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[Yoshichan]

CPU less load and better cooler = drops temps faster.
CPUs are almost never bad.

Oh, this is a relief to hear.

I decreased my GPU clock and memory clock with 18%... let's see now ._.

 

[Piercedveil]

Re-asking since I don't think it has been answered.

Is it worth it to go from a 1600 x 900 monitor to a full 1080p one or would I just be wasting money at this point? I primarily game on it, so I am curious. What do you guys say?

 

[Kiyamon]

Re-asking since I don't think it has been answered.

Is it worth it to go from a 1600 x 900 monitor to a full 1080p one or would I just be wasting money at this point? I primarily game on it, so I am curious. What do you guys say?

If you have a pc that will run your games at full 1080p, I say go for it. You can find some great deals on moniters. Since it is not a NEED you can be selective and wait for a good deal to come along.

 

[Mr Nightman]

had a quick question. Was just given a lenovo desktop headed for the dump, and found it to have a sata dvd burner in it. I want to use it in my own rig since my dvd drive broke, but cannot figure out how to remove the damn thing from the lenovo. Its set up just like this:

and another close up

Any ideas how this bay mechanism works?

 

[ConstructMe]

Re-asking since I don't think it has been answered.

Is it worth it to go from a 1600 x 900 monitor to a full 1080p one or would I just be wasting money at this point? I primarily game on it, so I am curious. What do you guys say?

Its worth it, thats a lot of extra pixel if you have a gpu thats up to it.

 

[larvi]

Any ideas how this bay mechanism works?

Looks like you use the blue handle to release it, pivot it to the side and pull it out:

http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/product-and-parts/detail.page?&LegacyDocID=MIGR-65252

 

[Mr Nightman]

Looks like you use the blue handle to release it, pivot it to the side and pull it out:

http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/product-and-parts/detail.page?&LegacyDocID=MIGR-65252

thanks, but I was wondering about the dvd drive, since the people who threw out the pc took the hard drive out already. I like to think I'm smart but loooking at it I am stumped lol

 

[Hazaro]

Punch in model on lenovo, find pdf manual.

If you keep poking at it you should be able to get it, something is inserted into the screw holes. Just pull that back. Then most likely take the front bezel (cover) off and pull it out from the front.

 

[Mr Nightman]

Punch in model on lenovo, find pdf manual.

If you keep poking at it you should be able to get it, something is inserted into the screw holes. Just pull that back. Then most likely take the front bezel (cover) off and pull it out from the front.

thanks will keep at it

 

[larvi]

thanks, but I was wondering about the dvd drive, since the people who threw out the pc took the hard drive out already. I like to think I'm smart but loooking at it I am stumped lol

Sorry, thought the bottom one was the optical drive, for the other drives you should just push the button in and pull it out the front. But yeah, as Hazaro mentioned IBM/Lenovo is great for having all of the tech docs available online. What model is it, I should be able to find the doc quickly if you can't track it down.

 

[border]

Still browsing the Dell Outlet for something good.

They have a i5-2300 system with 6GB RAM for $469.

They also have an i7-2700 system with 6GB RAM for $559.

All the other specs are pretty much equal besides the processor. Is it worth the extra $90 to get the i7 instead of the i5? I have some interest in PS2/Wii emulation, and I'm told that clock speed actually makes a big difference there.....but during that time the emulators weren't really doing multithreading. So I'm not sure if you still need a brute force approach by jacking up your Ghz.

 

[Mr Nightman]

Sorry, thought the bottom one was the optical drive, for the other drives you should just push the button in and pull it out the front. But yeah, as Hazaro mentioned IBM/Lenovo is great for having all of the tech docs available online. What model is it, I should be able to find the doc quickly if you can't track it down.

I found the manual and got it out, thanks for everyones help

 

[larvi]

Just ordered the parts to upgrade my daughter's PC for her birthday coming up later this month. Hard drive prices were holding me back but digging through my spare parts pile this weekend I found a 250GB Maxtor sata drive that I can use. She currently has a 500gb Pata drive in her PC right now but is using less than 250gb so I should be able to clone that over to the Sata drive then either put the pata drive in an external enclosure or get an addon IDE controller if the drive prices are still high when she needs more space.

