etc
Will be reusing:
Antec Nine Hundred Case
GeForce 8800GT 512MB
When will you build?: Can wait to build if recommended
Will you be overclocking?: Yes

Been a little while since I built a PC and havent really kept up on the current scene. I plan on replacing my GPU later when more of the games I want to play are out. Other than that, how does this build look:

MSI P67A-C43 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX
XFX Core Edition PRO550W (P1-550S-XXB9) 550W ATX12V 2.2 & ESP12V 2.91
Intel Core i5-2500 Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666)
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
Total = $495.95

Changes? Recommendations? Worth the upgrade?
 
I am quite sure I asked this in the old thread already, but then all that kinda feel into the water, needed the money for something else, but now I am 100% buying a new graphics card in the "near future" (week or two, still in the process of colectiong some information) so i'd like to ask again given that things might have changed, new drivers came out etc etc

so my current specc:
e8400 @ 3GHz
ep43-ds3l motherboard
some 500W PSU iirc, edit: looked it up 550W LC5550
4 GB DDR2 ram
win 7

so now, i have the 4850 HD and I am thinking something in the line of a 6850, 6870, or maybe even a 6950

I know that the 6950 is the best of those, but i fear my CPU might bootleneck it and thus money will be wasted, if this is true, the same question arises for the 6870, will I get anything more out of it than out of a 6850 with those spec? Don't want to do any overclocking btw

how about nvidia cards? I am kinda lost when it comes to their brand

would love to be able to play crysis 2 witcher 2, battlefield BC2 and 3, the newer total war games etc at some better settings than I am atm ^^
oh and budged is somewhere in the 150€ to 200€, maybe 250€ range
 
kilongs said:
My Current Specs (Built 2007):
Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Windsor 3.0GHz Socket AM2CPU
CORSAIR XMS2 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe
EVGA 512-P3-N802-A3 GeForce 8800GT 512MB
Budget: ~$600 US
Main Use: Gaming, general usage (Word, Web, 1080p playback)
Monitor Resolution: 26" @ 1920x1200
Games: Witcher 2, SC2, Diablo 3, BF3, Skyrim, etc
Will be reusing:
Antec Nine Hundred Case
GeForce 8800GT 512MB
When will you build?: Can wait to build if recommended
Will you be overclocking?: Yes

Been a little while since I built a PC and havent really kept up on the current scene. I plan on replacing my GPU later when more of the games I want to play are out. Other than that, how does this build look:

MSI P67A-C43 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX
XFX Core Edition PRO550W (P1-550S-XXB9) 550W ATX12V 2.2 & ESP12V 2.91
Intel Core i5-2500 Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666)
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
Total = $495.95

Changes? Recommendations? Worth the upgrade?

Get the i5 2500k instead of the 2500. The rest are good choices.
 
Enosh said:
I am quite sure I asked this in the old thread already, but then all that kinda feel into the water, needed the money for something else, but now I am 100% buying a new graphics card in the "near future" (week or two, still in the process of colectiong some information) so i'd like to ask again given that things might have changed, new drivers came out etc etc

so my current specc:
e8400 @ 3GHz
ep43-ds3l motherboard
some 500W PSU iirc

so now, i have the 4850 HD and I am thinking something in the line of a 6850, 6870, or maybe even a 6950

I know that the 6950 is the best of those, but i fear my CPU might bootleneck it and thus money will be wasted, if this is true, the same question arises for the 6870, will I get anything more out of it than out of a 6850 with those spec? Don't want to do any overclocking btw

how about nvidia cards? I am kinda lost when it comes to their brand

would love to be able to play crysis 2 witcher 2, battlefield BC2 and 3, the newer total war games etc at some better settings than I am atm ^^
oh and budged is somewhere in the 150€ to 200€, maybe 250€ range
You'd get a pretty decent graphics jump from any of the three. Sapphire's 6870s are a pretty good price right now on newegg, and super quiet with good temps.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102913

I've got one in my SFF secondary rig, and it does an awesome job on a bunch of games. You are looking at a CPU/Mobo/RAM upgrade in the next 6 months to a year though. Start saving!
 
This wire talk is confusing me. I've tidied it up as much as a can by sticking the extra wires where the drive caddies are. I'm not sure why he put the graphics card in the bottom slot. Both fans are pointing out of the case so does it matter that much?

