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United States9452 Posts
Yeah, the new generation of processors will be upon us in a few months, but if you're always waiting to upgrade, you'll never get anything new.
@iCanada: If you're going to build soon, taking into account Canadian in-store prices, you're looking for something like a Phenom II X4 955 (965), AM3 mobo (770 chipset is fine), ATI HD 5770, 2x2 GB RAM, etc. A good 380W PSU would be about right--no more than 450W or so or you're talking about way overkill headroom. The new Corsair 430CX seems to be everywhere as a cheap budget unit that's okay.
@Blimp: It may be worth waiting for a good deal at Fry's, but around that budget with some deals at Fry's and/or newegg you can get a suitable 23" 1920x1080 monitor ($180), OEM Windows 7 ($100), a i5-750 (or i5-760), a P55 mobo, 2x2 GB RAM, GTX 460 1GB, etc. Reuse the optical drive if you want and the case. If you can find some specifications and technical reviews of the power supply that confirm it is good, maybe you can keep that. But it's probably safer getting a good new PSU at around 430W--up to 520W is a little overkill unless it's the same price, which it often seems to be.
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You can get your OS for free if your school is contracted with MSDN AA, email your computer science department head on more info. I just did this myself last week. Verified my 90 day trial of Windows 7 Enterprise with a Windows 7 Professional key.
If not, you should still be able to use your college email to get discounted Windows 7. Search Windows 7 for college students.
What Myrmidon posted so far is good, now it's just piecing the build together through links and trying to get the best bang/buck.
I'm guessing this is that bcom store in canada
http://www.b-com.ca/home.php
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United States9452 Posts
@SeeYouNextTuesday: In the very least get the CM Elite 460W, but note that you don't want to run that unit much over 350W. That Antec Earthwatts 380D would be much more reliable and efficient, with a much better warranty.
The NZXT Gamma is probably a better case at the same price, and you can save a little money by comboing it with a HDD: 500GB or 250GB.
@TNZ Softmouth: For the case, more popular modern options include the Cooler Master HAF 922 and 690ii Advanced. You can get them cheaper than that Antec 900. You wouldn't need more than 500W anyway, so you might as well try this or this. The Antec EA650 with the 900 case is comparable in performance to the CM Silent Pro 600W. Both are good units, but the latter has the bonus of being modular.
For gaming, a hex core is a waste. It's a especially a waste for SC2, as it'll do literally no better than the Phenom II X4 models, which are over $100 less. If you're willing to spend the money on more performance, get an aftermarket cooler and overclock or go for an Intel Core i5-760 and a P55 mobo. (That mobo was also probably more expensive than what you need for 0 more performance.)
8 GB of RAM is also a waste for gaming as well, as games are 32-bit apps that can't use over 2 GB anyway. A 2x2 GB kit would be fine, and you can always upgrade RAM later quite easily if necessary.
This won't make a difference once the game is loaded, but the HDD is a WD Caviar Green, which is the low-power, low-cost 5400rpm line. A decent 7200rpm drive like a Caviar Black/Blue, Samsung Spinpoint F3, etc. will be faster in loading things.
If you want to save a little more money, a GTX 460 can still play the game handily on ultra, though of course it's not as good in general as a GTX 470.
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Thanks for the suggestions, as for the processor. I am looking to be able to stream, run photoshop. FRAPS, all that good stuff. I also watch the NHL on my computer, so the HDMI on the MoBo is nice to have...also, for the cost is it worth to just have the hex core, I mean, i don't want to spend money for the sake of spending money, but if its a just upgrade then I have no problem with it. Also, what other MoBo's would you suggest?
I am completely clueless to this whole process, thanks for the help =]
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1090T at $266 actually looks really juicy now. It's cheaper than all the i7s. I think an i5-760 is still good though for your purpose.
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@iCanada
You're better off grabbing a vertex 2 60gb for ~$120. $180 AMIR for the intel ssd is sort of overpriced.
ATI will be releasing new cards very soon (rumor has it that paper launch is Oct 18th and availability sometime early Nov). You should wait for those if you're not in a hurry. If you can't than I'd suggest picking up a GTX 460 for ~$160.
Just out of curiosity, why don't you want to buy online? NCIX has amazing sales and you can find 2x2gb kits for ~$60.
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Hey guys
Sorry for the late reply. Last week was a buddy's wedding so everything went on hiatus for a bit. Thanks Ro4r, mav451, and usurper for the extra information and suggestions. I ordered the parts you guys recommended so here is the current build.
Currently have:
Seagate 1TB HDD
Mushkin DDR3 4gb
CM 690 ($40)
two 120mm fans - extra cooling
Antec 650w PSU - 1.5 years old
GTX 260
CD/DVD Burner - 9 years old - will probably replace this if it acts funny
Need to pick up/Order
i5-760 (microcenter)
Hyper 212+ (microcenter)
A motherboard - so far I have this Asus Sabertooth p55 w/ USB 3, PCIe x16 or SLI for x8/8
Otherwise, I have no idea what mother board to pick. The price seems to range from 100-200, but this is the lowest I've found for a USB 3 w/ SLI PCI-e x16 (x8/x8). If there is another brand or mobo that I should be looking at please let me know.
