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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 January 19 2012 08:46 monkeii wrote: Hihi. ^^
Anyway. I just want to get some advice on the parts for this computer I'm planning to build. ^^
Budget: $1000-$1200 Resolution: Purpose: Gaming/Streaming/Recording <3 Upgrade Cycle: 2-3 years. (One part of a time. Too poor. </3) Planned Building Date: March/April Overclocking: Yes. OS: Yes. Sadly. Second GPU: Nah Where I can buy parts: Frys/Microcenter/Online.
Ask in March/April since our suggestions will probably be very different. AMD will probably have fully released 7xxx by then, and so forth.
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Budget: $300-$400. I know its not a lot to work with, but if you could help me out at all it would be appreciated. Resolution: 1280x1024 Purpose: Gaming mostly just starcraft 2 for the moment, right now my laptop is not very good I just don't want to lagg anymore T.T. I'd love to play the game on medium at least, but I would be fine with low settings as long as I don't experience lagg in 1v1. Upgrade Cycle: Whenever I can afford better parts I'd say. Planned Build date: February-March Overclocking: Most likely no, since this would be my first build I'd rather not. OS: Have a friend that can hook me up. Where I can get parts: Newegg is perfectly fine.
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On January 19 2012 09:06 Zeeknot wrote:+ Show Spoiler +Budget: $300-$400. I know its not a lot to work with, but if you could help me out at all it would be appreciated. Resolution: 1280x1024 Purpose: Gaming mostly just starcraft 2 for the moment, right now my laptop is not very good I just don't want to lagg anymore T.T. I'd love to play the game on medium at least, but I would be fine with low settings as long as I don't experience lagg in 1v1. Upgrade Cycle: Whenever I can afford better parts I'd say. Planned Build date: February-March Overclocking: Most likely no, since this would be my first build I'd rather not. OS: Have a friend that can hook me up. Where I can get parts: Newegg is perfectly fine.
About $300 will get you:
Sandybridge Pentium H61 4GB Radeon HD6570 Corsair CX430V2 or equivalent Bitfenix Merc Alpha or equivalent DVD Burner
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edit: nevermind skyR got it
A minimal system would be something like Celeron G530 to Pentium G850 ($50-$80), H61 motherboard ($55), HD 5570 / 6570 / 5670 / 6670 ($50-80), 4GB DDR3 RAM ($20), 7200 rpm hard drive ($80), optical drive ($20), case ($30), power supply ($40).
HD 5570 is enough for medium handily on 1280x1024. You're looking for one of the low-end socket 1155 CPUs.
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On January 19 2012 08:06 Medrea wrote:Show nested quote +On January 19 2012 05:57 RumbleBadger wrote:Back again! Thanks for all the help so far. After looking around and reading more on this thread I've refined my build a little. + Show Spoiler +As for a case and optical drive, we have an old hp (the cpu we're replacing) that has a standard ATX in it and still has the optical drive. Will the micro ATX fit inside? And will the case work in general do you think? Also, if the micro won't fit, is there a standard ATX I could buy that would work for the build and would fit? Here's a link to the model of cpu we are replacing if you want to see any specs: + Show Spoiler +http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c00849513&lang=en&cc=us&taskId=125&contentType=SupportFAQ&prodSeriesId=3339296&prodTypeId=12454 Thanks for all the help! Yeah the standoffs for a case that allows for ATX should also allow for mATX. If it somehow doesn't. Then any recent ATX case will accomodate an mATX board. Sweet, thanks! Any advice on whether that PSU will work, anybody? Because then I think I'm ready order...
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On January 19 2012 09:25 skyR wrote:Show nested quote +On January 19 2012 09:06 Zeeknot wrote:+ Show Spoiler +Budget: $300-$400. I know its not a lot to work with, but if you could help me out at all it would be appreciated. Resolution: 1280x1024 Purpose: Gaming mostly just starcraft 2 for the moment, right now my laptop is not very good I just don't want to lagg anymore T.T. I'd love to play the game on medium at least, but I would be fine with low settings as long as I don't experience lagg in 1v1. Upgrade Cycle: Whenever I can afford better parts I'd say. Planned Build date: February-March Overclocking: Most likely no, since this would be my first build I'd rather not. OS: Have a friend that can hook me up. Where I can get parts: Newegg is perfectly fine. About $300 will get you: Sandybridge Pentium H61 4GB Radeon HD6570 Corsair CX430V2 or equivalent Bitfenix Merc Alpha or equivalent DVD Burner
Much appreciated man thanks
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For people that don't follow the news:
Intel is introducing a Performance Tuning Protection Plan which means you can overclock to your heart's content with your K or X suffix processors and get a free replacement (only once): http://click.intel.com/tuningplan/
XFX no longer offers lifetime warranty on all models. Only models ending in -R will carry a lifetime warranty, every other model will only carry a two year warranty.
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$20 for i5-2500k. Not bad I suppose, for total piece of mind.
EDIT: lapping the CPU seems to still be excluded though.
Shame, for 20 bucks i totally would have jumped on it.
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So I have another $50 or so on my budget and I was wondering if I should try to improve my GPU. As of now I'm getting this one but would another 50 bucks thrown at the card improve performance for gaming by a noticeable amount? Maybe upgrading to something like this? Also, right now I have a 430W PSU (have it as in sitting 2 feet away from me), and I'd prefer not to upgrade if I don't have to, but the better card says it needs a 400W power supply. Does that give me enough leeway? Or will I have to stick with the card I have?