When you say route the wires out of the back panel, do you mean like this:

o7DOR.jpg


And for the HDD wires, do you mean on the other side of the motherboard?
 
kilongs said:
My Current Specs (Built 2007):
Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Windsor 3.0GHz Socket AM2CPU
CORSAIR XMS2 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe
EVGA 512-P3-N802-A3 GeForce 8800GT 512MB
Budget: ~$600 US
Main Use: Gaming, general usage (Word, Web, 1080p playback)
Monitor Resolution: 26" @ 1920x1200
Games: Witcher 2, SC2, Diablo 3, BF3, Skyrim, etc
Will be reusing:
Antec Nine Hundred Case
GeForce 8800GT 512MB
When will you build?: Can wait to build if recommended
Will you be overclocking?: Yes

Been a little while since I built a PC and havent really kept up on the current scene. I plan on replacing my GPU later when more of the games I want to play are out. Other than that, how does this build look:

MSI P67A-C43 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX
XFX Core Edition PRO550W (P1-550S-XXB9) 550W ATX12V 2.2 & ESP12V 2.91
Intel Core i5-2500 Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666)
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
Total = $495.95

Changes? Recommendations? Worth the upgrade?

Looks good. Personally I'd pay the $15 more to get a 8gb set (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...sult-_-20-231-311_4_DM-_-Corsair Carbide 400R) but if you don't need the RAM, don't worry about it. As mentioned, you'll want the 2500k for OC'ing. Other than that, everything looks good.

Enosh said:
I am quite sure I asked this in the old thread already, but then all that kinda feel into the water, needed the money for something else, but now I am 100% buying a new graphics card in the "near future" (week or two, still in the process of colectiong some information) so i'd like to ask again given that things might have changed, new drivers came out etc etc

so my current specc:
e8400 @ 3GHz
ep43-ds3l motherboard
some 500W PSU iirc, edit: looked it up 550W LC5550
4 GB DDR2 ram
win 7

so now, i have the 4850 HD and I am thinking something in the line of a 6850, 6870, or maybe even a 6950

I know that the 6950 is the best of those, but i fear my CPU might bootleneck it and thus money will be wasted, if this is true, the same question arises for the 6870, will I get anything more out of it than out of a 6850 with those spec? Don't want to do any overclocking btw

how about nvidia cards? I am kinda lost when it comes to their brand

would love to be able to play crysis 2 witcher 2, battlefield BC2 and 3, the newer total war games etc at some better settings than I am atm ^^
oh and budged is somewhere in the 150€ to 200€, maybe 250€ range

I've got an E8500 paired with a GTX 580. The E8500 is definitely a bottleneck on quad-enabled games (BC2, for instance), but in everything else, my E8500 performs admirably. I'd imagine that the same would go for an E8400 paired with an HD6850 or HD6950.

The Nvidia equivalent would be anything from a GTX 460 to a GTX 560 ti. It's really a personal preference choice when trying to decide between Nvidia and AMD.

Bungieware said:
This wire talk is confusing me. I've tidied it up as much as a can by sticking the extra wires where the drive caddies are. I'm not sure why he put the graphics card in the bottom slot. Both fans are pointing out of the case so does it matter that much?

When you say route the wires out of the back panel, do you mean like this:

o7DOR.jpg

Oh my god...that is classic....

Give me a minute.

Here's the white version of your case, because it is easier to see. Do you see the holes covered with black rubber? Your wires should go in those, and out the holes closer to wherever the cord is going to be plugged into.

p1DyW.jpg
 
Enosh said:
I am quite sure I asked this in the old thread already, but then all that kinda feel into the water, needed the money for something else, but now I am 100% buying a new graphics card in the "near future" (week or two, still in the process of colectiong some information) so i'd like to ask again given that things might have changed, new drivers came out etc etc

so my current specc:
e8400 @ 3GHz
ep43-ds3l motherboard
some 500W PSU iirc
4 GB ram
win 7

so now, i have the 4850 HD and I am thinking something in the line of a 6850, 6870, or maybe even a 6950

I know that the 6950 is the best of those, but i fear my CPU might bootleneck it and thus money will be wasted, if this is true, the same question arises for the 6870, will I get anything more out of it than out of a 6850 with those spec? Don't want to do any overclocking btw

how about nvidia cards? I am kinda lost when it comes to their brand

would love to be able to play crysis 2 witcher 2, battlefield BC2 and 3, the newer total war games etc at some better settings than I am atm ^^
oh and budged is somewhere in the 150€ to 200€, maybe 250€ range

CPU intensive games/those optimized for quad core will make it so your GPU is going to be bottlenecked regardless of which of those three you choose. Though, the E8400 is still a pretty damn capable C2D CPU so for non CPU intensive games you will likely not bottleneck a 6950 and get your money's worth.