I picked up the following components:
Biostar TH67+ motherboard - $74.99 (59.99 after rebate)
Core I3 2100 - $109.99
2x4gb Kingston HyperX DDR3 1600 - $39.99 ($29.99 after rebate)

Will be reusing case/power supply/optical/vid card from current system. Her video card is my old 8800 GTS 512 which is probably the next upgrade but she mainly plays WoW for gaming and lots of non gaming use, so I figured she would get the most bang for the buck out of a CPU upgrade right now.

She will have a better CPU than me after the upgrade, I'm still getting as much life out of my overclocked quad core Q6600 as I can. But she got all A's last semester at college so it's a good investment.

 

[TheExodu5]

That's really odd. I really did think that we had solved the problem since my computer is running much better right now (neither SC2 or WoW stutters) but the problem remains and it happens when something heavy is going on like:

1. I changed video settings from low to high and vice-versa
2. When I used a summon and got to a city with lots of activity

Damn, this sucks so much Any other clues? Should I just bail the fuck out and buy the 560ti and Fractal Arc Midi? What if that doesn't solve the problem? What if the true problem lies within the CPU ._.

^ That's the reason I'm scared that it's my CPU doing these shenanigans.

Perhaps a power supply issue? What's your power supply? What components do you have? I'm kind of at a loss.

 

[LCfiner]

I ordered a new build for a gaming PC from NCIX a couple weeks ago. I should get it mid January. I had been thinking about this for months and finally pulled the trigger.

The important bits:

Intel Core i5-2500k
AMD Radeon 6950
8 GB 1333 RAM
1 TB HDD

I’m not a huge Windows guy for day to day computing so I’ll be using my existing iMac for all that so this new machine will essentially be a Steam console. I’ll be hooking it up to the great 27” display on my Mac plus my 50” TV in the living room.

I don’t expect to be buying any games for the home consoles for quite a while, a few exclusives being an exception. Steam and DD all the way for the foreseeable future. My hope is that this is just an invisible console that I never need to insert a disc into ever.

(Hoping I can go over year or so before I get an itch to upgrade the video card.)

 

[Hazaro]

Still browsing the Dell Outlet for something good.

They have a i5-2300 system with 6GB RAM for $469.

They also have an i7-2700 system with 6GB RAM for $559.

All the other specs are pretty much equal besides the processor. Is it worth the extra $90 to get the i7 instead of the i5? I have some interest in PS2/Wii emulation, and I'm told that clock speed actually makes a big difference there.....but during that time the emulators weren't really doing multithreading. So I'm not sure if you still need a brute force approach by jacking up your Ghz.

The extra speed of the 2700 should help emulation for sure.

Just ordered the parts to upgrade my daughter's PC for her birthday coming up later this month. Hard drive prices were holding me back but digging through my spare parts pile this weekend I found a 250GB Maxtor sata drive that I can use. She currently has a 500gb Pata drive in her PC right now but is using less than 250gb so I should be able to clone that over to the Sata drive then either put the pata drive in an external enclosure or get an addon IDE controller if the drive prices are still high when she needs more space.

I picked up the following components:
Biostar TH67+ motherboard - $74.99 (59.99 after rebate)
Core I3 2100 - $109.99
2x4gb Kingston HyperX DDR3 1600 - $39.99 ($29.99 after rebate)

Will be reusing case/power supply/optical/vid card from current system. Her video card is my old 8800 GTS 512 which is probably the next upgrade but she mainly plays WoW for gaming and lots of non gaming use, so I figured she would get the most bang for the buck out of a CPU upgrade right now.

She will have a better CPU than me after the upgrade, I'm still getting as much life out of my overclocked quad core Q6600 as I can. But she got all A's last semester at college so it's a good investment.

