Computer purchasing advice
 

After my girlfriend dropped my laptop and I had to do some percussive maintenance to get the fan running again, I decided it's time to finally get a new computer. Ideally I'd like a laptop for portability, but the price is too damn high. So I've decided on finally putting together a desktop.

I've had a Cooler Master HAF932 for about two years now, without actually putting anything inside of it(save dust). So the case is settled, but I don't know what else to get. I'm looking at a budget of about $600(including monitor) although could probably go up a tad more depending on how much tax money I have left over after buying essentials. I already have speakers, a mouse and a keyboard. If push comes to shove I might be able to buy a screen off a friend for cheap.

Ideally I'd like something with 2.0ghz or higher 4 core processor, with 8 gigs of ram, DVD+RW drive, 1TB HDD, decent graphics card, and an HDMI port.

I need recommendations for:
CPU+ Heat sink
GPU
RAM
Sound Card
Network Card
Mother Board
PSU
Monitor
HDD
DVD drive

So basically everything.

As for cooling, the case comes with several fans. I'll have to check tomorrow exactly how many actually came with mine.

Percussive maintenance - brilliant :up:

I am a bit too lazy to look into prices myself at the moment, but you can get a good rough idea here
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...uter,3364.html

Thanks for the article.


I made a hypothetical Intel wishlist to get a general idea on price.
It has:
LG 24X DVD Burner - Bare Drive Black SATA Model GH24NS95

Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Acer G205HVbd Black 20" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor

EVGA 01G-P4-2650-KR GeForce GTX 650 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card

COOLER MASTER eXtreme Power Plus RS500-PCARD3-US 500W ATX12V v2.3 Power Supply

Kingston HyperX XMP Blu Red Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600

ASUS P8B75-V LGA 1155 Intel B75 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Intel Core i5-3350P Ivy Bridge 3.1GHz (3.3GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 69W Quad-Core

For a total of $682.92.

Any thoughts or comments?

Also, Is it better to get 4x2GB or 2x4GB's for ram? The Mobo I selected has 4 ram slots.

I prefer only using 2 RAM modules, less strain on the memory controller but nowadays it's a pointless thing. No practical difference. As long as the modules match it's all good.


Bump the card to a x60. Twice the price for more then twice the performance.

It's already $82 over the budget I set, If I bump to a x60 it'll push it farther. Plus I still need to buy a table to put it on and a chair. :haha:

Well, no offense, but you're skimping on the 1 thing that makes it a gaming system.

All the RAM and CPU cores in the world won't change the fact a 650 is a low-budget card. You can halve the RAM and get a fast dual-core without sacrificing gaming performance in most cases; it's that card that defines performance.

I don't see how that is offensive. :O:


I've put together a hypothetical AMD machine too, but have come into a road block, apparently AMD mobo's only support PCIe 2.

I could put a Geforce 560 in there, which according this site:
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html
Is in between the 650 and 660.

The CPU I have chosen now is 3,000 "marks" stronger than the i5, and $50 cheaper. If I could find something closer to the i5 I selected for a lot cheaper, I could get a better card. But I have to ask if getting an AMD is worth it. The fact it only supports PCIe 2 seems like a major draw back.

In reality, I only want something to play a couple indie games(that aren't too demanding) CoH2, RTW2 and maybe Skyrim. I'll also probably upgrade the system in a year to two years. Upgrading is a lot easier once you have some of the components.

Got a 660 on PCI-e 2 here, no bottlenecks that I'm aware off. PCI-e 3 shouldn't even factor into your decision at this point.


Er, AMD is tricky at the moment. For games, as far as I know, it's single-threaded performance that counts. And that's exactly what the latest FX line-up (Bulldozer was terrible, Piledriver improves a bit) are not particularly good at. That said, most games aren't particularly CPU-intensive. You will definitely run into a CPU bottleneck when you have a GTX 680 or such, but I can't say whether or not that's also the case with a 560/660.


I just... I've already moved from a 460 to 660. The 460 was alright but not spectacular due to trouble with the new manufacturing process (it had part of its core locked and was underclocked). That "old" 460 outperforms a 650 by a fair margin.

I don't think you would be too impressed by the performance on that thing. It'll run Skyrim all right, CoH2 medium prolly but with RTW2 you'll already be cranking it most of the way down. It has no legs.

Ah, apparently PCIe 3.0 cards do work in PCIe 2 slots. Who would've thought. I was looking at the FX-6300 Vishera 3.5ghz Six Core.

This whole thing is too damn complicated. :shifty:

The prices i see are pretty wild.
But i can not relate, since i am in Yurep.

It seems to be a well balanced mid to upper PC to me - and tailored to your needs.

looked over the list, and also thought The G-Card could be a better one..

Your choices are wise so far.

What is your budget?

I have a stupidly overpowered configuration here: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=198851

Spike, if you have a Tiger Direct store near you head ove there. The guys on the floor will give you an hand on putting together a really good desktop.

I have the same case as you and it's the best I've ever bought.... even better than the Thermaltake XaserIII I bought a few years ago.

Try the AMD Phenom II, they are much more powerfull than an i5, and they are just as effective as a. I7.
Like everything intel makes, they charge way to much for it.
My Phenom II x6 3.4 ghz plays games like sh5 without breaking a sweat (not literally)
And you can pick one up for around 100-250 Australian dollars.

Sandy or Ivy Bridge i5 absolutely crushes Phenom II. Generally that won't make much difference since most games are limited by the GPU, but where the CPU is the bottleneck it isn't even a contest.