Currently being updated...Hazaro said:Add these to OP please
TechReport Christmas 2009 Builders Guide (Many configurations and price points to choose from!)
Utilities for any PC gamer:
Prime95 - Stress test the stability of your system on stock settings or your latest Overclock.
CPU-Z - Gathers system CPU, FSB, Vcore Voltage and memory timings presents it in a clean and tidy way.
Memtest - Having weird Blue screens or system errors? Download and run a full memory scan using Memtest.
GPU-Z - Gathers information on your Graphics card chipset, similar to that of CPU-Z but for your GPU.
HWmonitor - A must if you OC your equipment! Gives you a full range of temperatures, Voltage settings, fan speeds and more!
RealTemp - A utility to monitor the temperature of your CPU core(s).
RivaTuner - A Utility to manage GPU overclock, fan speed, and monitor about 25 other things all in 1 customizable screen.
NeoGAF's own PC Benchmarking thread - Have questions about your Futuremark score or want to show off your new overclock on your CPU/GPU? This thread is for you!
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"I need a new PC!" 2010 Edition
- Thread starter Spy
- Start date
evil solrac v3.0
Member
brain_stew said:
wrong on that brain, this cooler beats most air coolers out there.
DR2K said:
Motherboard - $135
Gigabyte P55A-UD3: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128412&cm_re=p55a-_-13-128-412-_-Product
CPU - $195
Intel Core i5 750: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115215
GPU - $310
XFX Radeon 5850: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150442
RAM - $90 - $10 MIR
Patriot 4GB DDR3: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220435
Case - $60
Antec 300: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042
PSU - $70 - $25 MIR
550W OCZ Modular: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341022
HDD - $85
1TB Samsung Spinpoint: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185
Optical - $30
MSI DVD/CD Burner: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827100059
Total: $975 - $35 in MIR.
The way I did it: At your budget, the Core i5 is the best CPU when it comes to bang for buck. Since you likely won't be needing to crossfire/sli at this price range (and because it's not a really good solution either way), I went with a lower end motherboard from one of the two top manufacturers. Asus and Gigabyte are the two brands I trust on motherboards. MSI is supposed to be decent as well.
At $1000, the best GPU is the 58xx series by ATI. Do not bother with nVidia cards at this time. The GPU is the most important part of a gaming build.
RAM, just go to Newegg and find the cheapest 4GB set (2x2GB sticks) of DDR3 RAM that has a reputable brand behind it and a high user review. G.SKILL, Mushkin, and Corsair have great memory. Stay away from OCZ DDR3 for now.
I like the Antec 300. It's what I use. Other recommendations at this range would include the Coolermaster 690 which has more room inside I believe. Antec and Coolermaster make great cases at a variety of prices.
500W - 650W is more than enough for any processor plus single video card. I picked a modular one here which frees up cables. OCZ makes decent PSUs. I believe the best brands in Power Supplies are Corsair, Seasonic, PC Power and Cooling (owned by OCZ now) and to a lesser extend Antec.
I hear the Samsung Spinpoint F3 are the fastest HDDs around right now at a reasonable price. Also check out the 640GB and 1TB Western Digital Caviar Blacks.
CD/DVD drive really doesn't matter. I just picked the lowest priced DVD Burner with a retail box so it comes with what you need to hook it up.
Motherboard - $95NIGHT- said:
Gigabyte 770TA-UD3: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128419
CPU - $125
Phenom II X3 720: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103649
GPU - $155
Sapphire Radeon 5770: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102864
RAM - $90 - $10 MIR
Patriot 4GB DDR3: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220435
Case - $40
Coolermaster RC-330: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119115
PSU - $70 - $25 MIR
550W OCZ Modular: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341022
HDD - $55
1TB Samsung Spinpoint: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181
Optical - $30
MSI DVD/CD Burner: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827100059
Total: $660 - 35 = $625
Eh idunno too well =( I hear TigerDirect has 15% Bing Cashback going on now so that's something worth checking out too. I'm not great with USD prices btw so everyone should still do their own shopping. I only know Newegg!
Seems fine.
There's also websites like overclockers.com.au and whirlpool.net.au for aussies who want more info on PC stuff.
There's also websites like overclockers.com.au and whirlpool.net.au for aussies who want more info on PC stuff.