Sounds good to me

I ordered a new build for a gaming PC from NCIX a couple weeks ago. I should get it mid January. I had been thinking about this for months and finally pulled the trigger.

The important bits:

Intel Core i5-2500k
AMD Radeon 6950
8 GB 1333 RAM
1 TB HDD

I’m not a huge Windows guy for day to day computing so I’ll be using my existing iMac for all that so this new machine will essentially be a Steam console. I’ll be hooking it up to the great 27” display on my Mac plus my 50” TV in the living room.

I don’t expect to be buying any games for the home consoles for quite a while, a few exclusives being an exception. Steam and DD all the way for the foreseeable future. My hope is that this is just an invisible console that I never need to insert a disc into ever.

(Hoping I can go over year or so before I get an itch to upgrade the video card.)

I think you will be quite fine with it for a while.

 

[ToyMachine228]

OK so here's my most current shopping cart. After a lot of advice from you guys this is what I have.

Motherboard: ASRock H61M-VS LGA 1155 Intel H61 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
Item #: N82E16813157241

Processor: Intel Core i3-2100 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz LGA 1155 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2000 BX80623I32100
Item #: N82E16819115078

Graphics Card: SAPPHIRE 100315L Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity
Item #: N82E16814102908

Power Supply: CORSAIR Builder Series CX430 V2 (CMPSU-430CXV2) 430W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply
Item #: N82E16817139026

RAM: (2) G.SKILL Value Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-8GBNT
Item #: N82E16820231424

HDD: Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Item #: N82E16822136769

DVD Drive: ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM
Item #: N82E16827135204

Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite Black Steel with painted interior ATX Mid Tower Computer Case w/ Black Front Trim
Item #: N82E16811146078

Monitor: Acer S200HLAbd Black 20" 5ms LED Backlight Widescreen LCD Monitor
Item #: N82E16824009317

OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM
Item #: N82E16832116986 (Bundled with Motherboard for savings)

Is there anything I'm missing outside of a mouse and keyboard? Anything at all? I don't have a USB drive do I? How do I add one? I'm seriously ignorant of this process so any help would be greatly appreciated. If there's anything I'm missing in general, or any ways you see to get about the same value for less money from what I have above please let me know.

 

[Deleted member 20415]

I don't have a USB drive do I? How do I add one? I'm seriously ignorant of this process so any help would be greatly appreciated. If there's anything I'm missing in general, or any ways you see to get about the same value for less money from what I have above please let me know.

USB is on the motherboard...nothing to buy. You'll have a few ports on your case that you'll need to hook up to the motherboard.

 

[ToyMachine228]

USB is on the motherboard...nothing to buy. You'll have a few ports on your case that you'll need to hook up to the motherboard.

Thanks. Anyone else have anything to contribute to my build? Any ways to save money, or get better value or whatever? Not looking for anything fancy. Just basic use and then a very few games like Diablo 3 and DOTA2. Essentially just Blizzard and Valve games.

 

[Celcius]

^^Looks good, enjoy

 

[Previous]

So how good of a brand is XFX? I got my finger on the trigger about to order their 7970 on newegg but I need to ask..

edit: nvm

 

[BoobPhysics101]

OK so here's my most current shopping cart. After a lot of advice from you guys this is what I have.

Motherboard: ASRock H61M-VS LGA 1155 Intel H61 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
Item #: N82E16813157241

Processor: Intel Core i3-2100 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz LGA 1155 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2000 BX80623I32100
Item #: N82E16819115078

Graphics Card: SAPPHIRE 100315L Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity
Item #: N82E16814102908

Power Supply: CORSAIR Builder Series CX430 V2 (CMPSU-430CXV2) 430W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply
Item #: N82E16817139026

RAM: (2) G.SKILL Value Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-8GBNT
Item #: N82E16820231424

HDD: Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Item #: N82E16822136769

DVD Drive: ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM
Item #: N82E16827135204

Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite Black Steel with painted interior ATX Mid Tower Computer Case w/ Black Front Trim
Item #: N82E16811146078

Monitor: Acer S200HLAbd Black 20" 5ms LED Backlight Widescreen LCD Monitor
Item #: N82E16824009317

OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM
Item #: N82E16832116986 (Bundled with Motherboard for savings)

Is there anything I'm missing outside of a mouse and keyboard? Anything at all? I don't have a USB drive do I? How do I add one? I'm seriously ignorant of this process so any help would be greatly appreciated. If there's anything I'm missing in general, or any ways you see to get about the same value for less money from what I have above please let me know.

