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When using this resource, please read FragKrag's opening post. The Tech Support forum regulars have helped create countless of desktop systems without any compensation. The least you can do is provide all of the information required for them to help you properly. |
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Hello :-) I don't need help for a specific build - rather, I'm trying to find information. The problem is that I don't really know what to search for to get results. "Barebones" doesn't really turn up anything, neither does "All in one".
We're looking for this kind of computer to buy as an HTPC for my brother's birthday. I know what I'm looking for, but I would greatly appreciate some answers if anyone here knows them:
a) It appears there are two choices. Either a barebones system with CPU, HDD etc added on by order, or complete systems (and of course, build one yourself). Is that correct?
b) Does anyone know if Zotac's Fusion PCs are shipping these days, or if they are still in production?
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On January 20 2011 04:10 Rejuvenation wrote:
Hello everyone I currently looking to build a new tower and I need advice from TL people! My budget is arround 1000$ and wanna play on 16;9 resolution (1920X1200, correct me if I'm wrong). I have no other parts I can reuse because I have a laptop at the moment. I made a list of items I am considering. I want a great rig but nothing overkill either because I know I will probably update in 5 years or so. Let me know if everything matches and give me advice if I should change any of these pieces.
Looks good, only thing I would change is the ram. 1.5v is standard for 1155 ram
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@Rejuvenation: Are you getting this shipped to Canada? newegg.com doesn't ship there, only newegg.ca (which has different prices, etc.). Usually you can find the best prices at NCIX.com in general, if you're shopping in Canada--if not, NCIX does price matching.
Everything looks good in general. I won't comment on price or combos because I'm not sure if you're going to be able to actually buy from newegg.com.
The only exception is the power supply. Cooler Master GX series is known to be bad (but not terrible). At high loads, the unit puts out voltage with ripple that's above what ATX spec allows. That high ripple is damaging to your computer components over time. Then again, those parts probably wouldn't ever use over 60% of the 650W, as a very conservative estimate. You could probably just get a better lower-wattage unit. 400W is enough, though you may want to go with a higher amount like 500W if you plan on overclocking or adding in lots of drives, or something like that. OCZ StealthXStream II and Corsair CX series are usually widely available, and they're decent budget units.
@Born)Slippy: I think the "barebones" systems usually have all the parts installed and would thus be a "complete system." One thing you'll have to decide on is size. The cases that only take mini ITX motherboards are quite a bit smaller than those that take microATX motherboards. The smaller boxes just have less room to add stuff, or maybe they'll only take laptop-size HDDs, or something like that.
You're referring to Zotac prebuilt HTPCs with AMD's Fusion, specifically the Brazos platform (Zacate in particular I think). AMD Fusion just refers to AMD's whole lineup of CPUs with integrated Radeon GPUs. The first such CPU/GPU combos were released only a couple of weeks ago. Some laptops can be found with it already, but I don't know if Zotac or anybody else has a HTPC with one yet.
The Brazos platform is not particularly special or worth worrying about. It's just doesn't use much power and is fairly cheap, with acceptable CPU and GPU performance for a low-cost laptop or HTPC. It certainly beats Intel Atom and other low-power, low-cost GPU solutions. But you can get the performance you want out of other parts.
@Grackodile: That seems all fine to me. You may be able to find better deals though. e.g. you can get the motherboard and CPU together with a free game for $20 less (or just get this). If you're going to overclock the CPU a decent amount, you should probably get an aftermarket CPU cooler in the $30 range. If you're not overclocking, you don't need a P67 motherboard or the k-model i5-2500.
The TX650 is good but outdated and overpriced, and you don't need close to 650W anyway. Actually, the OEM that made the TX650 is the same as for this unit (would run your system fine) and this one (significantly better performance than the TX650 and modular too, and cheaper if you use the rebate). You could maybe save some $5-10 on the HDD and RAM, but those choices are okay.
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Micro center is having what seems to be a pretty great deal found here.
I was looking at the 1055T with the Asus M4N68T-M V2 motherboard for under 200.00 after tax.
I understand that this CPU isn't the best for gaming, but it should be quite good for streaming while playing, right?
Also, how much more power does a six core need than a quad? It says 125w compared to the 95w found on the quad core processors. Does this simply mean that it needs 30 more watts?
