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Official 2008 "I Need A New PC" Thread

C

Chris R

Member
Trax416 said:
Cool. :lol

You have no idea the amount of people I have seen on forums, purchase all these expensive OC'ing parts, and never over clock.
Click to expand...
Well, just going to get some of the "semi" expensive stuff that should hold me over for another year or so... but I did use to buy the cheap shit and overclock it... loved my old 1700+ (1.467 -> about 2.8 on water 24/7) :lol

Also, what is a pretty good air cooler that newegg carries? Was looking at the Nirvana...Would get the noctu or whatever but they don't have it (ordering all my shit from 1 place to keep shipping costs below 200$)
 
J

JSnake

Member
Tiduz said:
apparantly the 8.8 catalyst drivers are supposed to hit this tuesday, hope they arent only giving performance boost to Crossfire cards, i only got one 4850 :p

Supposedly powerplay 2.0 works with it too for 4870 users and 4850 users in CF. and fanspeed is updated (!)
Click to expand...

What's powerplay? >.>
 
S

spyshagg

Should not be allowed to breed
I also bought a new computer this month :)
It was made for silence... yet, fast as f*ck.

207m4gi.jpg


The cooling scheme is this one:
3586hax.jpg


Two radiators doing the heavy duty.

As I only play games, and games still scale better to Mhz than to Cores, I went for a dual core.

E8400 at 4ghz watercooled
board Asus P5E64 Workstation (fucking impressive...)
Powercolor Hd4870 watercooled (this is fast as fuck... seriously. And I still haven't flashed the overclockers Bios)
2x1Gb of cheap Ocz DDR3 ram. Working at 1600mhz

I bought acoustic insulators for the case and for the Hdd (still the loudest thing on my pc. On par with the power supply)
This thing is awesome.

I play games on my Samsung LE40M87BD at full rez 1920x1080 :D
 
Chiggs

Chiggs

Gold Member
Badabing said:
Thanks to you Chiggs, I just bout a 9800GX2. The evidence was there all along, you just woke me up!
Click to expand...

I'm sure you're gonna love it. We should all thank AMD, too. Without them, these prices wouldn't be possible.
 
Z

zoku88

Member
Branskins said:
What would you recommend? I would love to get a cheaper one! :)
Click to expand...
I'm prolly not the right person to ask, but if I were buying a motherboard, I'd prolly stick to the $100- 150 USD range.

(I prolly wouldn't buy an nForce unless I was planning to do SLI, though.)
 
V

VictimOfGrief

Banned
Just pulled the trigger on a new HDD for my recently built rig :

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (Perpendicular Recording) ST3750640AS 750GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA-300 Hard Drive

Only $99 + free shipping @ the Egg. I'm debating selling my Raptor drive and lose some of the speed for the storage.... but the only problem with that is my 250GB drive is going to have emotional issues next to a 750GB drive. :lol
 
Z

zoku88

Member
Branskins said:
It just has to be able run the gx2 I guess. I am not that computer savvy =/
Click to expand...
I think almost any motherboard you pick out (that has a PCI-e 2.0 slot) would be able to house a GX2
 
K

Kosma

Banned
I was in Kuala Lumpur a few days ago and stumbled upon the WGC qualifying tournament in one of the malls. Intel had a nice rig setup there just to show of:

2 Q9300
3 (sic) 9600 GT
1100 Watt SPU

Didnt remember the rest but the thing was a beast to behold. The 9600's could have been 280's too but I just dont remember anymore.

They had some awesome deals going on premade rigs too, really low prices. If youre in KL anytime soon be sure to check it all out at the Midvalley Plaze (if its still there the Tournament is over now).

All in all computer prices in Malaysia are INSANE. Insane expensive that is. Maybe its the shops Ive been too but the laptops they were trying to sell here were more expensive then back in Europe. Even Dell.
 
B

Blackface

Banned
zoku88 said:
I think almost any motherboard you pick out (that has a PCI-e 2.0 slot) would be able to house a GX2
Click to expand...

