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What are you going to be doing with your computer?
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On June 21 2010 15:36 FragKrag wrote:
What are you going to be doing with your computer?
Gaming and schoolwork. Ty for the reminder.
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I strongly recommend checking out some of the System Builder, Best Budget CPU, Best Budget Gfx card articles on TomsHardware.
As a relatively trivial side-note, if you go with an i7 on the LGA 1366 socket you'll be using triple channel DDR3, so it's 6GB or 12GB generally, not 8GB (i5 could get 8GB). In that case, you should definitely go with 6GB, since you have to be extremely hardcore to use more than that (and if your needs were that extreme you'd probably know all of this very well anyways).
The i7 is an extremely powerful processor. I love mine, but honestly, if you want the best gaming performance on a budget, you should cut costs a little with an i5 and put the majority of your budget into graphics card(s).
That is, unless you're going to SLI or CrossFire a set of really expensive graphics cards, you'll probably be graphics card bottlenecked in *most* games with an i5, so that i7 won't get you that much extra. The i7 is still nice for real-world applications and benchmarking tests, though 
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Do you plan on using more than one GPU?
What resolution are you gaming at?
Do you really want that case?
Why do you need 8GB of RAM?
What is your budget? (I want a number or some kind of range)
Do you want USB 3.0 and SATA III support?
Do you need an OS?
What you seem to be looking at right now is an i5 750 setup with an HD 5850
@ above user: I strongly recommend against the best rig for your budget kind of guides on Toms Hardware because they generally are only concerned about price/performance, which is important, but not the only factor in choosing your parts.
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On June 21 2010 15:42 FragKrag wrote:
@ above user: I strongly recommend against the best rig for your budget kind of guides on Toms Hardware because they generally are only concerned about price/performance, which is important, but not the only factor in choosing your parts.
Certainly; don't treat their word as gospel. I meant to say it's worth checking out that to get a rough, general estimate of what kind of performance an i5 + 5850 setup (for example) or something like that would get in most games, as a starting point for research.
Once you have that general idea, you can re-assess based on your personal needs, your own budget, etc.
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On June 21 2010 15:42 FragKrag wrote:
Do you plan on using more than one GPU?
What resolution are you gaming at?
Do you really want that case?
Why do you need 8GB of RAM?
What is your budget? (I want a number or some kind of range)
Do you want USB 3.0 and SATA III support?
What you seem to be looking at right now is an i5 750 setup with an HD 5850
One GPU
I just took a look at the 5850 and I think I'll set on that.
Yes, I'm in love with that case!
I only need 4gb now, but I want to use this computer for 4+ years, so I think 8gb would be good in the future.
Budget is about $2000 and below
Yes, both USB 3.0 and SATA III
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On June 21 2010 15:42 QuothTheRaven wrote:I strongly recommend checking out some of the System Builder, Best Budget CPU, Best Budget Gfx card articles on TomsHardware. As a relatively trivial side-note, if you go with an i7 on the LGA 1366 socket you'll be using triple channel DDR3, so it's 6GB or 12GB generally, not 8GB (i5 could get 8GB). In that case, you should definitely go with 6GB, since you have to be extremely hardcore to use more than that (and if your needs were that extreme you'd probably know all of this very well anyways). The i7 is an extremely powerful processor. I love mine, but honestly, if you want the best gaming performance on a budget, you should cut costs a little with an i5 and put the majority of your budget into graphics card(s). That is, unless you're going to SLI or CrossFire a set of really expensive graphics cards, you'll probably be graphics card bottlenecked in *most* games with an i5, so that i7 won't get you that much extra. The i7 is still nice for real-world applications and benchmarking tests, though
Thanks, this is very helpful.
I think I might stick with an i5 with 8gb ram
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$2000 is a pretty extreme budget. You could easily fit an i7 + expensive top-of-the-line USB 3.0 motherboard + 12GB DDR3 + a lot of graphics card power.
Example:
i7 ~~ $300 (~$200 if you live near a MicroCenter and catch one of their deals)
Motherboard ~~ $300
Case ~~ $100
RAM ~~ $300 (for 12GB)
PSU ~~ $100 (probably more if you get a nice or really big one)
Monitor/Keyboard/Mouse ~~ $200 (unless you want a really big / not a TN panel monitor; much cheaper if you're planning on re-using your current input devices)
Leaves ~~ $700 for graphics cards; more if you're good at bargain hunting, or cut some corners, or don't get that expensive of a motherboard.