Finally, is that motherboard a piece of shit or is it useable? I am ok with the connections it has, but can it overclock? The newegg reviews don't mention much.
Thanks.
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My situation is a little particular ...
I want to build an entire desktop (everything including monitor/keyboard/mouse/etc) for about $800 (strongly prefer under) that will be able to run SC2 on low very smoothly (honestly I don't care too much about upping the detail as long as low graphics setting is buttery smooth). The thing is that I would like to slowly look for components over the next several months and have everything bought and gathered together by summer (by June). That way I can look for some deals (although I'm guessing I'll mainly be buying from Newegg).
What is the best way to go about doing this? Is there a particular order I should go about looking for deals? Are there any really good deals on a particular component right now that I should buy now instead of waiting? This will be my first time building a desktop.
Any advice would be great.
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On January 21 2011 13:51 lac29 wrote:
My situation is a little particular ...
I want to build an entire desktop (everything including monitor/keyboard/mouse/etc) for about $800 (strongly prefer under) that will be able to run SC2 on low very smoothly (honestly I don't care too much about upping the detail as long as low graphics setting is buttery smooth). The thing is that I would like to slowly look for components over the next several months and have everything bought and gathered together by summer (by June). That way I can look for some deals (although I'm guessing I'll mainly be buying from Newegg).
What is the best way to go about doing this? Is there a particular order I should go about looking for deals? Are there any really good deals on a particular component right now that I should buy now instead of waiting? This will be my first time building a desktop.
Any advice would be great.
You should immediately jump on amazing PSU and case deals as those are vital components that will last you for multiple builds.
CPU and Motherboard should be your last components. Everything else, you can buy whenever you find a deal.
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On January 21 2011 13:51 lac29 wrote:
My situation is a little particular ...
I want to build an entire desktop (everything including monitor/keyboard/mouse/etc) for about $800 (strongly prefer under) that will be able to run SC2 on low very smoothly (honestly I don't care too much about upping the detail as long as low graphics setting is buttery smooth). The thing is that I would like to slowly look for components over the next several months and have everything bought and gathered together by summer (by June). That way I can look for some deals (although I'm guessing I'll mainly be buying from Newegg).
What is the best way to go about doing this? Is there a particular order I should go about looking for deals? Are there any really good deals on a particular component right now that I should buy now instead of waiting? This will be my first time building a desktop.
Any advice would be great.
I'd leave the GPU last - GPU pricing is fairly volatile, especially with refreshes and new releases (i.e. GTX 560 Ti next week). Don't plan too far ahead, b/c things can change fairly quickly.
PSU/RAM - buy when you spot a good deal, on a recommended brand. With DDR3 being so cheap, I'd actually go ahead and get a 8GB set if you see a good deal on it. Honestly, the latency/RAM speeds are gonna be inconsequential at this point.
Case - take your time with this, but if you see a good deal, buy it when you find something you like.
The CPU/mobo you'll buy once it's close to building time.
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Hey everyone! I'm a bit curious about this but I'm not sure it warrants its own thread: Can you safely run a bottom mounted PSU upside-down (as in, there's vents in the bottom of the case so you normally would install the PSU with the fan facing downward, but you install it fan-up), and if so, are you brave enough to do it?
I personally don't plan to, but I've read about other people getting away with it. What's the biggest danger? The fact that the upside-down PSU's intake fan would be pulling in hot interior case air instead of cool air from outside the bottom of the case, or the fact that it would disrupt the airflow through the rest of the case? Would it even matter if you had great airflow and case fans cranked up? What if the case were water-cooled?
I'm still learning as I go and don't have anybody else to bounce hypotheticals off of. Here's a pic of my case if you want to use that to illustrate your answers.
