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[Wallach]

Strangely enough, no. Unless I missed something, the increase seemed random. Revised models were still going for $50-55 up until a few months ago. Interior paint, cable pass-throughs and air intakes do wonders for the 300.

Do you plan on filling the hdd cage in your new case? On the side panel, an 80mm fan would work best as an intake. Still, along with the fact that you're limited to 80x15 fans, I doubt you'd see much if any benefit from placing a fan there. Both of my panels are sealed.

Nah I'm only going to run a single HDD still. I have 3x120mm CM fans coming in along with the case (and a Hyper212+) but I'm not sure where I'll slot them yet.

 

[toastyToast]

Wait, I was pretty set on the i7 2600K but the i5 2500K is $100 less.

Does HT have any impact on games? How does the 760 compare to the 870 atm?

 

[Mr_Brit]

Wait, I was pretty set on the i7 2600K but the i5 2500K is $100 less.

Does HT have any impact on games? How does the 760 compare to the 870 atm?

Almost none, it's been proven that for 99% of games that more than 3 cores is a waste. On that note you might as well go for the i5 2500K. Don't cheap out and go for the 760 or 870.

 

[toastyToast]

I meant for the comparison between the 760 and 870 for reference. Definitely going for the 2500K now. That $100 can go in my Steam wallet :lol

 

[fanboi]

Just bought a new comp.

Sparkle GTX 570
4 GB ram
i5 760 2.8 (OC to 4 gHz)
Custom cooler
P55 Extreme Mobo
SSD 40 GB with OS installed

 

[peppermints]

Excited to do my first build in 5 years in a few weeks.

It's not a necessity, but what's the performance of OSX like on i5's like?

 

[FoxSpirit]

From the 2010 thread:

A short question:
To Velociraptor or not Velociraptor

I want to replace my main HDD to something that at least can be considered modern. SSD is out of the question for price and reliability.
So it's gonna be a regular drive and the Raptor seems to be the king. But will I proit that much? What other good drives with good random acess times can you recommend? What would you consider the champion in price-value?

Didn't really get an answer there so maybe more luck here

Currently considering an F4 since I heard good things but some people say it's only 16MB of cache and I should rather get an F3??

 

[pedrothelion]

What do you guys think of this set up? I'll probubly be adding a gtx 460 from best buy (I have gift cards). Is there any brand I need to stay away from? Also is there any way to get Windows 7 for cheap?

LG DVD±RW SuperMulti Drive Black SATA Model GH22NS50B
Item #: N82E16827136216
$15.99

Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, comes with Three Fans-1x Front Blue LED 120mm Fan, 1x Top 140mm ...
Item #: N82E16811147153
$54.99

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
$49.99

OCZ Fatal1ty OCZ550FTY 550W ATX12V v2.2 / EPS12V SLI Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
Item #: N82E16817341022
$69.99

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL
Item #: N82E16820231277
$49.99

AMD Athlon II X4 640 Propus 3.0GHz Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor ADX640WFGMBOX
Item #: N82E16819103871

ASUS M4A87TD/USB3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 AMD Motherboard
Item #: N82E16813131651

-$10.00 Instant
-$16.00 Combo
$199.98
$173.98

Subtotal: $414.93

 

[XTERC]

I need more SSDs (I currently have a 128GB C300). I want more space (thank you very much Steam Sales ...). but I'd like to wait a while to see how SSDs increase in capacity and decrease in price though. SSDs are about 20X more expensive that HDDs at the moment, so I might just go for another 128GB and try to manage my space. I don't ever want to go back to HDDs as I love the speed / quietness of this machine.

I'm also waiting on my EVGA trade up (from a GTX470 to a GTX580).

 

[matmanx1]

Love the thread title as I recently purchased a 120GB Intel SSD to use as the boot drive in my new build! I can't wait to pop that sucker in and watch Windows 7 fly!

Like everyone else I'm holding out for SB and will probably end up going for the i5 2500k. The power to performance to price ratio on that chip looks pretty amazing and will be a massive upgrade from my current E6600 C2D.

I'm going to be sticking with my GTX 260 216 core for the time being but will have that also upgraded by the time The Witcher 2 hits.

It's definitely a fun time to be in the PC upgrading market!