So unless you're totally against upgrading your CPU within the next year I would say go with the 6950 and then upgrade your CPU and mobo later. Your current set up with a 6950 will get you through the games listed above with likely only BC2 multiplayer and BF3 possibly making your CPU a bottleneck.
 
No. To the right and bottom right of the motherboard are some holes. You thread the cables through those holes and then back again. Take off the panel on the opposite side of the case. You'll see that behind the plate the motherboard is mounted on is enough space for some cables.

edit: too late
 
Ok so my neighbour across the street is set upon buying a laptop and he wants to play World of Warcraft but I imagine he might want to play a few other games. He's going into Grade 7 and his parents are putting up some money and so is he. He wants 15" or larger and looking to spend less than $900 CDN. What are some good models?
 
jw4Zp.jpg


Here's my case. Notice how all the cords from the PSU are going through that bottom hole? Then the plugs go out the little rubber gromets nearest where they get plugged in.
 
Bungieware said:
This wire talk is confusing me. I've tidied it up as much as a can by sticking the extra wires where the drive caddies are. I'm not sure why he put the graphics card in the bottom slot. Both fans are pointing out of the case so does it matter that much?

When you say route the wires out of the back panel, do you mean like this:
http://i.imgur.com/o7DOR.jpg
And for the HDD wires, do you mean on the other side of the motherboard?

The graphics card should be in the top slot for 16x speed.
 
Bungieware said:
This wire talk is confusing me. I've tidied it up as much as a can by sticking the extra wires where the drive caddies are. I'm not sure why he put the graphics card in the bottom slot. Both fans are pointing out of the case so does it matter that much?

When you say route the wires out of the back panel, do you mean like this:

http://i.imgur.com/o7DOR.jpg[/MG]

And for the HDD wires, do you mean on the other side of the motherboard?[/QUOTE]
Oh dear, you're not doing this on purpose :(

[QUOTE=mblitek]Ok so my neighbour across the street is set upon buying a laptop and he wants to play World of Warcraft but I imagine he might want to play a few other games. He's going into Grade 7 and his parents are putting up some money and so is he. He wants 15" or larger and looking to spend less than $900 CDN. What are some good models?[/QUOTE]
Well the best move is to get him to not play WoW. Trust me on that, that 7th grader won't really benefit from WoW.
 
Here's my cable management. Note that my PC is in a closet, and aesthetics don't really mean anything to me. Still though, your case is much better than mine, so it should come out much cleaner looking.

CoBDel.jpg
 
I am considering another build for an htpc, that could do ps2 and dolphin emulation perfectly, and suggestions? Was thinking a core i3 2100 would suffice for emulation? already have a spare 9800gt with 512mb of vram as well
 
I was just thinking about my upgrading my videocard.

Not looking to spend anything over 100 atm. Not that i can't afford too, but I figure i could probably at that price get something better than what I have now.

Right now i am using a Diamond Radeon HD3850 256mg PCI-E.

I'd like to stay with AMD so could anyone give me some good options? I was looking at this.

http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0034JLTNG/
 
Souther said:
I was just thinking about my upgrading my videocard.

Not looking to spend anything over 100 atm. Not that i can't afford too, but I figure i could probably at that price get something better than what I have now.

Right now i am using a Diamond Radeon HD3850 256mg PCI-E.

I'd like to stay with AMD so could anyone give me some good options? I was looking at this.

http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0034JLTNG/
found a radeon 5770 with 1gb of memory for 120, with a 20 dollar rebate bringing it down to 99, should be a nice upgrade. Of course, there may be a better deal as well lol
 
Got a little question:
I bought this CPU fan
Mugen-2-Fans_01.jpg

and a new case (Fractal Arc). Can i place the CPU fan towards to top fan of the case to get better CPU cooling?
 
