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Hey guys, I was planning to build my first computer since was much cheaper. I use it mainly to play Starcraft 2.
Budget: $900-$1000,trying to keep it low.
Resolution: 1920x1080
What are you using it for? Mostly gaming. Starcraft 2, Counter Strike Source, Battlefield, Call of Duty.
Upgrade Cycle: probably 3-4+ years.
By then I'll probably get a new computer. So this will last awhile.
When are you going to build?: Probaly in a few days or asap.
Do you plan on overclocking? yes, planning to overclock a 2500k to at least 4.2.
Do you need an operating system? No, my friend has windows 7 enterprise.
Do you plan to have mire than one GPU? no I don't plan to crossfire.
Where do you plan on buying your parts? newegg
I already have many parts picked out just need feedback as to what to change or upgrade.
motherboard: msi p67-g45 $140
CPU: i5 2500k $225
Gpu: sapphire 6870 $210
Ram:g. Skill ripsaws X 8gb ddr3 1600 MHz it has 25$ promotion code $75
Hdd: 6gb/s 500 gb $60
Case: phantom nzxt $140 or antec 902 $110, phantom has $20 off.
Mouse: logitech g500 $53
PSU: corsair silent pro 600w modular. $70
DVD drive: asus writer $20
Thermal paste: thermal compound OEM $11
CPU cooler: hyper 212. I'm not sure if this will block the ram slots. One of the motherboard reviews on newegg Said this fan blocked some ram slots, maybe a different motherboard?
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Is a $700 max computer good enough to run SC on max settings fairly well? Just wondering. Also, are we in an era where we should be looking toward more than 4gb of ram? Thanks.
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Is a $700 max computer good enough to run SC on max settings fairly well? Just wondering. Also, are we in an era where we should be looking toward more than 4gb of ram? Thanks.
Also... I have a computer with:
2.60 dual core amd 5000+ processor
2GB ram
32 bit Vista
250 GB Hard Drive
Nvidia 9800GTX+
Could I possibly upgrade my current computer (im assuming my processor/ram = slight bottleneck, but not entirely sure) to play on decent settings without lag on Starcraft 2? Thanks.
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@Lawrencew22796
I'm assuming your selected HDD is Western Digital. The Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB is on sale atm for $55: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185
You don't need 8gb of RAM for a gaming PC either unless you want to alt-tab instantly between the desktop and full screen game. You could grab a 2x2gb kit for $40.
The thermal paste supplied by Coolermaster with their Hyper 212+ is already decent. You don't need to spend an extra $10 for thermal paste for such a mild overclock. All P67 boards have the same socket and RAM slot placement so changing motherboards won't solve the problem of the A1 RAM slot being blocked.
Do you mean a Coolermaster Silent Pro? A 400-500W power supply is more than capable of handling your setup. An Antec Earthwatts or XFX Core Edition for around ~$50 would be good choices.
If you're trying to save money, get a 6850 instead and overclock it: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127576
A Gigabyte p67 UD3 would slash ~$5 off your total price.
@Progamermatt
Yes, a $700 PC would be more than capable of running SC2 on max settings.
The Athlon X2 5000+ is quite old so it's probably best to get a new rig altogether if you aren't happy with your current performance.
And no, gaming isn't at the point where 8GB of RAM is needed.
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On April 03 2011 07:00 skyR wrote:@Lawrencew22796 I'm assuming your selected HDD is Western Digital. The Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB is on sale atm for $55: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185You don't need 8gb of RAM for a gaming PC either unless you want to alt-tab instantly between the desktop and full screen game. You could grab a 2x2gb kit for $40. The thermal paste supplied by Coolermaster with their Hyper 212+ is already decent. You don't need to spend an extra $10 for thermal paste for such a mild overclock. All P67 boards have the same socket and RAM slot placement so changing motherboards won't solve the problem of the A1 RAM slot being blocked. Do you mean a Coolermaster Silent Pro? A 400-500W power supply is more than capable of handling your setup. An Antec Earthwatts or XFX Core Edition for around ~$50 would be good choices. If you're trying to save money, get a 6850 instead and overclock it: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127576A Gigabyte p67 UD3 would slash ~$5 off your total price.
Ok thank you.
HDD:Will 6.0gb/s compared to 3.0 gb/s make a difference? Because my 500 gb is 6.0gb/s and yes it is WD. I think 500 gb is sufficient since i am only using about 100gb of my memory atm. and i can buy a new one later.
Ram: the 8gb ram is on sale right now so shouldn't i just grab it now since my computer is supposed to last awhile?
PSU: Even with my GPU and my overclocked OC i will only need 400-500w?
Motherboard: If my first ram slot is blocked, will the other 3 ram slots be at the same speed?
GPU: if i get the 6850 instead and overclock it, will it be at the same speeds?
Thanks!
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Harddrives can't take even take full advantage of 3Gb/s. 6Gb/s is just a marketing gimmick. Western Digital does provide a 5 year warranty as opposed to the 3 provided by Samsung.
Yes 500W is more than sufficient for your setup.
Yes, the RAM slots are all identical. You would just use the A2 and B2 slots instead of the A1 and B1 slots for a dual channel configuration.
An overclocked 6850 will match the performance of the 6870.
