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Official "I need a new PC!!" 2009 Edition

B

Beowulf28

Member
Just finished putting in a new video card and CPU so how would you guys rate this?

Radeon HD 4850 1 GB
Wolfdale Pentium Dual Core 2.8 ghz
2 GB RAM
Windows 7 64-bit
 
Nabs

Nabs

Member
Nabs said:
i'm picking some pieces and i've arrived here:

CPU: i5 750 - http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0317379
GFX: Sapphire HD 5850 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102857&cm_re=5850-_-14-102-857-_-Product
Mobo: ASUS P7P55D http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131407
Case: Antec Nine Hundred Two http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0305999
PSU: Corsair CMPSU-650tx http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005
Ram: G.Skill 4gb (2x2) DDR3 1600 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...231193&cm_re=1600_ddr3-_-20-231-193-_-Product

hopefully you guys can help me pick this apart, so I can make the best picks. thanks for the help.
Click to expand...

So I was leaning towards the Antec P183 case and saw it had a decent PSU Combo deal. Would this be a good pickup? Antec Signature SG650 650W

I'm also looking for a good CPU cooler for an i5. So many to choose from.
 
S

SundaySounds

Banned
Nabs said:
So I was leaning towards the Antec P183 case and saw it had a decent PSU Combo deal. Would this be a good pickup? Antec Signature SG650 650W

I'm also looking for a good CPU cooler for an i5. So many to choose from.
Click to expand...

$160 for 650W PSU? Oh hell naw. for 650W you shouldn't be paying more than 60/70 bucks. Unless you need a special one for dual CPUs or something.

That's an awesome case, though. Panda Bear just picked up that same one on black friday and it's quiet as hell. Keeps it pretty cool, too.

As far as CPU coolers go, The megahalems are always a solid choice if you can afford it, I think the cheapest one I've ever seen is about 60 bones. I've heard the noctua coolers are really good, too. Pretty sure they're cheaper then the megahalems. Are you looking to overclock?
 
Nabs

Nabs

Member
SundaySounds said:
$160 for 650W PSU? Oh hell naw. for 650W you shouldn't be paying more than 60/70 bucks. Unless you need a special one for dual CPUs or something.

That's an awesome case, though. Panda Bear just picked up that same one on black friday and it's quiet as hell. Keeps it pretty cool, too.
Click to expand...

Help me find a better PSU, I've been out of it for years.

And yeah, I'd like a decent OC. Nothing insane.
 
Nabs

Nabs

Member
not sure about the raidmax. while i'd like to save money, i'm not sure i want to skimp on the psu. firestorms combo looks nice
 
P

Pachinko

Member
Seeing the request for a 2010 thread like this is kind of funny because we've had nearly 13000 posts. Also funny that I first wanted help building a new computer before the i7's even launched :p

Hopefully mine ships soon.
 
I

I should be doing hw

Member
Just got my new PC today and its giving me the shits. I can't play games on it for some reason, Windows 7 keeps cockblocking me. >:L

Every time I go to launch the Witcher, Win 7 pops up with "Insufficient privileges: you must be administrator when you run this application for the first time"
Now I've done the command prompt thing and enabled the Admin, logged in as it and tried again and the same message. Right clicked it and "run as admin", same message. Did it on the launcher for the game and the root file.
Then I uninstalled and reinstalled the game when in the admin logon and the same thing happens. I then went into the properties of the game and allowed myslef full control under every user setting it offered. Still nothing.
Can anyone help me out here? I just want to fucking play the Witcherr :'(
 
F

Firestorm

Member
I should be doing hw said:
Just got my new PC today and its giving me the shits. I can't play games on it for some reason, Windows 7 keeps cockblocking me. >:L

Every time I go to launch the Witcher, Win 7 pops up with "Insufficient privileges: you must be administrator when you run this application for the first time"
Now I've done the command prompt thing and enabled the Admin, logged in as it and tried again and the same message. Right clicked it and "run as admin", same message. Did it on the launcher for the game and the root file.
Then I uninstalled and reinstalled the game when in the admin logon and the same thing happens. I then went into the properties of the game and allowed myslef full control under every user setting it offered. Still nothing.
Can anyone help me out here? I just want to fucking play the Witcherr :'(
Click to expand...
Have you gone to Users -> User Account Control -> and turned the slider all the way down? Restart after doing that and see what happens.
 
I

I should be doing hw

Member
brain_stew said:
Set individual programs that don't work to "run in administrator mode"?
Click to expand...
Done this for the Witcher also and I still get the same fucking popup. I just turned off UAC and am rebooting now, I'll see if that does anything.
Edit:
For fuck sakes! Still the same popup! What's the point of having a good PC when the software doesn't let you do shit, starting to remember why I went to console gaming.
 
