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"I need a New PC!" 2011 Thread of reading the OP. Seriously. [Part 2]

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Hazaro said:
OS and programs. Everything zippy and instant. It's a luxury item.

Also considered one of the best upgrades one can make to an existing computer. Better than most incremental CPU or video card upgrades for the same price.
 
On the vein of SSD's, if you, for example, had a game loaded on it would the main performance gains be much shorter load times? And if you did have, say, an 80GB SSD and then a storage HDD, could you swap games in and out of the SSD from time to time? Like, if I knew I was going to be playing a game for a month, could I move it to the SSD partition (or however it works) and then move it back to the HDD at a later point in time to make room for something else?

Or would that cause too many problems/be impossible?
 

larvi

Member
LordCanti said:
Would you trust them for video cards? I wouldn't know one way on another.

I've got a Zotac 8800 GTS 512 that I bought new over 3 years ago and spent it's first year or so running at 100% power folding until I couldn't afford the electric bill anymore and has been in use in my primary machine until recently when I found a deal on a 5850, but I moved it into my daughters computer which sees daily WoW usage and it's still going strong with never a hiccup. I would definitely buy another card from them.
 
larvi said:
I've got a Zotac 8800 GTS 512 that I bought new over 3 years ago and spent it's first year or so running at 100% power folding until I couldn't afford the electric bill anymore and has been in use in my primary machine until recently when I found a deal on a 5850, but I moved it into my daughters computer which sees daily WoW usage and it's still going strong with never a hiccup. I would definitely buy another card from them.

Hm, glad to hear that it's worked well for you. I really might spring for that 560...after the rebate, it's cheaper than most of the 460's I've seen. (I think it looks really ugly, but my case doesn't have any windows, so now worries there.)
 
Could somebody please tell me about the Radeon HD4670 512 MB??

It is coming with this computer I'm buying. The computer has also a quad core 2.4 ghz processor and 6 gigs of RAM. What kinda of gaming experience can I expect from this thing?Also do you think it's worth trading my 360 + 200 bucks for it?

Any input would be greatly appreciated as i am admittedly quite a noob on the subject.
 

Ryan_

Member
I was wondering if anyone has some user experience with the Corsair Graphite 600T and/or the Antec P183 since I really can't decide which one to pick.

The things I look for the most are good cable management and good airflow (with not too much dust income). Silence is not a must but is always nice.
 
Athletic_Werewolf said:
Could somebody please tell me about the Radeon HD4670 512 MB??

It is coming with this computer I'm buying. The computer has also a quad core 2.4 ghz processor and 6 gigs of RAM. What kinda of gaming experience can I expect from this thing?Also do you think it's worth trading my 360 + 200 bucks for it?

Any input would be greatly appreciated as i am admittedly quite a noob on the subject.

You should be able to play pretty much every modern game out there with that. There should only be a few exceptions like the Witcher 2. It also depends on what res you're going to be playing at and all. I'd say its a fair enough trade since the build is probably worth something like 300-400.
 

jarosh

Member
as promised, i finally took pictures of my new finished build and how i've integrated it into my setup. i eventually went with a different solution than i had planned but i managed to get everything into the existing shelf. we spent 4 - 5 hours yesterday re-arranging stuff and doing some serious cable management with ikea cable tubes. there were a LOT of cables (30? 40?) and they were a mess. it is much, much cleaner now.



and here she is, what a beauty:

bm2.jpg


and some more pics of the rest of the setup:

bm4.jpg


bm3.jpg


bm4b.jpg


bm5.jpg



this is the bedroom setup. strictly for gaming. i have most of my retro systems in a separate room with a crt. and movies we generally watch in the living room on a big projection screen.


edit:

here's the full specs:

CASE: Silverstone HTPC GD05 Black
CPU: i5 2500k
CPU COOLER: Scythe Big Shuriken
MOBO: Asus P8P67-M PRO (B3)
SSD: Intel SSD 510 Series 120GB
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB
OPTICAL: Asus DRW-24B3LT
RAM: Kingston HyperX, 8 GB (2x4GB), DDR3-1600
PSU: Seasonic X-560
GPU: an "older" GTX-260, 896 MB (still good enough @ 720p, which is all i need atm), will be replaced somewhere down the line
 

goodfella

Member
jarosh, one day, perhaps I will have a setup as glorious as that...

