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

Timekiller said:
- Should i go for AMD or Intel

Core i7 is still clearly the faster processor, but it depends on the money you want to spend and what sort of overclock (if any) you want to do. It's entirely possible that Phenom II may offer you a better price for your budget, considering the cost of DDR3 memory and X58 motherboards.

Timekiller said:
AM2 or AM3
AM3 = expandability
AM2 = dirt cheap

I'd probably go dirt cheap, myself. But then again, I just bought a Core 2 Quad.

Timekiller said:
i7 920/XMS3 3x2GB/ GA-EX58-DS4/Spinpoint/PCP&C 750W

Seems reasonable. There are a variety of XMS3 types from Corsair but they all seem pretty respectable. The EX58 comes in a UD version as well; I can't remember what's different, exactly, but I think Tom's Hardware has a comparison of the boards. The HD/PSU seem reasonable. (The 750W is perhaps overkill if you're not going SLi though.)

Timekiller said:
Umm...and actually, it's still better to go for a dual core instead of a quad? Won't it get old in much less time then the quad?

Well, the theory is that you can get a dual or tri-core with a higher clockspeed than a quad for around the same price. For games, right now the clock is more important than the two extra cores that a Quad provides, so you're essentially trading in future possibility for more sheer speed.

Of course, with a i7 920 or the 940 BE, it sounds like you can just overclock to the 3.2-3.6GHz range on air anyway, so all things being considered I'd rather have one of those unless you really need to go bargain basement.
 

rc213

Member
dionysus said:
That other software, seagate recommended by the way, was 1/3rd of a gig, that was some massive bloatware for a cd burning software.

Yeah, Nero has become quite a joke compared to what they used to be.
 

Ysiadmihi

Banned
viciouskillersquirrel said:
Just for future reference, are there any real benefits to (say) buying another two RAM sticks and putting them into my spare slots if I'm already rolling 4GB?

I guess it depends on what you do.

I just went from 2GB to 6GB and even under Vista I really don't notice a goddamn difference :lol
 
Ashhong said:
I'd pass. The cooler isn't as good as the IceQ and still doesn't run much cooler than the stock one. Also.... going forward it really does make more sense to get 1GB cards or higher unless you don't game above 1680x1050 and don't plan on changing that anytime soon.

What's your budget tho?

viciouskillersquirrel said:
Just for future reference, are there any real benefits to (say) buying another two RAM sticks and putting them into my spare slots if I'm already rolling 4GB?
If you're already running 2x2GB right now and don't even use that, then there's your answer.

The only flip side of this.... is DDR2 is extremely cheap now so if you want to max out your board with 8GB-12GB.... do it now.
 
VictimOfGrief said:
If you're already running 2x2GB right now and don't even use that, then there's your answer.

The only flip side of this.... is DDR2 is extremely cheap now so if you want to max out your board with 8GB-12GB.... do it now.
:lol

It was just a hypothetical, really. I like to have a lot of programs running at once, but even 2GB seems to be sufficient. If I were to do it, it'd be for shits and giggles more than anything else.

Another question though: I have two IDE HDDs from my old computer I'm thinking of cannibalising and sticking into my new rig to use as backups. Thing is, both of these drives have XP installed on them. I've had some weird experiences in the past where the wrong OS image tried to boot up, so is there some way to:

1) Make sure my sexy new drive is always the first to boot
2) Remove the XP images from both drives

I'm assuming that there's some sort of XP to Vista transfer tool that works across drives, right?
 
viciouskillersquirrel said:
It was just a hypothetical, really. I like to have a lot of programs running at once, but even 2GB seems to be sufficient. If I were to do it, it'd be for shits and giggles more than anything else.

If you're not running 64bit flavors of Windows, there is the whole memory issue to deal with there. But even if you are, you'll be hard pressed to find any app except for pro apps (Modelling, that sort of thing) that will use more.

I would agree somewhat with regards to loading up on memory, but it really depends on how long you think your PC will be useful. I'd imagine before 4+GB matters you would need a new CPU/motherboard/memory type anyway.

viciouskillersquirrel said:
Another question though: I have two IDE HDDs from my old computer I'm thinking of cannibalising and sticking into my new rig to use as backups. Thing is, both of these drives have XP installed on them. I've had some weird experiences in the past where the wrong OS image tried to boot up, so is there some way to:

1) Make sure my sexy new drive is always the first to boot
2) Remove the XP images from both drives

I'm assuming that there's some sort of XP to Vista transfer tool that works across drives, right?

