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

H

Halvie

Banned
Anyone know if the clarkdales are getting released during CES in a couple weeks? Wanna buy new parts, but if the new chips are that close I might as well wait.
 
E

erpg

GAF parliamentarian
So I finally received all the parts for my new PC. But, for reasons I can't understand, it won't load the Windows DVD at boot. The DVD drive is recognised in the BIOS, and I've set it to boot from CD drive, but it isn't loading the disk. Ideas?
 
S

squinters

astigmatic
My friend recently bought the Orange Box through Steam's sale, only to discover that he can't play TF2. Not surprising considering he's only got an integrated graphics chip, a 1.8ghz processor, and .99 GB of ram. But he's willing to upgrade to play TF2, but he only has $100 or so to spend. So what would be the recommended course of action?
 
A

Ardorx

Banned
TouchMyBox said:
What's your budget? I wouldn't recommend a 4650 to anyone who even knows what steam or videogames in general are. You MIGHT be able to get away with using that power supply with a 5770, if it can actually deliver that much power (remember, PSUs degrade over the years) and if you have a lowish powered cpu. But yeah, you'd want to get rid of that thing as soon as possible regardless. If you can afford it, go for this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102864&cm_re=5770-_-14-102-864-_-Product and this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139003&Tpk=corsair%20450w

If you're looking to spend a bit less, go with this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814141103&cm_re=4850-_-14-141-103-_-Product

Unfortunately it looks like the radeon 4xxx series is being killed off so your options there are limited.
Click to expand...

My budget is under $100 for the card. I'm not looking for anything mindblowing, I just want the step above a 8600GT.

I'm not going to do much gaming on my PC since I have a PS3 now, I just want something that'll boost the performance of UT3, valve games and the occasional PC exclusive.


BTW, will PCI Express 2.0 x16 cards not work on my motherboard?
 
S

Salaadin

Member
Ive read some things about subwoofer placement in regards to your PC but cant find anything solid about distance. Just how far away should my subwoofer be from the actual PC and monitor? I have an idea about where I want to put it but I drew a picture so itd be easier to explain.

23vcm8p.jpg


I was going to stick the subwoofer on the floor, under the desk, somewhere on the right side. The desk is solid metal on both sides so there will be something between the PC and the subwoofer.

EDIT: Also, any reccomendations for a good PC headset? Once FFXIV lands, I fully expect to be on ventrilo for voice chat and Ill be needing a headset. USB preferably.
 
T

TheExodu5

Banned
Salaadin said:
I was going to stick the subwoofer on the floor, under the desk, somewhere on the right side. The desk is solid metal on both sides so there will be something between the PC and the subwoofer.
Click to expand...

That sounds just fine.

Anyhoo, got my Intel X-25M 80GB SSD! Wow, this thing is light and tiny.

About to install Windows 7 64-bit on it. Wish me luck!
 
F

Firestorm

Member
au hasard Balthazar said:
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.
Click to expand...
Then I would really recommend getting a 21.5" 1080p monitor with HDMI + DVI inputs, Getting a PS3 as your "blu-ray drive", and putting $700 - $800 for the PC.

Motherboard: Gigabyte P55A-UD3 ($135) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128412
CPU: Intel Core i5-750 ($190 - 15% Bing Cashback) - http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4959973&sku=I69-0750
Case: Antec Three Hundred ($55) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042
GPU: HIS Radeon 5850 ($310 - 15% Bing Cashback) - http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5337607&CatId=3669
PSU: 600W OCZ ModXStream ($70 - 15% Bing Cashback - $25 MIR) - http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4362114&CatId=1483
HDD: Samsung 500GB Spinpoint F3 ($55) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181
RAM: 4GB Patriot ($90 - $10 MIR) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220435
DVD Reader: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151197

Monitor: http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...etail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=320-8299


Total: $932 - $85.5 cashback - $35 MIR = $811 + $299 for the PS3 (hopefully you find it on sale) + $170 for monitor
 
B

BravoSuperStar

Member
TheExodu5 said:
How the hell did you mount the damn thing? :lol

I need to find something to tie it down for now, until I find a mount for it.
Click to expand...