 

[Pctx]

From the 2010 thread:

A short question:
To Velociraptor or not Velociraptor

I want to replace my main HDD to something that at least can be considered modern. SSD is out of the question for price and reliability.
So it's gonna be a regular drive and the Raptor seems to be the king. But will I proit that much? What other good drives with good random acess times can you recommend? What would you consider the champion in price-value?

Didn't really get an answer there so maybe more luck here

Currently considering an F4 since I heard good things but some people say it's only 16MB of cache and I should rather get an F3??

My advice, is get a 40GB Intel SSD for your boot drive/OS drive and get at the minimum a Blue Western Digital (preferably black WD drive) from the Egg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007603%20600003459%20600003334&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=20 w/ 64MB of cache on it. That way you have a fast loading system of which you can put some of the programs you use on the SSD (i.e. Photoshop) and keep all the other data or Steam related apps off on the second drive.

Buddy of mine has this setup and it's the way to go. Right now, SSD's price to GB are still too piss poor to consider buying a huge one and a Raptor drive right now (IMO) isn't worth the expense when you can go this hybrid route. As long as you're running Windows 7 on the SSD (and you plunk the coin for an Intel drive), your system will breathe new life again.

 

[FoxSpirit]

My advice, is get a 40GB Intel SSD for your boot drive/OS drive and get at the minimum a Blue Western Digital (preferably black WD drive) from the Egg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007603%20600003459%20600003334&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=20 w/ 64MB of cache on it. That way you have a fast loading system of which you can put some of the programs you use on the SSD (i.e. Photoshop) and keep all the other data or Steam related apps off on the second drive.

Buddy of mine has this setup and it's the way to go. Right now, SSD's price to GB are still too piss poor to consider buying a huge one and a Raptor drive right now (IMO) isn't worth the expense when you can go this hybrid route. As long as you're running Windows 7 on the SSD (and you plunk the coin for an Intel drive), your system will breathe new life again.

I'm still too weray of life issues with SSDs. I would have to get at least 2 mopre gigs of RAM so I could disable the page file to at leat alleviate some of my concern. Seriously, you HAVE to do that or the page file will murder the SSD.
Also, I don't wanna reinstall everything again and a 200g+ drive means I can simply migrate my whole boot drive.

And the WDC blacks are hit and miss, get the 500g one and you either end up with a great 1 platter or a not so great 2 platter. WD lottery, hell yeah.

Plus the F4 is really inexpensive.

 

[Pctx]

I'm still too weray of life issues with SSDs. I would have to get at least 2 mopre gigs of RAM so I could disable the page file to at leat alleviate some of my concern. Seriously, you HAVE to do that or the page file will murder the SSD.
Also, I don't wanna reinstall everything again and a 200g+ drive means I can simply migrate my whole boot drive.

And the WDC blacks are hit and miss, get the 500g one and you either end up with a great 1 platter or a not so great 2 platter. WD lottery, @#!*% yeah.

Plus the F4 is really inexpensive.

Honestly, the SSD life FUD has run its course. Even with a page file + TRIM and garbage support you're looking at the minimum 100+ year life span of a drive given some of the calculations done. Are you going to keep that SSD for 100+ years? Doubtful. I was worried about that until I started reading about Intel MC on their SSD drives and why (in effect) it is superior to any of the other brands out there, it makes the lifespan issue really a non-issue.

Reloading apps has become the norm when moving to an SSD which I don't find bothersome since I've done it hundreds if not thousands of times. To each their own.

To your point on the WD drives... I've simply stopped caring if it is a single platter or 2-platter drive. Sure, you'll see marginal differences in HDTune benchmarks and possibly copy and paste operations but at best (in real world) not enough to bother worrying about it. There are people that absolutely demand the absolute best performance in which I say go for it and be particular about it, but for the most part, it's going to get the job done. Never had any issues with the WD's I've used in 300+ machine builds and their warranty and tech support is great.

In terms of the F4, refresh my memory... is that Samsung?

 

[FoxSpirit]

Yeah, the F4 is a Samsung Spinpoint

Reloading apps has become the norm when moving to an SSD which I don't find bothersome since I've done it hundreds if not thousands of times. To each their own.

I don't know exactly what you mean >.<

I meant that I have a main HDD loaded with quite a few apps and if I replaced it with a smaller drive, I'd have to reinstall Windows and EVERYTHING that is not on steam, since that migrates easily. You said "reloading" so I guess you mean something different than reinstalling so maybe there is a new way to move a system nowadays?

edit: I also read a new generation of SSDs will come in a few month, you have any info on that?

