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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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Myrmidon
United States9452 Posts
One famous historical posting about SSDs is this tidbit by Linus Torvalds, back when non-Intel drives were bad: http://torvalds-family.blogspot.com/2008/10/so-i-got-one-of-new-intel-ssds.html i.e. before Crucial, Samsung, SandForce got into the market edit: on second thought, a lot of the early SSDs were Samsung. I was thinking about the Samsung-branded retail 470 series, which is fine. | ||
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Zepish
Canada160 Posts
I'm still confused about SSDs... I guess I'll research about how to use them. Lets Say I dual boot, that means I would have to partition my SSD in two ? One for ubuntu linux one for windows. Then all my files (music, random programs, documents) would be on my HDD ? Thats how noob I am, I had never heard about SSDs before now haha  | ||
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tabbott26
United Kingdom379 Posts
I'd like a PC that can run sc2 on a reasonably good setting (High+), as well as being able to run a few streams, iTunes (which currently screws up my computer like a boss) and a few other things at the same time. I might be looking into video editing in the next year, but nothing too advanced. I'd like the processor to be a quad core i7, just because I know someone who has one, and says it's amazing. However, if you disagree, please don't hesitate to give a replacement... I'm also looking to stream a bit, console games too. If possible, can you recommend a good internal capture card, (I've already got my mind on a few external ones, so don't worry about that), which type you prefer (internal/ external, HDMI vs. HD) and why... I'll also need something with USB 3.0 (I'm not very good with these sorts of things, so it may already be sorted out) Also, I'm not great with these things, I don't know the resolution I'll be at: I'll be playing on a 22' monitor that I already have. I also already have a keyboard and mouse. I'd also like the case to look cool, so some sort of lights and a transparent side is good! I won't be needing an OS (for Win 7, can probs get a student discount so don't worry about it for now), and to echo Zepish ^^ can you explain what happens to the documents in an SSD, and which is better. Finally, I'm in the UK, if not already guessed. If there's something I've missed, just ask and I'll edit the post. Cheers in advance guys!! | ||
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ROOTdrewbie
Canada1392 Posts
So I have these 2 motherboards at my house right now: Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3 - http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3439#ov and Intel DP55WG - http://www.intel.com/Products/Desktop/Motherboards/DP55WG/DP55WG-overview.htm I have an i7 - 875k processor and a GTX 460 gfx card ( but I just won a GTX 570 which I plan on putting in instead ) and 4x2gb ram ( i think its 1333mhz but not 100% sure lol ) and 2 RAID hard drives. again, any advice is much appreciated :D thx | ||
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skyR
Canada13817 Posts
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Dannnnn_The_Man
United States166 Posts
So could anyone here possibly hook me up with a good $900 dollar build with NO OS. | ||
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Myrmidon
United States9452 Posts
On June 29 2011 06:20 Zepish wrote: Wow thanks guys its really helping out :O I'm still confused about SSDs... I guess I'll research about how to use them. Lets Say I dual boot, that means I would have to partition my SSD in two ? One for ubuntu linux one for windows. Then all my files (music, random programs, documents) would be on my HDD ? Thats how noob I am, I had never heard about SSDs before now haha Yes you'd want to partition it so you can run both OS off of it. This is kind of old and anything in the article referring to specific products is referring to outdated technology, but here's a good article about SSDs: http://www.anandtech.com/show/2738 Mechanical drives aren't really much faster now, but here's a roundup of more recent SSDs: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4421/the-2011-midrange-ssd-roundup @tabbott26: Read above about SSDs. Bottom line is that in many situations they are much faster than mechanical spinny storage, and lots of times while you're using a computer, the CPU is waiting around for data to be written or read from storage. I think I'd favor an external capture card over USB3. In terms of convenience of hooking up the console, maybe having more ports or analog passthrough, etc., that sounds better to me. HDMI is probably most convenient, but what if you're capturing from a last-gen console? Well actually, maybe you won't. I guess it depends on what kind of games you're playing. There are two Blackmagic Intensity models: one is internal PCIe 1x and the other is USB3. That only does 720p or 1080i though. Hauppauge makes some products too, and there are others. i7 is the same as an i5 (just as good, within the margin of error) for most tasks including games, but it will be