It's time for a new computer!

[Mireli]

Hi there,

Not sure where to put this, if it's not in the right spot, feel free to move it, or tell me where so I can delete this and relocate it =)

I am currently needing a new computer. The one I have now is unstable and slow. I am not up to date with anything, so I need a little (read: a lot) or help =(

The pieces will be bought from NCIX.com, a Canadian company since I am Canadian. If another site is cheaper, I will consider it... but shipping is usually astronomical.

Limit: $1000-1500 US.

Purpose: Gaming, and the ability to game smoothly in the future. Currently just WoW, but I want it to run FFXIV, and any other new high-end games on (hopefully) max settings.

Time Frame: I can wait until around christmas for this. I am not in the hugest rush, but if the wait isn't worth it
Monitor/Resolution: Dell2407WFP, 1900x1200

OS: Win7, assuming it is approved of here, haven't read much about it! XP otherwise. I currently have both, so either work. Would prefer to try out Win7 though.

Cooling: I want to try water cooling, but I have read it is not worth the hastle. I am fine with the sound fans make. Would prefer quiet, but loud is alright if it helps performance.

Expansion: Would love to have room for expansion in this build.

Overclocking: Yes. Would like to get as much out of my system as possible.

Required: Pretty much everything inside and including the case.

Not Required: Mouse, Keyboard, Speakers, Headphones, Monitor. Pretty much everything outside of the case

Is there anything else I am missing? Thanks <3

 

[MisterDonut]

i5-750 + P7P55D + 4GB G.Skill Ripjaw + WD Black 640GB + 5850 + Antec 300 + 500W by Seasonic, Antec, Corsair, etc. + optical drive + Win7. Gaming builds within the same price range don't differ too far from each other. Pretty much the only different thing would be the case. Very standard build. Could opt for the i7-860 if it'll fit in your budget, but I haven't calculated it, and the i5-750 games just as well.

 

[Reincus]

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Any questions?

 

[HumblePie]

The big question is if you live near a Fry's or Microcenter. If you live near a Microcenter, I would highly suggest grabbing an I7 930 for $200 + tax and a decent $200ish x58 motherboard. For the price it's a great deal with the ability to upgrade to 6 cores later.

If you live near a Fry's, they typically have good deals on the i7 860 or the various i5's with a good motherboard. I would certainly go with this option.

If you live near neither and are ordering online, personally I would try to go for a $200 AMD 6 core 1055t. The performance when overclocked is about the same as an oc'd I5-750 for a little bit less cost. The i5-750 is still faster in most game, but about 3-5&#37; with a slightly more expensive motherboard needed. Although, you can't go wrong with the i5 750. The 1055t is much faster than the i5 though in running applications that actually use as many cores as they can find.

EDIT, sorry just noticed you said you were canadian. So that opts out of fry's and microcenter for you. However, I would not rule out buying the CPU used from the for sale forums. I recently just sold my i7 920 for a very good price and many will ship to canada. So going over the NCIX site, this seems to be the best bang for the buck combo right now.

$220 AMD 1055t

$30 Coolermaster Hyper 212

$120 Gigabyte GA-790XTA

$120 4GB G Skill Ripjaws DDR3

$330 XFX 5850

$210 OCZ Vertex 2 50GB sandforce

$70 640GB WD Black

$104 Corsair TX750W

Keep your previous case and optical drive(s) if you can.

total price would be..

$1205 after rebates from NCIX. Well within your budget. Plenty of room for expansion as AMD seems to stick longer with sockets than intel does. Also can add more memory and another video card for SLI. The power supply is more than capable of SLI and overclocking. Also, as others said, go with win 7 64 bit.


You can't get a better system for this price off NCIX.

 

[Mireli]

I'm definitely in need of a new case, this one is somewhat broken

A couple question:

What are the reasons on the 1055t over the i5-750. Also are the 1090t and the 930 not worth the extra pricing?

Is 4GB of ram enough? Would getting two of the GSkill be worth it? Or just a waste?

Video card is also what I would like to splurge on the most. Other things you can upgrade a lot more easily. Is it worth grabbing the next step up, in the 400-500$ range?

Drive looks great, will the SSD just have my OS and games on it? If so, WoW itself is 20GB and an expansion for it is coming soon, may need bigger. Will definitely need a 2TB storage drive though unfortunately.