U got the OEM version? The retail comes with a mount. :D

Hell I know someone that has theirs taped onto the hdd cage with electrical tape, lol.
 
B

brain_stew

Member
squinters said:
My friend recently bought the Orange Box through Steam's sale, only to discover that he can't play TF2. Not surprising considering he's only got an integrated graphics chip, a 1.8ghz processor, and .99 GB of ram. But he's willing to upgrade to play TF2, but he only has $100 or so to spend. So what would be the recommended course of action?
Click to expand...

Is that a dual core chip and does the board take DDR2 RAM? If not, he shouldn't be upgrading that thing.

If it is, he should pick up these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127448&cm_re=4670-_-14-127-448-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...84&cm_re=ddr2_2gb_6400-_-20-231-084-_-Product

And look into OCing his processor a little.
 
F

Firestorm

Member
brain_stew said:
Is that a dual core chip and does the board take DDR2 RAM? If not, he shouldn't be upgrading that thing.

If it is, he should pick up these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127448&cm_re=4670-_-14-127-448-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...84&cm_re=ddr2_2gb_6400-_-20-231-084-_-Product

And look into OCing his processor a little.
Click to expand...
I think this would be a better choice for video card. About $7 more, but save $7 due to free shipping and it's 1GB or Video RAM vs 512MB. Dunno how Gigabyte vs MSI goes though.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125277&cm_re=4670-_-14-125-277-_-Product
 
T

TheExodu5

Banned
SuperEnemyCrab said:
U got the OEM version? The retail comes with a mount. :D

Hell I know someone that has theirs taped onto the hdd cage with electrical tape, lol.
Click to expand...

Yeah looks like it. :lol

I got a working setup. Quite solid, actually.

ssd.jpg
 
E

ezekial45

Banned
My graphics card has been giving me some serious issues as of late.

PNY Geforce 8800 GT 512mb

I cleaned the dust out of the card with canned air yesterday and it seemed to have dropped it's temp down to an average of 65 C (this is it's normal temp right now). Before cleaning it, it was in the high 60's to mid 70's. Over the past few months i've experienced several crashes during gaming sessions and i've become really concerned for my comp. I'm worried that all these crashes are causing long term damage to it.

My comp has only crashed while playing games and it's never been a problem when watching videos or just surfing the internet. I've asked around for advice and i've heard of several suggestions. One involves replacing the thermal paste and the other involves getting a new cooler.

I have no idea how to do either of these. Can anyone enlighten me with some advice and maybe some instructions?
 
T

TheExodu5

Banned
Heh yeah. I wouldn't mind spending the $10, but it doesn't look like anything is really available locally. The only decent thing I can find for so cheap is the shitty OCZ bracket that people don't seem to like. Everything decent is $25 or more. Meh.
 
S

squinters

astigmatic
brain_stew said:
Is that a dual core chip and does the board take DDR2 RAM? If not, he shouldn't be upgrading that thing.

If it is, he should pick up these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127448&cm_re=4670-_-14-127-448-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...84&cm_re=ddr2_2gb_6400-_-20-231-084-_-Product

And look into OCing his processor a little.
Click to expand...
Only a single core, though he should be able to take DDR2. Weird thing is, he can run Portal at medium-low settings, but Team Fortress 2 goes under 30fps. Am I wrong in assuming that his graphics chip is adequete enough, but he only needs some more RAM and a processor overclock to 2.0ghz to make TF2 playable (not pretty, just 60fps)?
 
T

TheExodu5

Banned
squinters said:
Only a single core, though he should be able to take DDR2. Weird thing is, he can run Portal at medium-low settings, but Team Fortress 2 goes under 30fps. Am I wrong in assuming that his graphics chip is adequete enough, but he only needs some more RAM and a processor overclock to 2.0ghz to make TF2 playable (not pretty, just 60fps)?
Click to expand...

Pretty much. An integrated chip is not enough for many games.

Still, with a 1.8GHz single core, he's almost at a dead end there. A midrange graphics card is all that could really help, and that's been recommended.
 
S

squinters

astigmatic
TheExodu5 said:
Pretty much. An integrated chip is not enough for many games.

