ready to build and buy (for real this time!)

[dafink]

This feels a little familiar...

I was so ready to buy a few months ago but with some of the new tech coming out, stimulus checks and tax rebate I decided to wait.

Now I really am ready to build a new pc. Here's what I have picked out so far.

Newegg has a competition with 2 guys from CPU mag on building the best pc under $2000 so I used what they have for reference. http://promotions.newegg.com/NEPro/PCChallenge/index.html?cm_sp=HomepageLB-_-NEProPCCha-_-http%3a%2f%2fpromotions.newegg.com%2fNEPro%2fPCCha llenge%2f620x130.jpg


Board - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131232

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128082

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188026
All three boards look good, but the Gigabyte has the best rating.

CPU - I was seriously considering this one...despite the cost. Still fixated on that ghz thing but with the cost it pushes the build to almost $2500.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115051

Then I looked at this one....definitely cheaper for not that much slower. Great for oc'ing but never done that before so i'm not sure whether I want to. Know it's safer now but it voids the warranty which sucks.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115041

Sooo finally this one, if you're not oc'ing I guess it's pretty good and even cheaper.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115042

Storage - Got a lot of games I haven't played in a while and others i've been putting off till I get a really kick ass system. Along with other stuff i'd like to have enough space to last a while.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148278

RAM - Don't know much about this specific type but one of the guys in the newegg competition had it listed.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145177

GPU - It looks sweet even if it is massive and not that expensive either!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121247

PSU - Got it from the competition as well.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817702006

DVD - Lightscribe's like a great feature from what i've heard and good brand.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135156

Case - I'm not sure if I want to buy the case i'm listing. Previous pc had a blue led on the slide out side and red led on the front....got kinda annoying when I went to sleep.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133062

Monitor - Might as well get a nice monitor with a set up like that.
I found quite a few on this...all with good reviews.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824116104
review - http://reviews.cnet.com/lcd-monitors/viewsonic-optiquest-q241wb-flat/4505-3174_7-32794381.html

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001276
review http://www.hdtvlounge.net/samsung/t260hd/

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001280

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824254026

A lot there I know...crysis, cod4, world in conflict. I want to play them all and play them well.

Thanks guys, can't wait till I decide what to get.

[IM back!]

I buy the cheep cpu, because almost all c2d overclock to 3.2ghz. I cant recommend the 3870 2x because the 4870 is much faster at not so much more price.

[dafink]

Hey IM back, great nick.

Thanks for the suggestion, didn't know there was a 4870 model but looking at the specs it doesn't look that much faster but i'm not up to speed with the new cards.

The 3870 runs at 825mhz core clock while the rest are 750mhz. The 4870's have 800 steam processors to only 640 on the 3870.

The memory clock on all models are the same at 1800 except for Asus's which is 3600mhz, but it says 900mhz DDR5. Since the memory type it uses is DDR5 i'm guessing it'll run slower unless you get a faster mobo? Not exactly sure how that works.

The 3870 has 1GB of memory while the three 4870 have 512mb. Is that that big of a difference?

Don't know as much technical stuff with the new cards but you've given me another option now.

The 3 4870 cards I found:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814129113
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125225
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121258

[Heartborne]

Saphalline is an expert when it comes to all those crazy numbers, but I can tell you that they can be very misleading. The proof is in the benchmarks, where the 4870 outperforms just about anything out there, on par with the GTX 260 and coming in just below more expensive dual-GPU models. Video memory is a bit tricky, for example the 3870 could have 1,000,000 GB of video memory on it, but it will always be a 512 MB card since it is only powerful enough to render up to about 512 MB of video.

If the clock rate on one card is much higher, it is a factory overclocked model. Some people have had overheating issues with factory overlocked cards, but I can't say for sure how common that is.