PNstyle said:
Got a little question:
I bought this CPU fan
[IM]http://www.scythe-eu.com/uploads/tx_cfamooflow/Mugen-2-Fans_01.jpg[/IMG]
and a new case (Fractal Arc). Can i place the CPU fan towards to top fan of the case to get better CPU cooling?

put it on the side facing the front of the case so it blows out the air through the back (where your back casefan is)

(if that does not fit for whatever reason like high ram, you can also put it on the side facing the bottom and blow air out through the top)

just try to put the wider side so that the fan blows across that, it's more efficient than blowing through the less wide side as more air will be lost at the sides
 
Looking at intel's forums seems like the firmware fix for the '8mb' bug on their 320 series SSDs is still a few weeks away...I can't wait that long...I might have to go with crucial's M4 drive instead...
 
n0n44m said:
put it on the side facing the front of the case so it blows out the air through the back (where your back casefan is)

(if that does not fit for whatever reason, you can also put it on the side facing the bottom and blow air out through the top)
just try to put the wider side so that the fan blows across that, it's more efficient than blowing through the less wide side as more air will be lost at the sides
I got a 1155 socket so the wide sides are towards the GPU and the top of the case where the a casefan is. The gap between the cooler and the GPU is very tight so putting the CPU fan there doesn't seem to be the best idea.
 
PNstyle said:
Isn't it better to put it on the wide side of the cooller to get optimal cooling or doesn't it matter?

yeah like I said wide is better, but you can rotate it yourself so it faces the front and back with the wide side (if I remember correctly)
 
n0n44m said:
yeah like I said wide is better, but you can rotate it yourself so it faces the front and back with the wide side (if I remember correctly)
So the top casefan and the CPU fan won't harm the airflow if I put them towards each other ?(top case fan sucks air inside case and the CPU fan sucks air inside the cooler which comes out near my GPU right? won't it blow the hot air from the CPU cooler on my GPU?)
 
PNstyle said:
So the top casefan and the CPU fan won't harm the airflow if I put them towards each other ?(top case fan sucks air inside case and the CPU fan sucks air inside the cooler which comes out near my GPU right? won't it blow the hot air from the CPU cooler on my GPU?)

what case do you have?

golden rules:

1. Hot air rises

so

2. Intake cool air from bottom front, remove hot air from top and top-back of the case

that's how 95% of the cases are designed anyway =]

---

so you want cool air coming from the front fans, have the top and back fan blow out of the case, and position the Mugen 2 such that you can blow the cool air from the front over the wide side out towards the back fan

the way you describe it now is you push air from the top down through the cpu cooler against the video card ... which isn't exactly ideal for obvious reasons
 
n0n44m said:
what case do you have?

golden rules:

1. Hot air rises

so

2. Intake cool air from bottom front, remove hot air from top and top-back of the case

that's how 95% of the cases are designed anyway =]

---

so you want cool air coming from the front fans, have the top and back fan blow out of the case, and position the Mugen 2 such that you can blow the cool air from the front over the wide side out towards the back fan

the way you describe it now is you push air from the top down through the cpu cooler against the video card ... which isn't exactly ideal for obvious reasons
I got this case
fractal_design_arc.jpg
fractal design arc.
Cause it has dust filters in the front and on the top I thought that it sucks air inside the case from that directions, but I think I was wrong :)
Right now I have the CPU fan over ther ram, on the narrow side of the cooler and I thought that if I put it on the wide side it will cool better (when I'm playing all my cores have like 42-48 degrees max is that ok?). ^^
 
Sethos said:
Have that one myself, I do like it but there's some issues when it comes to cable management definitely and some design issues.

The dust filters are the worst bit of design I've ever come across. Both side panels, a dozen thumb screws (on both sides), to get at dust filters that need changing ever week or two. Uggg.

The cable management can be fixed with a drill, I'm just too lazy to do it.
 
Chinner said:
okay now i have a question:

I have a R3 and I want to throw in a third fan, where would be the best place to place it?

I'd place it in the second front panel intake position, then look at adding additional fans in the top later on, but I'm the sort that compulsively fills every fan mount in a chassis and then looks for ways to add more. :P
 
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