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Hey all, I'm planning on ordering parts for and building a new computer pretty much around the start of the new year. The comp is basically for me to use to game, play poker, listen to music, maybe watch movies on occasion, but nothing too intense like movie editing or what not. I didn't really set myself a budget at first (cheaper the better of course) but obviously, the cheaper the better.
Here's the rough build of items that I've been looking at for a while. One thing that's possibly going to change is the video card. For now, the most recent game that I play is warcraft 3, and to be honest that video card is a significant overkill. Right now I'm running a 1 gb 9600 GSO which I'm pretty sure is more than sufficient for what I need. This comp is basically for SC2/Diablo 3 so my plan for right now is to simply upgrade when the time comes. Maybe I'm losing out on some performance for now, but for what I'm planning on playing I don't know if it'll make that big of a difference. The only modern game that I'm intrigued in is modern warfare 2 -- will I even need a new gpu for this?
The other question that might come up is why buy now, just wait till those games come out and build it then. My old desktop pretty much died (see other blog posts if interested) and I need to completely revamp, and this is with Christmas money / money I earned during the semester grading so I want to do it now.
As far as I can tell, based on what I've researched, the extra power from upgrading from an i5 to an i7 really won't make a noticeable difference (gaming and casual use) so I won't miss hyper threading.
The last question is for the PSU. I'm never intending to run crossfire on this board, just a single gpu, so I don't think I'm going to run into trouble with too much. The main reason I ask is because I already bought this psu as part of me trying to fix my old comp, and I'd prefer if I didn't have to buy a new one.
If I'm not planning on over clocking, can I get away with stock cooling? Should I still get a separate cooler?
Here's the build with prices from newegg / microcenter
MSI P55-CD53 LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard $99
Core i5 750 Processor Boxed $150
OCZ Obsidian 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) $80.00
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW $50
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD6400AAKS 640GB $70
OCZ StealthXStream OCZ500SXS 500W $55
SAPPHIRE 100283-2L Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit $165 -- just a placeholder, probably will not buy for now
DVD and DVD/rw drives salvaged from old computer
*slightly modified build*
Thanks
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don't even buy the 5770. Try to sell your 9600gso and get a 5850.
Also, just a heads up, i would recommend running your ram at 1333 when you start to overclock, because upping the NB speed will overclock the ram and you won't be able to push it THAT much over DDR3-~1700.
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If you wanna stick under 200 dollars, buy the 4890 256-bit instead of the 5770
edit: Also, try to go with the ocz fatality power supply instead of that 500w one. The one I mentioned is 700w for basically the same price after rebate
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On December 21 2009 10:29 Carthac wrote:
If you wanna stick under 200 dollars, buy the 4890 256-bit instead of the 5770
edit: Also, try to go with the ocz fatality power supply instead of that 500w one. The one I mentioned is 700w for basically the same price after rebate
extremely important tip: The usefullness of a power supply is not measured by its total output, but rather by, first, it's output on the 12v rail(s) and then 3,3v rail.
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Did you read the first comment on that motherboard on Newegg. I'm not a super computer expert or something but before you buy shit do a little more research on the stuff you gonna get.
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That's fair, I made this build like 2 weeks ago, so that comment wasn't there at the time
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???
nothing wrong with a 5770. 5850 is probably better in the long run but it costs almost 2x more now. should be able to play mw2 on a 9600gso on medium-ish settings i think. if you could i'd wait until the last possible moment to upgrade your video card if you don't really need it. prices right now are pretty inflated and waiting till nvidia releases their dx11 cards or yields to improve will drop the prices a bit.
stock cooler should be fine for everything if you arent overclocking. though it might get a little loud under load. i'd just stick with the stock and upgrade later if you need to.
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On December 21 2009 10:55 mahnini wrote:
???
nothing wrong with a 5770. 5850 is probably better in the long run but it costs almost 2x more now. should be able to play mw2 on a 9600gso on medium-ish settings i think. if you could i'd wait until the last possible moment to upgrade your video card if you don't really need it. prices right now are pretty inflated and waiting till nvidia releases their dx11 cards or yields to improve will drop the prices a bit.
stock cooler should be fine for everything if you arent overclocking. though it might get a little loud under load. i'd just stick with the stock and upgrade later if you need to.
core i5 will be bottlenecked by a 5770 which is very slight <4870.
