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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. |
On September 27 2010 13:07 Myrmidon wrote:
Agreed, for a gamer not using other heavy applications and not desiring to use 3 or more GPUs, a core i5-7xx + cheaper P55 motherboard would be just as good as the i7-930 and X58 motherboard.
If you're not overclocking, you don't need RAM rated over PC3 10666 (1333), so you can save a little bit there too.
The WD Caviar Green is slower (5400 rpm compared to usual 7200 rpm), lower-power, and a little bit cheaper compared to most desktop drives. For a primary hard drive, people usually recommend other drives like Samsung's Spinpoint, WD Caviar Blue or Black (and others), since the Caviar Green would be slower booting up and loading applications, etc.
The PSU is way overkill. Unless you have multiple GPUs, lots of hard drives, are overclocking a lot, or using a GTX 480 or HD 5970, a single-GPU computer will not need over 500W. Many gaming computers use much less.
GTX 460 is enough for modern games. GTX 470 or HD 5850 may be also fine if you want something that is more powerful, but the GTX 460 is the best value in the high-end range. I think it's better to go with the good value now and then upgrade the GPU if necessary later on.
Thank you for your great help, any p55 motherboard to reccomend? and which core i5-7xx would u go for ?
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i5-750. 760 would be worth it if you want the best possible overclock, but it's not too important if you're going for a mild one.
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Okay i have come up with this final set up:
mobo + cpu : Core i5-760 + Gigabyte P55A-UD3 USB3.0/ SATA 3
graphics card: GtX 460 palit sonic platinum 1gb
power supply: Corsair HX650W Modular PSU 80 Plus
dvd writer: Samsung S223 22x DvD+-RW
harddisk: WD 500GB 64MB (Caviar Black)
Ram: PC3 12800/1600 Corsair CL9 (Kit) 4GB total
Casing: Antec Nine Hundred Two (902) Gaming Case
If lets say i would prefer to have a GTX 480 instead of the 460, will this current set up be able to full optimize the 480? If not, what changes should i make if i want to have the 480 instead? And is my choice of PSU good?
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On September 27 2010 14:58 Nitron wrote:
Okay i have come up with this final set up:
mobo + cpu : Core i5-760 + Gigabyte P55A-UD3 USB3.0/ SATA 3
graphics card: GtX 460 palit sonic platinum 1gb
power supply: Corsair HX650W Modular PSU 80 Plus
dvd writer: Samsung S223 22x DvD+-RW
harddisk: WD 500GB 64MB (Caviar Black)
Ram: PC3 12800/1600 Corsair CL9 (Kit) 4GB total
Casing: Antec Nine Hundred Two (902) Gaming Case
If lets say i would prefer to have a GTX 480 instead of the 460, will this current set up be able to full optimize the 480? If not, what changes should i make if i want to have the 480 instead? And is my choice of PSU good?
Yes it would be able to fully utilize the 480. No changes would be needed. Corsair is one of the most desired and reputable brands on the IT parts market. Enough said.
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Hey guys what would be better to pick
GPU: gtx 480 or gtx 460 sli
Motherboard :1366 or 1156
and a good processor for it (no extreme 1k $ CPU)
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So i think i'll cut the crap and jump straight to the point. Im bad at this and need the community to help
What is your budget?
1000USD
What is your resolution?
1920 x 1080
What are you using it for?
Playing games(Mostly SC2, GW2 in the future), Adobe photoshop, flash, premier pro. 3D studio max, Maya, Houdini, other level design tools.
What is your upgrade cycle?
i hope to make it every 18 months
When do you plan on building it?
Pretty much between the next 2 weeks
Do you plan on overclocking?
Nope
Do you need an Operating System?
Yes
Do you plan to add a second GPU for SLI or Crossfire?
No
Where are you buying your parts from?
i will be using newegg.com as a reference.
Overshot of budget is alright, but not too much
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On September 27 2010 19:39 PaD wrote:
Hey guys what would be better to pick
GPU: gtx 480 or gtx 460 sli
Motherboard :1366 or 1156
and a good processor for it (no extreme 1k $ CPU)
Same advice as to Nitron: 2 GTX 460 in SLI may be cheaper than a GTX 480, and it would perform better in most games. However, then you need to worry about bad compatibility with certain games, waiting for updates, the extra PCI/PCI-E slots being blocked, etc. The single-card solution is more convenient, but that comes at a price (and loss in performance usually).
For a gamer, i5-7xx with LGA 1156 mobo is what you want. Possibly an i7-8xx is fine too if you're going to be playing games that are very well threaded (not the case for most all of today's games) and are willing to pay around 100 USD more for a marginal performance upgrade. Usually it'd be better to save the money for a future upgrade.