Don't buy the factory overclocked "extreme" cpu, especially with a quad-core chip. You simply don't need it. For an extra $1200, you get 800 mhz more speed... which isn't really going to make a huge difference in performance, at least not for the price. It is also more likely to overheat than the non-overclocked models. I have yet to find any software (including burn-in tests) that really tax my Q6600. The magic of multi-core processing isn't in the speed of the process threading, but rather the width of the data that can be pushed through. You can process more threads at once. If you're gaming, you won't notice a difference. If you're encoding a lot of video, your encoding might go faster.
Look, you can get the normal model and OC if you want to but the popular opinion is that it really isn't necessary. Think about it... what's better? One guy paddling a canoe really fast or four guys paddling the canoe at a moderate pace? I know, you'll say four guys paddling really fast... but they'll get tired pretty easy, don't you think?

I think you'll find that you will benefit greatly from installing your apps and OS to a 10000 RPM raptor drive. If you want high performance,it's worth considering.

[IM back!]

The memory clock on all models are the same at 1800 except for Asus's which is 3600mhz, but it says 900mhz DDR5. Since the memory type it uses is DDR5 i'm guessing it'll run slower unless you get a faster mobo? Not exactly sure how that works.
no you motherbord dosent have anything to do with your vram.

look here for some benchmarks ,i cant find a bench mark including both cards (due to the 3870 being so old): http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-4870-review--asus/ and here: http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-3870-x2-review--his/11

[dafink]

Thanks for the response.

I consider myself pretty tech literate but I haven't kept up as well on some of the newer stuff because I don't game as much as I used to. Pc I bought from a friend was a stopgap measure because mine just got too slow. Running ad remove programs and defragmentors just wasn't doing it but I wasn't ready to get something completely new yet. Didn't want to upgrade it because that'd be more of the same thing.

Now that i'm ready for something completely new I want to get up to date with the tech again...or at least try to.

I understand what you're saying Heartborne, gotta get off the mindset that ghz is everything. Still important but not as much since multi-cores will beat any single-core.

If I can save a little bit of cash i'll get the $329 one.

As for the 10000rpm drive, biggest they have is 300gb. Maybe i'll get 2 of those and a slower one for backup.

With backup programs you can specify what you want backed up? I'd only need my music, game saves, personal stuff, etc so can you specify that instead of the entire drive being backed up?

IM that review answers my question. Specs don't tell the whole picture but benchmarks don't lie.

[saphalline]

Unless you really really want to learn about all the fun things that have arisen in GPU design lately, I say why worry? :p

Just come here for the latest news on GPU releases, check the benchmarks, buy your vid card(s), and call it a day!

[dafink]

Nice to see ya Saph!

You make it sound SOO interesting to want to learn all that stuff!

I used to know the basics so I could grasp what an article said or people were taking about but didn't understand it all and that was fine with me.

I think i'd definitely rather just do what you said lol

What do you think of my build? Any questions, comments, suggestions?

I'm actually surprised George, Jlreich and the rest haven't commented after my last post when I was ready to build :p

[George Hallam]

I'm actually surprised George, Jlreich and the rest haven't commented after my last post when I was ready to build

You called ;)

well, you seem to be a bit stuck on your GPU choice i see, at the moment in time the powerfullest and by far the most expensive is the GTX 280 but roughly 11% being that is the 4870 which can be under half the price of a single GTX 280 :eek:

so my suggestion would be like most sane people is get a 4870 but if you do get one you really must get a X48 MOBO because it supports x16, x16 CF (and PCI-e 2.0). But if you really want to get an Nvidia MOBO and then buy a 4870 i dont 100% recommend it (this is my problem at the moment). Saph is not happy with the GTX 280's and says not to buy them and wait for Nvidia to release some of there new GPU's using the GT 200 core i agree with that to a point maybe wait for the GTX 280+ but any longer you will be on the slippery graphics cards rollercoster thinking "hmmm i might just wait and extra 3 weeks for that new one" and when the time comes you see another one on the horizon and wait for that :p

