Build me a computer for $1250 (look inside for more info)

AirForceElite

Senior member
Nov 8, 2004
268
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0
Hey guys. The time has come again.
And this time, it will not be an upgrade. It will be totally new PC.

There is good news and bad news.
The good news is that I know how to build a computer, so it means I do not need to buy pre-build crappy computer, but rather built my own.

The bad news is that last time I build a comp was 2.5 years ago which means I am totally clueless about current PC technology.
Back then when I was building my computer, AMD 64 processor was "the ******".

I am not a total newb with current technology (for example, I have been following on technology such as DirectX10, Vista, Quad Cores...and such) but I still do not know good combination of hardware.

With that in mind, here are some things:
- It has to be around $1300 Canadian ($1135 USD for you folks down the border)
- I can not buy from Newegg because Newegg does not deliver to Canada
- I need it to run latest games, at highest resolution, at max settings (you get the idea...I want games to look nice)
- I do not need a monitor because I bought 20.1" Widescreen LCD 1 day ago
- I do not need enormous Hard Drive space (150GB is more than enough for me)
- I want it to have a fast hard drive for fast game and Windows load times
- I need 2GB RAM of whatever the current speed is
- I need to use canadian websites to order
- I do not need some kind of super duper audio card. I have been using on-board Sound for 2.5 years and think it was fine.
- I would rather not OC anything. I am not a fan of gaining 2 FPS in games at a cost of blowing up
- Mouse, Keyboard, Speakers do not have to be ordered from online store because i would rather buy them from store on boxing day and save some cash.


Questions/Controversies I debated with myself:
- To raid or not raid (How much of performance would Raid 0 gain over regular single HDD?)
- IDE vs eIDE vs SATA, vs SCSI: What's the difference?
- Assuming I buy DirectX10 video card now...how much time before we see most games being made on it? The reason why I am asking this is because when I was building this comp, I was told that 64 bit processor is awesome. So I got myself AMD 64 3200+...Well, I still have't seen a single software, that took advantage of 64-bit processor...so why did I even bother wasting money on 64bit, when i could have gotten same thing, 32 bit, and save money. So if i get DX10 card, will it be the same thing that happened to my AMD 64 bit processor?
 

humanure

Senior member
Dec 28, 2005
441
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ok, a quick run through

motherboard
CPU
RAM
HDD
video card
DVD

Total=@1039, that will leave about $260cdn for windows and a case/psu. looks like xp home is about $100, antec sonata is $120, something like that. I only checked this site, don't know how their prices compare to other places.
 

AirForceElite

Senior member
Nov 8, 2004
268
0
0
Quick note guys. Before i decide to finalize this, can somebody answer the questions, regarding RAID and type of hard drives

IDE vs eIDE vs SATA vs SATA2 vs SCSI

How much of increase does RAID offer? In windows loading time/map loading times and such.

this way, i will for sure know what HDD to buy.



and about RAM:
is MHz really make difference?
For example, 533MHz vs 667MHz vs 800MHz. Is it something to go crazy over?
 

GuitarDaddy

Lifer
Nov 9, 2004
11,465
1
0
Regarding the HDD, raid0 will load large game maps a little faster and windows a couple of seconds faster but really not worth it IMO for the extra cost. A single fast drive would be your best bet. The new seagate 7200.10 (perpendicular recording) drives or a 150gb raptor if you want to spend 2x the money for a 2-5% increase

If you are really dead set against overclocking :( (conroes are meant to be overclocked IMO). I would suggest a cheaper board in the US$100 range and the cheapest DDR533 ram you can find and spend more on the CPU like a E6600 or E6700 which ever will fit your budget. Ram speed doesn't effect performance very much at all, and the only reason to buy highspeed ram is for overclocking with a P965 chipset which can't run ram async.