H

How About No

Member
I should be doing hw said:
Just got my new PC today and its giving me the shits. I can't play games on it for some reason, Windows 7 keeps cockblocking me. >:L

Every time I go to launch the Witcher, Win 7 pops up with "Insufficient privileges: you must be administrator when you run this application for the first time"
Now I've done the command prompt thing and enabled the Admin, logged in as it and tried again and the same message. Right clicked it and "run as admin", same message. Did it on the launcher for the game and the root file.
Then I uninstalled and reinstalled the game when in the admin logon and the same thing happens. I then went into the properties of the game and allowed myslef full control under every user setting it offered. Still nothing.
Can anyone help me out here? I just want to fucking play the Witcherr :'(
Click to expand...
I have the same problem with this game! This is bugging the shit out of me.
 
I

I should be doing hw

Member
How About No said:
I have the same problem with this game! This is bugging the shit out of me.
Click to expand...
Great, at least we can share the frustration. Do other games work for you?
I've also noticed that this popup is coming from Atari and not Windows itself, possibly a game bug then?
 
F

Firestorm

Member
brain_stew said:
You really shouldn't be turning UAC completely off.
Click to expand...
I don't know. I prefer it to be off. I can't stand it. I don't download anything from sources I don't trust and I believe in my anti-virus to catch what little can go wrong. Haven't really had a problem in the 2 years I had Vista for and all of that was with UAC off. Same with the past couple of months on Windows 7 RC.
 
I

I should be doing hw

Member
I narrowed the problem down to be just game specific, something to do with some Tage Protection software not being compatible with 7. They have supported drivers, which I downloaded, but when I try to install them I get an error saying that "the application has failed to start because its side by side configuration is incorrect"
...wha?

On a side note, what drivers should I update for the PC, as in, what have them? I'm in the process of downloading the newest ATI Catalyst (on dial-up, shudder) is there anything else like motherboard or cpu that have drivers to update at all?
Also what is the best CPU overclocking software and what's a safe i5 overclock that isn't too demanding with a Noctua heatsink/fan. About 3 I'm guessing?
 
F

Firestorm

Member
Everyone in this thread seems to say that OCing through your BIOS is best. I didn't download any drivers manually except for my video (through nVidia) and onboard sound (through Gigabyte). I found what Windows 7 finds on its own to be fine. I can't believe that Windows actually finds drivers for you now. I'm just so used to it failing like it has for the past 10 years ._.
 
S

SundaySounds

Banned
Firestorm said:
I don't know. I prefer it to be off. I can't stand it. I don't download anything from sources I don't trust and I believe in my anti-virus to catch what little can go wrong. Haven't really had a problem in the 2 years I had Vista for and all of that was with UAC off. Same with the past couple of months on Windows 7 RC.
Click to expand...

pretty much this. Turning off UAC is the first thing I do after a fresh install.
 
I

I should be doing hw

Member
Firestorm said:
Everyone in this thread seems to say that OCing through your BIOS is best. I didn't download any drivers manually except for my video (through nVidia) and onboard sound (through Gigabyte). I found what Windows 7 finds on its own to be fine. I can't believe that Windows actually finds drivers for you now. I'm just so used to it failing like it has for the past 10 years ._.
Click to expand...
Where can I find this on 7? Is there a driver section?
I'm finding this OS to be a bit obtuse with what to do and where everything is, I guess that's because I've been using XP for that long. Having my broadband capped couldn't have happened at a worse time, I have to wait till the 12th till I get my broadband back = no way to update much because dialup is so shitty on my PC. Oddly the net runs faster on my laptop though...
 
F

Firestorm

Member
I should be doing hw said:
Where can I find this on 7? Is there a driver section?
I'm finding this OS to be a bit obtuse with what to do and where everything is, I guess that's because I've been using XP for that long. Having my broadband capped couldn't have happened at a worse time, I have to wait till the 12th till I get my broadband back = no way to update much because dialup is so shitty on my PC. Oddly the net runs faster on my laptop though...
Click to expand...
As soon as you connect to the internet, Windows 7 will basically find everything for you with Windows Update. You don't have to do anything. Video is just something you're going to want to do manually as a gamer.
 
A

au hasard Balthazar

Neo Member
Ok I'm trying to decide between a laptop with some decent gaming capability and a blu-ray player or a pc for gaming also with a blu-ray player.

I don't need much with choosing a laptop since there is a more limited selection for what a desire, but I'm not sure about all the options available with graphic cards. I have rough $1,000 dollar cap and the only things I've decided on so far is I'm think of just going with a dual-core since I've heard the quad-core is more luxury than usually necessary and I'm looking at 21"+ screens with good black levels since it will also be a HTPC.
 
F

Firestorm

Member
au hasard Balthazar said:
Ok I'm trying to decide between a laptop with some decent gaming capability and a blu-ray player or a pc for gaming also with a blu-ray player.

I don't need much with choosing a laptop since there is a more limited selection for what a desire, but I'm not sure about all the options available with graphic cards. I have rough $1,000 dollar cap and the only things I've decided on so far is I'm think of just going with a dual-core since I've heard the quad-core is more luxury than usually necessary and I'm looking at 21"+ screens with good black levels since it will also be a HTPC.
Click to expand...
A quad isn't more for luxury... With 360 being the lead platform on most games, it's becoming increasingly common for games to be using three cores for maximum performance. Is the monitor included in that $1000 budget?
 
