Official "I want to build a New PC!" Thread

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: Official "I want to build a New PC!" Thread

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...ding,3273.html

I would use that as a framework, take a couple weeks and watch prices and get one component cheaper where you can or a better part for around the same money.

This setup is $450 on newegg right now.

I was thinking last night and my goal is to build this between now and Christmas with no rush. My focus is to find good buys/sales on parts that I won't feel the urge to upgrade after a couple months. I think I can push my budget up to $750 and be frugal with my purchases.

I'm trying to remember from a couple years ago, but CPU and MOBOs go together (eg: You can't put an AMD with an intel) while the other components are fairly interchangeable? Or is that whitewashing too much?

[Burns11]

Re: Official "I want to build a New PC!" Thread

That's pretty much it

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: Official "I want to build a New PC!" Thread

What is the typical life cycle of a HDD and RAM?

Here's my current system:

Spoiler

AMD Athlon II X4 620
Asus AM3 mobo
Radeon HD 4670
4GB RAM
Samsung 750GB HDD
Sony optical CD/DVD drive
Case w/ 600w power supply

Only problems I've ever had with it is that sometimes it will shut down by itself, but the tower lights and fan will remain on.

[Gotmadskillzson]

Re: Official "I want to build a New PC!" Thread

on average, they can last for a good 10 years. But being both RAM and HDD is so cheap nowadays compared to what it was in the 90s, if they do break down, it won't cost you much to have it replaced.

But with all electronics, things do happen, get a bad one, it gets a freak short circuit out of the blue. But barring that, it can last you around 10 years. Most people that I know that end up replacing RAM or HDD fairly often is a result of user error from people trying to over clock crap.

Leave stuff as it is and you usually won't have to worry about anything.

[Gotmadskillzson]

Re: Official "I want to build a New PC!" Thread

Do you guys think it would be worth building a PC if you don't really have any intention of gaming on it? Maybe moderate gaming at best, but I certainly wouldn't need something running the highest settings. Mostly just something that is really fast with it's main purpose being day trading.

Or should I just save my money and upgrade my RAM for like $30 and go from 1GB to 3GB? (Ram is more expensive for these older models)

Go head and build one, even for every day use. You will still get a huge benefit out of it performance wise. Plus parts will be much cheaper for a modern system then an old system.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: Official "I want to build a New PC!" Thread

What do you guys think of this?

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/Pu...umber=21002706

[Gotmadskillzson]

Re: Official "I want to build a New PC!" Thread

What do you guys think of this?

i don't see anything but a sign in screen

[Gotmadskillzson]

Re: Official "I want to build a New PC!" Thread

I would spend an extra $80 and get the 660 TI that came out a few days ago, more powerful. Also I would throw on an extra stick of RAM. But other then that, pretty nice.

[Burns11]

Re: Official "I want to build a New PC!" Thread

I would reuse old ram and use old HDD either for mass storage in tandem with a 120GB SSD or just outright. That HDD you have there isn't anything you want as a main drive, it's a 5400-ish HDD made for DVRs and such.

I would also not buy that PSU, right now I would probably go with http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139020, it'll be $10 more out of pocket, but cheaper after rebate. Personally I bought http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817116014 which is even cheaper. Both use the same internals, designed by Seasonic. Some had said the NZXT was louder, but it's not loud to my ears, not louder than my case fans (5 Cougar Vortex) and quieter than my CPU cooler (212+ with a 2nd pull fan, a CM Excalibur) when it's running 100% (but it's pretty damn loud at 100%, but even under load my CPU fans don't go higher than minimum, I haven't overclocked yet though).

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: Official "I want to build a New PC!" Thread

What is the difference in function between the solid state drives and the spinning drives? What feature(s) make an HDD more suitable for video games over DVRs/surveillance? I'm concerned about spacing on the mobo and in the case, but I'm hoping that concern is unfounded.

Is 580w not enough? I was using a wattage calculator and it recommended 550, but obviously I was estimating on some things.

RAM shouldn't be a problem as I'm planning on using my 4GB of RAM from my current machine. I could probably use my HDD, too, but would rather upgrade to a bigger drive and start "fresh."

