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On October 30 2012 01:29 Medrea wrote:+ Show Spoiler +Whenever we are feeling charitable. Most of us work for a living ya know. Let me get some lunch in me and then Ill make a visit to newegg and see whats up. Im already thinking: i3-3220 or i5 3550i5-3550 ($209)or i3-3220 ($130)Cheap h77 motherboard.Motherboard ($70)8gb of whatever is the cheapest 1333 mhz RAM newegg is peddling.Pareema ($32)Haf 912 or similarly priced case.Haf912 ($60)
Low wattage power supply. Pref Gold. CAPSTONE 450W if available or maybe one of those newer Seasonics.CAPSTONE 450W ($65)1TB hard drive.Hard Drive ($80)Generic optical drive.Drive ($19)RADEON 7770 or 7850RADEON 7770 ($110 after MIR)or 7850 ($170 after MIR)Should be between $500 for the low end choices and $700 for the higher end ones. We are coming up on quite a few holidays here as well so, watch out. TOTALS:$566 for the budget build. $705 for the somewhat better build.
First of all, THANK YOU MEDREA. This is an awsome post and I really appreciate it. Will the 700$ rig run SC2 and dota 2 optimally (thinking maybe 40-60fps) at say, medium settings? What settings will make it run optimally?
On October 29 2012 12:31 Thienan567 wrote:+ Show Spoiler +Hi, I mostly lurk here on TL, but after saving up a little bit of pocket money I thought I'd try my hand at building a computer.  So, I'm reading the OP, and I'm going to answer the questions provided in the first spoiler. What is your budget?Right now? 700$. However if I need more money I can save up some more and come and try again later. What's the optimal budget to build a computer that'll last me ~2-3 years? Resolution?I actually have a weird eMachine monitor, runs at 1366x768. Yeah, I've never come across this resolution, either. Before this one I had a 1280x1024 that I was quite happy with. You guys think it's worth the money to drop on a new monitor at that resolution? What am I using it for?Pretty much gaming and storage for music/pictures/movies and whatnot, and surfing. I don't see myself using it for say, Photoshop, movie editing, or 3d modeling, but if I do decide to I'll let you guys know. Games I play are things like sc2, dota 2, and I occasionally get the newest AAA title on Steam, like Deus EX:HR, Serious Sam 3, and whatnot (Dishonored looks fucking cool). Being able to play them at a solid 60fps would be awesome. Upgrade cycle?Well this computer is at least 2-3 years old, and my computer before that was 2-4. So, pretty long I guess. When do I plan on building it?Eh, if I assemble all the parts in the next week or 2, then next month? Overclocking?I don't even know how to overclock lol Second GPU?Uh, what? Where can I buy parts from?I do have access to a Microcenter, if not there then Amazon and Newegg's or something will probably do. I live in US east coast. If you guys need any more info, then just ask. Hope I wasn't a total noob.
^I'm this guy btw.
Now, I do have other questions.
1. I have an ATI Radeon HD 4670. Is that still a good card in this day and age?
2. I asked my dad (who used to and kinda is a big techie) and he recommended to just buy this rig:
http://www.microcenter.com/product/400543/DX4870-UB21P_Desktop_Computer_Off_Lease_Refurbished#tab-specs
and put in my current graphics card. Will that compare to the 700$ rig?
3. What do you guys recommend to buy if I want to buy a computer now and keep it for the next 2-3 years? Which one is more cost efficient, overall?
Thanks for all the help, I really appreciate it!
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HD 4670 should be ok for low or medium SC2. Particularly since your monitor's resolution is so very low. Maybe itll get you by on some AAA titles as well. It would obviously be the next thing you upgrade, that and your monitor.
That prebuilt is an ok deal since it comes with windows 7 but you will still be dropping the following.
The difference between that prebuilt and my selected parts are:
$70 (mine is more expensive)
You don't get very good warranties with the prebuilt.
The power supply they use in these prebuilts are abominable. They are designed to die just outside of warranty time so you go back and spend more money, possibly on a new PSU as well as any parts it took down with it. So if you wanted to replace the PSU right after you bought it, this would shave the price margin down to just a $5 difference.