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Second draft:
Budget: $1800 - will go above it for substantial upgrades only
Resolution: 1920x1080
Used for: Gaming, SC2, BFBC2, BF3 and future games
Upgrade cycle: 3-4 years
Building in a few days, maybe ordering today
Overclocking to 4.5ghz at the very least
Might add another GTX 570 if I ever need to
Buying from NCIX and pricematching
Case: Corsair Graphite Series 600T -- $130
DVD Drive: Samsung SH-S223C 22X DVD -- $16
Hard drive: WD Black 1TB ($70) + WD Green 2TB ($70)
SSD: OCZ Vertex 2 Extended Sandforce 120GB -- $185
Motherboard: ASUS P8P67 Pro ATX P67 -- $181
CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K Quad Core Unlocked --$215
Cooler: Corsair Cooling Hydro Series H70 --$80
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 570 -$330 (after $20 mir)
RAM: G.SKILL F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL Ripjaws 8GB - $77
PSU: Corsair Professional Series Gold AX750 80PLUS Gold Power Supply -$150
Total: $1630+5%tx
Give my your opinion! Any thoughts or suggestion are very appreciated!
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Well done, thanks a lot! I owe you a couple of beers =)
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I am looking into purchasing a used gaming desktop. I would love some opinions on how much the following system is worth, here is the ad:
+ Show Spoiler +
The seller is including Windows 7 and asked me to make him an offer. How much do you think it is worth? How much do you think I could get away with paying?
Thanks for any and all advice!
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I'd say its probably worth around $700.
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5930 Posts
$600 max if only because of the SSD and cooler. If he wants more than that, I wouldn't bother with it to be honest because you can build a better Sandy Bridge system for that much (only difference is that you won't have an SSD but on the upside everything you have is new and better).
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@Lawrencew22796
For a mechanical hard drive, the interface (SATA3 or SATA2) has practically no impact on performance. No drives are fast enough to make full use of the SATA2 interface. You'll just gain a little performance maybe when dealing with the small amount of cache onboard.
On top of skyR's suggestions, I personally would rather go with a suitable budget case like an Antec One Hundred ($50; is essentially a redone Antec 300) or Cooler Master HAF 912 ($60) and then spend the rest of the money on an SSD. With a longer upgrade cycle and the current price of RAM, 8GB is not a bad idea as you originally had. Just don't expect any more in-game performance from the extra RAM though.
@Progamermatt
In the very least, you should look to upgrade the CPU, motherboard, and RAM. The 9800 GTX+ may be worth keeping for a little longer, as are some of the other components maybe.
@SecondSandwich
I would say...between $600 and $700? Maybe closer to $700. The only thing to really fault the computer for is having DDR2 RAM, which won't be usable in any future system. Also the power supply is overkill for most reasonable systems, even if it's a solid (but a little dated) offering. If you can claim that the CPU cooler, SSD, and 750W PSU aren't worth much to you, you may be able to try offering under $600.
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Is it necessary for me to upgrade my motherboard? Or are all the processors for that socket type relatively bad? Also, upgrading my ram, do you mean more, or just better sticks of ram? (I'm assuming what I have is relatively low quality) Thanks.
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Is it necessary for me to upgrade my motherboard? Or are all the processors for that socket type relatively bad? Also, upgrading my ram, do you mean more, or just better sticks of ram? (I'm assuming what I have is relatively low quality) Thanks.
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On April 03 2011 12:33 Progamermatt wrote:
Is it necessary for me to upgrade my motherboard? Or are all the processors for that socket type relatively bad? Also, upgrading my ram, do you mean more, or just better sticks of ram? (I'm assuming what I have is relatively low quality) Thanks.
This depends on what motherboard you have? You have an Athlon 5000 so I'm assuming you have some sort of AM2 board. AM3 processors will work on some AM2 motherboards with a BIOS update so check your manufacturer's website.
You're using DDR2 RAM atm. If you're upgrading to a new processor and motherboard, you'll need DDR3 RAM since all new motherboards support DDR3, the two types of RAM are not interchangeable. If your motherboard is capable of supporting AM3 processors with a BIOS update, you would want to add another 2GB of RAM and install 64bit Windows.
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There you go, mine's ordered 
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This is in australian dollars
The gaming machine i am looking to build for $1500. Please critique, in particular the mobo, ram and PSU are the main choices that im still not 100% on, perhaps the coolers as well for those more versed.
The mobo will not need to be able to dual gpu as its something i will upgrade later and use this one in a different non gaming system, but would there be other mobos you would recommend in terms of stability/features.
The RAM has me wondering if i should go with the 4gb ones running at CL6, with an upgrade to 8gbs later or would it make not much difference in getting the CL8 version.
Will 750w psu, this one in particular handle dual GTX 560s as that is what i will be aiming to get, along with an i7 on the upcoming 2011 socket, which we can only estimate general levels of power.
CPU – i5 2500k – $250
MOBO Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD3R – $200
RAM – 8GB DDR3 G.Skill F3 1600MHz CL8-8-8-24-2N(2x4GB) – $145
Or
4GB DDR3 G.Skill F3 1600MHz 6-8-6-24-2N (2x2GB) = $90
GPU – Gigabyte GTX560Ti Super Overclock – $310
HDD – 1TB Western Digital Caviar Black SATA III 6 Gb/s 7200RPM 64MB Cache – $105
Cooler – Zalman CNPS9900A(Copper fan-orb design) – $70
Optical – Samsung 12x Blu-ray Reader Combo Drive – $90
Case – Antec Dark Fleet-30 – $120
PSU – 750W Corsair TX-750 – $155
Sound card – Asus Xonar – $60
Total $1475-1525(depends on market)
Thanks for your help.
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it looks like a good build.
where are you buying from?
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EPT