 

[Ikuu]

An SSD is worth the hassle of having to reinstall/setup Windows again, easily one of the best upgrades I've made to my machine.

 

[Pctx]

Yeah, the F4 is a Samsung Spinpoint



I don't know exactly what you mean >.<

I meant that I have a main HDD loaded with quite a few apps and if I replaced it with a smaller drive, I'd have to reinstall Windows and EVERYTHING that is not on steam, since that migrates easily. You said "reloading" so I guess you mean something different than reinstalling so maybe there is a new way to move a system nowadays?

edit: I also read a new generation of SSDs will come in a few month, you have any info on that?

What I mean is I've moved from hard drive to hard drive (and done so for clients) numerous times. For me, migrating applications and application settings is not that big of a deal. I know for others though, it's a larger ordeal.

As for the Samsung... well go for it if that will suit your needs. I'm not telling you you're wrong or don't do it, just offering another option which I've seen be very successful for people.

Regarding the SSD's coming out, haven't read up on that but I'm sure we'll have some info about them in this thread.

 

[asdad123]

So I finally built a PC gaf! Installing windows as I type this.

Specs:
X4 640 3.0 GHz (Hoping to OC a bit)
Asus M4A78LT-M LE Socket AM3 AMD 780L mATX
4gb Corsair 1333mHz memory
500gb 7200 rpm Samsung Spinpoint
768mb EVGA GTX 460
Hyper 212 Cooler
V4 Thermal Take Case
Internal Wireless N Wifi Card
22x LG DVDRW Drive
OCZ StealthXStealth 600W

Cost me $592 after taxes for the parts at my microcenter and Ill be getting $85 back from rebates so itll be like 507 total.

What should be the first things I do with it?

What should the average temps for this proc and graphics card be at load? Bios said the CPU was a 30C.

Thanks in advance! So excited

 

[brain_stew]

From the 2010 thread:

A short question:
To Velociraptor or not Velociraptor

I want to replace my main HDD to something that at least can be considered modern. SSD is out of the question for price and reliability.
So it's gonna be a regular drive and the Raptor seems to be the king. But will I proit that much? What other good drives with good random acess times can you recommend? What would you consider the champion in price-value?

Didn't really get an answer there so maybe more luck here

Currently considering an F4 since I heard good things but some people say it's only 16MB of cache and I should rather get an F3??

That..........doesn't make sense.


Raptor's are a huge swindle these days. Not noticeably faster than high end mechanical drives, overpriced, unreliable and noisy.

If you can afford a velociraptor then you can afford one of the upcoming new generation SSDs.

I'm still too weray of life issues with SSDs.

Then you're paranoid for not a single logical reason at all. On average the average user will have more than a dozen mechanical drives fail on him before his SSD reaches the end of its "lifespan."

Ignore the FUD. Buy an SSD, its the only product that will satisfy your needs.

 

[FoxSpirit]

Thanks guys.

And it's not reinstalling just Windows and apps... I'm talking about a ton of games. Like 20-30 non-steam games. Plus a lot of little apps, again around 30.

I can try and do some cleanup and simply hope I can get below the 80 gigs of a new Intel SSD so I can do a direct backup-recopy.

 

[Nakazato]

will be the year i build a new pc

Spoiler

I hope

 

[brain_stew]

Thanks guys.

And it's not reinstalling just Windows and apps... I'm talking about a ton of games. Like 20-30 non-steam games. Plus a lot of little apps, again around 30.

I can try and do some cleanup and simply hope I can get below the 80 gigs of a new Intel SSD so I can do a direct backup-recopy.

Well wait until Intel refreshes their SSDs early in the new year, you'll get twice the space and a faster drive at the same pricepoint.

Or get a 128GB C300.

 

[evlcookie]

I don't see why you just don't take the time, over a weekend or even after work to install the OS on an ssd, pickup another HD that's for gaming only and throw all your games on that one?

Why do you need 2 more gigs of ram to remove the pagefile? Just take it off the SSD and throw it onto another hard drive. I'm running with 4gb of ram and whatever pagefile windows felt like creating on one of my other drives.