+ Show Spoiler +![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/DwR6R.jpg) Case: Lancool pc-k62 (Fans: upper rear 120mm, lower front 140mm, top 140mmx2) PSU: XFX 750w
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On January 21 2011 14:58 thedirtyleg wrote:Hey everyone! I'm a bit curious about this but I'm not sure it warrants its own thread: Can you safely run a bottom mounted PSU upside-down (as in, there's vents in the bottom of the case so you normally would install the PSU with the fan facing downward, but you install it fan-up), and if so, are you brave enough to do it? I personally don't plan to, but I've read about other people getting away with it. What's the biggest danger? The fact that the upside-down PSU's intake fan would be pulling in hot interior case air instead of cool air from outside the bottom of the case, or the fact that it would disrupt the airflow through the rest of the case? Would it even matter if you had great airflow and case fans cranked up? What if the case were water-cooled? I'm still learning as I go and don't have anybody else to bounce hypotheticals off of. Here's a pic of my case if you want to use that to illustrate your answers. + Show Spoiler +Case: Lancool pc-k62 (Fans: upper rear 120mm, lower front 140mm, top 140mmx2) PSU: XFX 750w
It doesn't matter which way you mount your PSU. If you mount it with fan facing up, it'll just be stealing potential air from the GPU.
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lol what's the point of SLI and Crossfire if all you play is WoW and Starcraft?
This isn't a rhetorical question... I'm being serious. I see so many people getting SLI/Crossfire motherboards, but if all I play is Blizzard games which are known to be the opposite of Crysis type computer specs do I really need a dual card motherboard?
I'm thinking about once I get my Tax refund just getting a GTX 560 when it comes out next week or a AMD Radeon 6950 and unlock it to a 6970 and grab a cheap Gigabyte UD3 board. I don't care about UEFI interface... (oooh I can use my mouse... so what. I know how to navigate the generic Bios menu)
Cliff notes version: Can't I just buy a better single GPU instead of going for two cheaper GPUs for a computer build? I don't trust SLI/Crossfire for Blizzard games.
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I am debating on getting the i5-2500k or the i7-2600k.
First off the price difference is around 100$ CAD.
So i checked the specs and the only difference i found is he i7 has .1 GHZ of operating frequency and 2 mb of L3 cache more.
Also the i7 supports hyper threading. I'm not too familiar with these therms, but is it really worth the 100 bucks? If somebody could explain me what these specs actually do would be very appreciated.
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On January 21 2011 20:52 Silentness wrote:
lol what's the point of SLI and Crossfire if all you play is WoW and Starcraft?
This isn't a rhetorical question... I'm being serious. I see so many people getting SLI/Crossfire motherboards, but if all I play is Blizzard games which are known to be the opposite of Crysis type computer specs do I really need a dual card motherboard?
I'm thinking about once I get my Tax refund just getting a GTX 560 when it comes out next week or a AMD Radeon 6950 and unlock it to a 6970 and grab a cheap Gigabyte UD3 board. I don't care about UEFI interface... (oooh I can use my mouse... so what. I know how to navigate the generic Bios menu)
Cliff notes version: Can't I just buy a better single GPU instead of going for two cheaper GPUs for a computer build? I don't trust SLI/Crossfire for Blizzard games.
You can do what you want. They aren't necessary, but personally I hate micro atx boards because they're so damn small that you never know if your gpu is going to cover your SATA slots, or if you buy an additional cooler, your fans and heat sink might cover your ram slots. People don't necessarily buy the boards so that they can do crossfire or SLI, sometimes it's just nicer to have the extra room on your board. Plus, micro boards tend to have fewer PCI slots as well.
On January 22 2011 05:46 Rejuvenation wrote:
I am debating on getting the i5-2500k or the i7-2600k.
First off the price difference is around 100$ CAD.
So i checked the specs and the only difference i found is he i7 has .1 GHZ of operating frequency and 2 mb of L3 cache more.
Also the i7 supports hyper threading. I'm not too familiar with these therms, but is it really worth the 100 bucks? If somebody could explain me what these specs actually do would be very appreciated.
Depends on what you're using it for, if you aren't going to need the 8 virtual cores that hyperthreading offers you for things like video rendering, then no it's not necessary. The extra cache is nice but probably not necessary
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Hey, I'm thinking of buying a new computer and this is the current choice:
GPU: AMD Athlon II x3 450 3.2ghz
Graphic: GainWard GeForce GTX 460 1GB
4GB RAM
Windows 7
Going to be playing on a 1920x1080 screen..
What settings should that setup handle? Can it go up to ultra?
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EPT![[image loading]](http://www.prisjakt.nu/bilder/bild.php?p=743456&type=standard&size=800&.jpg)