Another big question is: Is there any way to really measure if it's better to wait a couple months or not? I'd have a bit more money then as well. Like, is there any specific time of year I would find the best deals or technology?

Also... I can possibly ship to a US address and have them ship to me, that may be cheaper than the Canadian alternative.

 

[epidemis]

Grab a 5870 instead of 5850, your budget can afford it.

4GB is enough for gaming, most games are 32 bit and cant use over 4 gb anyway

a couple of months? No, if anything you could wait till october for ATI to get their new generation out.

 

[jtisgeek]

Obly thing I would change is go with the 1090t it's only like 80 dollars more . Then grab a 2tb drive for data and games.

 

[MisterDonut]

I thought hexacore is actually outperformed in most gaming by the i7-860/i5-750. I'd still opt for that over the Thubans. More cores != faster CPU. If you can stick in a 5870 without compromising performance in other sectors, then by all means, it's a faster, meaner card. Not sure I'd justify the $100 difference with the performance gain @ 1920x1200, but either card is the way to go in today's market.

Just a side note, the Vertex 2 and Agility 2 are priced UP THE ASS, IMO. If you want better value and not go Intel, the 955BE is still a fantastic chip for gaming. Runs cool, OC's decently. This also leaves open the option of picking up a Thuban if you get into multi-core apps.

Try to save as much money as you can while building your rig because newer, faster parts are always around the corner. IMO, 1366 is completely useless for gaming. Turbos like my grandmother. 4GB is more than sufficient. No, stick with a 5870/5850. SSD would only be for booting + a few apps, so an 80gb Intel X-25M is more than enough. Install majority of games onto a mechanical. Of course it's always better to wait, but you'll never end up getting a rig that way. I think right now is a fantastic time to grab parts for a gaming rig.

 

[s44]

Replace the WD with a terabyte Samsung F3, and the 1156 build above is just what you need. Or the Thuban build if you want some future CPU upgrades (1156 is dead-ended, AM3 is alive). Neither the 750 nor the 1055 are going to limit you in real-world gaming anyway.

 

[Mireli]

Hi again,

Thanks a ton for all the information! It's really helpful.

Situation changed a little and I have decided I am going to make the majority of it now, and upgrade the last parts later.

I currently have $1000 US to spend on it. What pieces would you get first? Are there any I can 'leave out' of the system for a month or two until I acquire the money for it?

I totally forgot my old computer had to buy a new PSU, I believe it's this one:

http://ncix.com/products/index.php?s...r&amp;promoid=1068

So, I can put off PSU for now. What do you recommend I do with my cash? I cannot put off the case unfortunately...

I was thinking about putting off the SSD for awhile as well, is that doable?

Main questions would be:

#1)

How expandable is the:

$120 4GB G Skill Ripjaws DDR3

People seem to recommend these. Will I have room to upgrade to 8gb? 12gb? Will anything higher than 4/8 be 'needed' in the next year or two?

#2)

AMD vs Intel

My choices seem to be AMD1090T vs i7 930, and the motherboard to go with it. I've tried reading through boards and I really have no idea what any of it means anymore =P I have never had an intel, always AMD, so was thinking of a switch..but would go with whatever was best.

#3)

Radeon vs Geforce. Another area I have only ever been Radeon, seems to work fine. Is the 5850 enough? Should I splurge on the 5870?

I put together something, unfortunately it was $1250. I apologize if this copy/paste is ugly.

G.SKILL F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL Ripjaws PC3-12800 4GB 2X2GB DDR3-1600 CL9-9-9-24 Core i5 1.5V Memory Kit $129.99
Antec Nine Hundred Mid Tower Gamer Case 900 ATX 9 Drive Bay No PS Top USB2.0 1394 Audio $119.99
Western Digital WD20EARS Caviar Green 2TB SATA2 3GBPS 64MB Cache 3.5IN Hard Drive OEM $145.34
XFX Radeon HD 5850 HD585XZAFC 725MHZ 1GB GDDR5 4.0GHZ 2XDVI HDMI Dp DIRECTX11 PCI-E Video Card $329.99
Intel Core i7 930 Quad Core Processor LGA1366 2.8GHZ 8MB L3 Cache 130W 45NM Retail Box $319.01
ASUS P7P55D Pro LGA1156 P55 DDR3 3PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 PCI SLI CrossFireX 6SATA GBLAN 1394 Motherboard $184.12

 

[Jim Raynor]

I think that mobo isn't compatible with the processor. Someone should confirm this though because I'm a new builder myself.
You need Intel socket 1366.