You need the BIOS to handle that, generally. Most semi-modern BIOSes should have an option to let you pick what drive to boot from first. From there you can blow away the data pretty easily on the old ones. I remember older PCs sometimes having issues based on where the drive was on the chain, but SATA dismisses the whole chain notion, so you should be able to just boot from the SATA device first.

If you want to automatically transfer info though...that's a whole other can of worms. No idea.
 

Ashhong

Member
VictimOfGrief said:
I'd pass. The cooler isn't as good as the IceQ and still doesn't run much cooler than the stock one. Also.... going forward it really does make more sense to get 1GB cards or higher unless you don't game above 1680x1050 and don't plan on changing that anytime soon.

What's your budget tho?


If you're already running 2x2GB right now and don't even use that, then there's your answer.

The only flip side of this.... is DDR2 is extremely cheap now so if you want to max out your board with 8GB-12GB.... do it now.

not planning on gaming higher than that, cause my 22" dell is only 1680x1050. i already ordered it...didnt want to miss out on it. the 4850 hazaro recommended was only like 10-20 bucks less, possibly less if i can sell stalker2. hope it lasts me a while...if its a really bad choice i can just resell it on ebay for more i bet.

i dont really have a specific budget, just how much i really want to spend. 150+ is too much for a gpu, preferably something around 100..
 

Hazaro

relies on auto-aim
Ashhong said:
not planning on gaming higher than that, cause my 22" dell is only 1680x1050. i already ordered it...didnt want to miss out on it. the 4850 hazaro recommended was only like 10-20 bucks less, possibly less if i can sell stalker2. hope it lasts me a while...if its a really bad choice i can just resell it on ebay for more i bet.

i dont really have a specific budget, just how much i really want to spend. 150+ is too much for a gpu, preferably something around 100..
You are fine, the RAM is really zippy on those 4850's too.

They hold up with my 900MB card in AA and AF.
 
I got one of those ati4850 super vga cards and its blazingly fast.
100fps on every single game ive playd on it @ 1600x1200.
How is possile.
Temperature on the stock zalman hsf has maxed at 46c
 

AndresON777

shooting blanks

Irulan

Neo Member
ChrisGoldstein said:
I'm looking to get a new pc and I dont want to spend over 500 bucks

How's this laptop? http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=04&kc=6W300&l=en&oc=bqdw511&s=bsd


or this? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883227131

I'd like something that can run crysis decent, I'm really dumb when it comes to this stuff but I'd appreciate some input

I could just go with the tower part or whatever I got a monitor and keyboard/mouse

thanks

You won't find a 500 dollar laptop that will run Crysis anywhere near decent. You should be able to find desktop configs that will manage it though. A cheap core2duo with a low-midrange graphics card should do the trick.
 

godhandiscen

There are millions of whiny 5-year olds on Earth, and I AM THEIR KING.
ChrisGoldstein said:
I'm looking to get a new pc and I dont want to spend over 500 bucks

How's this laptop? http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=04&kc=6W300&l=en&oc=bqdw511&s=bsd


or this? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883227131

I'd like something that can run crysis decent, I'm really dumb when it comes to this stuff but I'd appreciate some input

I could just go with the tower part or whatever I got a monitor and keyboard/mouse

thanks
Even a desktop couldn't run Crysis at anything better looking than a console fps for $500. That experiment of the $400 pc Kosma pulled, assumed you had a case, hard drive, and DVD drive. Also, it was getting 15fps during explosions on the Jungle level which means below 10 fps on Snow.
 
Ok, heres what im looking at now:

Case: COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer
Mobo: ASUS M4A79T Deluxe AM3 DDR3 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Graphics: HIS Hightech H487F1GP Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5
Power SupplyCORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V
CPU: AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz BE
Ram: Patriot Viper 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel

Any suggestions?
 