If you decide to overclock (with just a little common sense it will not harm your hardware in the least) I would agree with humanure's suggestion above, with that setup the E6300 will easily clock to 3ghz or above

And I would forget about DX10 gpus as they will not likely fit in your price range and are really overkill unless you have a 30" or larger monitor capable of insane resolutions, the 7900gs will handle just about anything at max settings on the monitor you listed
 

AirForceElite

Senior member
Nov 8, 2004
268
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0
Thanks for quick reply GuitarDaddy. That was helpful.
Looks like I will be going with single HD. I had my aim on the drive you mentioned Seagate Barracuda 7200.10. Its really good looking at reviews. I will get the 320GB version instead of 250...cause the difference is like $20.
I noticed on some websites it says SATA and on some it says SATA2. Could anybody give some more info on that?
I tried Wiki, but it onlt mentions SATA, not SATA2. Is it something to go crazy over?
 

ForumMaster

Diamond Member
Feb 24, 2005
7,792
1
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SATA: theoretical max speed of 150MBps
SATA2: theoretical max speed of 300MBps plus other nice features like NCQ and hot-swap.

in other words, SATA2 is better for the features rather then the speed you're unlikely to get.
 

GuitarDaddy

Lifer
Nov 9, 2004
11,465
1
0
I have one of the seagate 7200.10 320gb drives and it is definately sataII, it has a jumper like the old eide drives. If you leave the jumper in the factory default position it functions as sataI if you pull the jumper off it functions as sataII

And I agree with ForumMaster the main advantage to sataII at this point is the NCQ feature which is really most helpfull in server applications. The theoretical max speed really doesn't mean much as the best drives today can only hit maintained transfer speeds around 75-90Mbps which is well below the theoretical max of sataI
 

humanure

Senior member
Dec 28, 2005
441
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0
sorry i didn't say anything about the RAID or dx10, but guitar daddy is correct, afaik the only dx10 cards right now are the nvidia 8800's, which would be over half of your budget. RAID is also not necessary, very minor performance gain for the extra cost. i once thought i would never overclock either, but if you read in these forums and elswhere, it is easy to do, and you get a free gain in performance. just a thought. anyway if not get an e6400 and a less expensive motherboard.
 

AirForceElite

Senior member
Nov 8, 2004
268
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0
So far so good guys.
With more info on hand, I can conclude that.
I will get a single Seagate 7200.10 Hard Drive 320GB (the only question is: i can get 8MB buffer, but for $20 more i think, there is 16MB buffer version. I realize that $20 is not much, but if it that extra 8MB buffer doesnt help much, I would rather invest that $20 on sound card or something)

I might look into overclocking, but on that later. For now I think I will be fine with either E6300 or E6400...depending on what other hardware I will get.

RAM again, same as CPU, not sure if I will overclock it. To be honest if overclocking RAM will give me like minimal perfomance, then I dont think i should bother. I just want 2GB RAM at decent speed to multi-task and play World of Warcraft, Microsoft Flight Siumlator X, and Battlefield 2.

Video card: Looks like i am going with Nvidia 7900. The only choice I need to make is which brand such as XFX, BFG, ASUS, PNI, GIGABYTE, MSI, EVGA and others....which one is good? And last question about video card: what letters do i need to get...such as GT vs GS vs GTX vs GX..whats the difference)
 

bamacre

Lifer
Jul 1, 2004
21,029
2
61
I would spend a little less on the motherboard and anything else that you are using to OC your cpu. Put that extra money where it matters, video card. A 7900 GS may have some problems running games at higher resolutions, and you have a 20in LCD, so you're looking at 1600x1200 or 1680x1050.

I would look into a 256MB X1950 XT or a 512MB 7950 GT. I wouldn't get anything less powerful than those.

Gaming performance relies much more on the video card than cpu performance. And you are better off getting a better video card rather than spening extra money on OC'ing the cpu (i.e. DS3 motherboard, expensive memory, and aftermarket cpu cooler).
 