[WTF]

Re: Official "I want to build a New PC!" Thread

Are you against an AMD setup? The reason I ask, is that you can almost get a FX-8120 8 core processor for the price you're paying for an i3 dual core cpu. A lot of these open world games are CPU dependent, so I'd highly suggest it. If you're strictly an intel guy, not a problem, but I'm running on an AMD platform, and have been for the past several build. If you can get over the "stigma" that Intel servants place on AMD, it's overall a great build for significantly cheaper.

On that HDD, I'm not sure what Intellipower is. I'd steer clear of it and go for either a SSD + 7200 rpm solution, or just 7200RPM. Myself, I can't do without a SSD anymore. The access time of waiting for the computer to pull up a file on a traditional plate drive is terrible. You don't notice it until you get a SSD.

Oh, keep your eyes on newegg today for their Shell shockers. They have some nice ram, a nice case, and mobo/cpu combo (I'd steer clear of this combo though) but the ram and case is nice.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: Official "I want to build a New PC!" Thread

I'm not against AMD - its actually what I have right now.

Along with using that Tom Hardware build as a base I used DIY Daily's Computer Build Guide for understanding how these things interact and what they mean overall to the system. They essentially steered clear of the new FX series and said they weren't outperforming the Phenom II series. Admittedly, I didn't check out any of the Phenom's.

I also used AnandTech and based a lot of my decision on their bench scores - also seeing what the per dollar breakdown was for the overall bench score. There's a $40 difference between the i3 and AMD's FX-8120. Unfortunately, there's not a bench score for 8120 so I used 8150 instead and I didn't find the differences to be that overwhelming unless I'm overlooking something.

So is SSD more of a "luxury" thing?

[WTF]

Re: Official "I want to build a New PC!" Thread

Oh, and FWIW, I'd keep the current Samsung HD that you have right now as a storage drive, and then get a SSD to install as the primary drive, OS Boot drive.

The current mobo and cpu you have is $64.99 mobo and $119.99 cpu respectively. I'd go with an ASROCK 970 Extreme3 mobo $84.99 and an FX-8120 8 Core 3.1GHz (x8) at $159.99 (on sale OFTEN). Or you could skimp a little and scale back to the FX-4100 (I had before I caught a deal on the FX-8150) which is a quad core at 3.6GHz, normally around $95-100.

Regardless, good luck. I find it to be the most fun to wait on parts, and slowly put it together. You find a good deal one day, and the part arrives, then you wait for the next part, haha. The anticipation grows with each new part. Shouldn't take over a week or two if you keep your eyes open to save substantially.

[WTF]

Re: Official "I want to build a New PC!" Thread

I think you'd basically be crippling yourself up front in opting for a dual core cpu. That's my main argument. GTA IV, Sleeping Dogs, Skyrim are all VERY heavily reliant on the CPU. By going dual core, you're outdating your system before you get started. Especially for gaming purposes.

If you aren't gaming, and aren't running several calculations at once, go with what makes sense to you. But the FX-4100 is the same price as the i3, and a quad vs dual.

[Burns11]

Re: Official "I want to build a New PC!" Thread

What is the difference in function between the solid state drives and the spinning drives? What feature(s) make an HDD more suitable for video games over DVRs/surveillance? I'm concerned about spacing on the mobo and in the case, but I'm hoping that concern is unfounded.

SSDs are much, much faster and it really shows in the feel of the system.

Is 580w not enough? I was using a wattage calculator and it recommended 550, but obviously I was estimating on some things.

580w is enough, it's more about the reliability and design. Hec, who I only know as the designer of the Cougar PSUs that I was thinking about because of a good sale, but the review I read was pretty mediocre.

The problem with AMD is this is a gaming build. At the level of an FX-8150, you are talking an I5 and an I5 will destroy that AMD in gaming. Games just don't use that many cores, so 75% of that AMD is going to be idle and Intel's individual cores are much faster than AMD's. So the AMD is going to be better in some tasks, like encoding video, but even that is close between the two.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...lock,3106.html