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.
Overclocking these days is basically a method to delay obsolescence. Both AMD and Intel position their products in such a way that overclocking doesn't cannibalize on their more expensive offerings; back then you could overclock/softmod those Pentiums and save $200 by getting essentially the same performance as a more expensive chip.
When the i5 2500k is around $20 more than the i5 2400, there isn't really much reason to not get the unlocked chip if you're getting a P67 board. Overclocking, thankfully, isn't made for sperges anymore and all you do is change the multiplier - you probably don't even need to bother with voltages and you don't have to change any of the power management features.
If anyone tells you to turn off any power management features, don't listen to them. I thought we were past the age of the AMD Thunderbird and Pentium.
I posted a build earlier - got some tips, made a few revisions. Wondering at what resolution/quality this setup would be able to stream at and if there are any bad pieces in my build. Also, what goes in a PCIe slot? There's only one on the motherboard I listed and was wondering if I'd need another.
Would I also be okay with 4gb RAM in the foreseeable future? Since this motherboard also only has 2 slots for ram.
Video Card - GTX 460 768MB Don't currently have a place to buy this, would wait for a deal to come out. Saw one on Newegg today for ~95 after MIR, so i'll put this down at around 100 ~100
On May 04 2011 15:37 marvin. wrote: I posted a build earlier - got some tips, made a few revisions. Wondering at what resolution/quality this setup would be able to stream at and if there are any bad pieces in my build. Also, what goes in a PCIe slot? There's only one on the motherboard I listed and was wondering if I'd need another.
Would I also be okay with 4gb RAM in the foreseeable future? Since this motherboard also only has 2 slots for ram.
I can't comment on streaming, but an i5 2400 with any $100+ video card will be able to handle SC2 with ease. Even huge 4v4 battles would see little loss of framerate, provided you turn down the settings to a level your video card can handle. 4GB is just fine for now, and you can always upgrade to two sticks of 4GB RAM later if you need to. BTW the video card goes in the PCIe slot.
Not loving these choices. You can get a 1TB HD for 60-70, I don't see much reason to go with a 500GB. I suppose it's ok if you absolutely have no need for the space. Seagate Barracude also doesn't have the best reviews out there.
430W PSU is pushing things... I think it's really the minimum you can get away with having. It'll have only one 6-pin power connector, which means you could never upgrade your video card to anything more powerful. I'd recommend a 500W if you can find one in your price range... but the 430 technically will work for now.
Thanks for the replies - Yeah, I knew the Video Card went in the PCIe slot. I was wondering if anything else went in there, because my motherboard only had one slot.
Also, is there another brand you'd recommend then for HD? I'm on a budget so that's why I'm getting a 500GB. Also I read that 430W is plenty because I don't really plan on upgrading my computer much if at all in the future.
On May 04 2011 11:05 Tin_Foil wrote: Thanks for the fast answers earlier.
So, I've made some adjustments. If you missed the first post, I'm going for a gaming comp to play mostly SC2 on ultra while streaming(if I start that), but also be able to handle new games for a good bit, and generally hold off upgrades for at least 2 years, longer if possible.
That 450W power supply is overpriced and is not powerful enough for that beefy video card. You need a 500W power supply with two 6-pin connectors at the very least. Unfortunately I don't see any good deals on PSUs in the 500-600W range at the moment. (EDIT: THIS IS WRONG, NEVERMIND.)
The rest of it looks great... an extremely powerful system I'd be jealous of. My only other comment is about the video card... the price is a bit high for a 6870. I see that Newegg has the HIS 6870 for $180 after rebate. Also, that card is lonnnnng and I'd be concerned about it fitting in that case too. The case says it supports high end video cards, it might be close though. I'd keep searching online for info on what the longest possible card is that it can hold, or maybe consider a smaller card.
My educated guess- it's a quality case, meant for gaming, even mentions support for longer cards... I'd estimate a 90% chance it would fit in there just fine.
As for the CPU cooler: are you going to overclock your cpu? If not, then the cooler is really not necessary... it is nice to have though. It all depends on if spending a little extra is worth the peace of mind to you, to know you have a high quality cooler and could start overclocking later if you felt like learning about it. Personally I bought one, caught it on sale for around $20 though. The Hyper 212 is the highest quality cooler under $80 imo, it's a great product. But do you NEED it? No.
On May 04 2011 11:05 Tin_Foil wrote: Thanks for the fast answers earlier.
So, I've made some adjustments. If you missed the first post, I'm going for a gaming comp to play mostly SC2 on ultra while streaming(if I start that), but also be able to handle new games for a good bit, and generally hold off upgrades for at least 2 years, longer if possible.
That 450W power supply is overpriced and is not powerful enough for that beefy video card. You need a 500W power supply with two 6-pin connectors at the very least. Unfortunately I don't see any good deals on PSUs in the 500-600W range at the moment.