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Both the 6570 and 5570 consume little to no power. If you're getting a Pentium or similar processor, your configuration under load will have a hard time exceeding 100w.
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HD 5570 to HD 6570 is barely an upgrade.
If you can do it, I recommend an HD 6770. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150540
The 430W is a Thermaltake TR2 (which kind of sucks)? It's still plenty, even though it sucks. Disregard whatever wattage they claim you need, as that number is pretty meaningless.
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On January 19 2012 12:55 RumbleBadger wrote:So I have another $50 or so on my budget and I was wondering if I should try to improve my GPU. As of now I'm getting this one but would another 50 bucks thrown at the card improve performance for gaming by a noticeable amount? Maybe upgrading to something like this? Also, right now I have a 430W PSU (have it as in sitting 2 feet away from me), and I'd prefer not to upgrade if I don't have to, but the better card says it needs a 400W power supply. Does that give me enough leeway? Or will I have to stick with the card I have?
I remember you mentioning Skyrim awhile ago. I really dont think either of those two cards will run Skyrim in a way that at I personally would be satisfied with.
A friends 5570 practically shits the bed if you even show it Human Revolution. And that was with a shit resolution.
It is fine with starcraft II though. These two games punish two entirely different parts of the system is the thing.
EDIT: Yeah wasnt your entire budget like $500. I think you can afford a 6770/5770 or 6850/6870 on that kind of a budget.
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So tempted to jump on that Fractal. Having a handle on the Storm Scout is nice, but I'm sure the Fractal is going to be significantly lighter. Actually, I just looked it up and it weights 10 lbs more. What the...
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On January 19 2012 13:24 jacosajh wrote: So tempted to jump on that Fractal. Having a handle on the Storm Scout is nice, but I'm sure the Fractal is going to be significantly lighter. Actually, I just looked it up and it weights 10 lbs more. What the...
Steel versus Steel/Plastic
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For sound dampening you want thicker and heavier panels, and the Define doesn't even have the thickest construction at all.
But yeah, $50. o_O
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Maybe I should just get some different 120mm fans. What do you guys recommend? Besides Noctua -_- Don't want brown colored shit. I KNOW I KNOW they're great but I just can't get myself to do it.
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Noctua fans are overpriced anyway, though I don't know what's good either. What kind of rpm? 3-pin, 4-pin PWM, or molex?
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On January 19 2012 13:02 Myrmidon wrote:HD 5570 to HD 6570 is barely an upgrade. If you can do it, I recommend an HD 6770. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150540The 430W is a Thermaltake TR2 (which kind of sucks)? It's still plenty, even though it sucks. Disregard whatever wattage they claim you need, as that number is pretty meaningless. Is it possible to run that graphics card with the thermaltake? Or should I just suck it up and upgrade the psu? In which case I'm not really sure how I can keep my budget. :/
On January 19 2012 13:03 Medrea wrote:Show nested quote +On January 19 2012 12:55 RumbleBadger wrote:So I have another $50 or so on my budget and I was wondering if I should try to improve my GPU. As of now I'm getting this one but would another 50 bucks thrown at the card improve performance for gaming by a noticeable amount? Maybe upgrading to something like this? Also, right now I have a 430W PSU (have it as in sitting 2 feet away from me), and I'd prefer not to upgrade if I don't have to, but the better card says it needs a 400W power supply. Does that give me enough leeway? Or will I have to stick with the card I have? I remember you mentioning Skyrim awhile ago. I really dont think either of those two cards will run Skyrim in a way that at I personally would be satisfied with. A friends 5570 practically shits the bed if you even show it Human Revolution. And that was with a shit resolution. It is fine with starcraft II though. These two games punish two entirely different parts of the system is the thing. EDIT: Yeah wasnt your entire budget like $500. I think you can afford a 6770/5770 or 6850/6870 on that kind of a budget. Yeah, Skyrim is kind of a wish, I wasn't sure if I could get a comp that would run skyrim for $500 or not. I feel like I should be able to, but apparently not (at least so far).
Is Skyrim heavier on the graphics or the cpu? Because I'm fine sticking with low graphics on scII if it allows me to play skyrim too...
And yeah I can definitely afford a 6670 I was just worried about it not working with the power supply. But if I need to I can probably get a better power supply.
In general am I just missing something? Is there a way to get a better build staking close to 500$ that I'm just missing? I'm happy to stretch the budget a little, but the goal with this project is more to just build a decent cpu for $500 (and again I already have a monitor and a optical drive, and maybe a power supply if it'll work).
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Yeah the Thermaltake sucks, but a sucky "430W" unit is still plenty for a computer that would use under 200W in the worst-case scenario (less while gaming), even with the HD 6770 installed.
6770 is a big upgrade over 6670 so I'd do it. Or just get this gimped (DDR3) 6750 for $80 if you can't stretch as far as the 6770: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131454
That's a decent jump over a DDR3 6670 or 6570.
edit: okay to be fair that TR2 isn't that bad, just waaaaaaaay too commonly seen and purchased for how much of a barebones lower-end unit it is. People should really spend the $5 extra and get something reasonable. It's not worth replacing if you're on a budget though.
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