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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. |
Longtime lurker, but since I'm terrible at SC I've never bothered to post since I've had...nothing valuable to contribute.
However, I come to you all looking for a little assistance in building my first PC. Since I've never done it before, I've been digesting the mass of information contained in the OP. And I'm still completely unsure of how best to allocate my money. So I'll answer the questions and hopefull you all can give me a little guidance.
Budget: $750 (for the tower, no OS, keyboard, monitor, or mouse, since I have those already). This is not a hard-and-fast budget, so if it slips over $50 or so, it's no big deal. But I'd like to keep it around this amount.
Resolution: 1680x1050 (I have an old-ish Acer AL2216W that I'll be using for the time being. In addition, I'd like the possibility of moving to a dual-monitor setup, so dual VGA ports would be great, unless there's another way to do dual-screen that's better)
Use: Mostly gaming, web browsing, basic wordprocessing. Things like video rendering and streaming are not going to happen, so no need to plan for that.
Upgrade Cycle: Probably 3 years or so. Long enough to get me comfortably out of law school and employed before I need to drop coin on it again.
Building it: Now.
Overclocking, OS, Second GPU: No, no, and no.
Parts from: Newegg was my first instinct, and I'll probably use them unless there's a good reason not to (i.e. a better deal elsewhere on a particular bit, though that elsewhere needs to be online and deliver to the US).
If I can provide any more info to help you all out, just let me know. Thanks in advance for any guidance you can provide. You all are really helping folks, so thanks!
EDIT: Other quick considerations: I would prefer a decent amount of HDD, something >500gb, a DVD drive (no need for Blu-ray), and I don't really need to play games on max settings, but a bump up from my ALWAYS LOWEST SETTINGS FOREVER laptop would be great.
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@skyR
Worlds of help! Thanks again!
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Hey thx for the suggestions I bought a bundle off new egg last week and put it together
psu:: 480w up to 350 continuous
cpu ::amd athlon II x3 450 unlocked 4th core no stability issues tested what should I overclock it to or will it really matter?
Mobo:: Gigabyte S-series MA78LMT-S2
ram:: 4gigs patriot ddr3
It works great but I cant play sc2 on medium at very good frame rates. I want to add a graphics card and can only afford like 60 bucks.
What are the best options will the radeon 5670 and I see versions with 512mb ddr5 and 1gb ddr3 which one is better at running games on max settings at 1024 by 768 I dont mind running sc2 on high instead if the framerate increase is huge, I personally cannot tell the difference since my monitor uses a vga port.
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The difference between integrated graphics found on your motherboard and a Radeon 5670 is quite large. 512mb will be fine for a low resolution like yours. The 5670 is probably the best card in the $60 range.
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Hey guys just wanted to ask the computer experts to review my build before I put the order through!!
This is my frist time building a computer and just want to make sure if everything will work together and if I'm missing anything. Thanks again !
-Micro
COOLER MASTER HAF 912 RC-912-KKN1 Black SECC/ ABS Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Item #: N82E16811119233
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Item #: N82E16822136073
Acer G235HAbd 23'' WideScreen LCD monitor
Item #: N82E16824009266
ASUS ENGTX460 DirectCU TOP/2DI/768MD5 GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 768MB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support ...
Item #: N82E16814121390
Antec High Current Gamer Series HCG-520 520W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V v2.91 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply
Item #: N82E16817371047
ASRock H67M-GE (B3) LGA 1155 Intel H67 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
Item #: N82E16813157234
Intel Core i5-2500 Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500
Item #: N82E16819115073
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade
Item #: N82E16832116713
ASUS USB 2.0 External DVD Drive Model SDR-08B1-U
Item #: N82E16827135216
Mushkin Enhanced Proline 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 FB-DIMM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) ECC Fully Buffered Server Memory Model 996552
Item #: N82E16820226069
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ok I geuss I'll go with the 512 version since ddr5 is faster I was just wondering since under graphics settings it say to have 1gb to have ultra details is that based on like 1000 by 1600 or something?
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It's a generic recommendation that I wouldn't worry about. Generally, the higher in resolution you go, the more memory will be required to play games on max settings.