B

brain_stew

Member
au hasard Balthazar said:
Ok I'm trying to decide between a laptop with some decent gaming capability and a blu-ray player or a pc for gaming also with a blu-ray player.

I don't need much with choosing a laptop since there is a more limited selection for what a desire, but I'm not sure about all the options available with graphic cards. I have rough $1,000 dollar cap and the only things I've decided on so far is I'm think of just going with a dual-core since I've heard the quad-core is more luxury than usually necessary and I'm looking at 21"+ screens with good black levels since it will also be a HTPC.
Click to expand...

Don't do that.
 
L

Lkr

Member
I'd go with quad core. The only reason I'm on tricore was because of my budget.

I haven't sent in my RMA yet, but is there anyway to speed up the process? I can't handle going a week or longer without my computer :\
 
X

x3sphere

Member
If you turn off UAC don't blame Windows when some program ends up hosing your OS install or causes stability issues. UAC prevents programs from doing things they shouldn't. It should not be disabled, otherwise you're essentially throwing all the security benefits of Vista/7 away.
 
S

senahorse

Member
Just for fun, my htpc I am currently getting up and running:

35lciyt.png
 
JRW

JRW

Member
x3n05 said:
Just for fun, my htpc I am currently getting up and running:

35lciyt.png
Click to expand...

I just installed Win 7 32bit on a friends ancient PC which has a VIA Unichrome IGP onboard video card... it doesn't even have its own memory, instead it uses 64MB of system ram lol, Windows Aero was disabled and even web pages scrolled choppy.. So yea I basically told him at the very least he needs to buy a better videocard immediately lol. (AMD XP 3200 / 1GB PC3200 ram / 500GB WD IDE) It was painful spending the day with his PC after being so used to my i7 rig.

amd-xp-3200.JPG
 
Z

zoku88

Member
I should be doing hw said:
I hate that the score is judged by the lowest number, it should be averaged. I'm all over 7's except my HDD is 5.9 so that's the score. :l
Click to expand...
Why do you care? The score is mostly pointless.

(And it does that assuming the lowest score is a bottleneck. Which it usually kinda is for general use.)
 
F

Firestorm

Member
I should be doing hw said:
I hate that the score is judged by the lowest number, it should be averaged. I'm all over 7's except my HDD is 5.9 so that's the score. :l
Click to expand...
It's supposed to be a score so dummies can tell if something will work on their computer or not. So if a software has 5.5, you're going to need at least a 5.5 on your computer to make it work. An average won't work because then you might have a really high CPU score but shit GPU score (like most pre-built computers) and then something won't run.

This is all about simplification.

However, HDD really shouldn't play a part as it seems to mess it up anyway.
 
I

ianswoody

Member
AUGH! Just finished putting together my new rig last night and I cannot for the life of me find my extra keyboard. My old one is at my mom's since I let her have my old, ancient one (built in 2001 :D ). There's no way you can run through everything without one, is there?!? Man, I hate myself right now.

Edit: Also, when I do get one, are you able to boot with a USB keyboard on most MBs nowadays?
 
S

sonitii

Member
I'm so tempted to build a new system but funds are lacking at the moment. A Core i7 920 for $200 from MicroCenter looks pretty good.
 
Minsc

Minsc

Gold Member
Firestorm said:
It's supposed to be a score so dummies can tell if something will work on their computer or not. So if a software has 5.5, you're going to need at least a 5.5 on your computer to make it work. An average won't work because then you might have a really high CPU score but shit GPU score (like most pre-built computers) and then something won't run.

This is all about simplification.

However, HDD really shouldn't play a part as it seems to mess it up anyway.
Click to expand...

Hey, nothing wrong with the WEI being a big driver in SSD adoption! I think it's good something is getting people to realize the marginal performance increases we've tolerated with HDDs relative to CPUs/GPUs.
 
A

au hasard Balthazar

Neo Member
Firestorm said:
A quad isn't more for luxury... With 360 being the lead platform on most games, it's becoming increasingly common for games to be using three cores for maximum performance. Is the monitor included in that $1000 budget?
Click to expand...

No. I've been looking at tv/monitors in then 32" range, but the higher quality models begin to pull away in price so I'll probably stick with something in the 20" range. I'm glad I asked about the quad then because I was misinformed on its usefulness for games.
 
A

Annihilator

Member
JRW said:
I just installed Win 7 32bit on a friends ancient PC which has a VIA Unichrome IGP onboard video card... it doesn't even have its own memory, instead it uses 64MB of system ram lol, Windows Aero was disabled and even web pages scrolled choppy.. So yea I basically told him at the very least he needs to buy a better videocard immediately lol. (AMD XP 3200 / 1GB PC3200 ram / 500GB WD IDE) It was painful spending the day with his PC after being so used to my i7 rig.

amd-xp-3200.JPG
Click to expand...

Holy crap! Windows gave a hard drive a 5.8! Mind blown...
 
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