As for apps just use http://ninite.com/ which will do all the work for you. Unless you have other random apps that it doesn't support of course

 

[MikeE21286]

If I wanted to move to an SSD, and had a bunch of Steam games, could i just point Steam to the new install directory? Or would I have to re download and re install all of them?

THAT would be a pain in the ass and would keep me from getting an SSD for along time probably

 

[LiquidMetal14]

I need fast answers for this as I know there are some top notch experts here (it seems )

I have this motherboard

What is the best possible CPU I can get as it supports some socket AM3 with it being an AM2/AM2+ board. I am looking at this Phenom x4 945

First off, can I actually go higher than the imposed 95w limit on my mobo? I have updated it to the latest bios which enabled socket AM3 support (on some CPU's). It's becoming increasingly hard to find a good instock 95w part. If I knew that the new bios made it work with 12w CPU's then that would be a big hurdle.

Would I be able to go intel or anything else? I just want the best I can do with the mobo I have. I just bought a 600w PSU as well.

 

[FoxSpirit]

evlcookie:
It's simply a big hassle since many games store their savedata on the windows install nowadays, also registry entries and such. I have all my games on a seperate HDD nowadays anyway. It's only for olde stuff.
I'm simply not in the mood making backups of all the bookmarks, inis and cfgs so I can reinstall properly.

@BrainStew:
Hmmm, okay, sounds like a good plan. More for less is always good.
And as for reliability and such, last time I heard of SSDs was that the pagefile with it's huge write output thrashing them in only a few years so I was... cautious. So I guess that's not true anymore but... >.<

 

[Lucius86]

Only 2 upgrades I forsee wanting over the next year are a new monitor to replace my 22" 1680-1050 display, and a SSD as a boot drive.

SSD is likely to happen sooner of the two - I take it Intel's SSD refresh in the coming months are the way to go?

Currently have:

Core i5 750 OC @ 3.6Ghz
2x2GB DDR3 (I want to up this for my virtual machines I work on when revising for my Microsoft server exams, but 4GB modules are still too expensive for my liking)
1 x 500GB 7200RPM and 1x1TB 7200RPM HDD (nothing special, just standard WD drives)
ATi Radeon HD4870 512MB (I'm waiting for the next bath of graphics cards for an upgrade).

 

[Trojita]

I guess I'll ask this here since the other topic died.

Would you guys recommend buying a server premade or building your own?

 

[dave is ok]

I want to put in an order this week for a new computer. I'm probably going to get an i5 760 for the processor, I just wanted to make sure I'm not being an idiot by ordering one right before the newer, shinier processors come out. Will it see a significant dip in price when they come out, or is it close enough to the 2500k or whatever in price that I should just wait for it?

 

[JoeBoy101]

I want to put in an order this week for a new computer. I'm probably going to get an i5 760 for the processor, I just wanted to make sure I'm not being an idiot by ordering one right before the newer, shinier processors come out. Will it see a significant dip in price when they come out, or is it close enough to the 2500k or whatever in price that I should just wait for it?

Yes.

You will likely see a drop in cost of the i5 760's when SB drops, but the new CPUs will have mid-range chips right where the 760's are right now (I think its the i5 2500's?). Cost for the chip and the compatible mobo (new socket type) will be about the same as an i5 760 and a good mobo is today.

So yes, wait the couple of weeks for either the price drop and pocket the dolares or upgrade performance for the same price as you were about to pay. I feel your pain. I'm ready to pull the trigger right now (especially given my AC2 freezes while playing), but am holding fast until Sandy Bridge is out.

 

[ithorien]

If I wanted to move to an SSD, and had a bunch of Steam games, could i just point Steam to the new install directory? Or would I have to re download and re install all of them?

THAT would be a pain in the ass and would keep me from getting an SSD for along time probably

http://www.traynier.com/software/steammover

Fantastic piece of software. I used it for another reason, but it was made for specifically your issue.

This could actually work for a lot of these issues you guys are bringing up in connection to SSD. It sets up junction points so this could very well work for standard apps too.

 

[Lucius86]

I guess I'll ask this here since the other topic died.

Would you guys recommend buying a server premade or building your own?

Pre-made I would say, but it depends what type of server you mean - a Windows home server, or one for your business?

 

[Snakeyes]

If I choose to go for a dual GPU option, will I need a bigger case than this?

http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=53537&vpn=DEFINE-R3-BLACK&manufacture=Fractal Design

 

[Trojita]

Pre-made I would say, but it depends what type of server you mean - a Windows home server, or one for your business?