Anyway, does anybody experience problems with shadows being low rez and blocky?

I noticed this first play Napoleon: Total War and assumed it was because it is a fairly old game and I have the most up to date drivers for my GTX 560ti. However, it has appeared in assassins creed brotherhood also, with the highest shadow settings....

Its like the highest shadow setting is also the lowest?
 

Ceebs

Member
Jarosh, That looks amazing. The only thing I could even add would be to see if you can swap the disc drive panel for a blank one.


Now on to what I need some help with. I need a new monitor badly. I have had this 19 inch 1440X900 Samsung for over 5 years now and it's time for an upgrade. (The bleeding is getting really bad along the edges)

What I want: 1080p and 23-24 inches, and I have about 300 bucks to spend. I have seen some IPS monitors in that price range, but are the cheap IPS panels in that price range still panels better than the higher tier TNs?

I really do not want to spend more than 300, otherwise I would just grab that 24" Dell IPS. Any suggestions for me?
 

ShaunBRS

Member
jazzabrandy said:
Looking good and if i were you id get the GTX570.
Hazaro said:
Looks good to me. 560Ti is the pricing sweetspot. 570 a touch more, 580 for crazies.
If you find the 560Ti not adequate there should be new GPU launch about when BF3 launches.
Cheers guys. Ended up going for the 570.
 

woober

Member
Ceebs said:
Jarosh, That looks amazing. The only thing I could even add would be to see if you can swap the disc drive panel for a blank one.


Now on to what I need some help with. I need a new monitor badly. I have had this 19 inch 1440X900 Samsung for over 5 years now and it's time for an upgrade. (The bleeding is getting really bad along the edges)

What I want: 1080p and 23-24 inches, and I have about 300 bucks to spend. I have seen some IPS monitors in that price range, but are the cheap IPS panels in that price range still panels better than the higher tier TNs?

I really do not want to spend more than 300, otherwise I would just grab that 24" Dell IPS. Any suggestions for me?

The 23 inch Dell IPS (U2311H) : p.

I have both 23 and 24 inch Dell IPS and I'd say the U2311H is pretty damn awesome. See if you can get it around $250 on ebay or so.
 

scogoth

Member
goodfella said:
jarosh, one day, perhaps I will have a setup as glorious as that...

Anyway, does anybody experience problems with shadows being low rez and blocky?

I noticed this first play Napoleon: Total War and assumed it was because it is a fairly old game and I have the most up to date drivers for my GTX 560ti. However, it has appeared in assassins creed brotherhood also, with the highest shadow settings....

Its like the highest shadow setting is also the lowest?

Thats the game. I'm not sure if transparency AA will affect shadows as well but you can give it a try. Go into the nvidia control panel and you can override the transparency aa on a per game basis. Transparency is SSAO only so its a big performance hit.


Darklord said:
Is installing a video card hard? I've never done it before but I'll be doing it for my 570. Any tips or is it fairly simple?

Its probably the easiest thing to install. Just pop it into a PCIe 16x slot and plug the power in.
 

Ceebs

Member
woober said:
The 23 inch Dell IPS (U2311H) : p.

I have both 23 and 24 inch Dell IPS and I'd say the U2311H is pretty damn awesome. See if you can get it around $250 on ebay or so.
Looks like a winner. Is this what the current 24" replaced?
 

Grinchy

Banned
jarosh said:
as promised, i finally took pictures of my new finished build and how i've integrated it into my setup. i eventually went with a different solution than i had planned but i managed to get everything into the existing shelf. we spent 4 - 5 hours yesterday re-arranging stuff and doing some serious cable management with ikea cable tubes. there were a LOT of cables (30? 40?) and they were a mess. it is much, much cleaner now
Fucking awesome. Nice work there.

That makes me really want to buy a new case... I use my PC as a HTPC a lot anyway.
 