The rest of it looks great... an extremely powerful system I'd be jealous of. My only other comment is about the video card... the price is a bit high for a 6870. I see that Newegg has the HIS 6870 for $180 after rebate. Also, that card is lonnnnng and I'd be concerned about it fitting in that case too. The case says it supports high end video cards, it might be close though. I'd keep searching online for info on what the longest possible card is that it can hold, or maybe consider a smaller card.
My educated guess- it's a quality case, meant for gaming, even mentions support for longer cards... I'd estimate a 90% chance it would fit in there just fine.
As for the CPU cooler: are you going to overclock your cpu? If not, then the cooler is really not necessary... it is nice to have though. It all depends on if spending a little extra is worth the peace of mind to you, to know you have a high quality cooler and could start overclocking later if you felt like learning about it. Personally I bought one, caught it on sale for around $20 though. The Hyper 212 is the highest quality cooler under $80 imo, it's a great product. But do you NEED it? No.
The XFX 450W is plenty for a single 6870, you won't be getting anywhere near 350W even. $45 is a good price as well, if you don;t mind waiting for the MIR. Only other PSU that comes close would be the Antec EA430 and thats $55 without a rebate.
The HAF 912 will fit it, there's a removable hard drive cage for especially long cards.
If he's getting an i5-2500k he's obviously overclocking
CPU coolers aren't for just neckbeards anymore. If you care at all about system noise, a CPU cooler is an easy way to quiet it down. The stock cooler gets a lot of bad rap (its actually generally quieter than tower coolers with 2/3 stock fans) but the Hyper 212+ runs slow enough that it isn't noticeable in a good case.
Every tower case fits midrange cards these days. I can't think of a single one that doesn't.
Alright, I just got my build, and I've run into a problem. Whenever I put it into my case (Antec 300) and plug in all the fans etc, the computer wont POST. If I take it out of the case and don't attatch the case fans to the power, it runs fine.
Any ideas why?
On that thought, my mum suggested I should have gotten a bigger case -_- My cable management is atrocious.
On May 04 2011 20:30 GTR wrote: Alright, I just got my build, and I've run into a problem. Whenever I put it into my case (Antec 300) and plug in all the fans etc, the computer wont POST. If I take it out of the case and don't attatch the case fans to the power, it runs fine.
Any ideas why?
Probably the motherboard isn't grounded properly, or one of the fans has a short. Make sure that you use the washers in between the motherboard and the standoffs:
Try powering it in the case without the fans, and outside the case with the fans to troubleshoot.
On May 04 2011 11:05 Tin_Foil wrote: Thanks for the fast answers earlier.
So, I've made some adjustments. If you missed the first post, I'm going for a gaming comp to play mostly SC2 on ultra while streaming(if I start that), but also be able to handle new games for a good bit, and generally hold off upgrades for at least 2 years, longer if possible.
That 450W power supply is overpriced and is not powerful enough for that beefy video card. You need a 500W power supply with two 6-pin connectors at the very least. Unfortunately I don't see any good deals on PSUs in the 500-600W range at the moment.
The rest of it looks great... an extremely powerful system I'd be jealous of. My only other comment is about the video card... the price is a bit high for a 6870. I see that Newegg has the HIS 6870 for $180 after rebate. Also, that card is lonnnnng and I'd be concerned about it fitting in that case too. The case says it supports high end video cards, it might be close though. I'd keep searching online for info on what the longest possible card is that it can hold, or maybe consider a smaller card.
My educated guess- it's a quality case, meant for gaming, even mentions support for longer cards... I'd estimate a 90% chance it would fit in there just fine.
As for the CPU cooler: are you going to overclock your cpu? If not, then the cooler is really not necessary... it is nice to have though. It all depends on if spending a little extra is worth the peace of mind to you, to know you have a high quality cooler and could start overclocking later if you felt like learning about it. Personally I bought one, caught it on sale for around $20 though. The Hyper 212 is the highest quality cooler under $80 imo, it's a great product. But do you NEED it? No.
The XFX 450W is plenty for a single 6870, you won't be getting anywhere near 350W even. $45 is a good price as well, if you don;t mind waiting for the MIR.
You're right, my mistake. I've never seen a sub 500W PSU that has two 6-pin connectors. 450W is still cutting it a bit close but it will definitely work, I was wrong on that one.
On May 04 2011 20:30 GTR wrote: Alright, I just got my build, and I've run into a problem. Whenever I put it into my case (Antec 300) and plug in all the fans etc, the computer wont POST. If I take it out of the case and don't attatch the case fans to the power, it runs fine.
Any ideas why?
Probably the motherboard isn't grounded properly, or one of the fans has a short. Make sure that you use the washers in between the motherboard and the standoffs:
Try powering it in the case without the fans, and outside the case with the fans to troubleshoot.