Just a home server for personal use and something I'd like to tinker around with to learn more things about networking for my profession.

 

[Lucius86]

Just a home server for personal use and something I'd like to tinker around with to learn more things about networking for my profession.

Well if you want to learn, then go home-built. That way, when you install the OS and the drivers, you should feel comfortable with each part of the system so you can use this as a foundation as you learn. I also find building your own system more rewarding

Also, a home server does not need to be Enterprise spec, so you can take advantage of lower prices from mass consumer product selection!

 

[BothBarsOn]

I'm a long-time lurker on the PC threads and have just put a build together on computerplanet.co.uk. I haven't got a clue about PCs and just made some adjustments to one of their basic configurations; came out at £919. How would this fare for gaming at 1920 x 1080 (and general computing)? I have to be honest and say I'm not ready to buy just yet - but I want to get my feet wet in the discussion!

I've got a feeling that this is overkill - it's so damned tempting to tick those little boxes

Computer Case : 1 x Antec Midi Three Hundred Black
CPU : 1 x Intel Core i5 760 (4 x 2.8GHz) 8MB
CPU Heatsink : 1 x Intel Heatsink & Fan - Low Noise
Memory : 1 x Corsair 4GB XMS3 PC3-10666 1333MHz (1x4GB) - Lifetime Warranty (DDR3)
Graphics Card : 1 x ATI Radeon HD 6950 - 2 GB - DVI/DP/HDMI (XFX)
Motherboard : 1 x Gigabyte GA-P55-US3L (Intel P55)
Sound Card : 1 x Motherboard Integrated 5.1 Sound
Networking : 1 x Motherboard Integrated Ethernet Lan (Broadband Ready)
USB Ports : 1 x 10 x USB 2.0 Ports
Power Supply : 1 x Corsair Gaming Series 600W PSU - Low Noise
Case Wiring : 1 x Professional Standard
Hard Drive #1 : 1 x 1 TB (1000 GB) SATA-II HDD UDMA 300 7200 32MB
Optical Drive #1 : 1 x Samsung (SH-S223L) DVD +/- RW 24x - Black - Lightscribe (SATA)
Operating System #1 : 1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64 BIT (Genuine DVD & COA Included)

 

[Jin34]

http://www.traynier.com/software/steammover

Fantastic piece of software. I used it for another reason, but it was made for specifically your issue.

This could actually work for a lot of these issues you guys are bringing up in connection to SSD. It sets up junction points so this could very well work for standard apps too.

Wouldn't it just be more convenient to use a symbolic link for your steamapps (where the games are) folder?

 

[nextgeneration]

Not sure if anyone can help out here, but yesterday, I enabled trim for my ssd. I had to set myself up as adming in Windows 7 to do this. However, I think I just screwed up my whole pc now, as I can't do anything on it. For example, if I click on fraps, the user access control pop up apppears and asks me if I want to allow this program to make changes to my pc. Before, I could always click on yes and fraps would run. Now, yes is not selectable anymore, so I can't run it anymore. I tried to do a system restore but I run into the same problem. It asks me if I want to allow the program to make changes to my pc and my only option is to select no.

 

[kamspy]

PC GAF,

what is usually considered an acceptable temperature for the various parts of a computer (ie CPU, GPU, Mobo)? Like what is the general consensus.

I just want to make sure I never go above those levels I guess so it would be nice to have numbers I could remember to stay below

GPUs usually are good up to 90c. Some higher.

CPUs are different. AMDs top out (safely) in the 65c range and Intels can go a bit higher.


Personally, I don't like my GPU hitting 80c or my CPU hitting 60c. I try and program my fans to keep it that way.

 

[Trojita]

I tried to overclock my Q9450 for my first time ever overclocking a processor. I only have the stock cooler so I wasn't sure how well this would go. I set the Clock to 3.0GHz and ran the Prime 95 stress test while I had CPU-Z and HMonitor open. My temps at idle were 50 Degrees C and while running the stress test the temperatures kept climbing, once one of my cores went up to 73 Degrees I shut off Prime 95 just in case. Looks like I'll need to get a new heatsink and cooler.

