Computer Build & Upgrade MegaThead

[LightsabeR]

Personally I think that considering the relatively low price of both the HD6850 and the 460 2GB (the former being a bit cheaper), I'd say it doesn't really matter which one you get. I'd go with the HD6850, since it is like ~$40 cheaper.

I mean, they are both great cards and I'm sure will be able to run games that come out in the next couple of years with ease. If the time comes and you feel the need to upgrade, just drop another $160 on a card that's then the equivalent of what the HD6850 is now, and you'll be set for a few more years.

You can then probably even sell the HD6850 for like ~$80 and get some money back.


Also, I can't stop myself from mentioning this. I hate you Americans for having such cheap hardware prices. For example the XFX HD6850 costs $170 in the US, but here I gotta pay

 

[Colt .45 killer]

All the pricing is in CDN right now, however due to the failing American dollar its sometimes possible to find hardware at par or cheaper here. ( Not all that common )

 

[Floyd]

Here are a few links to guru3d with VIDEO CARD reviews and charts out the wazoo:

Reviews: [URL]http://www.guru3d.com/category/Videocards/[/URL]

Charts: [URL]http://www.guru3d.com/category/Videocards/[/URL]

Review of the 560 Ti card I just bought. It has some explanaination as to what differentiates it from the 460: [URL]http://www.guru3d.com/article/msi-geforce-gtx-560-ti-hawk-review/[/URL]


I don't think there is anything wrong at all with the ATI 68xxx cards. GREAT value for the money. I put a 6850 in my son's computer last fall doing a budget build. Put in an Intel i5 (Sandy Bridge was not out yet) and that 6850. It games wonderfully. I'm just more familiar with nVidia and felt more comfortable putting it in my machine.

 

[Floyd]

95% of my stuff came in yesterday. 2 days standard shipping. Some from New Egg, some from Amazon. Both need to tighten up on their packaging, though. (Note to self: never order the PSU and the MB on the same order from the same company. I opened the box and the PSU box is sitting ontop of the MB box and both are loosely held in place with paper).

I put everything but the DVD in the case last night. Didn't have time to do anything tonight. I hope to have it up and running tommorrow.

The case is a MONSTER!. [URL="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119160&nm_mc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel&cm_mmc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel-_-Content-_-text"][URL="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119160&nm_mc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel&cm_mmc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel-_-Content-_-text"][URL="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119160&nm_mc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel&cm_mmc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel-_-Content-_-text"][URL="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119160&nm_mc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel&cm_mmc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel-_-Content-_-text"][URL]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119160&nm_mc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel&cm_mmc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel-_-Content-_-text[/URL][/URL][/URL][/URL][/URL]-_-

I thought my previous one was big, but this one is huge!. I turned it on and the thing is whisper quiet! Its very customizable. ie you can put the PSU on the bottom or the top., there are multiple holes for different fan sizes on all the fans locations, its geared toward water cooling, has excellent cable management.

Other than a bit pricey, there are two things that I don't like so far.
#1) Its got an innovative quick connect mechanism for holding in the PCI cards. However, they are made of plastic and I worry about the wieght of a big videocard. I had to trim them a little to get them to work with the MSI video card. No biggie, there is still the option to screw them into place.

#2)The motherboard tray's cutout is apparently geared more toward AMD than Intel. When I opt to install a beefier cooling option, I may still have to pull the motherboard out of the case.

There are sooo many cases on the market today! And its really hard to tell how well one will fit your needs without physically looking at them. There are youtubes around, so I'd advise searching for one that features a case you might be interested in.

 

[LightsabeR]

Heh... 3x230 fans. Who needs water cooling, amirite?

My system is sitting in the tiny Antec 300. I really like it tho. With 5 TriCool fans running at the lowest speed setting, it keeps my system nice and cool. Tho I will have to get a new case if I decide to get a larger GPU.

 

[Colt .45 killer]

Large cases are one of those underestimated things.