This.

Very expensive motherboards are for people who are obsessed with overclocking. You don't need that motherboard if all you are going to do is game at stock. Even then ,you don't need it to overclock. It's for the people who literally spend their lives doing this stuff. Many of them coming ready for Watercooling.

You can still OC well with a board under $100. My friends Biostar, which costs $89, is one of the best boards I have seen under $200.

The key is to find a good board. When motherboards are released, they are normally cheaper then 2 months after launch. An example is the EVGA 750I. I got mine for $110. People started to realize, it's one of the top overclocking motherboards under $250, so EVGA shot the price up. Gigabyte did the same thing with their DS3L series.

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=31277&vpn=TP43D2-A7&manufacture=BIOSTAR

^ Great board.
 
C

Chris R

Member
Well I'm going to try and dig all of my watercooling stuff out, but I think it might be costing me a bit more than expected to get it back up and running again, since I would have to buy a new CPU block, tubing, pump, and if I wanted, GPU block. Also don't know how dirty my two radiators are, or if the fans still work, but on the otherhand I still have my old watercooling case so that would save on buying a new case :lol

Zerotherm Nirvana any good for aircooling if my watercooling turns out to cost to much?
 
H

Hazaro

relies on auto-aim
Trax416 said:
This.

Very expensive motherboards are for people who are obsessed with overclocking. You don't need that motherboard if all you are going to do is game at stock. Even then ,you don't need it to overclock. It's for the people who literally spend their lives doing this stuff. Many of them coming ready for Watercooling.

You can still OC well with a board under $100. My friends Biostar, which costs $89, is one of the best boards I have seen under $200.

The key is to find a good board. When motherboards are released, they are normally cheaper then 2 months after launch. An example is the EVGA 750I. I got mine for $110. People started to realize, it's one of the top overclocking motherboards under $250, so EVGA shot the price up. Gigabyte did the same thing with their DS3L series.

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=31277&vpn=TP43D2-A7&manufacture=BIOSTAR

^ Great board.
Click to expand...

My friend recently purchased that board and it clocks for crap :lol

Does your friend overclock?

My choices would be a Asus P5Q or a Gigabyte DS3R (Make sure to get the P35/P45 version)

rhfb said:
Zerotherm Nirvana any good for aircooling if my watercooling turns out to cost to much?
Click to expand...

Solid cooler, that was my next choice, if I hadn't of gotten a great deal on my TRUE.
 
wolfmat

wolfmat

Confirmed Asshole
VictimOfGrief said:
Just pulled the trigger on a new HDD for my recently built rig :

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (Perpendicular Recording) ST3750640AS 750GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA-300 Hard Drive

Only $99 + free shipping @ the Egg. I'm debating selling my Raptor drive and lose some of the speed for the storage.... but the only problem with that is my 250GB drive is going to have emotional issues next to a 750GB drive. :lol
Click to expand...
Holy crap, that's a good deal.

But what will you do once the drive dies? 750GB to shovel somewhere else :lol Damn
 
P

Phantast2k

Member
Hi,
so a friend of mine asked me to build him a rig capable of running Crysis. He also set a budget of approx. 400€ :(
So this is what I came up with:

- C2D E7300 Boxed: 90€
- MSI P43 Neo-F, P43: 60€
- Zotac GeForce 8800 (G92) GTS PCIe 512 MB DDR3: 100€ (*)
- 2048MB-Kit GEIL Black Dragon PC2-6400 DDR2-800 CL4: 35€
- Antec New Solution NSK4480B: 65€ (*²)
- Western Digital Caviar Blue 320GB SATA II: 45€
- LG Electronics GH20NS: 20€

= 415€

-----------------
* - A 4850 is 30€ more while being only 5 frames (more or less) ahead of the 8800GTS from what I've seen. What are your thoughts?
*² - I've never bought a case with a build in power suply, but since I'm on a strict budget here I've got no choice. This is the build in suply:
EarthWatts 380W ATX12V v2.0 80Plus Certified power supply
Will it be enough for the rig?
A guy on newegg is using it for "Quad Core Q6600 2.4, 9800gt, 2x 250gb hd, 4gb RAM and a tv tuner."
Since I'll be utilizing a 45nm CPU I should be safe, right?
 