Yes don't buy the 6850, not for $150 at least. If you're just playing Blizzard and Valve games, seriously consider getting one of these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150540 ($90 after rebate)

If you want to spend $20 more and quite a bit more performance, grab this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161377 ($110 after rebate, weekend special, ends today)

If you don't mind spending $130, this is the next step up:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133428

I recommend the middle option for $110. There, I just saved you at least $20-50.

So how good of a brand is XFX? I got my finger on the trigger about to order their 7970 on newegg but I need to ask..

They are excellent. They are located about 20 mins from me, a friend was a former employee of theirs. Good customer support and warranties.

I wouldn't recommend the XFX 7970 though, just get a reference cooled one.

 

[ToyMachine228]

Yes don't buy the 6850, not for $150 at least. If you're just playing Blizzard and Valve games, seriously consider getting one of these:

So you think the 6850 is more than I need, or just not worth the money? It was recommended by several others in this thread.

 

[BoobPhysics101]

So you think the 6850 is more than I need, or just not worth the money? It was recommended by several others in this thread.

TBH, the 6790 is perfect for what you need to do. You'll be able to max Blizzard and Valve games at high res with lots of antialiasing. So yes, I say it's more than you need.

I say save the $40 and put it towards an upgraded card in a year or two. 6850 is still a 40nm card, and in a year you'll be able to buy something for like $100-150 that blows away a 6850. If you were playing stuff like Crysis 2 or Battlefield 3, I'd say get the 6850, because the extra $40 might be worth it, but it won't be worth it for Diablo 3 etc.

 

[chaosblade]

So you think the 6850 is more than I need, or just not worth the money? It was recommended by several others in this thread.

If the 6790 isn't as gimped as some of AMDs other "off-series" cards, then it's probably a decent choice for the games you're looking to play. I don't really know much about that card though.

Edit: Well, that's actually a lot better than expected, even though it's a gimped 6800 series GPU. Great price on that with the special.

 

[BoobPhysics101]

If the 6790 isn't as gimped as some of AMDs other "off-series" cards, then it's probably a decent choice for the games you're looking to play. I don't really know much about that card though.

Edit: Well, that's actually a lot better than expected, even though it's a gimped 6800 series GPU. Great price on that with the special.

It's about 20% slower than a 6850 but for 35% less.

 

[Nelo Ice]

K I'm trying to help my cousin build a new PC and he has a budget of somehwere less than 1.4k.

He needs everything, monitor keyboard PC etc. He plans on building sometime this month.

Atm I've reccomended he get a 2500k and a 560ti possibly 448 if he can squeeze it in. He wants a 1080p monitor but doesn't mind going lower and 120hz doesn't matter. He technially has a microcenter nearby so if he decides to go that route he has it available. Besides that what else should he be looking for? He's pretty much only gonna use it for gaming. So far I'm basing my reccomendations off of Hazaro's builds in the OP and my build from last year.

edit:Well I guess budgets not a problem for him lol so I guess it's going to depend on what he wants to build now and if hes planning on upgrading.

 

[Hazaro]

Builds updated.
560Ti 448 and the 1k build is fine. 7950 should be releasing in about a month and that might be a better value, but based on the price of the 7970, probably not by much. Up to him if he wants to wait or not.