Of course, you'd probably be better off saving some of that extra money and getting a cheaper setup, but it's worth noting that if you're actually prepared to spend that amount of money you can get some really, really nice parts. Again I want to stress that the estimates above are very rough and not to be taken as strong advice on how much to spend for each part.
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Another consideration is that upgrading RAM (or graphics cards, for that matter) can be done pretty easily 1 or 2 years down the line, so there's not that much pressure to buy 8GB of RAM now just because you think that maybe sometime in the future you'll need that much.
I'd also really recommend something along the lines of what FragKrag posted rather than what I posted, unless you 1) Have a ton of cash to burn, and 2) Really want to impress your nerd friends.
For day to day activities, you'll notice a huuuuuuuuuge performance increase with a really good SSD. It's pretty easily the most noticeable upgrade you can make. SSDs also vary tremendously in performance from cheap SSDs vs. high performace expensive SSDs, so you should get something nice there (unlike regular disk drives, which are, for the most part, all pretty similar except for size).
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no reason to pursue X58 if you don't have any plans of going multi GPU.
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Also, if you don't have one already, setup a Bing Cashback account (Microsoft is closing this program sometime in July, but I'm pretty sure you can still register accounts for it until then).
You can get 2% cashback on everything you buy at Newegg and have it deposited right into your Paypal account or bank account, which isn't that much money back but it's easy to setup and costs you nothing so why not. You can get like 10% cashback on stuff at TigerDirect, which is pretty awesome.
If you're into bargain hunting, you could look around on HardOCP's [H]ot deals section of their forum @ http://hardforum.com/index.php
There are users there also offering to sell some of their used equipment; I personally have no experience with this because I don't like dealing with people and prefer to buy new, but you might find some great bargains there if you're willing to spend the time looking around.
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I would recommend Seasonic power supplies. Great stuff.
Or if you just want a cheap basic one. Huntkey Jumper is decent and probably a few dollars cheaper than other generics.
Try to find 80+ certified PSUs.
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Do you have to use the fan that come with the Corsair H50? If you mount the radiator on the chassis fan? or is it more of a pull and push mechanism?
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On June 21 2010 18:11 haduken wrote:Do you have to use the fan that come with the Corsair H50? If you mount the radiator on the chassis fan? or is it more of a pull and push mechanism?
I have an H50 myself. It's a nice cooler if you're going to OC (not worth if it you're not OCing--stock cooler should do fine for that).
Anyways you can easily setup a push/pull mechanism if you have some screws that are long enough, and you can use any 120mm fan.
Here's a blog entry on Corsair about using alternate fans and using push/pull:
http://blog.corsair.com/?p=987
and a picture of a push/pull setup:
![[image loading]](http://blog.corsair.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/IMGP2784.JPG)
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I'd lean towards the i7 930, they go for 200 at Microcenters right now in the US, and match it with a Asus P6T mobo. Btw, for those recommending a SSD, since their capacity are so ridiculously small, do you plan on adding a secondary traditional hard drive?
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of course you add a storage drive, SSD's are for booting / games / regularly used programs
x58 is only worth it if you go multiple gpu's and need the hyperthreading, which you can get with the i7-860. you have to pay more for the mb, more for the ram, more for the cpu, it's really only good if your budget is LARGE
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On June 21 2010 18:11 haduken wrote:Do you have to use the fan that come with the Corsair H50? If you mount the radiator on the chassis fan? or is it more of a pull and push mechanism?
You can use your chassis fan, but the H50 only comes with 1 set of long screws for the fan mounts, so you'd need another set (or some creativity) to get the second fan on.
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I got
Intel X25-M 80GB and I just wanted to say it's a great companion so far. I also have a 5850 and it's been great
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On June 21 2010 22:08 buhhy wrote:
I'd lean towards the i7 930, they go for 200 at Microcenters right now in the US, and match it with a Asus P6T mobo. Btw, for those recommending a SSD, since their capacity are so ridiculously small, do you plan on adding a secondary traditional hard drive?
Generally you put your OS, programs, and (some) games on an SSD, and leave all of your media files on cheap storage drives.
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Thanks for all the help guys. Unfortunately, I'm in Canada so all those sweet combo deals are not available here. What do you guys suggest for mobo/ram?
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Okay I updated the OP with everything except for Power Supply. How do I find out how much watts I need?
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I think a Corsair HX650, TX650 should be absolutely fine for your needs. Can also go with Silverstone Strider 750W.
I'd suggest getting rid of the Antec 900 and shelling out for the HAF 922.
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Ok, I got the Corsair TX750 instead since it was cheaper with free shipping. Other than price, what are the advantages of the HAF 922 over the Antec 900?
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EPT