Yeh, I don't think I've put all of the standoffs in.
On May 04 2011 11:05 Tin_Foil wrote: Thanks for the fast answers earlier.
So, I've made some adjustments. If you missed the first post, I'm going for a gaming comp to play mostly SC2 on ultra while streaming(if I start that), but also be able to handle new games for a good bit, and generally hold off upgrades for at least 2 years, longer if possible.
That 450W power supply is overpriced and is not powerful enough for that beefy video card. You need a 500W power supply with two 6-pin connectors at the very least. Unfortunately I don't see any good deals on PSUs in the 500-600W range at the moment.
The rest of it looks great... an extremely powerful system I'd be jealous of. My only other comment is about the video card... the price is a bit high for a 6870. I see that Newegg has the HIS 6870 for $180 after rebate. Also, that card is lonnnnng and I'd be concerned about it fitting in that case too. The case says it supports high end video cards, it might be close though. I'd keep searching online for info on what the longest possible card is that it can hold, or maybe consider a smaller card.
My educated guess- it's a quality case, meant for gaming, even mentions support for longer cards... I'd estimate a 90% chance it would fit in there just fine.
As for the CPU cooler: are you going to overclock your cpu? If not, then the cooler is really not necessary... it is nice to have though. It all depends on if spending a little extra is worth the peace of mind to you, to know you have a high quality cooler and could start overclocking later if you felt like learning about it. Personally I bought one, caught it on sale for around $20 though. The Hyper 212 is the highest quality cooler under $80 imo, it's a great product. But do you NEED it? No.
The XFX 450W is plenty for a single 6870, you won't be getting anywhere near 350W even. $45 is a good price as well, if you don;t mind waiting for the MIR.
You're right, my mistake. I've never seen a sub 500W PSU that has two 6-pin connectors. 450W is still cutting it a bit close but it will definitely work, I was wrong on that one.
No worries, people always way overestimate what power supply they need. This is because manufacturers need to take into account all the shitty $10 600W PSUs that are out there. In reality, an overclocked i5-2500k + 6870 + 2HDs + fans won't draw more than 300W except under extreme loads such as furkmark or stress testing. A good reference I send people to is Anandtech's Power testing for GPUs:
Thats the reading for full system load (OCed i7-920) from the socket, which doesn't even factor PSU efficiency. While you do want to take capacitor aging into account as well, a good 80+ 450W PSU will power almost any single GPU system.
On May 04 2011 20:30 GTR wrote: Alright, I just got my build, and I've run into a problem. Whenever I put it into my case (Antec 300) and plug in all the fans etc, the computer wont POST. If I take it out of the case and don't attatch the case fans to the power, it runs fine.
Any ideas why?
Probably the motherboard isn't grounded properly, or one of the fans has a short. Make sure that you use the washers in between the motherboard and the standoffs:
Try powering it in the case without the fans, and outside the case with the fans to troubleshoot.
Yeh, I don't think I've put all of the standoffs in.
Theres your problem If the motherboard is against the case it just short circuits and nothing happens. There should be markings or something in the manual about which holes to screw in the standoffs for the various types of motherboard (ATX mATX mITX)
So after the Australian hurricane disaster, my desktop was slightly flooded, it's still running for now.. but it makes such loud noises as well as freezing up at random times and sc2 now gets random graphic spikes which makes me thinks the desktop is overheating..
Anyways, I just figured now it is a good time to start investing in a new gaming machine. Being a complete noob, what i'm asking for is probably too much T__T
However, i'm relatively good with money management and will be willing to spend a couple more weeks hungry to save up for this beast of a machine that will be the envy of all =D
Without further ado, here's what I'm looking for in my machine, and hopefully you guys can help me out in choosing the best parts for it!
What is your budget?
My Budget is around AUD1000-1200. This is what I’m hoping to spend all up. But having absolutely no idea about prices, I'm not even sure what i'm asking for is realistic T__T. So i guess as long as the performance/cost is relatively good, i'll be appy!
What is your resolution?
1920x1024 resolution, I am also looking for an eventual dual-monitor set up with this resolution further down the road when budget permits. What are you using it for?
I’ll be using it for mostly Gaming. But as I’ve said, I want to be able to have a stream open on the side. I’ll also eventually be streaming sc2/random games so I want it to have that option available. Also option to do some light video/music editing would be a big plus. What is your upgrade cycle?
A friend of mine recommended having a relatively short upgrade cycle, but I’m of the mind to just get it out of the way. But obviously budget permitting, I’m hoping to not have to worry about my desktop for at least 1-1.5 year down the road.
When do you plan on building it?
No set time. My plan right now is to just start to assemble all the pieces together and eventually build it. My sister will be coming to stay over for a while around June this year, and will probably need the desktop. I’m hoping to have something in the making then or finished so I can give her the old desktop to bring back overseas. If not, not a big deal.