maybe like 20% faster in the best case for video editing on some operations. It's probably not worth the £70 price difference. They're actually the same chip with the same design, just the i7 has hyperthreading enabled and 2MB more L3 cache. It's not like the i7 features a different technology or anything really special over the i5. About the case, how are we supposed to figure out what you'd like? I dunno--I just picked something with a reasonable interior and then a side window and random LEDs. Obviously you can just find one more to your liking. Core i5-2500k - £161.60 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/251596 Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus - £26.50 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/245376 Gigabyte P67A-D3 - £90.47 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/264878 Kingston 2 x 4GB DDR3 RAM - £56.15 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/195372 Asus GTX 560 Ti DirectCU - £179.02 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/254405 Intel 320 80GB - £121.65 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/261751 Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB - £43.43 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173804 Lite-On CD / DVD-RW - £14.49 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/190838 XFX Core Edition 550W (450W was nowhere to be found) - £49.07 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/264380 NZXT Lexa S - £57.48 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/175611 | ||
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Myrmidon
United States9452 Posts
Core i5-2500k and Crucial M4 64GB SSD - $315 http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.673401 Xigmatek Gaia - $30 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233082 EVGA GTX 560 Ti 850 MHz AR (lifetime warranty on registration) - $235, $215 AMIR http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130604 AsRock P67 Pro3 - $120 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157230 Corsair 2 x 4GB DDR3 RAM - $65 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233192 Samsung Spinpoint F4 EcoGreen 1.5TB - $60 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152287 Samsung CD / DVD-RW - $19 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151233 XFX Core Edition 450W - $55, $45 AMIR http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207012 Cooler Master HAF 912 - $60, $50 AMIR (or substitute your own...) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119233 extra SATA cable (motherboard comes with 2, and you need 3) - $3.50 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812270093 | ||
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Dannnnn_The_Man
United States166 Posts
On June 29 2011 08:23 Myrmidon wrote: @Dannnnn_The_Man Core i5-2500k and Crucial M4 64GB SSD - $315 http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.673401 Xigmatek Gaia - $30 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233082 EVGA GTX 560 Ti 850 MHz AR (lifetime warranty on registration) - $235, $215 AMIR http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130604 AsRock P67 Pro3 - $120 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157230 Corsair 2 x 4GB DDR3 RAM - $65 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233192 Samsung Spinpoint F4 EcoGreen 1.5TB - $60 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152287 Samsung CD / DVD-RW - $19 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151233 XFX Core Edition 450W - $55, $45 AMIR http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207012 Cooler Master HAF 912 - $60, $50 AMIR (or substitute your own...) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119233 extra SATA cable (motherboard comes with 2, and you need 3) - $3.50 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812270093 Wow that looks very nice! Thanks man! Im pretty sure im gonna grab this case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147107 Also may i ask about the SSD that comes with the package? | ||
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tabbott26
United Kingdom379 Posts
On June 29 2011 08:07 Myrmidon wrote: + Show Spoiler + @tabbott26: Read above about SSDs. Bottom line is that in many situations they are much faster than mechanical spinny storage, and lots of times while you're using a computer, the CPU is waiting around for data to be written or read from storage. I think I'd favor an external capture card over USB3. In terms of convenience of hooking up the console, maybe having more ports or analog passthrough, etc., that sounds better to me. HDMI is probably most convenient, but what if you're capturing from a last-gen console? Well actually, maybe you won't. I guess it depends on what kind of games you're playing. There are two Blackmagic Intensity models: one is internal PCIe 1x and the other is USB3. That only does 720p or 1080i though. Hauppauge makes some products too, and there are others. i7 is the same as an i5 (just as good, within the margin of error) for most tasks including games, but it will be maybe like 20% faster in the best case for video editing on some operations. It's probably not worth the £70 