Maybe I overlooked it but are there any benchmarks for the damn capable pc in th OP? I'm interested in turning my old clunker into an htpc and upgrading to something that can play some of my steam games at more than 10 fps but I haven't built a pc since the 6800gt/Doom 3 days.
 

scogoth

Member
Freedom = $1.05 said:
Maybe I overlooked it but are there any benchmarks for the damn capable pc in th OP? I'm interested in turning my old clunker into an htpc and upgrading to something that can play some of my steam games at more than 10 fps but I haven't built a pc since the 6800gt/Doom 3 days.

It will play anything at minimum 30fps at 1080p on high settings. The limiting part of the build is the 460 which is a damn good GPU so look up benchmarks for the 460 and that will give you a good idea of what its capable of


Darklord said:
Good. :)

Do I need to uninstall all old drivers first?

Technically not necessary but a good thing to do anyways.
 
scogoth said:
It will play anything at minimum 30fps at 1080p on high settings. The limiting part of the build is the 460 which is a damn good GPU so look up benchmarks for the 460 and that will give you a good idea of what its capable of




Technically not necessary but a good thing to do anyways.
So if I were to play games @ 720p I should expect that such a system would age well for me? I'm hooking it up to an old HDTV I have lying around as I can't afford a fancy screen if I splurge on a pc.
 

LordCanti

Member
jarosh said:
as promised, i finally took pictures of my new finished build and how i've integrated it into my setup. i eventually went with a different solution than i had planned but i managed to get everything into the existing shelf. we spent 4 - 5 hours yesterday re-arranging stuff and doing some serious cable management with ikea cable tubes. there were a LOT of cables (30? 40?) and they were a mess. it is much, much cleaner now.



and here she is, what a beauty:

bm2.jpg


this is the bedroom setup. strictly for gaming. i have most of my retro systems in a separate room with a crt. and movies we generally watch in the living room on a big projection screen.


That case looks amazing. Really classy in a non-PC sort of way. People wouldn't even know it was a PC unless they knew what they were looking at. My only gripe is that there isn't a door for the DVD drive (so that the front is completely seamless) but that is so minor. If I had to build an HTPC, I'd definitely pick that case up.
 

woober

Member
Ceebs said:
Looks like a winner. Is this what the current 24" replaced?

I'm currently using both as a dual screen setup. The screen quality is practically identical. I can take screenshots for you later on/whenever I'm free if you want.
 
Jarosh that setup looks fantastic. I don't know how well I'd be able to play on it though since for PC stuff I'm usually sitting with my face no more than 2 feet from a 24" monitor. How large is that TV?
 

Wubby

Member
Darklord said:
Is installing a video card hard? I've never done it before but I'll be doing it for my 570. Any tips or is it fairly simple?


For the 570 also make sure your PSU is going to be able to handle it. I don't know what PSU you are running but for the 570 you need a 550-watt power supply with a minimum of 38 amps on the +12 volt rail.
 
So I'll be getting a new 2500k soon that I want to OC to 4.5 if possible. I ordered a CM Hyper TX3 cooler, but I'm having some buyer's remorse about not getting the Hyper 212 instead. My main reasoning was size, but now I have fears about the TX3 being able to maintain good temps with that overclock. I know a lot of people here love the 212, but does anyone have any experience with the TX3? I'm pretty sure I can fit the 212 in, I'll just have to remove a side fan to do it, though I suppose that would be worth it overall.
 

ss_lemonade

Member
I'm currently negotiating with someone who's selling his used msi 6970. Still waiting for him to reply but he's willing to swap with an older GPU + cash. Right now, he's selling his 6970 for around $337 (P14,500 here in the philippines). I'm planning on swapping my gtx 275 for it, less $100. Good deal? Here's the rest of my specs:

2500k @ 4.5
4gb ddr3 ripjaws
hec cougar 700w modular

If its a good deal, will my powersupply be up to the task?
 
jarosh said:
as promised, i finally took pictures of my new finished build and how i've integrated it into my setup. i eventually went with a different solution than i had planned but i managed to get everything into the existing shelf. we spent 4 - 5 hours yesterday re-arranging stuff and doing some serious cable management with ikea cable tubes. there were a LOT of cables (30? 40?) and they were a mess. it is much, much cleaner now.