 

[Mireli]

Oh right, was just outlining motherboards/processors since they will change depending on what CPU I was getting.

 

[Jim Raynor]

Socket 1366 will break the bank more.
And as of the choice 5850/5870 I think thats a decision whether the extra &#37; of performance are worth the extra costs. I read 5850 is the real sweet spot, the best bang for buck solution.

 

[Mireli]

How does this build look? Also, I ran into a little cash supply, and my budget seems to have increased =) PS: I love eBay.

i7-930

ASUS P6X58D-E LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0

G.SKILL PI Series 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop

Memory Model F3-12800CL7T-6GBPI

LIAN LI Lancool PC-K62

Samsung 2TB

Noctua NH-U12P SE2

XFX Radeon HD 5870 HD587XZNFV 1GB

 

[Mireli]

One last post before I order this. I am planning on ordering from NCIX.com and price matching some pieces on newegg.ca.

Here is the build, opinions welcome. My biggest concern is SSD+HDD. I want 2TB storage space, but do not necessarily need. I definitely need at least 1TB, and would prefer 2TB, but the drives seem much slower at 2TB and everyone keeps pointing me to the Samsung 1TB.Another question is the memory. There is a bundle, saving a huge deal on the corsair ram in the list below, is it worth the 50$ extra for the increase in speed?

Here it is:

Samsung SH-S243D/BEBE 24X Black DVD Writer SATA OEM --> $32

Coolermaster Haf 922 Mid Tower ATX Case Black 5X5.25 5X3.5INT Front Audio USB eSATA No PSU --> 129.99 PM'd to 109.99

Noctua NH-U12P SE2 LGA775/1156/1366 AM2/AM3 I7/I5/PHENOM Heatpipe Cooler W/ 2XNH-P12 120MM Fans --> 79.99

Intel Core i7 930 Quad Core Processor LGA1366 2.8GHZ 8MB L3 Cache 130W 45NM Retail Box --> 313.99 PM'd to 298.99

Corsair XMS3 Dominator 6GB DDR3 3X2GB DDR3-1600 CL 7-8-7-20 Core i7 Triple Channel Memory Kit --> 259.99 in a bundle with the CPU

Western Digital WD20EARS Caviar Green 2TB SATA2 3GBPS 64MB Cache 3.5IN Hard Drive OEM --> 125.99

ASUS P6X58D-E X58 ATX LGA1366 3PCI-E16 PCI-E1 2PCI CrossFire SLI USB3.0 SATA 6GB/S Motherboard --> 267.90 PM'd to 249.99

XFX Radeon HD 5870 HD587XZNFC 850MHZ 1GB GDDR5 2XDVI HDMI Display Port DIRECTX11 PCI-E Video Card --> 439.99 PM'd to 423.99

OCZ Vertex 60GB 2.5IN SATA2 Solid State Disk Flash Drive SSD --> 217.42 PM'd to 184.99

Total: $1990 CAD (1903 USD), including taxes and shipping.

 

[AdamK47]

See my sig for configuration ideas.

 

[MisterDonut]

That is one pricey gaming rig . Just an observation.

 

[Rifter]

So whats the budget, you said 1000-1500 but the latest system you mention is alot more. hard to make a suggestion when the budget is uncertain. Obviously if price is no object get a 1366 system with a i7 and a 5870. And then SSD and 2 TB for storage. You really need to think about what you will use the system for, if its only gaming then a i7 gets you nothing over a i5 but the i5 socket is dead. I would still go with a AM3 system for gaming because then you can later upgrade to a new CPU as AM3 is still alive.

 

[MisterDonut]

Is i7 not pretty much a dead end too? I thought Intel was changing both sockets next year? Either way, the speed from any decent quad-core (especially for only gaming) from even the 955BE will last a long time before you need to bump up the processor.

 

[Reincus]

If you are determined to go Intel, why do more than an i5? Save yourself some $.