Still, with a 1.8GHz single core, he's almost at a dead end there. A midrange graphics card is all that could really help, and that's been recommended.
Click to expand...
Well, I guess I'll point him to that 4670 Firestorm posted and tell him to keep an eye out to get more RAM.

Once again, thank you guys for all your help. If it wasn't for this thread I would have told him all he needs is to buy a cheap Pentium 4 processor.
 
T

TheExodu5

Banned
Wait, it's a 1.8GHz Pentium 4? I was assuming a single-core Core 2.

Uhh...yeah that's a tough one. I wouldn't spend more than $100 on it total. It's a very dead-end machine. That video card is probably overkill. If he can, I'd just save it towards a new build.
 
T

TouchMyBox

Member
TheExodu5 said:
Heh yeah. I wouldn't mind spending the $10, but it doesn't look like anything is really available locally. The only decent thing I can find for so cheap is the shitty OCZ bracket that people don't seem to like. Everything decent is $25 or more. Meh.
Click to expand...

This is what I bought http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=41728&vpn=Bay%20Rafter%202.5%20Rev.B&manufacture=Scythe but it oddly seems to be out of stock. Shit is rad though, has room for two SSDs and a fan mount.
 
R

rollingstart

Banned
I've been going back and forth deciding what to do with my PC. I think now I'm settled on just upgrading it as is before building a new one, but I have a few questions

Am I right in assuming I should get a quad core cpu now? there are no issues with going quad instead of dual, right? I care just as much to play older games as I do more recent ones.

If I get a new hard drive dedicated for gaming, do I need to install anything on that hard drive (windows 7?) or can I have my OS on my main hard drive, then run all my games off the second, faster one.

Are SSDs worth the upgrade? I checked and I have about 60 gigs of games installed right now, and I plan to install more. IF it's not a viable option, what is another good fast hard drive? would it even make much of a difference?
 
J

Janken

Member
Alright, went to a shop and they helped me choose components. Tell me what you think about these:

Processor: Intel Core i7 950
Video card: Ati Radeon HD 4890
RAM: 8 GB (4 2 GB modules, DDR3)
Monitor: LG W2261VP-PF

I may want to change the processor and memory to an i5 750 and 4 GB, respectively, but I am not sure. Would you recommend me to do it? I won't be using the computer for gaming (aside from the occasional game) but for editing large documents and files of all kinds, mainly images and videos.

Thanks.
 
W

Wallach

Member
Janken said:
Alright, went to a shop and they helped me choose components. Tell me what you think about these:

Processor: Intel Core i7 950
Video card: Ati Radeon HD 4890
RAM: 8 GB (4 2 GB modules, DDR3)
Monitor: LG W2261VP-PF

I may want to change the processor and memory to an i5 750 and 4 GB, respectively, but I am not sure. Would you recommend me to do it? I won't be using the computer for gaming (aside from the occasional game) but for editing large documents and files of all kinds, mainly images and videos.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Depends on the software, I guess. That's a pretty mean rig honestly, I could see you wanting something like that for heavy 3D work like Maya or something.
 
L

Lkr

Member
My friend needs a little help. His laptop(turion single core, integrated ati x1100 series) can barely get 20fps on tf2 in directx 8 mode. he has $300, is there anything he can buy to run the game?
 
K

kmfdmpig

Member
Janken said:
Alright, went to a shop and they helped me choose components. Tell me what you think about these:

Processor: Intel Core i7 950
Video card: Ati Radeon HD 4890
RAM: 8 GB (4 2 GB modules, DDR3)
Monitor: LG W2261VP-PF

I may want to change the processor and memory to an i5 750 and 4 GB, respectively, but I am not sure. Would you recommend me to do it? I won't be using the computer for gaming (aside from the occasional game) but for editing large documents and files of all kinds, mainly images and videos.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Good processor, but not great in terms of bang/buck as you could get a 920 or 860 (or even 750) and OC it to get similar performance.

The video card seems to be an odd match for such a high end processor. Save a bit on the processor and move to a 5850 or even 5870.
8GB of Ram on a socket 1366 system doesn't make much sense as those use triple channel memory meaning that the best performance will be either 3, 6 or 12 GB.
 