and here she is, what a beauty:

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f95/jarosh-gaf/bm2.jpg[/IM]

and some more pics of the rest of the setup:

[IMG]http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f95/jarosh-gaf/bm4.jpg[/IG]

[IMG]http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f95/jarosh-gaf/bm3.jpg[/IG]

[IMG]http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f95/jarosh-gaf/bm4b.jpg[/IG]

[IMG]http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f95/jarosh-gaf/bm5.jpg[/IG]


this is the bedroom setup. strictly for gaming. i have most of my retro systems in a separate room with a crt. and movies we generally watch in the living room on a big projection screen.[/QUOTE]
What's that case?
 

RS4-

Member
Well this sucks, drove by microcenter, didn't get to do some shopping. Was going to buy a 23" LG IPS LED monitor.
 

tenz0r

Member
Can anyone recommend me a good monitor? I am looking for at least a 24' inch one with 2ms. I was looking at the ASUS ones, but wanted to get some feedback here first.

Also should I upgrade my current setup? (see below) It's a 2 year old setup (with the exception of the graphics card). I recently upgraded my video card to a GeForce 560 Ti (Crysis Maximum Edition) with a free copy of Crysis 2. My local Fry's Electronics had it for $199.99 after $40.00 rebate, and I was planning on buying Crysis 2 (MSRP $59.99). This seemed like a good deal so I jumped on it right away. Afterwards, I felt the urge to upgrade everything else, but wondered if it's good enough for now, and I should just wait.

CPU: Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor BX80605I5750

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD3R LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard

RAM: CORSAIR DOMINATOR 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)

Power Supply: CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V v2.2 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive

If anything, I want to get an SSD drive to install my OS, and my favorite games and programs.
 

Ceebs

Member
woober said:
I'm currently using both as a dual screen setup. The screen quality is practically identical. I can take screenshots for you later on/whenever I'm free if you want.
If you do not mind whenever you get a chance that would be great. I am pretty much sold on it after a bit of research but a little extra does not hurt.
 

Kalnos

Banned
Kadey said:
How hard is it to change processors? Can I just take the old one out and insert the new one and bam?!

I don't think there should be any problem, but make sure that it works with your motherboard before buying obviously (socket, etc). If you get a new motherboard then you will probably have to fresh install your OS.
 

gatti-man

Member
Darklord said:
Is installing a video card hard? I've never done it before but I'll be doing it for my 570. Any tips or is it fairly simple?
Incredibly simple. I would make sure the cards dimensions will fit in your case and that you have the proper connections prior to purchase.
 
Kadey said:
How hard is it to change processors? Can I just take the old one out and insert the new one and bam?!
Be superduper careful to not force the issue when installing a new CPU. The pins tend to bend with little effort. Its led to some stressful installs for me, hah.
 

deadnoob

Member
I have a question. I just built my first ever PC after being a console/mac guy for so long (WOO!) and was wondering about SLI. I have a 560ti card and if I want to use SLI in the future, do I need the EXACT same card, ei same manufacturer and model number? I know I'll need a 560ti, but I wasn't sure if it needs to be the same model.
 

scogoth

Member
Kadey said:
How hard is it to change processors? Can I just take the old one out and insert the new one and bam?!

The CPUs is the hardest part to change in a regular PC, but its not that difficult. As mentioned before,
1) Make sure you have the right CPU, look it up in on Intel or AMDs site to get the socket type
2) Make sure you have the necessary parts (Thermal Paste, Isopropyl Alcohol or thermal paste cleaner, qtips, micro fibre cloth or new coffee filters)
3) Think about an after market cooler if you want to OC or quieter operation
4) Research how to apply thermal paste if you've never done it before, generally clean new CPU well, apply a small amount of thermal past in the middle, secure heatsink

Didn't see in the OP if we have a CPU installation guide but we really should.


deadnoob said:
I have a question. I just built my first ever PC after being a console/mac guy for so long (WOO!) and was wondering about SLI. I have a 560ti card and if I want to use SLI in the future, do I need the EXACT same card, ei same manufacturer and model number? I know I'll need a 560ti, but I wasn't sure if it needs to be the same model.