I'm getting a full sized case for my next upgrade.

Thanks for posting all of that floyd!

 

[Mahnsikir]

Ordered my stuff today, so fingers crossed it'll be waiting for me on Monday when I get in, though the weekend isnt the best use of it, got to love free next day courier delivery. May even get it tomorrow, pretty unlikely but its happened before.

Not built up a PC from motherboard up in about 8 years, just slotting in RAM/GPUs and connecting hard drives etc, so that will be a fun Monday evening. Thankfully since I'm reusing my case and all the existing cabling is pretty tidy it hopefully wont take to long.

E: and crap just remembered I meant to order an extra case fan, since I spotted one had stopped working the other day, only for the upper (empty) HD bay and doesn't really effect air flow for the rest of the case so I can get by for now at least.

 

[Colt .45 killer]

... re use all cabling eh? have fun connecting that ide cable to your sata 3 drives

 

[Ralfst3r]

Recently upgraded my graphics card to a GTX570. I have an old Q6600 with 4GB DDR2. I thought it would run fine, and it's decent, but I have the feeling the CPU still bottlenecks liek crazy. So I'm thinking about getting an I7 with some DDR3 memory. And a new motherboard, obviously. Any suggestions?

 

[Colt .45 killer]

Recently upgraded my graphics card to a GTX570. I have an old Q6600 with 4GB DDR2. I thought it would run fine, and it's decent, but I have the feeling the CPU still bottlenecks liek crazy. So I'm thinking about getting an I7 with some DDR3 memory. And a new motherboard, obviously. Any suggestions?

Depending on your current mobo you could try overclocking your Q6600 first to see if that aleviates the problem. You should easily be able to get to 3.4ghz.

My oc is currently 1.3875Vcore 370 FSB x 9 mult. This has brought my cpu on a passmark test from ~ 3380 to ~ 4500.

If your going i7 there's some stuff in there about i7's to read over / select. Or you can wait another two ish months and see how the next series of intel CPU's is. ( Ivy bridge ) as that brings in intels 3d transistor technology. (im going to have to make another edit to mention that).

 

[Mahnsikir]

... re use all cabling eh? have fun connecting that ide cable to your sata 3 drives

Wot, no ribbon cables?

 

[Colt .45 killer]

Wot, no ribbon cables?

Just sold off my 386 for ~100$ to some guy in the states about two years ago....

 

[Mahnsikir]

Well that went smoother than expected, no real hassle.

Only small problem was that I found the rubber feet on my older (better) CPU cooler were all warped out of shape from old age so wouldnt fit properly so I had to just use the stock i5 cooler for now, which is perfectly fine for stock clocks. Just have to see what I can do to fix the old feet or if not get a new one next time I order stuff.

Probably go with a new quieter one though as I never realised how noisy my old set up, this stock fan and the ones on my 560ti (not that I've stressed it yet) are so silent compared to my old cpu cooler and 4870.

Any recommendations for a quiet but good cpu cooler?

 

[Colt .45 killer]

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?minorcatid=1023&subminorcatid=996

List of coolers for that socket, I've had good luck with thermalright.

http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=53131&vpn=Venomous%20X-%20RT&manufacture=Thermalright

thats the same one as I have on my q6600, lowered my temps a lot. You can also mount the fan of your choice, I've got a 4870x2, so I bought a noisy as hell fan because it dident matter


edit:
I thought mine was big
http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=60009&vpn=SCSO-1000&manufacture=Scythe
http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=47090&vpn=NH-D14&manufacture=Noctua

edit again, I'd advise doing some google searching before you settle for anything in particular, for example the scythe is supposed to do better in cases with meshed sides or openings there for fans...

 

[Colt .45 killer]

chatting on ts yerterday & some one mentioned liquid cooling which I'd always thought to be more expensive. / a pain to set up

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835209049

I found a q6600 OC using that exact cooler, idles 3-4 colder, under load @ similar voltage was ~10-14 cooler per core ( celcius ). Not bad for the same price & pre packed liquid cooler...