 

[RS4-]

Damn, the new Sapphire 6970 is nice. Apparently some gdlk temps.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...phire-radeon-hd-6970-2gb-dual-fan-review.html

 

[Nelo Ice]

Builds updated.
560Ti 448 and the 1k build is fine. 7950 should be releasing in about a month and that might be a better value, but based on the price of the 7970, probably not by much. Up to him if he wants to wait or not.

Thanks once again for the help Hazaro! Was worried I may be steering my cousin the wrong way since lol. Cuz he'll be like the only other person I kno with a proper PC now.

 

[Spl1nter]

Builds updated.
560Ti 448 and the 1k build is fine. 7950 should be releasing in about a month and that might be a better value, but based on the price of the 7970, probably not by much. Up to him if he wants to wait or not.

Haz, I want a replacement for my GPU in the ~$300 CAD range (560TI 446) but I am wondering if its better to hold off at the moment with the next generation being released.

 

[Hazaro]

Haz, I want a replacement for my GPU in the ~$300 CAD range (560TI 446) but I am wondering if its better to hold off at the moment with the next generation being released.

560Ti 448/6950/6970 will still be great performing cards for the money.
7950 will probably be about the same in $/FPS as those, but better than the 570 and up.

If I had to upgrade I'd grab a 7950 in about a month though, better temps and it should be a fantastic overclocker. Price should be 400 though, then maybe $30 more for a dual fan cooler version. But maybe yield will be up and they will play hardball with the 560Ti 448 since the 570 is a terrible buy.
Can't go wrong with buying now if you want something though.

 

[Sethos]

What is considered the best 24" today people, in regards to response time, image quality and especially colours?

And what can you recommend in the above-24" range, 27" and 30"?

All for gaming naturally.

 

[·feist·]

CES is going to be very nice. A few no shows, unfortunately, that will have to wait until around Computex or so, but still.

 

[mkenyon]

Freaking Tribes scrim made me miss Newegg's 7970 launch. Summabitch.

What is considered the best 24" today people, in regards to response time, image quality and especially colours?

And what can you recommend in the above-24" range, 27" and 30"?

All for gaming naturally.

If you have a GPU with displayport, this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001475

DVI only, this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001494

There are 27" variants of either. Saw my buddies the other day, and there is no other monitor that matters for me.

 

[·feist·]

If it hasn't been posted, here's an update on the Crucial M4 SSD issues.

0x00000f4 error on M4 64GB
http://forums.crucial.com/t5/Solid-State-Drives-SSD/0x00000f4-error-on-M4-64GB/m-p/79094#M24083

We are aware of an issue that is currently affecting a small number of users whereby their m4 causes their system to require a restart. This issue occurs after approximately 5,000 hours of actual “on time” use. Following the initial reboot, the system then requires subsequent restarts after each additional hour of use. However, the data on the SSD is unaffected and will not be lost due to this condition.

Through our investigation, we have determined the root cause of the problem and will be releasing a firmware update that rectifies the situation. We are currently running through our validation and compatibility process. Once this process is complete, the firmware will be made available to our customers. Although we understand the desire of some people to start using unreleased firmware now, we want to ensure that our solution works across multiple chipsets, systems, and operating systems before publishing the release code. We are currently targeting the week of January 16th, 2012 to publicly release the new firmware update.

We understand the impact that this is having on some users right now and apologize for this inconvenience. We appreciate your continued support, feedback, and patience as we finalize code and resolve this issue.

Dude, Crucial Employee, US

 

[Sethos]

Freaking Tribes scrim made me miss Newegg's 7970 launch. Summabitch.


If you have a GPU with displayport, this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001475

DVI only, this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001494

Thanks.

Only thing I don't like is the 120hz, Vsync would then have to sync up to 120 frames? That would seriously fuck up my smooth gaming.

 

[Camwi]

Well, after almost 10 years with the same crappy PC, I've finally got a chance to build myself a new one. I'm planning on using it mainly for heavy gaming. Here's my list of parts so far in my NewEgg cart. Any advice is hugely appreciated.