J

Janken

Member
Wallach said:
Depends on the software, I guess. That's a pretty mean rig honestly, I could see you wanting something like that for heavy 3D work like Maya or something.
Click to expand...
The heavy work would be for 2D. Essentially, Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere and Flash. And then Acrobat to edit and convert PDF files at a proper speed.
 
J

Janken

Member
kmfdmpig said:
Good processor, but not great in terms of bang/buck as you could get a 920 or 860 (or even 750) and OC it to get similar performance.

The video card seems to be an odd match for such a high end processor. Save a bit on the processor and move to a 5850 or even 5870.
8GB of Ram on a socket 1366 system doesn't make much sense as those use triple channel memory meaning that the best performance will be either 3, 6 or 12 GB.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the reply.

Could I get an i5 and overclock it too? The i5, in itself, is a good processor compared to the i7 950?
 
K

kmfdmpig

Member
Janken said:
Thank you for the reply.

Could I get an i5 and overclock it too? The i5, in itself, is a good processor compared to the i7 950?
Click to expand...

The i5 overclocks well, and for most people it would be fine. The drawback is that it's stock speed is a bit slower and it doesn't do hyper-threading. For what you're doing you might see some benefits from the higher memory bandwith on a socket 1366 system (920, 950, etc..). The 920 can overclock very well also.

Ram will probably be very important based on what you're doing, and if I remember both Nvidia and ATI have updated drivers that accelerate some Adobe programs signficantly. While ATI is the better choice in general if most of what you're doing is in Adobe then it may be worth reviewing to see which has better acceleration for those specific programs.
 
F

Firestorm

Member
Janken said:
Alright, went to a shop and they helped me choose components. Tell me what you think about these:

Processor: Intel Core i7 950
Video card: Ati Radeon HD 4890
RAM: 8 GB (4 2 GB modules, DDR3)
Monitor: LG W2261VP-PF

I may want to change the processor and memory to an i5 750 and 4 GB, respectively, but I am not sure. Would you recommend me to do it? I won't be using the computer for gaming (aside from the occasional game) but for editing large documents and files of all kinds, mainly images and videos.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
Too much for the CPU imo. You have $560 + $195 + $200 or so monitor there.

Get the i7-860 or i7-920 ($300) + an IPS monitor from Dell for better colour accuracy during video and image editting. Grab 6GB DDR3 RAM if you go with the i7-920.

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/products/Monitors/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&cs=19&sku=320-8277

If you aren't doing any gaming whatsoever, you can drop down to a 5750 for the GPU.
 
B

brain_stew

Member
squinters said:
Only a single core, though he should be able to take DDR2. Weird thing is, he can run Portal at medium-low settings, but Team Fortress 2 goes under 30fps. Am I wrong in assuming that his graphics chip is adequete enough, but he only needs some more RAM and a processor overclock to 2.0ghz to make TF2 playable (not pretty, just 60fps)?
Click to expand...

Then forget about it, any money spent on that rig is wasted. A dual core processor is the absolute minimum required for gaming these days.
 
B

brain_stew

Member
alanias said:
Any opinions on this machine as a first time PC-gamer?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229134R

Also has anyone had good experiences with open box items from New Egg in general?
Click to expand...

Its not terrible, but its horribly unbalanced, the motherboard and PSU are probably trash as well, so a GPU upgrade may mean a new PSU. I'd avoid it personally, though its about as good as you're going to do from a prebuilt machine.
 
J

Janken

Member
Thank you, kmfdmpig and Firestorm.

I think I will get an i7 920 then, it seems to have the best value for me. As for the RAM, I didn't know 6 would be better than 8, so I will get 6 GB.

What makes the 5750 different from the 4890?

Thank you again.
 
F

Firestorm

Member
Janken said:
Thank you, kmfdmpig and Firestorm.

I think I will get an i7 920 then, it seems to have the best value for me. As for the RAM, I didn't know 6 would be better than 8, so I will get 6 GB.

What makes the 5750 different from the 4890?

Thank you again.
Click to expand...
It's a lower end GPU that is less power hungry. No where near as good for games, but if you're not playing games that doesn't matter. Has DirectX11 support and can support more monitors (3 vs 2) which might be nice for your video work. If you do plan on playing games (and unless this is in an office, I really would say just do it) spend a bit more and get a 5850.
 