Ashhong

Member
gamerecks said:
Ok, heres what im looking at now:

Case: COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer
Mobo: ASUS M4A79T Deluxe AM3 DDR3 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Graphics: HIS Hightech H487F1GP Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5
Power SupplyCORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V
CPU: AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz BE
Ram: Patriot Viper 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel

Any suggestions?

how much is that video card?

also that PSU calculator website says i only need 290w...does that sound right? most of the gpus i saw alone required 400+ it said. heres my setup

E7400
2-2gb pc2-6400 sticks
250gb SATA HD
1TB SATA HD
512mb ati hd4870
dvd burner
and a wireless pci card

i think thats it. i put that in and only 290...which means my stock 300w dell would be fine? just sounds like so little. i would be keeping this thing on practically 24/7
 

Ashhong

Member
alright guys, sadly there is a change of plans and i have to think of this all over again, and would really appreciate the help. im stuck between making my own computer and buying a vostro

heres the dell
Intel E7400 2.8ghz
3GB DDR2 800mhz ram (1x1gb 1x2gb)
250gb 7200rpm hd
vista home premium
19-1 media card reader
dvd burner
300watt psu
integrated graphics

This came out to 575 after tax with a 22" dell monitor that i can sell for 200, so I figure about 375 for this dell setup. The thing is i dont need the bigger HD, ram, or vista.

and heres this combo i found on tiger
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4435970&csid=_34

Intel E7400 2.8ghz
2GB corsair ddr2 800mhz ram
250gb 7200 seagate HD
450watt PSU
intel mobo?

this came out to 320 before shipping

i guess what im really asking, is can you guys configure the best pc for me?
i already have video card (ati hd4870), hd (1tb seagate). so what i need is a cpu (intel), psu, mobo, case, dvd drive (if its cheap). i found 4gb 800mhz ram for 21 bucks, but if u can find it cheaper thatd be great. has to be under 350 shipped to CA or else id just get the tigerdirect one. thanks if you can help
 

Metalic Sand

who is Emo-Beas?
So im looking to buy all of this, Will i be good settings wise for most PC games? Im not looking for extreme resolutions like most.

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136218

Kingston HyperX 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Desktop Memory Model KHX6400D2LL/2G - Retail X2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104019

GIGABYTE GA-EG41MF-S2H LGA 775 Intel G41 HDMI Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128367

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8400 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037

Probly pick up a $130 or so 9800 GT with it all. Not exactly sure on which one yet. Im trying to stay on a tight budget. Anything i should change like say a cheaper processor? I already have a case and PSU picked out ect...

Thanks for any input, Im completely new to building a PC.
 

Ashhong

Member
how much is your budget? i feel like im in the same situation as you, but found some possibly better deals. i would downgrade your processor, which would save you about 45 bucks. i was recommended to me to do the same. i also need your guys opinions on the items i picked out from tiger.

Asus P5QL PRO Motherboard - P43, Socket 775, ATX, Audio, PCI Express 2.0, Gigabit LAN, S/PDIF, USB 2.0
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4016449&sku=A455-2836

Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 Processor BX80571E7400 - 2.80GHz, 3MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB, Wolfdale-3M, Dual-Core, Retail, Socket 775
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4256897&sku=CP1-DUO-E7400

OCZ OCZ500SXS StealthXStream 500-Watt Power Supply - SATA Ready, PCI-Express Ready
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3482959&sku=O261-2009

CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...lickDeals-_-NA-_-NA-_-NA&Item=N82E16820145184

pretty much all i need to buy. howd i do? i was so confused with the mobo, but thought i should get a PCI-E 2.0 one for my 4870

edit: damn, found everything i just listed for cheaper at a local microcenter. but im wondering if i should buy 8gigs of that ram? its so cheap. will i need windows 64bit to use it? will my mobo even handle it well?
 

godhandiscen

There are millions of whiny 5-year olds on Earth, and I AM THEIR KING.
Ashhong said:
how much is that video card?

also that PSU calculator website says i only need 290w...does that sound right? most of the gpus i saw alone required 400+ it said. heres my setup

E7400
2-2gb pc2-6400 sticks
250gb SATA HD
1TB SATA HD
512mb ati hd4870
dvd burner
and a wireless pci card

i think thats it. i put that in and only 290...which means my stock 300w dell would be fine? just sounds like so little. i would be keeping this thing on practically 24/7

That is the bare minimum. Power supplies tend to deliver 70% of the capacity they advertise. A really good brand PSU like Corsair will deliver 90% of what it advertises. I would recommend a 450W. Also, the PSU is the one part that doesn't "age" like the rest of components. You can use them for up to 7 years and they still do what they are meant to do (capacitor ageing kicks in around 5 years), however you may get better parts in 3 years or so that require more power.
 