I reset my fsb settings to stock so that my processor was back to 2.664 GHZ. I ran the stress test again and one of the cores was slowly getting all the way to 76 Degrees Celsius before I shut the test down. Looks like the stock cooler does suck or something else is wrong

 

[Arsenic]

So I posted an issue I've had with my computer not turning on in the 2010 edition of this thread. I used process of elimination and ruled out my PSU, and now I've just ruled out the Mobo being grouded as well as any case problems:

So is this a dead MoBo? It was working fine before I've moved all the components to the new case, and this problems sucks because
1) its not my computer and getting a new mobo + cpu may cause more issues with older components and
2) windows 7 and the contents on the harddrive. it was meant to be a surprise fix for my brother's girlfriend so reinstalling windows (which i may have too with a new cpu, intel 775 to possibly amd to save money) will force a format on the two harddrives.

So what should i do? What next steps should i take and if i do have to get a new mobo and cpu, whats good for budget plus decent performance (every tasking, watching videos, no gaming)

 

[knitoe]

So I posted an issue I've had with my computer not turning on in the 2010 edition of this thread. I used process of elimination and ruled out my PSU, and now I've just ruled out the Mobo being grouded as well as any case problems:

So is this a dead MoBo? It was working fine before I've moved all the components to the new case, and this problems sucks because
1) its not my computer and getting a new mobo + cpu may cause more issues with older components and
2) windows 7 and the contents on the harddrive. it was meant to be a surprise fix for my brother's girlfriend so reinstalling windows (which i may have too with a new cpu, intel 775 to possibly amd to save money) will force a format on the two harddrives.

So what should i do? What next steps should i take and if i do have to get a new mobo and cpu, whats good for budget plus decent performance (every tasking, watching videos, no gaming)

99% sure, it's the MB gone bad, probably cause by static charge while touching it. CPUs don't usually go bad unless you fried it with too much voltage. Look for another MB that supports that CPU. If the price is too high for the old hardware, go new CPU + MB.

 

[Arsenic]

99% sure, it's the MB gone bad, probably cause by static charge while touching it. CPUs don't usually go bad unless you fried it with too much voltage. Look for another MB that supports that CPU. If the price is too high for the old hardware, go new CPU + MB.

I handled that motherboard with care and even had the static discharge wristband on at the time, oh well. and yeah that same motherboard is no longer in production (of course), but I guess I should just get a mobo that supports the chip and save even more money (and headaches)

 

[brain_stew]

evlcookie:
It's simply a big hassle since many games store their savedata on the windows install nowadays, also registry entries and such. I have all my games on a seperate HDD nowadays anyway. It's only for olde stuff.
I'm simply not in the mood making backups of all the bookmarks, inis and cfgs so I can reinstall properly.

@BrainStew:
Hmmm, okay, sounds like a good plan. More for less is always good.
And as for reliability and such, last time I heard of SSDs was that the pagefile with it's huge write output thrashing them in only a few years so I was... cautious. So I guess that's not true anymore but... >.<

Its not, and it never really was anyway. If you care the least amount about reliability then that's a major reason to go with an SSD.

 

[Lambtron]

Maybe you guys can help me out. I have an old Dell machine that I bought about 4 years ago after my last home built machine crapped out. I recently was able to get some cheap RAM and a copy of Windows 7, so it's running okay (Athlon 64, I think 4200+?, 4GB of RAM). I don't really want to do a ton of gaming on it, but I have bought a few games in the Steam sale (The Witcher, FEAR 1 & 2) and I'd like to be able to play them competently. The videocard is a Radeon X1300 so I think I can probably upgrade that pretty easily.

The machine is slimline so I'd need a low profile card. The power supply is only 280 Watts so I don't think I have a ton of options here. Given the limited options I have, what's my best choice? I think that there were some GeForce and Radeon cards that came out a couple years ago that might work. I don't need anything great, like I said, but something that would maybe even let me limp through Crysis would be nice if possible. Any suggestions? My budget is super low, otherwise I'd just build a whole new machine.

 

[Hazaro]

So I finally built a PC gaf! Installing windows as I type this.

Specs:
X4 640 3.0 GHz (Hoping to OC a bit)
Asus M4A78LT-M LE Socket AM3 AMD 780L mATX
4gb Corsair 1333mHz memory
500gb 7200 rpm Samsung Spinpoint
768mb EVGA GTX 460
Hyper 212 Cooler
V4 Thermal Take Case
Internal Wireless N Wifi Card
22x LG DVDRW Drive
OCZ StealthXStealth 600W

Cost me $592 after taxes for the parts at my microcenter and Ill be getting $85 back from rebates so itll be like 507 total.