price difference. They're actually the same chip with the same design, just the i7 has hyperthreading enabled and 2MB more L3 cache. It's not like the i7 features a different technology or anything really special over the i5. About the case, how are we supposed to figure out what you'd like? I dunno--I just picked something with a reasonable interior and then a side window and random LEDs. Obviously you can just find one more to your liking. Core i5-2500k - £161.60 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/251596 Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus - £26.50 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/245376 Gigabyte P67A-D3 - £90.47 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/264878 Kingston 2 x 4GB DDR3 RAM - £56.15 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/195372 Asus GTX 560 Ti DirectCU - £179.02 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/254405 Intel 320 80GB - £121.65 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/261751 Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB - £43.43 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173804 Lite-On CD / DVD-RW - £14.49 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/190838 XFX Core Edition 550W (450W was nowhere to be found) - £49.07 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/264380 NZXT Lexa S - £57.48 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/175611 Thank you very much for this. One more thing, it mentions this: + Show Spoiler + Realtek ALC889 codec High Definition Audio 2/4/5.1/7.1-channel * To configure 7.1-channel audio, you have to use an HD front panel audio module and enable the multi-channel audio feature through the audio driver. Support for S/PDIF Out under sounds in the product description. Will I be able to use an optical audio cable with this?? Or will I need a separate optical sound card?? Also, do I need a modem. eBuyer doesn't have a high enough resolution picture of the motherboard! Sorry for asking, I'm just really really bad when it comes to computer parts!! | ||
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HuggyBear
Australia377 Posts
On June 29 2011 07:13 coL.drewbie wrote: Hey I was hoping for some advice on which motherboard to use in my computer as I have no clue at all about motherboards :D thx for any help So I have these 2 motherboards at my house right now: Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3 - http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3439#ov and Intel DP55WG - http://www.intel.com/Products/Desktop/Motherboards/DP55WG/DP55WG-overview.htm I have an i7 - 875k processor and a GTX 460 gfx card ( but I just won a GTX 570 which I plan on putting in instead ) and 4x2gb ram ( i think its 1333mhz but not 100% sure lol ) and 2 RAID hard drives. again, any advice is much appreciated :D thx Either of those motherboards would work. Its probably just a matter of which one can overclock your i7 better. | ||
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Murkinlol
United States366 Posts
 . I have about a 1200 dollar budget put part of that will need to go to a monitor as well. I'd like a great gaming computer that can run sc2 and diablo 3 (don't think specs are out yet though), as well as other random games. I'd also like to be able to handle music programs well, I need to learn more about those too though so I don't really know what I want with it  . Sorry if this is vague but a general idea will be greatly appreciated! I'll be buying from online or a Fry's, don't think I'll need overclocking, I'll need an OS but hopefully can get a discount from my school. Probably plan to upgrade every 2+ years. Thanks! | ||
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skyR
Canada13817 Posts
Here's a configuration for $759 that is capable of playing most games on reasonably high settings at 1080p. That leaves you roughly $400 for a nice IPS monitor or you can just save it. You can also add in an SSD if you wish. Intel Core i5 2400 @ $190 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115074 EVGA GTX 5600 Ti -KR @ $230 ($200 after mail in rebate) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130634 Asrock H61M U3S3 @ $75 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157236 XFX Core Edition Pro 450 @ $55 ($45 after mail in rebate) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207012 GSkill 1333MHz 2x4GB @ $65 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231424 Coolermaster HAF 912 @ $60 ($50 after mail in rebate) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119233 Samsung Spinpoint F3 @ $65 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185 DVD Burner @ $19 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106289 | ||
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Murkinlol
United States366 Posts
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009222 | ||
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skyR
Canada13817 Posts
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Myrmidon
United States9452 Posts