On September 27 2010 21:57 Nade wrote:So i think i'll cut the crap and jump straight to the point. Im bad at this and need the community to help + Show Spoiler [snip] +
What is your budget?
1000USD
What is your resolution?
1920 x 1080
What are you using it for?
Playing games(Mostly SC2, GW2 in the future), Adobe photoshop, flash, premier pro. 3D studio max, Maya, Houdini, other level design tools.
What is your upgrade cycle?
i hope to make it every 18 months
When do you plan on building it?
Pretty much between the next 2 weeks
Do you plan on overclocking?
Nope
Do you need an Operating System?
Yes
Do you plan to add a second GPU for SLI or Crossfire?
No
Where are you buying your parts from?
i will be using newegg.com as a reference.
Overshot of budget is alright, but not too much
AMD Phenom II X6 1055T
Socket AM3 motherboard
8 GB DDR3 RAM
GTX 460 768MB
HDD, optical drive, OS, case, etc.
500W PSU
I think that might be over budget by a little bit. With USA prices and deals it might be a little bit under. If you like to run fullscreen antialiasing, the 1GB GTX 460 might be a better idea. I think you want over 4GB RAM definitely for running those kinds of applications.
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Current setup
+ Show Spoiler +OPERATING SYSTEM:
Windows 7 Upgrade
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CPU TYPE:
Intel® Core™2 Duo CPU E8400 @ 3.00GHz
----
SYSTEM MEMORY (GB):
4 ddr 2
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VIDEO CARD MODEL:
NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX/9800 GTX
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DESKTOP RESOLUTION:
1680x1050
My current setup seems to be running everything fine, however I was wondering what I should do when I upgrade... I feel like some of the newer games are starting to tax my computer a bit too much for my taste. More Ram? should I just get a i7/motherboard/3dcard? Or should I just stick things out until things get a bit cheaper.
My main purpose though, is to look into a comp for my friend....answers to questions below! I tried to come up with my own list, but when I came to Graphics cards I found I was clueless T_T.
+ Show Spoiler +
What is your budget?
800-1000
What is your resolution?
1680x1050
What are you using it for?
Pretty much just gaming.
What is your upgrade cycle?
2+ years hopefully
When do you plan on building it?
Within the next 2months( maybe some black friday deals?)
Do you plan on overclocking?
No.
Do you need an Operating System?
Yes Need Windows 7 please..
Do you plan to add a second GPU for SLI or Crossfire?
No.
Where are you buying your parts from?
Newegg/ Tiger Direct
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On September 28 2010 00:33 Islandsnake wrote:Current setup + Show Spoiler +OPERATING SYSTEM:
Windows 7 Upgrade
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CPU TYPE:
Intel® Core™2 Duo CPU E8400 @ 3.00GHz
----
SYSTEM MEMORY (GB):
4 ddr 2
-------
VIDEO CARD MODEL:
NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX/9800 GTX
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DESKTOP RESOLUTION:
1680x1050 My current setup seems to be running everything fine, however I was wondering what I should do when I upgrade... I feel like some of the newer games are starting to tax my computer a bit too much for my taste. More Ram? should I just get a i7/motherboard/3dcard? Or should I just stick things out until things get a bit cheaper. My main purpose though, is to look into a comp for my friend....answers to questions below! I tried to come up with my own list, but when I came to Graphics cards I found I was clueless T_T. + Show Spoiler +
What is your budget?
800-1000
What is your resolution?
1680x1050
What are you using it for?
Pretty much just gaming.
What is your upgrade cycle?
2+ years hopefully
When do you plan on building it?
Within the next 2months( maybe some black friday deals?)
Do you plan on overclocking?
No.
Do you need an Operating System?
Yes Need Windows 7 please..
Do you plan to add a second GPU for SLI or Crossfire?
No.
Where are you buying your parts from?
Newegg/ Tiger Direct
For your computer:
E8400 is actually pretty decent for games by modern standards, especially those like SC2 that do not use many execution threads. It's also a good overclocking CPU, but that's probably unnecessary.
4 GB RAM is more than plenty for running games. More RAM than that gives 0 performance benefit unless you have lots of applications opened while gaming.
The 9800 GTX is still decent, but it's showing its age more. You could get something like a GTX 460 and get a significant improvement now, but...
AMD (ATI) has a new line of video cards coming out in a couple months, the 6xxx series. There are conflicting reports on estimated performance and cost for those. Likewise, Intel has new CPUs coming out in a few months.