Gully State
Member
Firestorm said:
Yeah definitely look into tigerdirect. The 15% cashback is huge and for California residents (Florida, North Carolina, and Illinois are the exception), they don't charge sales tax unlike Newegg.. Of course I've heard that their shipping isn't as prompt as neweggs so there's your drawback.
edit: for those of you that don't know how to use bing cashback, basically go to bing.com and type tiger direct into the search field. Tigerdirect with a bing cashback icon should pop up. Click on that and shop via that link. It works basically like a rebate so you'll see how much you save but you won't get it the cash back until MS processes it.
i have an asus m4a785td-m mobo with integrated graphics(which i never use). i never disabled it in bios, and i believe it is on auto. i just use my gts 250 at all times, and have been using it since the first boot. since the igp is on auto, will it eat at my ram sometimes? just wondering
I have a question about SSDs
I've been waiting for some time to see OCZ Vertex 60GB go down in price, but the only reputable Spanish store that ships it not only never reduced the price, but increased it like 20 more since October. It's already at 215.
I wanted to know if the Kingston SSDNow V Series are any good, as they're only 120 for 60GB with a desktop mounting bundle and it looks too cheap to be good.
The other option would be a Mushkin SSD IO Series 60GB, which is at 193 right now.
And yeah, I have read that huge-ass 20 page article where they basically talked about how performance drops over time and why JMicron controllers have to be avoided like the plague, so no point directing me there.
Edit: what about the Intel X25-E? I can get the 80GB one for 209, but I fear they won't be as good as the X25-M
I've been waiting for some time to see OCZ Vertex 60GB go down in price, but the only reputable Spanish store that ships it not only never reduced the price, but increased it like 20 more since October. It's already at 215.
I wanted to know if the Kingston SSDNow V Series are any good, as they're only 120 for 60GB with a desktop mounting bundle and it looks too cheap to be good.
The other option would be a Mushkin SSD IO Series 60GB, which is at 193 right now.
And yeah, I have read that huge-ass 20 page article where they basically talked about how performance drops over time and why JMicron controllers have to be avoided like the plague, so no point directing me there.
Edit: what about the Intel X25-E? I can get the 80GB one for 209, but I fear they won't be as good as the X25-M
allright i have a smaller problem...
my current motherboard decided to make a suicide run for it last year, and now i just want a replacement MB so i can get back to PC gaming...
but apparently my motherboard has run out of production (A8N32-SLI Deluxe 939 socket from asus) and i dont have the money for an upgrade just yet...
soooo my question is, what can you recommend for me as a substitute? can i use my socket 939 in a higher socket number socket? (im quite the hardware retard, thus me asking)
my current motherboard decided to make a suicide run for it last year, and now i just want a replacement MB so i can get back to PC gaming...
but apparently my motherboard has run out of production (A8N32-SLI Deluxe 939 socket from asus) and i dont have the money for an upgrade just yet...
soooo my question is, what can you recommend for me as a substitute? can i use my socket 939 in a higher socket number socket? (im quite the hardware retard, thus me asking)
FearX said:
They don't make anything socket 939 related anymore. Period. It's dead. It's predecessor socket AM2 is basically dead now also. AM3 is the current socket new AMD products use.
My suggestion to you is save your money and upgrade. You won't be doing much PC gaming on a socket 939 board and what it supports anyway. Unless it's some older games.
My advice is wait for another six months or so. It may suck, but it's your best bet. CES is around the corner, and lots of new tech will be out by spring.
Personally I am waiting until USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gbs have better support. Since they do not run properly on the P55 chipsrt, and the I7 isn't worth the cost difference for gaming.
Vinterbird
Member
I know this thread is mainly PC hardware, but since Macs can run Windows it might as well be thrown in here.
How competent, or usefull, will the following hardware be for Windows gaming:
- 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
- 8GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM
- 1TB Serial ATA Drive (7200 RPM)
- ATI Radeon HD 4850 graphics with 512MB
What can I expect for performance? Will it handle Crysis on medium, or is it a pipedream?
How competent, or usefull, will the following hardware be for Windows gaming:
- 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
- 8GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM
- 1TB Serial ATA Drive (7200 RPM)
- ATI Radeon HD 4850 graphics with 512MB
What can I expect for performance? Will it handle Crysis on medium, or is it a pipedream?
Vinterbird said:
It should handle Crysis on medium fine, as my core 2 duo with a 9800GTX does.
That computer would be a good performer for gaming. The card is really the only thing holding it back, but a 4850 will still play literally every game on the market today. It may not max out Crysis, but that system will max out almost all other PC games.
D
Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
Has anyone had any problems with 'artifacting' on their Radeon 5870s?
I just got this card a few days ago and have noticed some instances of artifacting and weird graphical glitches. For example, during the loading screens of both The Saboteur and Grand Theft Auto IV I get a weird vertical row of short black bars that appear on the right side of the screen. The loading screen in Mass Effect sometimes gets flickering pixels as well. So far I haven't seen any artifacting inside of the actual games, though and they all run great.