 

[PermenentMarker]

Here is some part advice for new builds.

Here is some part advice for new builds.

My rig is older (similar) and still standing strong...
Here is what I recommend for new builds under budget.

Athlon X3 455 3.3Ghz - 80$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103911
OR
Phenom II X4 955 - 119$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808

You can save more by an Athlon X3 around 3.2Ghz for around 75$ to Athlon X4's in the 100$ range.
The phenom is the best bang for your buck.


Gigabyte AM3+ Motherboard - 105$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128490

I recommend spending a tiny bit extra on the later chipset for future upgrade possibilities


4gigs ram DDR3 - 1600 Kingston - 37$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104223

Can't go wrong with this



500Gig Western Digital Black - 60$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136795


Sata DVD Writter - 20$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106289


Any Standard MATX Case or Medium tower case is about 25 to 50$

600W Thermaltake PSU 75$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153114

Many good brands out there, everyone have their personal preference.
I have only had good experiences with Thermaltake.



Videocard

Radeon 5670... 65$ and this card runs almost everything with very fair settings.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102930
Best bang for buck...

If you can spend more, see lower.


Also recommend the more expensive , 4850, 4870, 5750, 5770, 5830... The 6XXX are about the same, one generation up. Keep in minde the 6850 and 6870 are less expensive then the 5850 and 5870 FOR A REASON. They aren't as fast. (not sure what AMD/ATI was thinking)
Midrange 6670 is the same as a 5670 for example.

A Geforce GTS450, 550Ti and better will kick ***.


So, a new pc that will handle gaming quite well and can easily be upgraded to a faster CPU in the future...

At the cheapest with a Tri-Core 3.3Ghz and a Radeon 5670
You are looking at around 475$

It will run all games at medium to high settings and it will look amazing.

If you add about 100$ - 150$ so lets say Phenom II 955 + a Radeon 6770 or 6850/70
You can crank up everything without too much worries.



If you have 1000$ to spend on a machine, go for an Intel Sandy Bridge I5-2500
It's the king of processing atm.

 

[Flogger23m]

Personally I'd wait until AMD's new cards come out. If anything it should push the price lower on their current cards. The HD 6950 2GB is great, but costs a bit much ($260-270 before tax/shipping for me).

 

[REZ]

Okay, I have to ask.. who can get/find the cheapest, fully legal, Windows 7 64-bit Pro?


edit - Here's the thing. You can buy the OEM version of 64-bit Pro for like 115 bucks but it only installs the 64-bit version. I believe the retail version of Win 7 Pro has both 32-bit and 64-bit.. but it's much more expensive. I would imagine having only the 64-bit version installed could create some problems if certain drivers don't exist for 64-bit.. maybe it's better to go retail version?

 

[Nezzer]

- Intel Core i7-870 (2.93 GHz, 8 MB cache)
- Motherboard INTEL DP55WB DDR3
- SSD 64 GB SATA 2 Kingston V100
- HD 2 TB SATA 2
- RAM 16 GB DDR3 1333 MHz Kingston
- No OS
- No monitor

US$2.293

Worth it?

 

[Ender]

Okay, I have to ask.. who can get/find the cheapest, fully legal, Windows 7 64-bit Pro?


edit - Here's the thing. You can buy the OEM version of 64-bit Pro for like 115 bucks but it only installs the 64-bit version. I believe the retail version of Win 7 Pro has both 32-bit and 64-bit.. but it's much more expensive. I would imagine having only the 64-bit version installed could create some problems if certain drivers don't exist for 64-bit.. maybe it's better to go retail version?

You either install the 64 or 32bit. I would just get the OEM 64. I have been using 64bit for almost 3 years(vista then 7) and haven't had any issues. The only thing i ran into that didn't work was a wireless card, but that was 8 years old. Really don't see a reason to run 32bit anymore.