Current Intel CPUs are just one architectural generation ahead of what you have, and the Core i5 and Core i7 processors are in 45nm, the same feature size as your current processor. It seems like a waste to upgrade the CPU now near the end of the current generation; just upgrade CPU/mobo/RAM (to DDR3) in a few months when the new parts come. Upgrading the GPU now may or may not make sense, depending on exactly what you want.
For your friend:
A good gaming setup now for on the low end of the budget range including the OS price would be
AMD Phenom II X4 955
AM3 motherboard (USB3 support is not a bad idea) -- for no SLI and no extreme overclocks, something above $100 is too much
GTX 460 768MB
2x2GB DDR3 1333 RAM
HDD, optical drive, OS, case, etc.
500W PSU (more than that much is a waste, and 500W is already plenty)
For $80 more you can get an i5-750 or i5-760 and a corresponding P55 socket LGA1156 motherboard, but that's a mostly marginal improvement for most games. For $40 more you can get a GTX 460 1GB, but the performance increase there for that resolution shouldn't be that great either. But some might say the 1GB version is more future-proof.
Maybe just save the rest of the money or get a nicer case and PSU and/or more storage (i.e. things that will be relevant longer).
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On September 28 2010 00:33 Islandsnake wrote:Current setup + Show Spoiler +OPERATING SYSTEM:
Windows 7 Upgrade
-----
CPU TYPE:
Intel® Core™2 Duo CPU E8400 @ 3.00GHz
----
SYSTEM MEMORY (GB):
4 ddr 2
-------
VIDEO CARD MODEL:
NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX/9800 GTX
-----
DESKTOP RESOLUTION:
1680x1050 My current setup seems to be running everything fine, however I was wondering what I should do when I upgrade... I feel like some of the newer games are starting to tax my computer a bit too much for my taste. More Ram? should I just get a i7/motherboard/3dcard? Or should I just stick things out until things get a bit cheaper. My main purpose though, is to look into a comp for my friend....answers to questions below! I tried to come up with my own list, but when I came to Graphics cards I found I was clueless T_T. + Show Spoiler +
What is your budget?
800-1000
What is your resolution?
1680x1050
What are you using it for?
Pretty much just gaming.
What is your upgrade cycle?
2+ years hopefully
When do you plan on building it?
Within the next 2months( maybe some black friday deals?)
Do you plan on overclocking?
No.
Do you need an Operating System?
Yes Need Windows 7 please..
Do you plan to add a second GPU for SLI or Crossfire?
No.
Where are you buying your parts from?
Newegg/ Tiger Direct
buy a cooler, overclock, buy a gtx 460, enjoy benefits
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I feel like you should stay with what you have now and just purchase a GTX 460 or wait for the upcoming ATI 67XX series which should come out later this year (November-December maybe?)
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Thanks for the info guys, Personally I will probably wait on upgrading my PC until those new parts come out ^_^
I was going threw newegg pricing the parts for my friends when I came across the "IbuyPOWER" prebuilt PCs... Now I assume you guys prefer to build your own and everything but has anyone bought any of them?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100006736 50011210&IsNodeId=1&name=iBUYPOWER seems like some decent deals, can anoyone recommend one for that 800-1000 dollar price range? Just curious, I always assumed these PCs were waaaay overpriced but it dosn't seem like its too too bad for the parts in them.
Also can you install a windows 7 upgrade on a empty computer without completely installing a old OS first?
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Can you guys help me with my build? I'm going to begin buying the parts on Thursday. I'll most likely start with the case and basic stuff based on your recommendations. Can you check this out and provide recommendations or tips where you can? I would really appreciate it, I'm pretty new at this and trying to learn as much as I can.
OS: Windows 7
CPU: Core i5 750 (would like to overclock)
Mobo: Intel X58 (NOT ENTIRELY SURE IF THIS IS A GOOd FIT)
RAM: Corsair CMT4GX3M2A1866C9 Domintor GT Dual Channel 4096MB PC15000 DDR3 Memory - 1866MHz 2x2048MB 9-9-9-24
GPU: Need help...Would like to overclock and crossfire/SLI
PSU: Need help...
Case: Obsidian Series 700D
HSF: Corsair H50
SSD: Crucial RealSSD C300 (64 GB)
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Magic forces black and white,
Reaching out through space and light,
Be he far or be he near
Bring us the demon FragKrag here.
I have a question, I'm thinking of buying the corsair H50 you recommend for my i7 930, do you know if it will fit correctly into an Antec 900? From what I see on the case it has these holes so you can put an extra fan, would the H50's fan fit here?
This is the location I'm talking about (about 9' o clock on the case):
![[image loading]](http://www.digitgeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/antec900side.jpg)
The issue is that I have a GTX480 and it's pretty bulky, and its just under that hole. Did you have any experience on this sort of thing?