On June 29 2011 08:40 Dannnnn_The_Man wrote: Wow that looks very nice! Thanks man! Im pretty sure im gonna grab this case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147107 Also may i ask about the SSD that comes with the package? What are you asking about the SSD? It's a current-generation drive that seems to be okay. Like most lower-capacity SSDs, it's a little worse than the higher-capacity models in the same line (particularly in write speeds and max write IOPS, though those should be plenty good for home computer use). Crucial M4 uses 25nm MLC NAND flash from IMFT. After all, the M in IMFT stands for Micron, the parent company of Crucial. Uh, see here (again, note that the 256GB version reviewed is of course faster than the 64GB model): http://www.anandtech.com/show/4253/the-crucial-m4-micron-c400-ssd-review On June 29 2011 08:57 tabbott26 wrote: Thank you very much for this. One more thing, it mentions this: + Show Spoiler + Realtek ALC889 codec High Definition Audio 2/4/5.1/7.1-channel * To configure 7.1-channel audio, you have to use an HD front panel audio module and enable the multi-channel audio feature through the audio driver. Support for S/PDIF Out under sounds in the product description. Will I be able to use an optical audio cable with this?? Or will I need a separate optical sound card?? Also, do I need a modem. eBuyer doesn't have a high enough resolution picture of the motherboard! Sorry for asking, I'm just really really bad when it comes to computer parts!! The motherboard has optical S/PDIF out, and the three typical analog sound jacks (stereo/headphones out, stereo line-in, and microphone in). The slightly more expensive motherboards have six analog output jacks. You're looking at this: http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3800 You need a modem. By the way, in case you didn't pick it up, those parts are set up to allow you to overclock the CPU. Overclocking a i5-2500k is pretty trivial if you ever want to do that for the extra performance. An overclocked i5-2500k is faster than a i7-2600 at most things and comparable in others (but not faster than an overclocked i7-2600k). | ||
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EtherealDeath
United States8366 Posts
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skyR
Canada13817 Posts
On June 29 2011 16:33 EtherealDeath wrote: What's the difference between http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157229 and http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130582 ? Asrock has more phases, more SATA ports, on-board debug LED and power/reset button, and includes a SLI bridge. | ||
Womwomwom
5930 Posts
On June 29 2011 15:34 Murkinlol wrote: That seems to be a lot for a monitor, is that pretty normal? I would like a really amazing display though so I guess around 400 is what I'll have to splash out.anybody have any opinions on this one? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009222 All monitors use a different type of TFT LCD panel. There are three technologies people use: they're IPS, VA, and TN. TN monitors sit around $200 and by far the cheapest. They're good if you just do normal people stuff with it and generally have the best response times. They're all the same, so its easy to pick one out, and the manufacturing process is generally consistent. If you don't need good viewing angles or colour accuracy, just get a TN monitor. Some of the more expensive monitors are capable of playing 3D content however its hardly worth the extra cost. IPS monitors are pretty much the best on the market in terms of viewing angles and colour reproduction though they have a lot of flaws. LG makes the panels and they tend to put a fairly thick anti-glare which can be extremely annoying to certain people - the only monitor that doesn't have this issue is the Apple Cinema Display. They also have a "white glow" which can be extremely annoying if your work in dark locations - if you want to see what its like, use an iPad in a dark room. Lastly, manufacturing quality is god awful and none of the panels are consistent in quality so if you are doing any colour important work, you're going to keep returning monitors until you get a pitch perfect monitor. VA monitors are basically a compromise between TN and IPS. Fantastic blacks and colour accuracy and generally very light anti-glare. Slowest pixel response of all panel technologies so bad for gaming and the ones with overdrive are ungodly expensive. There's going to be a 4th one, called PLS, but who knows when that's coming out. Its apparently pretty good and because its made by Samsung the anti glare is really light. tl;dr to summarize: - TN monitor if you don't care about colour accuracy or viewing angles. It does not matter which one you buy, all TN monitors are more or less the same in terms of quality. You should not pay more than $250 for anything 24" or below unless you want 3D capabilities (its not worth it). - IPS monitor if you care about viewing angles and colour accuracy. The best budget option is still the Dell U2311 straight from the Dell Online Store. - VA monitor if you don't game and only do office work. Samsung is pretty much the only company that still makes these monitors at an affordable price. | ||
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SleepTech
United States222 Posts
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