buying a new computer

[Glengoyne]

OK, So I am looking at buying a new computer. Due to you folks here, I'm looking at iBuypower.com. I still game on my PC, but I think my demands are rather low. I don't do anything too graphic intensive. I don't play WOW or any MMORPGs, although I may take another run at free to play City of Heroes. I don't play any FPS games. I do play FM, currently 2009, but I'm thinking I'll upgrade soon. I have some older games like Master of Orion and X-COM, and I'm quite happy with those graphics thank you very much. I do have Empire Total War as well as a slew of text sims. FBCB, Front Office, Puresim, in addition to the aforementioned FM.

Here is what I'm looking at. I got enamored with the SSD, so I had to throw that in there. I figured it was either that or stripe a couple of fast SATA drives for performance. Please let me know what you think. I tried to go the i5 route, but the price kept creeping above my wife's perceived budget. Well, this did too, but the i5 crept higher.

A few things off the top of my head.
The case? I have no experience with any of the options. How wrong can I go?
The OS, Windows 7 Home Premium? Do I need professional?
The Video card? Am I cheating myself?
Should I ditch the SSD, and stripe a couple of drives for performance instead? Maybe use the save dollars for a better video option?
On the Sound card, I have a USB Soundblaster, and I figure that it will continue to meet my needs.


The below config comes in at about $940
Also I used to build my own, should I just NewEgg these components, and do it myself?

Case	1 x Azza Triton Gaming Case-Black
Case Lighting	0 x None-
iBUYPOWER Labs - Noise Reduction	0 x None-
iBUYPOWER Labs - Internal Expansion	0 x None-
Processor	1 x [= Quad Core =] AMD Phenom™ II X4 925 Quad-Core CPU-
Processor Cooling	1 x Liquid CPU Cooling System [AMD]-[Free Upgrade] Standard 120mm Fan
Memory	1 x 4 GB [2 GB X2] DDR3-1600 Memory Module-Corsair or Major Brand
Video Card	1 x AMD Radeon HD 6770 - 1GB-Single Card
Video Card Brand	1 x Major Brand Powered by AMD or NVIDIA-
Motherboard	1 x [CrossFire] ASUS M5A97 -- AMD 970 w/ 2x PCI-E 2.0 x16-
Motherboard USB / SATA Interface	1 x Motherboard default USB / SATA Interface-
Power Supply	1 x 600 Watt -- Standard-
Primary Hard Drive	1 x 120 GB ADATA S511 SSD-Single Drive
Data Hard Drive	1 x 750 GB HARD DRIVE -- 32M Cache, 7200 RPM, 6.0Gb/s-Single Drive
Optical Drive	1 x 24X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive-Black
2nd Optical Drive	0 x None-
Flash Media Reader / Writer	1 x 12-In-1 Internal Flash Media Card Reader/Writer-Black
Meter Display	0 x None-
USB Expansion	0 x None-
Sound Card	1 x 3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard-
Network Card	1 x Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100)-
Operating System	1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium + Office Starter 2010 (Includes basic versions of Word and Excel)-64-Bit

[Scoobz0202]

For exactly a thousand dollars I came up with this on newegg:

Newegg.com - Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Newegg.com - ASUS P8Z68-M Pro LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
Newegg.com - Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K
Newegg.com - G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-8GBXL
Newegg.com - ASUS EAH6850 DC/2DIS/1GD5/V2 Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity
Newegg.com - Intel 320 Series SSDSA2CW120G3K5 2.5" 120GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
Newegg.com - SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Newegg.com - XFX Core Edition PRO550W (P1-550S-XXB9) 550W ATX12V 2.2 & ESP12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply
Newegg.com - LITE-ON DVD Burner - Bulk 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model iHAS124-04 - CD / DVD Burners



Thats with the i5 2500K which is widely considered the best price to performance ratio. A better video card. An intel SSD, considered to be the best by many. 1 TB drive. 8 GB ram instead of 4.

That is all prior to the windows, though. You can get OEM windows and office, though. Not sure if you can get your hands on a copy of each or if you have to buy.

1. What resolution are you gaming on? If it's lower then 1920x1080, the graphics card can be cut. You could cut 50 or so dollars by going with a 6770. Your gaming seems to require more processor and RAM then the GPU anyways. That's also why I'd maybe build.

2. The SSD is a luxury. I love mine, but it is definitely a luxury. You could chop $200+ without it. And with light gaming and general pc usage, I'd probably cut this if I were you.

Right there would be $280 or so off.