What should be the first things I do with it?

What should the average temps for this proc and graphics card be at load? Bios said the CPU was a 30C.

Thanks in advance! So excited

Fantastic! Keep GPU below 85C, CPU below 65C (both load).
Take some pictures, play some games!

I need fast answers for this as I know there are some top notch experts here (it seems )

I have this motherboard

What is the best possible CPU I can get as it supports some socket AM3 with it being an AM2/AM2+ board. I am looking at this Phenom x4 945

First off, can I actually go higher than the imposed 95w limit on my mobo? I have updated it to the latest bios which enabled socket AM3 support (on some CPU's). It's becoming increasingly hard to find a good instock 95w part. If I knew that the new bios made it work with 12w CPU's then that would be a big hurdle.

Would I be able to go intel or anything else? I just want the best I can do with the mobo I have. I just bought a 600w PSU as well.

Like I said before, nab a x4 955 if you wanted to extend the life of that computer.

Maybe you guys can help me out. I have an old Dell machine that I bought about 4 years ago after my last home built machine crapped out. I recently was able to get some cheap RAM and a copy of Windows 7, so it's running okay (Athlon 64, I think 4200+?, 4GB of RAM). I don't really want to do a ton of gaming on it, but I have bought a few games in the Steam sale (The Witcher, FEAR 1 & 2) and I'd like to be able to play them competently. The videocard is a Radeon X1300 so I think I can probably upgrade that pretty easily.

It's not really worth the investment you'd be making imo.

 

[Lambtron]

It's not really worth the investment you'd be making imo.

Even like, $75-80? I'm not going to break the bank here, that's for sure. If I can squeeze another year or two out of this machine I'll be ecstatic, and I can then get myself to a more comfortable place to buy something new.

 

[Hazaro]

Even like, $75-80? I'm not going to break the bank here, that's for sure. If I can squeeze another year or two out of this machine I'll be ecstatic, and I can then get myself to a more comfortable place to buy something new.

Download CPU-Z (it is in the OP) and upload your results. (About-> Tools -> Validation) http://valid.canardpc.com/

 

[evlcookie]

Its not, and it never really was anyway. If you care the least amount about reliability then that's a major reason to go with an SSD.

It still somewhat is. I've had my 30GB SSD for i guess 1 year now and it's pretty much closing in on the end of it's life.

Having said that though there are things you can do to really extend the life of the drive and of course better controllers do a better job of wear and tear. Mine with the indilux controller should be doing better than it is but for some reason it isn't. Sandforce and intel controllers should offer around 1 write amplification, the sandforce is meant to be lower than that at around 0.5.

I would still recommend an SSD though for an OS drive, Anything more than that at the moment is a little bit of a waste. Keep an eye on the drives life % and if you notice it has dropped 10% in the first month then simply move your user folder off the drive and onto a mechanical one. That will be your biggest cause of excessive writes, the page file isn't a huge concern. Disable hybernation along with indexing and that should help extend the life even more.

 

[No_Style]

Bought 2 OCZ Vertex 2 60GB SSD for ~$100 each. Installed my bro's and it's nice and speedy. Can't wait for mine to show up!

 

[Hazaro]

It still somewhat is. I've had my 30GB SSD for i guess 1 year now and it's pretty much closing in on the end of it's life.

Having said that though there are things you can do to really extend the life of the drive and of course better controllers do a better job of wear and tear. Mine with the indilux controller should be doing better than it is but for some reason it isn't. Sandforce and intel controllers should offer around 1 write amplification, the sandforce is meant to be lower than that at around 0.5.

I would still recommend an SSD though for an OS drive, Anything more than that at the moment is a little bit of a waste. Keep an eye on the drives life % and if you notice it has dropped 10% in the first month then simply move your user folder off the drive and onto a mechanical one. That will be your biggest cause of excessive writes, the page file isn't a huge concern. Disable hybernation along with indexing and that should help extend the life even more.

I was under the assumption that older (first gen) SSD's had some issues, but the wave of second generation nearly fixed just about everything. Third generations (Coming out Q1 2011) from both Intel and Sandforce will be even better at controlling smart writes and TRIM.