O

otake

Doesn't know that "You" is used in both the singular and plural
Phantast2k said:
Hi,
so a friend of mine asked me to build him a rig capable of running Crysis. He also set a budget of approx. 400€ :(
So this is what I came up with:

- C2D E7300 Boxed: 90€
- MSI P43 Neo-F, P43: 60€
- Zotac GeForce 8800 (G92) GTS PCIe 512 MB DDR3: 100€ (*)
- 2048MB-Kit GEIL Black Dragon PC2-6400 DDR2-800 CL4: 35€
- Antec New Solution NSK4480B: 65€ (*²)
- Western Digital Caviar Blue 320GB SATA II: 45€
- LG Electronics GH20NS: 20€

= 415€

-----------------
* - A 4850 is 30€ more while being only 5 frames (more or less) ahead of the 8800GTS from what I've seen. What are your thoughts?
*² - I've never bought a case with a build in power suply, but since I'm on a strict budget here I've got no choice. This is the build in suply:
EarthWatts 380W ATX12V v2.0 80Plus Certified power supply
Will it be enough for the rig?
A guy on newegg is using it for "Quad Core Q6600 2.4, 9800gt, 2x 250gb hd, 4gb RAM and a tv tuner."
Since I'll be utilizing a 45nm CPU I should be safe, right?
Click to expand...

what resolution will the guy be playing at? I would get a bigger power supply. at least 500 wats.
 
P

Phantast2k

Member
otake said:
what resolution will the guy be playing at? I would get a bigger power supply. at least 500 wats.
Click to expand...
The res would be 1680x1050 max.
500 watts? The CPU is 45nm, 65W TDP, the GPU is 143W TDP (or even 110w if I get the 4850). Why would I need a 500w power supply? o_O
 
K

Kamakazie!

Member
Phantast2k said:
The res would be 1680x1050 max.
500 watts? The CPU is 45nm, 65W TDP, the GPU is 143W TDP (or even 110w if I get the 4850). Why would I need a 500w power supply? o_O
Click to expand...

Because most "PC Enthusiasts" don't have a clue how little power most PC's draw.
A 380w would be fine with that setup, it probably won't draw more than 300w at the wall so there is plenty of room to play with there.
 
C

Cheeto

Member
Kamakazie! said:
Because most "PC Enthusiasts" don't have a clue how little power most PC's draw.
A 380w would be fine with that setup, it probably won't draw more than 300w at the wall so there is plenty of room to play with there.
Click to expand...
Ugh...I think most "PC Enthusiasts" look beyond simple watt ratings.

8800GTS 92 - (Minimum recommended power supply with +12 Volt current rating of 26 Amp Amps.)

You're cutting it very close with that power supply.
 
H

Hazaro

relies on auto-aim
Kamakazie! said:
Because most "PC Enthusiasts" don't have a clue how little power most PC's draw.
A 380w would be fine with that setup, it probably won't draw more than 300w at the wall so there is plenty of room to play with there.
Click to expand...

Except I know I wouldn't want my PSU being loaded near 100% when I used it. Therefore I have a nice little 520W

Here's a nice little thread about an Antec EA 380W set-up (Quad + GTX) Overclocked.

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=511180
 
A

ahoyhoy

Unconfirmed Member
ahoyhoy said:
Alright, I'm a bit new to this whole PC building game. The most experience I have with PC hardware is installing a new GPU/RAM into my PC/Laptop, although my brother has built a few PC's in the past so he should be able to lend me a helping hand.