AirForceElite

Senior member
Nov 8, 2004
268
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0
Guys if anybody could anser my last post's question, I wold appreciate it.
Right now, its the only thing holding me from ordering. I want this to be ordered by Thursday, yet i still dont know the stuff regarding RAM/video card brand i mentioned in above post.
 

humanure

Senior member
Dec 28, 2005
441
0
0
ok as far as the video card performance is GS<GT<GTX, only brand i've had trouble with is msi, but i'd probably stay with asus, gigabyte, bfg or evga. For RAM choice, go with ddr2 533 or 667 if it saves some money and your not going to OC. when i last checked NCIX, didn't seem to be much price difference between those and ddr2 800. any of the major brands are good, corsair, crucial, gskill etc.
 

AirForceElite

Senior member
Nov 8, 2004
268
0
0
Thanks Humanure
So far i am set for the following items:

HDD: I am getting Seagate 7200.10 320GB
CPU: Either E6300 or E6400...still dont know. 1.86GHz vs 2.13GHz and the difference is like $60 only....Is it a big perfomance gain in those extra 0.3GHz? NEED COMENT HERE
RAM: 2GB of DDR-800 as suggested by Humanure.
MOBO: Gigabyte probably...but will look at others. What do I need again? A mobo with 775LGA socket? Does it have to be like SLI ready, or something? I want to make sure I get the right one, cause there is so many confusing abbreviations about their specsNEED COMMENT HERE
GFX: Looks like a definite 7900GS. (How much better would it perform over what I have now which is ATI Radeon 9800PRO 128MB AGP?)

Everything else: doesnt matter much, i will choose myself.

If any of you good helpful men could comment on the part where i put "Need Comment", I will be good to order.


QUICK EDIT:
whats the difference between this card:
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?...60&vpn=256-P2-N622-AR&manufacture=eVGA

and this card:
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?...96&vpn=256-P2-N624-AR&manufacture=eVGA

First one is 450MHz and 2nd one is 500MHz..yet for some reason first one costs $10 more.
 

mithrandir2001

Diamond Member
May 1, 2001
6,545
1
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When you are buying from scratch I think it is wise to tilt toward a better CPU than a better video card...not so much for current performance but for ease of future performance gains. Upgrading to the latest video card can be a "simple" swap operation but the latest CPU might have a different socket. Plus a better CPU pays dividends in all applications not just games.

I know you say "I need it to run latest games, at highest resolution, at max settings (you get the idea...I want games to look nice)" but you aren't going to get that anyway for $1300 Canadian. So I'd go for a E6600 Core 2 Duo, with the 4MB L2 cache, and a 7900GS...or whatever the budget allows.
 

AirForceElite

Senior member
Nov 8, 2004
268
0
0
Hey guys, sorry to be so annoying, but i am almost done. Just last component needed of opinion.
What chipset should I choose for motherboard Nvidia? nForce? SiS? VIA? Intel?
and which motherboard to choose? Gibyte? Asus? MSI? EVGA?
once somebody answers that, i will be ready for checkout
 

humanure

Senior member
Dec 28, 2005
441
0
0
the 256-p2-624 has higher clocked memory, 690MHz vs 660Mhz, that's the only difference i can see. Yes you need a socket LGA775 motherboard that supports a core 2 duo and a pci-express x16 slot. It does not have to be SLI. If the machine is mostly for gaming, the 6400 won't be much different than the 6300, better off spending the extra $60 on a video card. A 7900gs will be a big improvement over a 9800pro.
 

humanure

Senior member
Dec 28, 2005
441
0
0
ok, for the motherboard, any of those are good brands, and you've said you won't OC. again if you might in the future, the gigabyte i originally linked or this asus would be good options. both are intel 965 chipsets.
 

humanure

Senior member
Dec 28, 2005
441
0
0
usually the included power supplies aren't very good, that's true. good brands on that site include enermax, fortron, etasis, silverstone, ocz, corsair, zippy, seasonic, pc power+cooling. 450w is plenty for that system. could still get that case, but i would recommend a better psu than what comes in it. i've heard some say that the fortron ax series aren't very good
enhance
 

AirForceElite

Senior member
Nov 8, 2004
268
0
0
i am looking at PSU right now.
i know i need ATX power supply

but there is:
ATXV1.3 20PIN
anf
ATXV2.0 24PIN

which one do i need? i dont know