So the best for you money to get a X48 MOBO and a ATI HD 4870, here are some benchmarks

http://www.hothardware.com/articleimages/Item1172/cry.png

Nb * both the GTX 280/260 and HD 4870/4850 are using beta drivers on that benchmarks

http://media.bestofmicro.com/P/K/114968/original/crysis1.png

OMG just looked at your CPU choice a QX9770 :D there are very nice but way over priced ;) stick with the Q9450 and save the rest even buy watercooling so you can cool it when OC'ing (it will easily hit QX9770 speeds) lol even if you burn it out you will still have money left over from the QX9770 to buy another one ;) So the Q9450 is the Q6600 of the new times, great investment

HDD is fine i could say get 2 x 500gb but now there is not much difference inc price and having 1Tb of space on 1 disk in handy

I wouldnt go with the BFG PSU i would recommend corsair
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006

i have had the HX 620w for over a year and a half now and i have loved it just ordered the 1000w version it comes on the 22nd thats how happy i am with them

Get this RAM, if your budget can it them
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145197
if not go with the RAM you chose but 1066Mhz RAM will really help when OC'ing

Finely the MOBO i am not "in with" the X48 MOBO but this one does look good (judging by the reviews and specs)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131284

hope thats helped a bit mate

by the way what is your budget?

Edit: Just some more benchmarks you may like to see

http://media.bestofmicro.com/P/E/114962/original/avg-framerate.png


http://www.hothardware.com/articleimages/Item1172/pw.png

808w for tri SLI =0

[dafink]

Hey George, thanks for coming to assist me with everyone else that's been helping.

Let me just make one thing clear....I have no favorite retailer or model. I've used ati cards and replaced them with nvidia. Last pc was an amd and now have an intel.

Honestly I could care less what I use if it's worth the money, does what it's supposed to and lasts a good while.

With that said I switched to the x48 board and a 4870 which I had selected. I'm sticking with the q9450 because it is cheaper. Still getting a quad core which'll be faster like IM back said which is more important now then pure speed.

Switched to the corsair psu and ram. I like the fans on the ram, that looks interesting.

Regards to the hdd, i'm not sure what I want to do yet. Know for a fact I want a backup of some kind. Too many times with previous pc's have I spent so much time re-downloading mp3's, playing my games up to where they were, restoring aim buddy lists, etc.

My friend suggested getting an external drive and using that as a backup since I could easily back up everything from my current pc and move it over when it's built, which sounds interesting.

I forgot to answer about my budget. I guess about $2500 since i'd rather not spend $3000. I'm gettin ready to move out and looking for a place so I had to get myself in gear to buy a pc before I moved out and might not be able to afford what I can right now.

[dafink]

With external drives cheaper I think i'll get an external as a backup. Easy to transfer everything from my current pc to my new one, if I had to take it somewhere with me and whenever it's time for something else.

Here's what I have as a whole so far

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=7994571&WishListTitle=brian%27s

Adds up to $2,153 total, $2,003 with rebates.

I have a 232gb hd now with 25gb of space remaining but that's after I uninstalled stuff to save on space. Biggest drive I could find for 1000rpm is 300gb which for now might be good enough but eventually i'd have to buy something in addition so i'm not sure what to do yet.

[dafink]

Any suggestions on a backup, whether it's an external hd or anything else?

[Hektik]

how do u even get over $1,200 on a gamign pc, ive added up everything i would need to have my dream pc and it was only 900...

only things u need is...

a case (you can get a nice custom one from xoxide.com for like $50-$100)
power supply $20-$50
RAM a 2gb stick is 40 dollars from mwave.com (which is where i get all m ystuff for super cheap)
motherbaord $40-$150 (ebay)
video card, great ones at mwave.com for like 60 dollars, i paid 55 for mine and i can play crysis just fine.
cpu $20-800 dollars, but you seriously dont need over 2.6 ghz for anything. and those are about $175
soundcard $20-80
cpu fan $10-20
hard drive, easily get a terrabyte for $130


add it all together and you get... roughly $620 for a decent gaming computer.