Ashhong

Member
godhandiscen said:
That is the bare minimum. Power supplies tend to deliver 70% of the capacity they advertise. A really good brand PSU like Corsair will deliver 90% of what it advertises. I would recommend a 450W. Also, the PSU is the one part that doesn't "age" like the rest of components. You can use them for up to 7 years and they still do what they are meant to do (capacitor ageing kicks in around 5 years), however you may get better parts in 3 years or so that require more power.

oh ok, i picked a pretty good, cheap PSU now anyway. any opinion on my MOBO? that was my hardest decision, and it looks pretty good...
 

DieH@rd

Banned
OK guys i want to upgrade my AM2 processor thiese days [i have LE-1600 athlon, single core]. Im almost certain that i will buy 7750 x2 cpu, but can anyone tell me if there is any point for buying tripple or quad core? Not all games can support more than 2 cores, they are more expensive, etc.

Any recomendations?
 

godhandiscen

There are millions of whiny 5-year olds on Earth, and I AM THEIR KING.
DieH@rd said:
OK guys i want to upgrade my AM2 processor thiese days [i have LE-1600 athlon, single core]. Im almost certain that i will buy 7750 x2 cpu, but can anyone tell me if there is any point for buying tripple or quad core? Not all games can support more than 2 cores, they are more expensive, etc.

Any recomendations?
Stay away from that X2. It is almost slower per clock that the old AthlonX2 since it is basically a Phenom with 2 cores disabled. And the Phenom was designed to be a Quad core processor at the cost of slow productivity per clock. Also, the original Phenom is nothing like the Phenom 2, it overclocks badly. Get a fast highly overclocable X2 Athlon or the Phenom 2 X3.
 

Median

Member
Does anyone else that has the Antec Three Hundred find that the fans are really loud on it? Changing the setting on the switch doesn't seem to have any effect on how loud it is. I'm starting to wonder if I got a defective case.
 
Median said:
Does anyone else that has the Antec Three Hundred find that the fans are really loud on it? Changing the setting on the switch doesn't seem to have any effect on how loud it is. I'm starting to wonder if I got a defective case.

My case fans are loud, but my graphic card fan is louder.
The loudness doesn't bother me though as the PC is on the ground about 40cms away from my hearing apparatus.
Its less loud on the lower settings though, i have mine on Level 3.
 

Echoes

Member
My friend is building an i7 PC with GTX 295, what's the best case for him between these three?

Thermaltake Spedo
Thermaltake Armor
Thermaltake Kandalf LCS

Thanks in advance.
 

larvi

Member
I just put together a Vista media center PC for the bedroom and looking for recommendations for media center remotes. I have a wireless kb/mouse but need something less cumbersome for movie watching.
 

Ashhong

Member
Echoes said:
My friend is building an i7 PC with GTX 295, what's the best case for him between these three?

Thermaltake Spedo
Thermaltake Armor
Thermaltake Kandalf LCS

Thanks in advance.

i was going to get a ThermalTake case for myself, but my friend told me theyre shit. He said he had one and the fans were super loud, and there was rattling noises so I didnt. Make sure you read reviews.
 

rc213

Member
I found those Antec Tri-Cools fans not be loud just that the pitch of the sounds it makes to be really annoying, I swapped all of them out on my P180B.
 

Median

Member
rc213 said:
I found those Antec Tri-Cools fans not be loud just that the pitch of the sounds it makes to be really annoying, I swapped all of them out on my P180B.

They can be swapped? The ones at the top and back? If so, I might consider doing that. My room's pretty small so the sound kind of echoes. Do you have any suggestions as to which fans I should look for to replace them?
 

rc213

Member
Median said:
They can be swapped? The ones at the top and back? If so, I might consider doing that. My room's pretty small so the sound kind of echoes. Do you have any suggestions as to which fans I should look for to replace them?

The 120mm Fans should be easy enough to switch, According to Antec their Tri-Cool fans on the lowest speed setting are 25db. I got 3x 120mm Cooler Masters 19db and 1 Arctic Cooling 120mm 4pin PWM.


SVC.com has a decent selection, You can decide for yourself how much you want to spend.
 

drkOne

Member
I finally got to build my PC yesterday and I had to improvise because my PSU only had 1 x 6-pin PCI-E (Powercolor HD 4870 with OCZ 500W StealthXStream), went to a random store that was still open (it was already 11PM) and got a 2 Molex -> PCI-E.
The adapter I got has an empty "slot", lacking 1x 12V connector comparing to the one that came with the PSU.