Here's the basic rig I'm thinking of. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz
ASUS P5Q Pro LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
ASUS EAH4870/HTDI/512M Radeon HD 4870 512MB 256-bit GDDR5
Rosewill Conqueror WBK Triple 120mm Fans Steel ATX Mid tower Computer Case
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s
OCZ GameXStream OCZ600GXSSLI 600W ATX12V Power Supply
Acer X203Wbd Black 20" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor
Total: $1,128.93

BTW, I'm looking to upgrade to Crossfire 4870's by years end.
Click to expand...

So I finally built this computer last week, with an E8500 Wolfdale and a cheaper PSU with a bit more wattage (650W). So far she is running fantastically. On stock settings, I got 13145 on 3dMark06, and I'm hoping to break 15000 after OC'ing and fooling around (maybe buying another fan). The 4870 is DESTROYING games, as I'm getting around 90-100 FPS on 32 person TF2 servers with everything maxed and AA x4 @ 1680x1050. Crysis (at least the demo) stayed around 50-60 FPS at similar settings (except for the AA) with it never dipping below 30 FPS. As soon as my budget replenishes, I'm going to be buying some more graphically intensive games to finally enjoy.
 
B

Branskins

Member
Trax416 said:
This.

Very expensive motherboards are for people who are obsessed with overclocking. You don't need that motherboard if all you are going to do is game at stock. Even then ,you don't need it to overclock. It's for the people who literally spend their lives doing this stuff. Many of them coming ready for Watercooling.

You can still OC well with a board under $100. My friends Biostar, which costs $89, is one of the best boards I have seen under $200.

The key is to find a good board. When motherboards are released, they are normally cheaper then 2 months after launch. An example is the EVGA 750I. I got mine for $110. People started to realize, it's one of the top overclocking motherboards under $250, so EVGA shot the price up. Gigabyte did the same thing with their DS3L series.

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=31277&vpn=TP43D2-A7&manufacture=BIOSTAR

^ Great board.
Click to expand...

Thank you. I looked at this board and I also looked at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128082. I read the one you gave cannot OC the 6600 above 3.1, but honestly, I was just planning on OCing it to 3.0. So I may end up getting that one. This would save me around 200 bucks by not having to buy the rampage.

Also, what is the difference between the P35 and P45 other than 10 bucks?

And another also, what kind of cooling would I need for this q6600 potentially OCed to 3.1 and this behemoth GX2?
 
E

Epix

Member
Branskins said:
Thank you. I looked at this board and I also looked at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128082. I read the one you gave cannot OC the 6600 above 3.1, but honestly, I was just planning on OCing it to 3.0. So I may end up getting that one. This would save me around 200 bucks by not having to buy the rampage.

Also, what is the difference between the P35 and P45 other than 10 bucks?

And another also, what kind of cooling would I need for this q6600 potentially OCed to 3.1 and this behemoth GX2?
Click to expand...
I OC'd my Q6600 to 3.4 with this HSF.
 
B

Branskins

Member
How would this compare?

Here is my cart so far:

GIGABYTE GA-EP35C-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Dynamic Energy Saver Ultra Durable II Intel Motherboard - Retail

PNY XLR8 VCG98GX2XPB GeForce 9800 GX2 1GB (512MB per GPU) 512-bit (256-bit per GPU) GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

Rosewill RP550 ATX V1.3/ EPS12V 550W Power Supply - Retail

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor Model BX80562Q6600 - Retail

OCZ Gold 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2G8004GK - Retail

Tuniq Tower 120 Universal CPU Cooler 120mm Cooling Fan and Fan Controler/Heatsink - Retail

Rosewill RCX-Z775-LX 92mm Ball CPU Cooler - Retail (How many of these should I get?)
 
Z

Zzoram

Member
For people wondering about power supplies:

Core 2 Duo E8400
4GB DDR2 800mhz
500GB 7200RPM SATA HDD
18xDVD-RW
HD4870 512mb GDDR5
Antec 900 with the stock 3x120mm and 1x200mm fans

works perfectly on an Antec Earthwatts 500W
 
B

Blackface

Banned
Branskins said:
How would this compare?