Optical Drive - ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM
Item #: N82E16827135204

HDD - SAMSUNG EcoGreen F4 HD204UI 2TB SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Item #: N82E16822152245

Monitor - ASUS VW246H Glossy Black 24" 2ms(GTG) HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor
Item #: N82E16824236049

Video Card - EVGA 03G-P3-1584-AR GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16
Item #: N82E16814130655

Power Supply - CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V v2.2 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS
Item #: N82E16817139006

RAM (x2) - CORSAIR Vengeance 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory
Item #: N82E16820233141

CPU - Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W
Item #: N82E16819115072

Heatsink - COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO RR-212E-20PK-R2 Continuous Direct Contact 120mm Sleeve
Item #: N82E16835103099

SSD - Intel 320 Series SSDSA2CW120G3K5 2.5" 120GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
Item #: N82E16820167050

Motherboard - ASRock P67 EXTREME4 GEN3 LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Item #: N82E16813157265

Case - Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Item #: N82E16811129021

The two things I'm still really iffy about are the motherboard and the case, but I'll take advice on everything.

 

[Hazaro]

I'd get the ASUS Z68 board and a 7970 if you don't mind AMD.

 

[BoobPhysics101]

Well, after almost 10 years with the same crappy PC, I've finally got a chance to build myself a new one. I'm planning on using it mainly for heavy gaming. Here's my list of parts so far in my NewEgg cart. Any advice is hugely appreciated.


Optical Drive - ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM
Item #: N82E16827135204

HDD - SAMSUNG EcoGreen F4 HD204UI 2TB SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Item #: N82E16822152245

Monitor - ASUS VW246H Glossy Black 24" 2ms(GTG) HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor
Item #: N82E16824236049

Video Card - EVGA 03G-P3-1584-AR GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16
Item #: N82E16814130655

Power Supply - CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V v2.2 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS
Item #: N82E16817139006

RAM (x2) - CORSAIR Vengeance 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory
Item #: N82E16820233141

CPU - Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W
Item #: N82E16819115072

Heatsink - COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO RR-212E-20PK-R2 Continuous Direct Contact 120mm Sleeve
Item #: N82E16835103099

SSD - Intel 320 Series SSDSA2CW120G3K5 2.5" 120GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
Item #: N82E16820167050

Motherboard - ASRock P67 EXTREME4 GEN3 LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Item #: N82E16813157265

Case - Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Item #: N82E16811129021

The two things I'm still really iffy about are the motherboard and the case, but I'll take advice on everything.

Do not get a GTX 580 when the 7970 just came out. 7970 blows it away.

 

[·feist·]

Well, after almost 10 years with the same crappy PC, I've finally got a chance to build myself a new one. I'm planning on using it mainly for heavy gaming. Here's my list of parts so far in my NewEgg cart. Any advice is hugely appreciated.

[...]

The two things I'm still really iffy about are the motherboard and the case, but I'll take advice on everything.

Check OP for case recommendations. Check here, and here, for additional HSF options. Check here for SATA III SSD options. May want to hold off on the 580. Take a look at the 7970, and upcoming 7950. Well have reliable word on the next Nvidias soon enough.

 

[Mr. Robot]

Hi guys, Noob question, my motherboard has a 4 pin chasis fan header, but my case came with a 3 pin rear fan, can i connect the fan to the MB?

 

[Hazaro]

Hi guys, Noob question, my motherboard has a 4 pin chasis fan header, but my case came with a 3 pin rear fan, can i connect the fan to the MB?

yup

 

[HenryHSH]

Should I wait for Ivy Bridge or just upgrade my PC now? I'd have to buy a new MB & RAM along with the processor. Looking at the i7 2600k.

 

[Parl]

Hey, guys. What's a good budget 1155 mobo for putting a i3-2120 & HD5850 in with a view to upgrade the CPU and GPU in the future?

 

[chaosblade]

Should I wait for Ivy Bridge or just upgrade my PC now? I'd have to buy a new MB & RAM along with the processor. Looking at the i7 2600k.