Thanks in advance
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On September 29 2010 01:40 ReTr0[p.S] wrote:Magic forces black and white, Reaching out through space and light, Be he far or be he near Bring us the demon FragKrag here. I have a question, I'm thinking of buying the corsair H50 you recommend for my i7 930, do you know if it will fit correctly into an Antec 900? From what I see on the case it has these holes so you can put an extra fan, would the H50's fan fit here? This is the location I'm talking about (about 9' o clock on the case): The issue is that I have a GTX480 and it's pretty bulky, and its just under that hole. Did you have any experience on this sort of thing? Thanks in advance
In my opinion it definitely would not fit.
You should just put the H50 fan and radiator at the back exhaust of your case.
The radiator + fan combination is very thick 
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I see... In that case I hope the fan thats there can fit somewhere else.. Thanks a lot buddy
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IT will definitely fit in the rear exhaust
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On September 29 2010 01:37 smwatkin wrote:
Can you guys help me with my build? I'm going to begin buying the parts on Thursday. I'll most likely start with the case and basic stuff based on your recommendations. Can you check this out and provide recommendations or tips where you can? I would really appreciate it, I'm pretty new at this and trying to learn as much as I can.
OS: Windows 7
CPU: Core i5 750 (would like to overclock)
Mobo: Intel X58 (NOT ENTIRELY SURE IF THIS IS A GOOd FIT)
RAM: Corsair CMT4GX3M2A1866C9 Domintor GT Dual Channel 4096MB PC15000 DDR3 Memory - 1866MHz 2x2048MB 9-9-9-24
GPU: Need help...Would like to overclock and crossfire/SLI
PSU: Need help...
Case: Obsidian Series 700D
HSF: Corsair H50
SSD: Crucial RealSSD C300 (64 GB)
Just in case you didn't notice, that's a dual-channel RAM kit (2 modules). If you get an i7-9xx and corresponding X58 motherboard, that can take up to triple-channel RAM. Performance is very slightly better in real-world tasks with triple-channel RAM. Most people get 3x2 GB with that, though that much RAM is overkill for the general user.
TBH I would (as usual) suggest just getting a Core i5-7xx or i7-8xx with a P55 mobo. Just get something SLI-compatible with x8/x8 support for the two PCI-E 16x slots. You're not losing much at all that way, in overclocking or anything else.
I like FragKrag's SSD and other suggestions. The 128 and especially the 64 GB varieties of the RealSSD C300 are worse than those SandForce-1200-based SSDs he mentioned. It's only the 256 GB version that's the arguable performance champ.
Obsidian 700D is awesome, yes, and good cases last a long time. But I think there's a lot of quality cases in the $100-150 range that would do you well. It's not like you will have SLI GTX 480. Of course, if money is no objection, it's great. But a larger SSD or something else sounds even more great to me.
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On September 27 2010 23:36 Myrmidon wrote:Show nested quote +On September 27 2010 21:57 Nade wrote:So i think i'll cut the crap and jump straight to the point. Im bad at this and need the community to help + Show Spoiler [snip] +
What is your budget?
1000USD
What is your resolution?
1920 x 1080
What are you using it for?
Playing games(Mostly SC2, GW2 in the future), Adobe photoshop, flash, premier pro. 3D studio max, Maya, Houdini, other level design tools.
What is your upgrade cycle?
i hope to make it every 18 months
When do you plan on building it?
Pretty much between the next 2 weeks
Do you plan on overclocking?
Nope
Do you need an Operating System?
Yes
Do you plan to add a second GPU for SLI or Crossfire?
No
Where are you buying your parts from?
i will be using newegg.com as a reference.
Overshot of budget is alright, but not too much
AMD Phenom II X6 1055T Socket AM3 motherboard 8 GB DDR3 RAM GTX 460 768MB HDD, optical drive, OS, case, etc. 500W PSU I think that might be over budget by a little bit. With USA prices and deals it might be a little bit under. If you like to run fullscreen antialiasing, the 1GB GTX 460 might be a better idea. I think you want over 4GB RAM definitely for running those kinds of applications.
I heartily disagree with this suggestion.
According to Techspot benchmarks, the Intel i5-750 (roundly recommended in this thread for good reason) keeps neck and neck with the X6, except in a handful of specially multi-threaded tasks. In gaming the i5 offers better performance across the board.
http://www.techspot.com/review/269-amd-phenom2-x6-1090T-and-1055T/
The LGA1156 socket is also likely to have much more room for expansion in the coming couple of years, which is a factor in your consideration.
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EPT
