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.

So no fek

United States3001 Posts

August 16 2011 03:32 GMT

#9781

Thanks for the advice, guys. I'm just looking to get something together within the next few months, and I have a general idea of what to get for everything else, but cases seem to be more of a personal choice to me, I guess. I figured that, from a fairly uninformed perspective, investing in a decent case would be a wise decision. Everything else will become fairly obsolete with time, but I'd imagine a decent case would hold up a lot better and could be used in future builds.

As I mentioned, I've only done some minor adjustments in my current PC. I don't really recall having any problems with work space, but I do like the thought of having more room to work with, even if unnecessary.

I'll take a look at some mid tower cases when I pool the money to buy everything.

Thanks again.

JingleHell

United States11308 Posts

August 16 2011 03:34 GMT

#9782

The case can be important, and it's definitely a personal choice. I'd say performance on the HAF X doesn't justify the price unless you really like something else about it.

Mind you, I paid MSRP for a Lanboy Air when it first came out. Nothing wrong with buying a case that isn't worth the money from a pure performance standpoint, just make damn sure you get informed about it's issues before buying it at that price.

Snake.69

Canada140 Posts

August 16 2011 04:08 GMT

#9783

To the guy looking to buy new rig in the next few months, i recommand waiting to see what the new ivy-bridge is gonna have to offer, and what price its gonna be at. Either way, sandy bridge will definetly drop in price. I personnally like the HAF 932, Antec 1200 cases, id look at them.

So no fek

United States3001 Posts

August 16 2011 04:14 GMT

#9784

Massive fail on my part. Wrong thread. >_>

Myrmidon

United States9452 Posts

August 16 2011 04:15 GMT

#9785

Ivy Bridge isn't until 6-7 more months or so (or whenever it is), and Intel doesn't usually drop prices much.

If you're talking about upcoming Sandy Bridge-E, that's the same architecture as Sandy Bridge and really shouldn't be any better aside from things like extra PCIe lanes, quad channel memory (though that won't be too important for most people), and having a few hex core models and eventually an octo core model for consumers (likewise not important unless you're doing heavy rendering/encoding/etc.). It'll be like Lynnfield i5-7xx / i7-8xx versus Bloomfield/Gulftown i7-9xx except that this time Intel released the cheaper-yet-mostly identical version first.

epikAnglory

United States1120 Posts

August 16 2011 05:38 GMT

#9786

Thanks a lot guys, I really appreciate even remembering the details for my old posts! Alright he is not going to watch BluRay, probably not even 1080p, so I am assuming it will be fine to go with HD 2000 graphics. As long as it can run 1080p videos smoothly along with Netflix HD and stuff I guess I will cut the GPU out.

4 GB RAM DDR3
Windows 7 64 Bit
i5 2400 w/ Intel HD Graphics 2000

I am not sure how to connect an HDMI cable for integrated graphics though, do I literally just plug it into the motherboard? Does not that look ugly?

epikAnglory

United States1120 Posts

August 16 2011 06:33 GMT

#9787

Just a quick thought, would an AMD Phenom II x4 955 @ $109 on Newegg combined with a GT 520 outrun an i5 2400 with HD 2000? I heard Intel owns AMD in terms of gaming for sure, but what about basic desktop uses? Or would an i3 with GT 520 be better? Options:

i3 2100 w/ GT 520 (190ish)
i5 2400 w/ HD 2000 Integrated (190ish)
Phenom II x4 955 (sale) w/ GT 520 (160ish)

NO GAMING

nam nam

Sweden4672 Posts

August 16 2011 06:46 GMT

#9788

Does anyone know if there is a cheaper alternative to the Corsair Obsidian Series 650D? (link below)
http://www.corsair.com/cases/obsidian-series/obsidian-series-650d.html

I'm talking about similar looks (preferably a window but it's not absolute neccesary) with decent cooling and quality. No docking station is needed, especially if it comes with more front usb ports, preferably usb3 but not neccesary and audio jack. A fan controller is nice but I can always add that later.

How about the Lian Li PC-9F? Or is the fractal design r3 the one to beat in that range? Though I prefer cooling over silence. Or is it something better in the same price range as the 650d that you could recommend? Thanks.

@JingleHell

Do you recommend the lanboy air? It got lowered in price where I live but I'm not sold on the looks and I've read some mixed reviews about the functionality.

Womwomwom

5930 Posts

August 16 2011 06:47 GMT

#9789

Literally anything can do that - ARM processors in the iPad 2 can do that. A Zacate, an AMD processor for netbooks, can basically run non-Flash 1080P so a full desktop processor from the last 3 years can easily do that.