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@skyr thank for the help!
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Antec High Current Gamer 520W is not a bad choice except it's pretty overpriced, considering that the XFX Core Edition 450W/550W are pretty much the same thing (different exterior, same guts), and the Antec Neo Eco line is the same thing but with slightly lower efficiency. All of those are variants/rebrands built by Seasonic based on the below S12II Bronze 520W, which is $70 and has a 5 year warranty:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151094
Earthwatts Green 380D would run your build with about 25% room to spare at full load, too, and that's $40. Quality is a little lower, but it's still pretty decent. You'd need to use a molex -> PCI-E power adapter though, but that comes with the GPU.
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Hello I need some help I want to play SC2 at at least 80 frames while streaming and having a few other things up my browers skype stuff like that. I dont want to bulid a new comp I know I have a Intel Core 2 Duo cpu processor 6 GB of ram System type 64 bit operating. So if anyone could help or would need more info to help I would greatly apprectatie it. 
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@skyR
Operating System
MS Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit SP2
CPU
Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 @ 2.80GHz
Wolfdale 45nm Technology
RAM
6.0GB Dual-Channel DDR2 @ 398MHz (6-6-6-18)
MotherBoard
Dell Inc. 0RY007 (Socket 775)
Graphics
DELL S2009W (1600x900@60Hz)
Intel(R) G33/G31 Express Chipset Family
Hard Drives
733GB Seagate ST3750630AS ATA Device (SATA)
Optical Drives
PLDS DVD+-RW DH-16A6S ATA Device
OTSP 274H2NO SCSI CdRom Device
OTSP 274H2NO SCSI CdRom Device
Money is somthing I dont quite know so a few options with a few diffrent price ranges would be great.
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You could upgrade the CPU to a Core 2 Quad probably, but that's not worth it. It wouldn't give you enough performance for 80 fps while streaming anyway. It looks like you're using the motherboard's really weak integrated graphics?
You're going to want a new everything but the hard drive and optical drive. Integrated graphics is too poor, and you need a new motherboard and DDR3 RAM to be able to use the latest processors. You could possibly reuse the case and power supply, but it looks like a prebuilt Dell system that you might not want to scavenge those parts from.
You're looking for something like
CPU:
Core i5-2400 - $190 (not really any good alternatives other than i5-2300 and i5-2500 which are practically the same thing)
Motherboard:
Any LGA 1155 motherboard is compatible. They go from $60 on up. You get more features like more RAM slots, USB3 support, SATA3 support, more expansion card slots, more BIOS options, etc. if you pay more.
RAM:
2 x 2GB DDR3 - $40 (or 2 x 4GB, but that's unnecessary)
GPU:
Any number of options ranging from about $60 (play well on medium) on up. You only need to spend about $150 to be able to play on ultra well.
PSU:
There are good options in the $40+ range.
Case:
Likewise, decent options start from about $40 and up.
How much money do you have to spend? Were you planning on needing to upgrade so much?
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The truth is the money is a bit of an issue although I dont know how much I have I am getting the money from some one else and the question how much can I spend hasnt really be answered but I will talk to them about what you have told me and hopfully we can go form there I will post tommorow with more info thanks.
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51522 Posts
anyone know if the samsung drives from pccasegear come with sata cables? i don't have any lying around the house and i'm about to put in my order.
+ Show Spoiler +CPU: Intel i5 2500K
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P67X-UD3 B3
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X F3-10666CL9D-8GBXL (2x4GB) DDR3
GFX: MSI GeForce GTX 560 Ti Twin Frozr II OC 1GB
HDD: 2x Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB HD103SJ
Case: Antec Three Hundred Case
PSU: Antec Neo Eco 520C 520W Power Supply
CPU Cooler: CoolerMaster Hyper 212+
Misc: Lite-On IHAS324 24x DVDRW, ASUS PCI-G31 54Mbps 802.11b/g Wireless PCI Adapter, ASUS Xonar DG
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Only harddrives labeled as Retail come with SATA cables, drives labeled as OEM do not come with anything except the harddrive itself in a static bag.
Since pccasegear doesn't label it as either -_- it's safe to assume that it doesn't come with one.
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EPT