[ozias]

All prices from Newegg are current.

Azza Case $30 + 10 for shipping. $40 total

AMD Phenom II X4 925 can only be bought in a combo, so I used the 600 watt psu from Cosair. $160 total

The above cpu is also OEM, so you have to buy the heatsink/fan as well. You can spend 30-60, so it depends on how far you want to go. I'll go middle ground and use 45 for the total.

The 4 GB of ram will run $30.

XFX HD-6770 $120. Quite a few at the same price, so go with what you like best.

For the mobo, there are 2 options 100 or 120, both have just under 8 bucks shipping. I think the 100 would work, so 108 total.

The ssd you can go with an OCZ Vertex $120 after rebate.

The 750gb drive from Western Digital is 60, but you can get a TB drive for the same price, so I'd go that route. All 4 of the big names are available at that price of $60.

Asus 24x burner $20 with $1 shipping, $21 total.

All in one readers start at 8 and go to 20+, depending on how much you want to spend. I'll just say 15 total for this.

For the OS you can buy it in OEM or retail, it's the same thing. $99 for OEM $190 for retail. So $99 total here.

For Office starter, you can probably get a free download version, or go with Open Office, it's free and offers a lot of the same things as Office starter, but without the adware or reduced functionality.

$818 spent.

[ozias]

Dola

I thought of the same case as Scoobz instead of the Azza case.

I also agree on the SSD. I have one as well, but it's a luxury item at this point until the prices drop, as the price per gig is well more than one should spend.

You can also find some great combos with certain items, just look for the "Browse more combos" just under the big orange "View Details".

[ozias]

Double Dola

The Intel CPU that Scoobz mentioned has a combo for $650.

Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, LED LCD TV, Digital Cameras and more!

Cooler Master case, Asus P67 mobo, Intel i5 Core 2500K, Corsair Vengeance 4GB ram(DDR3 1600), Cooler Master 650w PSU, Seagate 1TB 7200rpm 6.0Gb sata HDD, Lite-On 24x burner

Now add the Video card Scoobz listed +$170
Add SSD if you want $120.

Now your at 940, which is where you were at with your price from the op, but you have a faster CPU and Video Card, also a larger HDD.

[Glengoyne]

Very Cool. Good Info.

OK, so I could drop the SSD and go with a lighter video card and save some bucks.

Or I could build my own with similar specs, and save some bucks.

Or just build my own to even better maximize my money.

Good Options.

I still have questions though.
-Will the SSD speed up things like playing FM?



-Where can I get the OEM copy of the OS? Newegg? Just buy it with a CPU? Answered with a Search...Available at Newegg, No Problem.

[Glengoyne]

OK the point Scoobz made about my gaming being more CPU intensive than GPU struck home.

Should I up the number of cores? Or would the RAM be more useful for an app like FM...I'm guessing the most CPU intensive game I play frequently.

[Scoobz0202]

Originally Posted by Glengoyne

Very Cool. Good Info.

OK, so I could drop the SSD and go with a lighter video card and save some bucks.

Or I could build my own with similar specs, and save some bucks.

Or just build my own to even better maximize my money.

Good Options.

I still have questions though.
-Will the SSD speed up things like playing FM?
From what I understand, SSD's in gaming are noticeable in the speeding up of load times. With text sims and FM... I don't know ? I wouldn't think so, but i may be missing something.
-Where can I get the OEM copy of the OS? Newegg? Just buy it with a CPU?
You can buy it through new egg.

Newegg.com - Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - Operating Systems

I would go with 8 GB of ram just because it's so cheap. I don't really see any reason to go less then 8. 4 would be fine, but its only a few bucks more to double. Going to 16 though is pointless.

Regarding the PC. Basically, what it boils down to, is how much money you are comfortable spending. You could get by just find with the AMD. The AMD is perfect for those budget oriented. And it would work just fine. Remember that if you go that route you will need a different mobo then what I listed.

Newegg.com - AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ955FBGMBOX

In regard to the 2500K there is this. But yes, there is a price difference of $100+. The 2500K would give you some flexibility if you stretched into more intense games, but if you are for sure not playing anything more then FM then maybe go with the AMD. Like I said, all depends on flexible your budget is:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/t...2100-tested/20

[Glengoyne]

All right after this thread, and reading Dubb's recent thread on his experiences, I'm going to bite the bullet and build this thing myself.

Looking at Newegg, I can go with the i5 2500 with the Radeon 6770 and 8GB of RAM for right around $800.