Do you plan on overclocking?
I honestly have no idea about overclocking. If you guys recommend it, I’ll do it. If it’s worthwhile, I’ll put in the hours to learn/study it. (Can’t be as hard as playing Zerg near end of beta =]P )
Do you need an Operating System?
Probably not as my friends keep telling me that no one pays for OS these days. Don’t include this in the budget at the moment. Do you plan to add a second GPU for SLI or Crossfire?
Again, no idea what SLI/Crossfire is. If it’ll really make a big difference in terms of performance and not quite so much in terms of cost go for it..ie, I don’t want it if it’ll only increase performance by 5% but will increase cost by 50% etc When I get the chance to, I'll do some more research on it, but at the moment, it's not too much of a concern.
Where are you buying your parts from?
I live in Australia so unfortunately NEWegg doesn’t ship directly to Aus ;_; However, I have a student computer warehouse (for lack of a better term), widely considered by the student population here to be the cheapest available. Their Pricelist: http://www.msy.com.au/default.jsp?category=8
I also found a site that offers to place orders online for shops in US and then ship it internationally over to us. Of course it incurs a 5% fee on the total purchase as well as International Shipping. Obviously I would prefer to just get my parts over here in Aus where it’s a 10mins drive. But if I’m looking to save quite a substantial amount then just know the option IS available.
If any TL members here know of a computer parts service that I don’t know of, please feel free to recommend. I own a car and don’t mind a drive to save money as well (within reasons of course! ) Extra Notes: If possible, I would like a SSD as I have this thing for fast startup (like I’ll literally go out of my way to make the startup be as fast as possible). From what I’ve read, SSD gives near instantaneous startup time. Also, I am under an unlimited downloads internet plan and is paying quite a premium (curse you Australian net) therefore I hope to be able to make use of this by downloading overnight (not EVERY night, just most), so a lot of hard disk space would be really good as I’ll be storing Blu-Rays/1080p quality usually. If it won’t cost too much extra, having it run quietly would be a big plus too since my gf complains about computer noise of all things when I game -__-“
Holy shit that's a big wall of text, sorry guys! I got carried away D=
Hopefully the bolded letters increased the readability. '
And Thanks alot in advance!
Since this IS a Starcraft Website, if anyone is looking for games/practice/help (any mu with Zerg)/BuildOrder Testing Dummy or just to have a chat, look me up on Bnet, and i'll be more than happy to help out as a way to repay your kindness in helping me out in this!
US Server - mevietSAGA.544 SEA server - meviet.514
msy doesnt have a great selection of SSDs unfortunately. if you are willing to buy from pccasegear, they have the new intel ones coming out by the end of the month. you could probably get the whole computer sans the SSD for 800bucks or so so you can splurge on a big ssd
We’ve been looking for a laptop for my wife to go back to school. I know more about desktops and jack about macs. The current debate is between either new or used; mac or PC. I lean toward New and PC, it’s invariably more money but to me it feels safer and it should see her through 3 years of PA school. She’s leaning towards used and a mac because they're cheaper and she has a nice mac at work. Here’s her requirements:
• Going to need to last at least three years • Screen size of about 15.6”—doesn’t really need more but I think less could strain her eyes • Not going to do any sort of serious gaming on it • Primary uses include: Internet browsing (and shopping, ugh), writing papers, iTunes, PvZ (No not what you’re thinking, Plants vs. Zombies). • No photo, video, music editing (another reason I’m against mac here) • If it’s a PC she wants Win7 • Low pricetag $600 would be max.
I know this is a broad request but I was hoping to get some advice here. I guess what I’m looking for is what you guys would do in my shoes. Also, if anyone is familiar with Macs, what should I look for?
Thanks for the info guys. My wife was trying to compare one of the laptops someone posted and a similar one that she could buy at Best Buy. Wondering if anyone saw a strong difference between them that I don't: Recommended but on backorder
If you're not overclocking, don't plan for SLI or CrossfireX.
The below configuration total comes to $948 before mail in rebates, promotional offers, shipping, and other charges. If you want to lower the total further, you can replace the $160 SSD and $58 HDD with a Western Digital Caviar Black / Blue for around $50:
I think I will order this from ncix and have them assemble it. I am not sure if I will have access to an ethernet connection so is there something extra I should buy to get wireless internet? (I know super novice question)
The configuration is old and some of the sales are over so I wouldn't be purchasing the exact configuration.. NCIX's new sale starts tonight so if you aren't ordering within the next hour, I'd wait until than.
EPT
![[image loading]](http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/graph4260/36575.png)
If the motherboard is against the case it just short circuits and nothing happens. There should be markings or something in the manual about which holes to screw in the standoffs for the various types of motherboard (ATX mATX mITX) 