[George Hallam]

add it all together and you get... roughly $620 for a decent gaming computer.

this may be true but not for the gaming he has in mind.

im sorry to be so negative but this is one of your 1st posts and saying stuff like

cpu $20-800 dollars, but you seriously dont need over 2.6 ghz for anything. and those are about $175

and

video card, great ones at mwave.com for like 60 dollars, i paid 55 for mine and i can play crysis just fine.

is not very reliable so please search facts or back it up before posting improper advise

[jlreich]

power supply $20-$50
I wouldn't trust that to power my living room lamp with a 13w bulb in it. :p

motherbaord $40-$150 (ebay)
Sometimes you can do OK at ebay, but you are taking a big risk. And $130-$200 is a mid-range mobo. On up from there. A $40 mobo would be about good enough for a thin client terminal and that's about it.

video card, great ones at mwave.com for like 60 dollars, i paid 55 for mine and i can play crysis just fine.
LOL! As long as you are happy with the slide show, I mean performance, that's fine. :D

Playing it and getting the rich full features and resolution at decent frame rates are two very different things. ;)

All kidding aside, that's a low end budget gaming machine. Which is fine. But the more cash you can throw at a gaming rig the better. :)

[dafink]

Hah thanks guys.

Hektik that's too funny....i'm remembering how I was when I was new to this all so don't take it as a dis or anything.

The pc you're talking about will play low end games well, shockwave type games and maybe some non-intensive mmorpg's well but not the graphics intensive, processor draining stuff I want.

Crysis, spore, world in conflict, stargate online, etc. All are built to take advantage of the latest tech but are scaled to work on many different types of pc's because they'd be cutting their profits if they marketed to a certain type.

We all use pc's for different things....your uses are different then mine. You built a pc for what you'd use it for which is all well and good, but I have other uses for it.

To George, Jlreich, Heartborne, IM back, I got my setup finally. I decided on the velo 300gb 1000rpm drive like you all suggested. I didn't want to because i've almost filled up my 232gb but that's where the 1tb external comes in.

After I install my games i'll install my mp3's, .wmv's, etc to the backup. I was going to use it primarily as a backup but it'd be stupid to waste that space till a bigger 1000rpm drive comes out.

What do you think about the case? Will the case sufficently cool it? I'm at the hospital and some sites are blocked obviously but i'll see if I can find reviews on it.

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=7994571&WishListTitle=brian%27s

PSU's out of stock till tues, give me time to finalize everything.

[dafink]

I bought it! http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=7994571&WishListTitle=brian%27s

Finally went the distance and bought all the pieces. Hafta say i'm pretty happy with what I got.

Like the case and the tool less design. Looking forward to finally being able to slide and click into place instead of the constant unscrew, rescrew....curse when screw falls into case, rescrew.

Took a while to pick a monitor as there were some pretty sweet ones. Some had usb ports which I wanted but speakers. Others had better picture quality but no usb ports.

Finally came down to HP http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824176090 and Samsunghttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001234. If anyone's looking for a gaming monitor and can spend a bit those are the two i'd suggest.

Every review site I checked consistantly had them rated on top and preformed the best.

I ended up going with the Samsung as we have a few of them in the house and they work great. Can't wait to see the quality on something like this.

Thanks to everyone that helped me the last time I said I was "ready" and this time. Everyone's welcome to comment but i'd love if the people that helped me commented.

Thanks

[MR. HT]

Looks pretty sweet. It's in the price range of my build except for the fact that I spent a little extra on some storage drives. I can't wait for some pics and benchmarks so that I can compare some of the new technology (like the 4870) to my 9800 GX2. Looks like a sweet build and I can't wait to see it.