Power supply is also way less efficient, (I got you a GOLD certified PSU, theirs is probably not even 80 plus certified) so your money advantage here is pretty much gone after 2 or 3 years.
Additionally, good PSU's are immortal. Once you own a good one, you can carry it with you for very many years. I have an old PSU from early 2000 thats still going strong.
I chose a faster processor, if you want to get a slightly slower processor like the i5-2320, you are very welcome to it. In fact if you wanted Sandy Bridge with a Sandy Bridge motherboard, that would drop the price the entire $70 difference right there. However I consider the performance difference between the two CPU's as well as the lower power consumption of the processor to have a value greater than that.
Better case.
In conclusion, I believe that better warranties, a more reliable and more efficient PSU that you will have for a long time, and a better processor while costing less to run, is better than $70 plus having to build it yourself.
If you want, you can get a cheaper i5 and H61 motherboard to close the difference. here are the approximate differences.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/363?vs=701
I would expect about 10 to 15 percent performance difference between the two at the total cost of $70 (prob high balling this number) but after 3 years this number will come down substantially.
You can make the choice yourself now. Personally building computers is easy, only takes like an hour. And I derive fun from it. And I rarely screw it up. And I pay my own power bills. And I like fast things. That Microcenter prebuilt is not bad by any means.
However one word of warning. The PSU that prebuilt comes with is only 300W. Now if you bought a GPU, say a 7850, you wouldnt actually NEED all 300W anyway. But since no one makes 300W that are actually worth much, I have no doubt that if you add in a good GPU later, your running the risk of having your PSU shit on everything. To clarify, dont put a shiny new GPU into this prebuilt. You'll have to buy a new PSU probably, and there goes your entire money saving plan.
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I have a budget of $1200 that I'm ready to throw down for a decently beast of a rig for gaming, and possibly streaming. I have all other peripherals such as monitor, mouse, keyboard, etc. so this $1200 is strictly for the rig itself. So enlighten me with a build!
P.S. I intend on overclocking
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On October 31 2012 14:15 JJGamer wrote:
I have a budget of $1200 that I'm ready to throw down for a decently beast of a rig for gaming, and possibly streaming. I have all other peripherals such as monitor, mouse, keyboard, etc. so this $1200 is strictly for the rig itself. So enlighten me with a build!
P.S. I intend on overclocking
You need to answer the questions in the OP.
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On October 31 2012 22:40 Ata wrote:Show nested quote +On October 31 2012 14:15 JJGamer wrote:
I have a budget of $1200 that I'm ready to throw down for a decently beast of a rig for gaming, and possibly streaming. I have all other peripherals such as monitor, mouse, keyboard, etc. so this $1200 is strictly for the rig itself. So enlighten me with a build!
P.S. I intend on overclocking You need to answer the questions in the OP.
I'm not planning to go SLI and yes i need an operating system. I'm planning to build it very soon and I'm getting majority of my parts from MicroCenter.
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I'm in a dilemma, which is whether I should add my ssd to my win8 desktop or to my ubuntu laptop (I'm planning to fresh install these OS's again). I'm 55% leaning toward my laptop, since I only boot up my desktop once a day whereas I boot up my laptop multiple times. However, I read somewhere that some OS's are more optimized to use ssd's, and I have a feeling win8 has far better ssd support than ubuntu. Is this true? I'm more concerned about the longevity of this ssd, so if an ssd is indeed more optimized on win8, I'll use it on that.
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On November 01 2012 09:49 JJGamer wrote:Show nested quote +On October 31 2012 22:40 Ata wrote:On October 31 2012 14:15 JJGamer wrote:
I have a budget of $1200 that I'm ready to throw down for a decently beast of a rig for gaming, and possibly streaming. I have all other peripherals such as monitor, mouse, keyboard, etc. so this $1200 is strictly for the rig itself. So enlighten me with a build!
P.S. I intend on overclocking You need to answer the questions in the OP. I'm not planning to go SLI and yes i need an operating system. I'm planning to build it very soon and I'm getting majority of my parts from MicroCenter.