Personally I'd take the i3-2100 just for the low power draw. Heck you could even get a Sandy Bridge Pentium (G820 was it called?) and it will work fine if they don't give a shit about single core performance.

Myrmidon

United States9452 Posts

August 16 2011 07:01 GMT

#9790

G620 is the cheapest, and it's just a 2.6 GHz dual core without hyperthreading, so honestly, good enough for any type of normal home computing. I mean, that's faster than a Phenom II X2 and about the same as a high-end Core 2 Duo of yesteryear.

Apparently Intel's going to be rolling out Sandy Bridge Celerons before too long, some of which should be single core processors.

epikAnglory

United States1120 Posts

August 16 2011 07:27 GMT

#9791

What is the ATI equivalent of the Nvidia GT 520 1 GB? Is the GT 520 every going to be faster or more useful than the HD 2000 graphics?

SoniCShiftY

United Kingdom12 Posts

August 16 2011 10:47 GMT

#9792

On August 16 2011 10:10 JingleHell wrote:
@Sonic: Get more specific on "gaming" and what sort of settings you like to play at. Names of specific games are also handy. If you want to know if you can use your old RAM, you kind of need to say what type it is. And no, RAID0 is relatively useless for gaming, unless you do a lot of single player stuff with long load times.

By gaming I mean SC2 on ultra. CS:GO when its released and Battlefield 3 mainly. On highish detail as I guess its gonna be quite a demanding game.

JingleHell

United States11308 Posts

August 16 2011 12:49 GMT

#9793

The Newegg.com Shellshocker Deal starting at 10AM Pacific Time is the 128GB Crucial M4. They don't list the price until the deal starts, but Shell Shockers are frequently pretty awesome, so if you've been waiting for a good opportunity at $/GB for one of the more reliable SSD's, this may be your chance.

Womwomwom

5930 Posts

August 16 2011 12:56 GMT

#9794

On August 16 2011 16:27 epikAnglory wrote:
What is the ATI equivalent of the Nvidia GT 520 1 GB? Is the GT 520 every going to be faster or more useful than the HD 2000 graphics?

No it isn't, it might be faster playing computer games but it'll still suck because low end cards aren't good at that job anyway. Which is why Intel is gaining even more market share in the graphics market and why more and more laptops OEMs don't bother with low end discrete cards anymore.

ataryens

Iran213 Posts

August 16 2011 14:44 GMT

#9795

Im using a 64GB m4 SSD and I was wondering if these tweaks would be a smart move. (I have/will have OS, Office, browsers, other small utilies) and (install/uninstall single player games on it, so sc2 is on hdd and assassin creed on ssd till im done with storyline)

1: Enable Write Caching
2: Disable indexing
3: Disable Superfetch
4: Disable Prefetch
5: Firefox - Use memory cache instead of disk cache
6: Disable Page file (I have 8G ram)
7: Disable System Restore
8: wth is TRIM and do I want it enabled or disabled

Thx again for the help

JingleHell

United States11308 Posts

August 16 2011 14:48 GMT

#9796

I personally don't suggest disabling paging. With a good drive, it's unlikely to use up your writes too fast, and some software doesn't play nice with not having a page file. TRIM keep enabled. System restore is your call, I personally have it off because I don't have a tendency to need it, but some people are better at fucking up their PC than others.

Myrmidon

United States9452 Posts

August 16 2011 15:06 GMT

#9797

Most of those things Windows (well Windows 7) should set by itself, after automatically figuring out that your storage device is an SSD. Just double check that TRIM was enabled by itself. You didn't mention turning disk defrag off, but that should be done automatically too.

I wouldn't bother changing Firefox cache, disabling the page file, or disabling system restore though. Those are all fine the default way they are. System restore is kind of your call--the others just kind of seem backwards.

ataryens

Iran213 Posts

August 16 2011 15:19 GMT

#9798

I didnt mention defrag as i figured it was universally accepted that its useless (at least the windows one), not sure why I wrote system restore but ill take it off.

I think i will disable indexing and just make sure trim in enabled
Thx guys

JingleHell

United States11308 Posts

August 16 2011 15:21 GMT

#9799

Actually it's not just Windows defrag that's useless on an SSD. For one, defragging is only useful due to the physical design of HDDs. Since SSD's work completely differently, it does no good, and wastes write cycles while it's at it.

ballasdontcry

Canada595 Posts

August 16 2011 15:47 GMT

#9800

TRIM is enabled by default on W7, at least on recognized SSDs. earlier on in windows 7 there were some difficulties recognizing some brands of SSDs.

to check for sure, go to your windows defrag program and click scheduler, if you can't see your C: (or whatever your system drive letter is) on the list, then TRIM is by default enabled.