No you don't need the exact same model. Make sure they have the same frequency and RAM though. If you want to OC its best to get the same model (and if you can same batch) because they will OC similarly.
 

ss_lemonade

Member
I'm currently negotiating with someone who's selling his used msi 6970. Still waiting for him to reply but he's willing to swap with an older GPU + cash. Right now, he's selling his 6970 for around $337 (P14,500 here in the philippines). I'm planning on swapping my gtx 275 for it, less $100. Good deal? Here's the rest of my specs:

2500k @ 4.5
4gb ddr3 ripjaws
hec cougar 700w modular

If its a good deal, will my powersupply be up to the task?

Oh well, the person I was dealing with didn't agree to swapping, but we did come to a agreement and I'll be buying the GPU from him most probably by tomorrow. How will the 6970 fare with witcher 2 and the dx11 update for Crysis 2 @ 1920x1080 w/ the rest of my specs (2 games I'm playing right now)?
 

scogoth

Member
georaldc said:
Oh well, the person I was dealing with didn't agree to swapping, but we did come to a agreement and I'll be buying the GPU from him most probably by tomorrow. How will the 6970 fare with witcher 2 and the dx11 update for Crysis 2 @ 1920x1080 w/ the rest of my specs (2 games I'm playing right now)?

Um can't get any better... thats about top of the line
 

DR3AM

Member
how much would you guys pay for this:

Intel Quad core I7 870-----4cores 8 threads!!
Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3 motherboard --USB 3.0--SATA 600
BFG tec GeForce GTX 260 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 video card.
4gigs Patriot Viper II Sector 5 PC3 16000 2000MHz Memory
CORSAIR Gaming Series GS800 800W ATX12V v2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC High Performance Power Supply
Antec Twelve Hundred V3 Black Steel ATX Full Tower Unbeatable Gaming Case
no hard drive!
ASUS 24x DVD burner.

saw in on craigslist, guy wants $600. good deal?
 
Quick question.

I'm currently running this set up and it's two years old:

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3

ASUS Crosshair III Formula AM3 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard

6 gigs Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)

ASUS ENGTX480/2DI/1536MD5 GeForce GTX 480 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit
GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

CORSAIR Professional Series Gold AX850 (CMPSU-850AX) 850W ATX12V v2.31 / EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

Couple western digital cavier black drives, and a DVD burner.

Running Windows 7 Ultimate.

Oh, and I also have a Xigma Tech Dark Knight CPU cooler on my chip. Thing is HUGE.

Basically, my question is in regards to my ram. Do I need any more? I have 6 gigs, and that seems plenty since the only thing the computer is used for currently is playing wow for me and the wifey, internet browsing, music, forums, torrents and some stuff on steam. I doubt I'd get any increase in performance but figured this would be the place to check. I'm really kicking around the idea of getting into emulation including using the dolphin emulator I saw on here.

Should I overclock? How would I go about doing that?

Any thoughts would be nice. Thanks.
 
DR3AM said:
how much would you guys pay for this:

Intel Quad core I7 870-----4cores 8 threads!! $289
Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3 motherboard --USB 3.0--SATA 600 $100
BFG tec GeForce GTX 260 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 video card. $100
4gigs Patriot Viper II Sector 5 PC3 16000 2000MHz Memory $60
CORSAIR Gaming Series GS800 800W ATX12V v2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC High Performance Power Supply $120
Antec Twelve Hundred V3 Black Steel ATX Full Tower Unbeatable Gaming Case $150
no hard drive! $0
ASUS 24x DVD burner. $20

saw in on craigslist, guy wants $600. good deal?

Based on current NewEgg prices and a random Google search for the motherboard, I think those components would come out to ~$840 brand new. Keep in mind, you'd need to spend another $40 minimum for a hard drive and if you need an operating system, mouse, keyboard, speakers, etc that'll add more onto that.

Not an awful deal, but I'm not sure it's a great deal either in my opinion.
 

DR3AM

Member
i already have a hdd, kb/m, speakers and lcd. i would just need to buy the os.

if i could get it for $500 would it be a good deal? will it able to handle bf3?
 
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