Red Faction Guerrilla had some horrible artifacting problems until I raised the resolution and switched it to full screen and they stopped.
Most recently I have been trying to play the first episode of Sam and Max Season One and the initial intro movie was plagued with red artifacts that rendered the scene practically unwatchable. Once I got into the game and changed the resolution to its maximum (1600x1200) most of the problems stopped, but I still get weird flickering pixels when I move the characters around in game. This doesn't happen if I stand still, though.
I don't think my card is running too hot as the maximum temperature I have seen it get to is just under 70 degrees Celsius. It normally runs between the mid-40s and mid-50s Celsius according various t monitoring tools and the Catalyst Control Center. I also haven't experienced any lockups / freezes so I don't think it is overheating.
Has anyone else experienced such issues with this card? I'm hoping it is just a driver problem, but what are the chances that I got a bad card?
My system is as follows:
Gigabyte EP45-UD3P Motherboard
Core 2 Duo E8500 (OC'd to 3.8ghz)
4GB DDR2 800 RAM
Radeon 5870 1GB
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
I just got this card a few days ago and have noticed some instances of artifacting and weird graphical glitches. For example, during the loading screens of both The Saboteur and Grand Theft Auto IV I get a weird vertical row of short black bars that appear on the right side of the screen. The loading screen in Mass Effect sometimes gets flickering pixels as well. So far I haven't seen any artifacting inside of the actual games, though and they all run great.
Red Faction Guerrilla had some horrible artifacting problems until I raised the resolution and switched it to full screen and they stopped.
Most recently I have been trying to play the first episode of Sam and Max Season One and the initial intro movie was plagued with red artifacts that rendered the scene practically unwatchable. Once I got into the game and changed the resolution to its maximum (1600x1200) most of the problems stopped, but I still get weird flickering pixels when I move the characters around in game. This doesn't happen if I stand still, though.
I don't think my card is running too hot as the maximum temperature I have seen it get to is just under 70 degrees Celsius. It normally runs between the mid-40s and mid-50s Celsius according various t monitoring tools and the Catalyst Control Center. I also haven't experienced any lockups / freezes so I don't think it is overheating.
Has anyone else experienced such issues with this card? I'm hoping it is just a driver problem, but what are the chances that I got a bad card?
My system is as follows:
Gigabyte EP45-UD3P Motherboard
Core 2 Duo E8500 (OC'd to 3.8ghz)
4GB DDR2 800 RAM
Radeon 5870 1GB
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
D
Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
Durante said:
The video card itself is at stock speeds, but I might have to try manually pushing the fan speed higher. I don't know if that will change much since like I said above it is normally in the 40s or 50s Celsius and never goes above 70 Celsius, so it doesn't seem very high.
The artifacting doesn't persist outside of any of the games which also makes me think it isn't a heat issue. I have had video cards die from overheating in the past and they always had artifacting issues that covered the entire screen even when just on the desktop. Also, the artifacting that occurred when I played Red Faction Guerrilla in window mode was isolated to the inside of the game window.
I will try decreasing the RAM clock speed and manually boosting the fan to see if that helps, though.
Edit: That didn't seem to do anything. I tried reducing the RAM clock from 1200mhz to 1000mhz and the problem still persisted. I then forced the fan to run at 50%, 80% and finally 100% and the flickering pixels were still present in Sam and Max. This card sure can get loud. It has been pretty silent with the fan set to auto and I think it hovers in the 20% - 30% range of fan speed most of the time.
Servizio
I don't really need a tag, but I figured I'd get one to make people jealous. Is it working?
I'm thinking about upgrading my current gaming rig, and I think I only need: a motherboard, CPU, RAM, a video card, and a bigger HDD. Everything else I should already have.
What are some recommendations in the, say, $400 range? What would another $100 get me? I'm looking for something that hits a really nice a price/performance ratio, as I don't upgrade all that often.
What are some recommendations in the, say, $400 range? What would another $100 get me? I'm looking for something that hits a really nice a price/performance ratio, as I don't upgrade all that often.
Servizio
I don't really need a tag, but I figured I'd get one to make people jealous. Is it working?
D3RANG3D said:
According to Belarc advisor:
2.60 gigahertz AMD Athlon 64 FX
ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe 939 motherboard
NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX
120 GBs and 160 GBs HDDs.
2 GB RAM
And I believe the power supply is at least a 500w.