Sigh, you missed the most important question in the OP. I'll assume you have just spent $17000 on the new 4k2k tv and therefore need to spend all your budget on a GTX 690 to play games on it with decent fps. Or I'll assume you have a 10 year old 800*600 monitor and need a pair of sticks to play any game on ultra.
Although that is a severe example it holds true. Seriously if we assume you have a 1920 x 1080 60hz monitor and then suggest a 7850 1GB and you actually have a 2560 x 1600 120hz monitor you'll be sorely disappointed when you crank up the settings.
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On November 01 2012 10:24 billy5000 wrote:
I'm in a dilemma, which is whether I should add my ssd to my win8 desktop or to my ubuntu laptop (I'm planning to fresh install these OS's again). I'm 55% leaning toward my laptop, since I only boot up my desktop once a day whereas I boot up my laptop multiple times. However, I read somewhere that some OS's are more optimized to use ssd's, and I have a feeling win8 has far better ssd support than ubuntu. Is this true? I'm more concerned about the longevity of this ssd, so if an ssd is indeed more optimized on win8, I'll use it on that.
I'd put it on which ever one you use more. Keep in mind you'll probably have to replace your laptop HDD completely, whereas you can add it in to your desktop. Also, do you know what specific size harddrive you have in your laptop, and which connector it uses?
And um, because I'm not familiar with Linux, does it support the equivalent of TRIM? If not, do NOT put an ssd in.
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On November 01 2012 10:31 iTzSnypah wrote:Show nested quote +On November 01 2012 09:49 JJGamer wrote:On October 31 2012 22:40 Ata wrote:On October 31 2012 14:15 JJGamer wrote:
I have a budget of $1200 that I'm ready to throw down for a decently beast of a rig for gaming, and possibly streaming. I have all other peripherals such as monitor, mouse, keyboard, etc. so this $1200 is strictly for the rig itself. So enlighten me with a build!
P.S. I intend on overclocking You need to answer the questions in the OP. I'm not planning to go SLI and yes i need an operating system. I'm planning to build it very soon and I'm getting majority of my parts from MicroCenter. Sigh, you missed the most important question in the OP. I'll assume you have just spent $17000 on the new 4k2k tv and therefore need to spend all your budget on a GTX 690 to play games on it with decent fps. Or I'll assume you have a 10 year old 800*600 monitor and need a pair of sticks to play any game on ultra. Although that is a severe example it holds true. Seriously if we assume you have a 1920 x 1080 60hz monitor and then suggest a 7850 1GB and you actually have a 2560 x 1600 120hz monitor you'll be sorely disappointed when you crank up the settings.
I want one of these (or 1440p). Soon....
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On November 01 2012 10:24 billy5000 wrote:
I'm in a dilemma, which is whether I should add my ssd to my win8 desktop or to my ubuntu laptop (I'm planning to fresh install these OS's again). I'm 55% leaning toward my laptop, since I only boot up my desktop once a day whereas I boot up my laptop multiple times. However, I read somewhere that some OS's are more optimized to use ssd's, and I have a feeling win8 has far better ssd support than ubuntu. Is this true? I'm more concerned about the longevity of this ssd, so if an ssd is indeed more optimized on win8, I'll use it on that.
Unbuntu laptop, its an easy choice especially since Win8 boots a lot faster than Win7.
Make sure you get a 7mm SSD else it wont fit in your laptop. Also don't worry about longevity of the SSD. You would have to write around 30gb of data per day for 3-5 years to wear out most SSDs.
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hey can someone review my build one last time before i go through with it and tell me any of your concerns or suggestions. thanks!
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/m6VS
i was considering the gigabyte z77x-ud3h cuz it was only $140, $15 more than the msi gd55 but i guess ill see what you guys have to say after reading this.
also. would you guys wait for black friday in 3 weeks or not?
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http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231548 is better. These have been up since yesterday so it's amusing to see that these are still in stock.
If you're going to buy the Hyper 212+ from NCIX, you need to get the order to $50+ for free shipping... otherwise the shipping kills the price? Might as well just buy a Hyper 212 EVO from Newegg...
Get 650w for Crossfire 7970...
Motherboard + CPU provides a bigger discount.
