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Long time Macintosh user is trying to build a computer for....Windows 7!

nirvana68

nirvana68

Junior Member
I have owned Apple products since I was a little kid and my Performa 550. My MacBook was stolen when my apartment was broken into so I am left using my parents Latitude D600 laptop. I want to build a mid-level computer for gaming on my 26" monitor. Here is a list of the parts I have found on Newegg:

Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128425

Central Processing Unit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115222

Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231277

Graphics Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130395

Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136320

Case and Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129066
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371026

I would much appreciate anyone's help answering a few questions. Will most current games run with normal graphics settings, should I wait a bit to buy, and is it worth ten more dollars to buy a SATA 6gb/s hard drive instead of 3gb/s?
 
If you prefer Mac's, and your reason for looking at Windows machines is the cost of replacing your Mac, check out these forums and around the web for info about which PC components you could use to build a Hackintosh. 😎
 
I would spend more money, plain and simple. Skip the i3 and go for the i5 (Quad Core).

Assuming you are gaming on at least 720p, you'll want a better graphics card then that crap 9500. Really, it's about as low as you can go in terms of modern games (Search 5770 [low end 720p], 450 [low end 720p], 460 [mid-range 1080p], 5850 [high/mid-range 1080p], 470 [high/mid-range 1080p]). The 480 and 5870 are about the cost of your whole setup in one part, so I figure that's going to be out of budget.

Sata 6GB/S won't do you any good if you don't have ports on the motherboard to back it up.

This is a low/ mid price range build (AMD chipset is better for the budget)

Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-042-_-Product

Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-034-_-Product

CPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-871-_-Product

MotherBoard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-443-_-Product

RAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-190-_-Product

Graphics
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-326-_-Product

Optical Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106276

Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-185-_-Product

Windows
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-752-_-Product

Total With OS: $775.85

That isn't really all that far over your build (Without the os), plus you get a much more powerful GPU, a better fitting (for efficiency) PSU, and an extra 500GB of Hard drive capacity.
 
Last edited:
Davidh373 said:
I would spend more money, plain and simple. Skip the i3 and go for the i5 (Quad Core).

Assuming you are gaming on at least 720p, you'll want a better graphics card then that crap 9500. Really, it's about as low as you can go in terms of modern games (Search 5770 [low end 720p], 450 [low end 720p], 460 [mid-range 1080p], 5850 [high/mid-range 1080p], 470 [high/mid-range 1080p]). The 480 and 5870 are about the cost of your whole setup in one part, so I figure that's going to be out of budget.

Sata 6GB/S won't do you any good if you don't have ports on the motherboard to back it up.

This is a low/ mid price range build (AMD chipset is better for the budget)

Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-042-_-Product

Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-034-_-Product

CPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-871-_-Product

MotherBoard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-443-_-Product

RAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-190-_-Product

Graphics
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-326-_-Product

Optical Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106276

Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-185-_-Product

Windows
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-752-_-Product

Total With OS: $775.85

That isn't really all that far over your build (Without the os), plus you get a much more powerful GPU, a better fitting (for efficiency) PSU, and an extra 500GB of Hard drive capacity.
Click to expand...

:thumbsup:

OP, your original config spent too much on RAM and PSU and not enough on the GPU and CPU.
 
I really appreciate all the input guys. Spending more on GPU and CPU makes sense. I am getting the monitor from a friend and I believe it is 720p. More money is fine as long as I am buying what I need. I won't be playing the new Civilization 5, but I would like it to run most games. Starcraft II is probably the most I will use it for.

I don't think I will try a hackintosh this go around, but thank you for the idea. I might look into it next time.

Both of my friends told me I would need at least a 500w PS though. How do I know what kind to buy?
 
If you are looking at 720p, you will want to save a tad and get the $130 5770, or the $200 460 (for extra performance). Otherwise I think my build will do the job.
 
Gigabyte motherboards designed for Intel CPU's are easiest for doing a Hackintosh build. I'd recommend getting 2 hard drives, so if you wanted later to dual-boot Windows & Snow Leopard, you'd have a dedicated hard drive for each of those.
 
nirvana68 said:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-873-_-Product
seems like it is reviewed well and it has the same interface as the motherboard so it will work, right?
Thanks for the idea vailr. My next build will have Apple and Windows operating systems, but I think I just want to focus on being able to be entertained by video games with this computer ^-^
Click to expand...

That is a good one (sapphire is a good brand), but don't always trust the reviewers to know what they are talking about.
 
Below is the only substitution I made from your suggested build, Davidh373. I would appreciate a final pick at anyone's brain if this card is an improvement on the PNY.
Also, I now have the Monitor and it is is capable of 1080p.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125333
GTX 460

Finally, what are the differences in thermal paste? There is a good possibility I will be looking into overclocking my processors a bit if that matters.
 
Not trying to be an AMD Homer here (from my sig it appears I am..)

But go with a AMD Phenom II Quad. It will give you more bang for the buck. Look for a 945 at a good price if your not o/c'ing. Or a 550 Black Edition with a good chance you can make it a quad.

I would go with a 460 or 470 from Nvidia, or a 5770 or 5830 from ATI. I would personally go with a 460 in your case. Its best bang for the buck.

Look for the Seasonic OEM PSU's.... they are cheap, yet awesome power supplies.

The XFX 650 is on sale quite often for $65 after rebates too, and its probably the best one in that price range.
 
Last edited:
nirvana68 said:
Below is the only substitution I made from your suggested build, Davidh373. I would appreciate a final pick at anyone's brain if this card is an improvement on the PNY.
Also, I now have the Monitor and it is is capable of 1080p.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125333
GTX 460

Finally, what are the differences in thermal paste? There is a good possibility I will be looking into overclocking my processors a bit if that matters.
Click to expand...

Just get the cheapest GTX 460 1GB. Prices on individual GPUs shift daily, so what David may have picked out as the cheapest on the 21st may no longer be so.

As for thermal paste, no there really isn't a significant difference between different manufacturer's quality stuff.
 
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