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On October 13 2010 15:30 skyR wrote:+ Show Spoiler +@iCanada
You're better off grabbing a vertex 2 60gb for ~$120. $180 AMIR for the intel ssd is sort of overpriced.
ATI will be releasing new cards very soon (rumor has it that paper launch is Oct 18th and availability sometime early Nov). You should wait for those if you're not in a hurry. If you can't than I'd suggest picking up a GTX 460 for ~$160.
Just out of curiosity, why don't you want to buy online? NCIX has amazing sales and you can find 2x2gb kits for ~$60
I don't like shopping online simply because I don't trust myself using my credit card... there is no real horror story or anything, i just tend to make bad financial decisions when i use that piece of plastic. Now that i say it out loud, spending 2x the cash because i don't want make a bad financial decisions is probably the definition of ironic. I suppose it can be summed up by saying it is just a silly quirk of mine because historically i have been bad with my money through certian stretches.
X.X
I'll keep a look out for sales, and buy online if the savings are substantial enough (Ie, more than 10%) when i factor in shipping/handling. Especially since i am not building right away, logically there is no reason to close any doors.
As for the new ATI cards, thanks for the heads up SkyR.
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Ok so i had a thread asking about how to fix my streaming/cpu issues, and found that i need to upgrade!
heres what i have
western digital 160 gb sata 10k rpm hdd system drive - hard drive
lg 20x dual-layer dvd re-writer non-lig optical drives - dvd re-w drive
nvidia geforce 8800 gtx 768 mb pcie rev 1 graphics processor - graphics card
750 watt oem atx psu power supply - power supply
1 kilowatt mounting bracket amtek power supply
AW ASSEMBLY D1 1CPU COMPLETE ASSEMBLY HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID COOLING
as you can see i have liquid cooling.. and am curious if i will need to buy fans to replace this?
ok, so the parts i need to upgrade are, processor and ram, i wanna use the AMD Phenom II 955 BE, i need a motherboard that can support that, and 1333MHz ram, and also i need it to support all my other old stuff  so many motherboard pages don't say everything they have and i tried searching Google over and over finding nothing substantial. its very important that my hard drive fits! and that its a full ATX board (thats what my old one was)
thanks in advance!
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I just got my GTX 460 up and running. Silky smooth performance in 4v4 on Ultra at 1600x900.
Any recommendations of a game to test my newfound graphical prowess?
Also, if I were to upgrade to 4 GB of memory with a 786 MB Graphics card on 32 bit windows, would I be able to do that?
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Is there anything in particular somebody wants in an update of this thread?
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On October 13 2010 16:58 iCanada wrote:Show nested quote +On October 13 2010 15:30 skyR wrote:+ Show Spoiler +@iCanada
You're better off grabbing a vertex 2 60gb for ~$120. $180 AMIR for the intel ssd is sort of overpriced.
ATI will be releasing new cards very soon (rumor has it that paper launch is Oct 18th and availability sometime early Nov). You should wait for those if you're not in a hurry. If you can't than I'd suggest picking up a GTX 460 for ~$160.
Just out of curiosity, why don't you want to buy online? NCIX has amazing sales and you can find 2x2gb kits for ~$60 I don't like shopping online simply because I don't trust myself using my credit card... there is no real horror story or anything, i just tend to make bad financial decisions when i use that piece of plastic. Now that i say it out loud, spending 2x the cash because i don't want make a bad financial decisions is probably the definition of ironic. I suppose it can be summed up by saying it is just a silly quirk of mine because historically i have been bad with my money through certian stretches. X.X I'll keep a look out for sales, and buy online if the savings are substantial enough (Ie, more than 10%) when i factor in shipping/handling. Especially since i am not building right away, logically there is no reason to close any doors. As for the new ATI cards, thanks for the heads up SkyR.
Buy a prepaid credit card. Should solve all your problems about "using that piece of plastic." You'll have a limit, use it only for the computer products, and none of your personal info is going online really. Well, you have to give them your shipping address, and such.
PS. If you're wondering about the X6, Fry's has it on sale, but they aren't telling the price to get you to go into the store. I recommend just calling and asking if you have a fry's nearby...
http://www.frys-electronics-ads.com/ads/2010/10/15/50349/AMD-Phenom-II-X6-1090T-Black-Edition
Concerning those who want to buy AMD processors, as I've seen an abnormally high amount in the last few pages, found on techbargains you can get 10% off these ones...
Newegg Coupon Code AMD Processor Roundup (Phenom II X6 1075T Thuban 3GHz 6-Core $215.99), Oct. 14 11 AM
HDT75TFBGRBOX
Newegg is offering 10% off Select AMD processors with Coupon Code: CPUTEN1014 (Exp 10/20). Free Shipping on most. Tax in CA, NJ, TN.
Prices after 10% Coupon Code: CPUTEN1014:
* AMD Phenom II X6 1075T Thuban 3.0GHz 6-Core Processor for $215.99 Free Shipping
* AMD Phenom II X4 970 3.5GHz Black Edition Quad-Core Processor (Retail) for $162.89 Free Shipping
* AMD Phenom II X2 560 3.3GHz Black Edition Dual-Core Processor (Retail) for $89.99 Free Shipping"
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EPT