First of all, why a 2600k? For gaming and normal use the hyperthreading won't make a difference, so you should go with the cheaper 2500k. If you know you need it for something it's fine though.

Waiting for Ivy Bridge is a toss up. If you don't need to build right now it can't hurt, should be a bit more powerful clock for clock and will have lower power consumption. Overall, you won't see much difference though, so if you want to build right now you probably won't be disappointed you didn't wait.

Hey, guys. What's a good budget 1155 mobo for putting a i3-2120 & HD5850 in with a view to upgrade the CPU and GPU in the future?

Check out the boards in the standard and enhanced builds in the OP, and the note to the side. But I'm not sure I'd recommend you go that route. The 3570k shouldn't significantly outperform the 2500k purely as a CPU (when you factor in the IGP it will probably do a lot better, but you're going to have a discrete GPU). You can save the $120 from the i3 CPU by getting a motherboard + 2500k now, or waiting until Ivy Bridge launches.

And Ivy Bridge will almost certainly be the last set of CPUs on 1155, so that's all you'll have the option of upgrading to.

Do you already have the 5850? I wouldn't recommend buying one right now unless you know you're getting a good deal on it.

 

[ss_lemonade]

Should I wait for Ivy Bridge or just upgrade my PC now? I'd have to buy a new MB & RAM along with the processor. Looking at the i7 2600k.

IMO, 2500/2600k cpus will last you a very long time if you're only going to use them for gaming (especially when overclocked). I was in the same position, used to have an e8400 and wanted to get an i7 then SB came. I was thinking of waiting for Ivy but figured what the heck, I got tired of the waiting game and purchased a 2500k. OC'ed it to 4.5 and never looked back. Such a monumental improvement over my old core2 and I don't see anything in the near future giving it a rough time.

 

[larvi]

Ugh, my 1.5 TB Seagate 7200.11 drive started getting the dreaded click of death yesterday and now is no longer accessible. In googling the problem it looks like there may have been a firmware update for the drive that may have helped prevent the problem in the first place but nothing you can do once you get the problem...sigh. There goes all of my steam/gog/gamersgate/amazon/etc downloads, will take a long time to download them all again on my slow connection.

At least it looks like the drive is still under warranty which is good considering the cost of a replacement nowadays.

 

[Parl]

Check out the boards in the standard and enhanced builds in the OP, and the note to the side. But I'm not sure I'd recommend you go that route. The 3570k shouldn't significantly outperform the 2500k purely as a CPU (when you factor in the IGP it will probably do a lot better, but you're going to have a discrete GPU). You can save the $120 from the i3 CPU by getting a motherboard + 2500k now, or waiting until Ivy Bridge launches.

And Ivy Bridge will almost certainly be the last set of CPUs on 1155, so that's all you'll have the option of upgrading to.

Do you already have the 5850? I wouldn't recommend buying one right now unless you know you're getting a good deal on it.

The HD5850 was discovered for £45 in an ex-display store. The plan is/was to get a CPU/mobo that could take advantage of the power of the card, but without needlessly spending too much on going higher, unless that will save money in the long run from only having to upgrade the GPU/CrossFire and not both. And the plan would be to sell the replaced parts of course.

With a view to run it for about 2 years, and then do a significant upgrade, would it be best to go i3-2120 now and then upgrade both CPU and graphics, or go strong on CPU now (costing £75 extra) and only upgrade graphics later. Staying with i3-2120 would leave it open for an Ivy Bridge upgrade in the future.

Bear in mind that I'm building this for a friend who is running on an Athlon 3700 and an X1800 or something, don't remember. So the cheaper option would still be a colossal upgrade.

 

[larvi]

Hey, guys. What's a good budget 1155 mobo for putting a i3-2120 & HD5850 in with a view to upgrade the CPU and GPU in the future?

I just picked up one of these for a budget build, will be a great deal if the rebate comes through:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138296

It is similar to the TH67B in the standard build in the OP with the addition of USB 3.0. It wouldn't be a good choice if you are planning on getting an unlocked CPU and overclocking later on though.