A couple of UK sites for your list, I have used both (And visited one in Bedford a couple of times and I like both).
www.powerc.com (Parts + Custom Builds)
www.overclockers.co.uk
Anyway, this year will be quite quiet for me upgrade wise. I pretty much replaced my entire PC in 2009 so my next upgrade will either be out of necessity or if DX11 prices come down significantly.
www.powerc.com (Parts + Custom Builds)
www.overclockers.co.uk
Anyway, this year will be quite quiet for me upgrade wise. I pretty much replaced my entire PC in 2009 so my next upgrade will either be out of necessity or if DX11 prices come down significantly.
D3RANG3D
Member
Servizio said:
574.95 with rebates, that's barring any shipping fees that may occur
Video Card
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5512023&sku=A271-5772
CPU and Fan
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4950609&sku=A79-0965
RAM
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5210464&sku=O261-6258
Motherboard
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5325308&sku=S458-1334
HDD
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2795126&sku=TSD-500AAKS
TouchMyBox
Member
NIGHT- said:
yes yes yes... the AM3 platform has a bright future. Gigabyte is good about releasing BIOS updates to support new chips. The fancy new hexa-core cpus coming out later this year will run on that motherboard. It seems that AMD is really using this as a selling point as intel just segregated their platform. Also, while it's implementation is less than ideal, that board does have USB 3.0 and 6Gb/s SATA so you're ready for all the fast future SSDs and usb peripherals.
CAW
Member
It's not in the OP (was in the 2009 thread) but http://directcanada.com/ is a great online PC parts store for Canadians. I built 90% of my computer using that site and they have great service and prices. Just an FYI. 
Here's another tool. Some of the same people responsible for F@H have also made a GPU memory tester for Nvidia GPUs.
Uses the same algorithms as memtest+. I tried using the OCCT memory tester, but it seemed to have trouble doing more than 10 passes, which is awfully bad for a memory tester.
https://simtk.org/home/memtest/
EDIT:
And a lot of people seemed to come into the 2009 thread asking about laptops, so maybe there should be something in the OP about them. Though, I'm not sure what you would talk about.
Uses the same algorithms as memtest+. I tried using the OCCT memory tester, but it seemed to have trouble doing more than 10 passes, which is awfully bad for a memory tester.
https://simtk.org/home/memtest/
EDIT:
And a lot of people seemed to come into the 2009 thread asking about laptops, so maybe there should be something in the OP about them. Though, I'm not sure what you would talk about.
the_prime_mover
Member
With a Phenom x3 720, 4GB of RAM, and ATi 4980 running Vista 64bit is there any practical reason to upgrade in 2010? I can run Crysis on high at well above 30fps average (and coming from the console side this is godly!) at 1280x720. I game on a 52" 1080p XBR3 and won't be changing that anytime soon. I don't seem to mind gaming at 720p resolution, but I am not opposed to having a better image and more FPS. However, having just spent some $700+ on the build I would like to keep upgrades to a minimum and invest only where I will see substantial gains.
Are there any games coming down the pipe that will make Crysis look dated and will probably require more GPU/CPU power? I am assuming that Crysis 2 will be a refinement of the engine and thus should be able to look better than Crysis on my rig without causing a substantial performance hit.
Are there any games coming down the pipe that will make Crysis look dated and will probably require more GPU/CPU power? I am assuming that Crysis 2 will be a refinement of the engine and thus should be able to look better than Crysis on my rig without causing a substantial performance hit.
Xenon
Member
So I have hit a snag in my plan from this post .
The new board only has 2 dimm slots. So I would have to run on only 4gb of ram instead of 8GB in Window 7 64bit =( Would there be a major difference. I do some light video editing once in a while. Also I tend to have 2 profiles running most of the time.
The new board only has 2 dimm slots. So I would have to run on only 4gb of ram instead of 8GB in Window 7 64bit =( Would there be a major difference. I do some light video editing once in a while. Also I tend to have 2 profiles running most of the time.
To those who plan to overclock an i5 750, pay attention to the socket issue. It remains to be seen if it's been fixed yet, but to play it safe, I'd get this motherboard http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=42713&vpn=132-LF-E655-KR&manufacture=eVGA. It's only slightly more expensive than a Gigabyte or Asus motherboard, but it comes with more features, and you're guaranteed not to burn out your processor should you overclock. It's also the most aesthetically pleasing motherboard I've ever had
Pai Pai Master
Banned
Akia said:
FFXIV Edition.
Starcraft II Edition can be the 2011 thread.
platypotamus
Member
I will be making use of this thread, and hopefully fairly soon.