Today when I finally got everything working I noticed the GPU was way too hot and I realized the cooler is really slow comparing to what I'd expect.

A friend that helped me building (since it was my first custom PC) told me I could connect the cooler to the mobo and get it powered through it, we'll probably try that tomorrow.

But I wanted to know if that is the likely cause of the slow speed of the cooler, if it is a good solution and if I should get a new adapter whether I can get it powered through the board or not.

(Here's a screen I took with GPU-Z: http://i39.tinypic.com/1j2lfr.jpg )

Thanks in advance!
 

Ashhong

Member
drkOne said:
I finally got to build my PC yesterday and I had to improvise because my PSU only had 1 x 6-pin PCI-E (Powercolor HD 4870 with OCZ 500W StealthXStream), went to a random store that was still open (it was already 11PM) and got a 2 Molex -> PCI-E.
The adapter I got has an empty "slot", lacking 1x 12V connector comparing to the one that came with the PSU.

Today when I finally got everything working I noticed the GPU was way too hot and I realized the cooler is really slow comparing to what I'd expect.

A friend that helped me building (since it was my first custom PC) told me I could connect the cooler to the mobo and get it powered through it, we'll probably try that tomorrow.

But I wanted to know if that is the likely cause of the slow speed of the cooler, if it is a good solution and if I should get a new adapter whether I can get it powered through the board or not.

(Here's a screen I took with GPU-Z: http://i39.tinypic.com/1j2lfr.jpg )

Thanks in advance!

wait quick question, why do you need 2xPCI-E connectors?
 

rc213

Member
drkOne said:
Because that's how many the 4870 uses, or am I doing something wrong?

Yeah that is fine, If it has 2x 6pin PCI-E than you need to have both connected. Also, The Speed of the fan should increase with any load you put on the card. Try leaving GPU-Z running and open up a game for a few seconds the close it. The log on GPU-Z should show that it speeds up as the card heats up.
 

Ashhong

Member
drkOne said:
Because that's how many the 4870 uses, or am I doing something wrong?

aw man...now i need to see if mine does too. so the adapter you bought only has 5 pins instead of 6? is that right?
 

drkOne

Member
Ashhong said:
aw man...now i need to see if mine does too. so the adapter you bought only has 5 pins instead of 6? is that right?

Exactly.

I'll check if the fan increases speed while running a game, I was a bit afraid to try since it was already around 45º with just Firefox running :/
 

Ashhong

Member
ah thanks, i never would have realized it and would have had to make a separate order. found it on newegg for 3 bucks..anywhere cheaper? maybe ill check ebay.

does anybody have experience with these fancy new extras on the asus p5QL boards? has stuff like ExpressGate and EPU systems that lower the power consumption based on what youre doing. wondering if its worth the extra cash to go from P5Q to P5QL PRO

edit: wat about this 1xmolex to pcie?

http://cgi.ebay.com/PCI-Express-PCI...ryZ45342QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
 

iain

Member
I based the following off the spec's valve released in a news post today, it's the parts used for their current computers. I did the numbers for what they're upgrading to, but the total was an extra thousand and seemed a little overboard for my needs.

I just need something which will run the current generation of PC games at a smooth 60fps and will continue to do so for at least a year or 2 more before I need to upgrade. So I'm posting here to see what you all think of the below, any help would be greatly appreciated as I'm not very knowledgeable with the PC innards.

EVGA nForce 780i SLI FTW $429.70
http://tinyurl.com/ajh7ng
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 2.83GHz $475.20
http://tinyurl.com/bm5fqd
4GB PC2-8500 DDR2 1066MHz $111.80
http://tinyurl.com/au8n6f
NVidia GTX280 1GB $568.80
http://tinyurl.com/byvnga
2 x 500GB 7200RPM SATA HD $242.80
http://tinyurl.com/dkag7q
Antec Three Hundred Tower $120.60
http://tinyurl.com/ahk5qe
CPU Cooler for Intel LGA775 $65.10
http://tinyurl.com/ahys5v
850W Antec power supply $313.60
http://tinyurl.com/dhseyj
XP Professional 32bit SP3 OEM $252.00
http://tinyurl.com/cprahy

TOTAL $2579.60 (Australian)
 
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