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On November 01 2012 14:39 skyR wrote:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231548 is better. These have been up since yesterday so it's amusing to see that these are still in stock. If you're going to buy the Hyper 212+ from NCIX, you need to get the order to $50+ for free shipping... otherwise the shipping kills the price? Might as well just buy a Hyper 212 EVO from Newegg... Get 650w for Crossfire 7970... Motherboard + CPU provides a bigger discount.
yeah i will get the 650w, thanks skyr.
the 3570k i will be picking up from a microcenter for 169.99 rather than the original price.
the pc part picker just puts the cheapest part shown, i hadn't figured where i was getting everything from yet, depending on shipping and whatnot.
i actually had a radeon 7970 on there, planned on buying a 7950 tho so i switched back to that.
okay so here is final build i think:
http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/partlist/
about $1400, $400 of that coming from the monitor.
with the 7950 i can maximize the 3d/120hz monitor right? everything should be good here?
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On November 01 2012 10:31 iTzSnypah wrote:Show nested quote +On November 01 2012 09:49 JJGamer wrote:On October 31 2012 22:40 Ata wrote:On October 31 2012 14:15 JJGamer wrote:
I have a budget of $1200 that I'm ready to throw down for a decently beast of a rig for gaming, and possibly streaming. I have all other peripherals such as monitor, mouse, keyboard, etc. so this $1200 is strictly for the rig itself. So enlighten me with a build!
P.S. I intend on overclocking You need to answer the questions in the OP. I'm not planning to go SLI and yes i need an operating system. I'm planning to build it very soon and I'm getting majority of my parts from MicroCenter. Sigh, you missed the most important question in the OP. I'll assume you have just spent $17000 on the new 4k2k tv and therefore need to spend all your budget on a GTX 690 to play games on it with decent fps. Or I'll assume you have a 10 year old 800*600 monitor and need a pair of sticks to play any game on ultra. Although that is a severe example it holds true. Seriously if we assume you have a 1920 x 1080 60hz monitor and then suggest a 7850 1GB and you actually have a 2560 x 1600 120hz monitor you'll be sorely disappointed when you crank up the settings.
My bad.. I have a 1920 x 1080 60hz monitor. Is there anything else I need to answer before I can get a build going?
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5930 Posts
On November 01 2012 14:43 aBstractx wrote:
with the 7950 i can maximize the 3d/120hz monitor right? everything should be good here?
120hz will be fine in most games with such a system.
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On November 01 2012 10:31 Rollin wrote:
And um, because I'm not familiar with Linux, does it support the equivalent of TRIM? If not, do NOT put an ssd in.
This is really late, but I noticed this now. Linux kernel 2.6.33 and newer supports TRIM (since like February 2010). Unless you're using a distro like Debian and using the latest stock stable build and kernel, it will have something newer than 2.6.33.
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I WISH I could order from them. :/ Their prices, coupled with a decent dollar-euro exchange rate are absolutely [i]fantastic[/i. 
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OK guys, here's a build I'm ordering next week: (Not all parts came from newegg (some cheaper elsewhere), but their site is the nicest).
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000
CPU: i3 3220
GPU: GTX 650
HDD: 500 GB Seagate
Motherboard: Either This Asrock H77 or Asrock B75 Motherboard
Ram: G.Skill Ripjaws 8GB
PSU: Antec Neo Eco 450W
ODD: Random 15$ drive recommended a few pages back.
So: GTX 650 because starcraft II results are better than the 7770 (And that's my primary game; based off Anandtech bench). As for motherboard, the price is comparable because the H77 has free shipping, is there anything I should prefer about either one? I picked this RAM because its 29.99 with a promo code, but will it fit still if I add in say a Hyper 212 plus and overclock later (different board/cpu ofc)? I've never used ram with the higher heatspreaders (I have no idea how high these are relatively either). The PSU was recommended a few pages back to just save an extra 10$.
I have another 70$ approx. to spend on the build. All I do is play SC2, occasional GW2, and then also random student stuff that is irrelevant. I figured my two options were 1) get an SSD for OS and programs, or 2) upgrade to a quad core. I imagine the SSD will be a better option, but what do y'all think?
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EPT