The i5 has the option of front ending the HDD with a small SDD cache. That may be something I can't pass up. I'll probably look at adding that in at a later time, just because I can.

I'll keep the thread up to date as I proceed.

Thanks for the help to date. Please feel free to continue to throw out any old ideas you have or stop me from doing something stupid on my own.

[Scoobz0202]

Make sure you get the 64-bit windows if you go with the 8GB. 32 will only account for a little less then 4.

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by Scoobz0202

Make sure you get the 64-bit windows if you go with the 8GB. 32 will only account for a little less then 4.

See now there is something stupid I would have missed. I thought that Windows 7 had brought that to the 32 bit version, I guess I should have verified that.

Thank You.

[path12]

Appreciate these threads because I'm thinking of upgrading but just plan to do new components in my current box.

What is the thinking/experience of folks with the Crossfire graphics on a new motherboard? Like Glengoyne my graphics needs aren't huge (Civ 5 would probably be my biggest graphic need). Would a crossfire MB with a mid range Radeon card be plenty?

[Glengoyne]

I pulled the trigger last night. Hopefully I'll have my parts this Friday for a weekend build.

It is funny, I used to build 15 20 computers a day on some days. But that was a long time ago. I've never setup a SATA HDD, nor have I ever applied any sort of thermal compound to a CPU. I also have no idea what sort of footing or mounting there will be for the mother board.

A full set of lessons to learn I guess.

[sovereignstar v2]

The 2500k heatsink will have some stock compound applied to it already FWIW.

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

The 2500k heatsink will have some stock compound applied to it already FWIW.

Cool.

I should be receiving all the good parts today. The case arrived last night, and damn there are a lot of fans in there. Very nice case. Much nicer than most of what I used to see twenty years back.

[Scoobz0202]

If you need a refresher on the assembly this is a pretty good guide:
How to build a PC - The Tech Report - Page 1

[dubb93]

Originally Posted by Glengoyne

Cool.

I should be receiving all the good parts today. The case arrived last night, and damn there are a lot of fans in there. Very nice case. Much nicer than most of what I used to see twenty years back.

Best advice I can give you with the i5 2500k. It has cheap as hell push pins that snap the heatsink in place. Place them. Check them after you push them all down to make sure they are all still in place and then check them again after you get the build finished. If they are all still in place it should be good. Then check the CPU heat in bios. If it is abnormally high, don't panic, one of those damn things isn't really in all the way.

I could really talk all day about how cheap they are and what a terrible design decision they are. Only problem I had was getting those damn things to latch fully.

[Glengoyne]

Good info on the Heat Sink and thanks Scoobz, I'll be checking that link.

[Glengoyne]

Hmmm while plugging in the power to the motherboard..You wouldn't think this would be an issue, but...

On the larger connector there is an attached four pin power connector that fits in along side. It all fits, and looks appropriate. It just doesn't snap down like the larger one. I think this is OK.

On the smaller 12V connection, there are 8 pin locations on the MB, and the connector from the PSU has 6 with an additional 2pins, again attached but dangling loosely. The two additional pins don't seem to fit. It all looks modular, but since the MB has 8 pin locations, I expect I'll have to figure this out.

The motherboard is an AsusP8Z68-V LE and the PSU a coolermaster GTX.

I expected this to be the easy part.

[Glengoyne]

Doh! I'm a moron for not looking at EVERYTHING before I went to the net. There is a different 8 pin connector on the PSU. Everything is cool.

Originally Posted by Glengoyne

Hmmm while plugging in the power to the motherboard..You wouldn't think this would be an issue, but...

On the larger connector there is an attached four pin power connector that fits in along side. It all fits, and looks appropriate. It just doesn't snap down like the larger one. I think this is OK.

On the smaller 12V connection, there are 8 pin locations on the MB, and the connector from the PSU has 6 with an additional 2pins, again attached but dangling loosely. The two additional pins don't seem to fit. It all looks modular, but since the MB has 8 pin locations, I expect I'll have to figure this out.

The motherboard is an AsusP8Z68-V LE and the PSU a coolermaster GTX.

I expected this to be the easy part.

[Scoobz0202]

Yea. For me the only roadblock I had when building my recent PC was a little confusion when I was plugging everything in. It can get tricky. I wish there was a universal system across all companies, but alas..

[Glengoyne]

It turned out that I discovered what that "extra" power connector was for when I plugged in the video card.

I'm now posting from the new machine. I finished the build and install about three hours ago, and the CPU temp is holding at 37C. I guess that means I did it right.