Here is my cart so far:

GIGABYTE GA-EP35C-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Dynamic Energy Saver Ultra Durable II Intel Motherboard - Retail

PNY XLR8 VCG98GX2XPB GeForce 9800 GX2 1GB (512MB per GPU) 512-bit (256-bit per GPU) GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

Rosewill RP550 ATX V1.3/ EPS12V 550W Power Supply - Retail

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor Model BX80562Q6600 - Retail

OCZ Gold 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2G8004GK - Retail

Tuniq Tower 120 Universal CPU Cooler 120mm Cooling Fan and Fan Controler/Heatsink - Retail

Rosewill RCX-Z775-LX 92mm Ball CPU Cooler - Retail (How many of these should I get?)
Click to expand...

Don't buy Rosewill products. They are listed as a "Tier 5" vendor, which means they are horrible.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=108088

Also, take Newegg reviews with a grain of salt. A lot of people writing reviews don't know what they are talking about. I have seen products get bad reviews, for an error the user made, not the product.
 
Chiggs

Chiggs

Gold Member
Branskins said:
Thank you! What PSU would you recommend?
Click to expand...


Coolermaster, Thermaltake, PC Power and Cooling, or Antec.


Edit: What the hell, Kingwin is a Tier V product? Jesus, I've used tons of their modular power supplies and they were fantastic.

Edit: Removed Kingwin. Questionable quality.
 
B

Blackface

Banned
Chiggs said:
Coolermaster, Thermaltake, PC Power and Cooling, Kingwin, or Antec.


Edit: What the hell, Kingwin is a Tier V product? Jesus, I've used tons of their modular power supplies and they were fantastic.
Click to expand...

Lots of the lowest tier will fail and break. Others will work great, and have good stability, but will not have the proper power on the rails for certain aspects of PC use. They may also not be efficient. So a Kingwin might be a good PSU for a normal PC, but if someone hooked up a monster rig to one, the rails would get fucked and the PSU would fail.

Corsair is another top quality PSU maker to add to the list. Many sites have moved them up to Tier1.
 
V

VictimOfGrief

Banned
Chiggs said:
Coolermaster, Thermaltake, PC Power and Cooling, Kingwin, or Antec.


Edit: What the hell, Kingwin is a Tier V product? Jesus, I've used tons of their modular power supplies and they were fantastic.
Click to expand...

Add OCZ to that list as their PSU's are freaking awesome.
 
Chiggs

Chiggs

Gold Member
Trax416 said:
Lots of the lowest tier will fail and break. Others will work great, and have good stability, but will not have the proper power on the rails for certain aspects of PC use. They may also not be efficient. So a Kingwin might be a good PSU for a normal PC, but if someone hooked up a monster rig to one, the rails would get fucked and the PSU would fail.

Corsair is another top quality PSU maker to add to the list. Many sites have moved them up to Tier1.
Click to expand...

Eeeinteresting. Thanks for the tip. I used a couple of their 700 watt models (Mach 1, I think) that were fantastic for my Thermaltake Lanboxes (both with 8800GT's), and they worked very well.

Looks like I might be avoiding them in the future.
 
C

Cheeto

Member
Trax416 said:
Corsair is another top quality PSU maker to add to the list. Many sites have moved them up to Tier1.
Click to expand...
Corsairs are rebranded Seasonics though, aren't they. Still very good though.
 
V

VictimOfGrief

Banned
B

Branskins

Member
Wow that is a beast!!!

Can someone also tell me if I should go with a P35 mobo or a P43? The biostart P43 is a lot cheaper than the P35. I would think that with the P35 being older that it would be cheaper!

EDIT: With the antec, there is this combo deal: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021 both for 139.98. I was interested in that case because it seems really good at cooling. Should I even consider this combo?

EDIT2: I meant to say 139 not 198!
 
B

Blackface

Banned
Cheeto said:
Corsairs are rebranded Seasonics though, aren't they. Still very good though.
Click to expand...

Seasonic produces many of their PSU's (Corsair pays them to use their factories) but the designs and certain components are created by Corsair.
 
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