B

brain_stew

Member
Janken said:
Alright, went to a shop and they helped me choose components. Tell me what you think about these:

Processor: Intel Core i7 950
Video card: Ati Radeon HD 4890
RAM: 8 GB (4 2 GB modules, DDR3)
Monitor: LG W2261VP-PF

I may want to change the processor and memory to an i5 750 and 4 GB, respectively, but I am not sure. Would you recommend me to do it? I won't be using the computer for gaming (aside from the occasional game) but for editing large documents and files of all kinds, mainly images and videos.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

If they specified you this then they weren't trying to help you, they were trying to take advantage of your lack of knowledge. Shop elsewhere, they don't deserve your business. Get an i7-920 or i7-860.

If you're not using the computer for gaming then why the hell have you got one the most power hungry cards on the market specified? The 5750 is the absolute highest end card you should be looking at, its a good fit for its super low idle power consumption and good HTPC features, failing that a 4670 will do.

Get a 23" 1080p monitor instead, you'll appreciate it if you work with a lot of video.

Edit: Yeah, 3x2GB is the RAM setup you want for an 1366 rig.
 
J

Janken

Member
Firestorm said:
It's a lower end GPU that is less power hungry. No where near as good for games, but if you're not playing games that doesn't matter. Has DirectX11 support and can support more monitors (3 vs 2) which might be nice for your video work. If you do plan on playing games (and unless this is in an office, I really would say just do it) spend a bit more and get a 5850.
Click to expand...
I will probably do play games, but very occasionally. I wanted a video card that would allow me to play relatively recent games, even if it's not at maximum quality.
 
J

Janken

Member
brain_stew said:
If they specified you this then they weren't trying to help you, they were trying to take advantage of your lack of knowledge. Shop elsewhere, they don't deserve your business. Get an i7-920 or i7-860.

If you're not using the computer for gaming then why the hell have you got one the most power hungry cards on the market specified? The 5750 is the absolute highest end card you should be looking at, its a good fit for its super low idle power consumption and good HTPC features, failing that a 4670 will do.

Get a 23" 1080p monitor instead, you'll appreciate it if you work with a lot of video.

Edit: Yeah, 3x2GB is the RAM setup you want for an 1366 rig.
Click to expand...
I am ashamed to say I was the one who told them I wanted that processor (because I didn't know if it was a good choice or not...).

Right now I am divided between the 4670 and the 5750.
 
T

TheExodu5

Banned
Well I went out tonight so I didn't get to install my SSD til just now. Windows 7 64-bit running with 6GB of RAM as well.

Everything's blazing fast, but of course nothing is really installed. I hope it keeps up!

I just about broke my old 500GB drive though...damned SATA and power cables went all bent when I pulled my old hard drive out and the connectors got extremely bent. I bent them back and it's all okay now.

I'm definitely switching cases next time I build. Currently have a Coolermaster CM690 (RC690)...it's a decent case, but god it's got the worst hard drive bay ever. What a mess with 4 drives.
 
J

Janken

Member
Thank you, Firestorm and brain_stew.

Now the only problem is the screen. I truly can't afford Dell's U2410 and HP's 2475w, even if it has a lower price, seems to need a calibrator to balance the colors. I can't afford buying an already expensive screen and a calibrator...

IPS screens are expensive, but I am currently on a CRT monitor and I hate how colors and brightness change with LCDs.

What should I do if I don't want to spend more than 350-400 € (make it dollars, most of the time it's 1-1, sadly) on a screen?
 
J

Janken

Member
T

TheExodu5

Banned
Alright I'm liking this SSD. Steam and Messenger were always the slow bootup items...I can barely tell they're even loading. My system is incredibly responsive.

I'll get a better idea as I get more shit installed, but I'm pretty impressed so far.

Anyways, how do you do that whole "linking" thing in Windows 7? I might get a few of my games installed on the SSD for fast loading, but since almost all my games are Steam games, I'm going to have to do that linking trick.
 
F

Firestorm

Member
This is also an IPS panel monitor, but the affordability is sort of the point too =/ What country are you in?

Going to bed now, but maybe the HP is the best choice here. Another option is to check reviews on the Samsung 23" F2380.
 
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