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On December 21 2009 10:55 mahnini wrote:
???
nothing wrong with a 5770. 5850 is probably better in the long run but it costs almost 2x more now. should be able to play mw2 on a 9600gso on medium-ish settings i think. if you could i'd wait until the last possible moment to upgrade your video card if you don't really need it. prices right now are pretty inflated and waiting till nvidia releases their dx11 cards or yields to improve will drop the prices a bit.
yea this is what i'm planning on doing. I'm ok with playing games on medium settings for the time being, and let's be honest here, i could run wc3 on full settings 2 computers ago so that shouldn't be a problem.
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5770 is superior to the 4870 in power consumption and in software (maybe drivers as well?). I would definitely take the 5770 over the 4870.
Why the Caviar Blue instead of Black? The Black is faster and comes with the 5(?) year warranty as well I think.
edit: though if you can stretch your budget to the 5850 anytime soon by all means do it!
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I chose caviar blue mainly because it was cheaper, I can't imagine actually needing a 5 year warranty for anything, but it's something to consider. I guess a $10 or $15 difference isn't THAT much more for faster speed and a 66% longer warranty, i'll look into that as a possibility for a swap
yea i'll see how video cards are in 6 months, there's no point for me to pay top dollar now, as i said before
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On December 21 2009 12:51 ghermination wrote:Show nested quote +On December 21 2009 10:55 mahnini wrote:
???
nothing wrong with a 5770. 5850 is probably better in the long run but it costs almost 2x more now. should be able to play mw2 on a 9600gso on medium-ish settings i think. if you could i'd wait until the last possible moment to upgrade your video card if you don't really need it. prices right now are pretty inflated and waiting till nvidia releases their dx11 cards or yields to improve will drop the prices a bit.
stock cooler should be fine for everything if you arent overclocking. though it might get a little loud under load. i'd just stick with the stock and upgrade later if you need to. core i5 will be bottlenecked by a 5770 which is very slight <4870.
5770 should play most games at 1920xwhatever fine though. if you want the extra 16xAA blahblahblah and all that extra eye candy or plan on playing at 2560xwhatever you'll probably want to move up. it's a steep price to pay but it might be one that might be better in the long term.
however, that doesn't mean the 5770 is a bad choice.
also i dont think there's that huge of a speed difference between the caviar blue vs black with that particular harddrive. there is a difference though, whether it's worth the extra money is up to you.
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well I guess it would mainly be for the superior warranty since I have a hard time trusting hard drives t.t
i have no idea how an i5 will be bottlenecked by a 5770 and not by a 4870 when the 5770 is superior
but ok.
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yea i didn't spend much time researching video cards yet, i'll def have to put some more thought into that in the coming months (years? god i hope not)
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*Update*
Ok it's built and I'm posting from it!
Final build:
ASUS P7P55 LX LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard - $104.99
Core i5 750 Processor Boxed $160.35
OCZ Agility Series 2.5" 60GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) $129.99
OCZ Obsidian 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) $34.80
OCZ Obsidian 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) $87.99
(My first set of RAM was backordered so I ordered another pair from newegg because I'm impatient..and then the other one shipped =p_
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW $44.99
Gateway FHD2401 Black 24" 5ms HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor - 179.99
Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM $99.99 newegg
OCZ StealthXStream OCZ500SXS 500W $54.99 obtained
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus $29.99
Reusing:
18X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER
SONY 16X DVD-ROM
PNY Vertigo 9600 GSO 768 MB
Total: $898.99
I'll probably buy a 5850 if the prices drop after nvidia releases their dx11 cards. For now they're a bit pricey, and I'm ok playing stuff on medium-ish settings for now
Pics!
![[image loading]](http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs151.snc3/17856_722458530264_11300425_42139494_1261699_n.jpg)
Next steps: doing some research into overclocking, probably buying a better cooling / maybe an additional case fan (Will this be necessary?) and waiting for 58xx cards to drop a bit in price while waiting for SC2 / D3. Enjoy!
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Anyone have hints on how to clean up the cables lol I just ended up sticking extra cables in the empty bays below my cd drives and where the floppy drive would go
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buy a bigger case :p If the wires are too tangled, you can try organizing them with a ziptie, but it really depends on the case.
I'm not a big fan of the Centurion. I woulda bought a HAF 922. If you do not plan on overclocking, you will not need 3rd party fans. Overclocking a little bit shouldn't require a 3rd party fan either. However, I would invest in an additional case fan if it is 120mm because good airflow is always desired.
Solid computer man 
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WCS![[image loading]](http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs151.snc3/17856_722458535254_11300425_42139495_6302510_n.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs151.snc3/17856_722458540244_11300425_42139496_2440968_n.jpg)
