It's that time of the year again, time for upgrades, considering my last computer build was 3 years ago! I have been living in Russia for the past year, so am I little out of the loop, but I think I have researched enough to roughly know what is good/bad in today's computer gaming market so here goes!
1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
-Mostly for gaming. Longevity and pretty good performance for a good price are my main concerns here.
2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread
-$600-900 CAD
3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
-Canada, most likely NCIX
4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc.
-Performance and price are my brand preferences.
5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
-see #10:
6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.
-done much searching and comparing already on Anandtech, Tom's Hardware, and others so I think I have done my research
7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
-Not sure at this moment
8. What resolution YOU plan on gaming with.
-1920x1080 seems to be all the rage, so I will go with that
9. WHEN do you plan to build it?
-order the parts within the next couple of days and build it in a week when I return to Canada
10. Proposed build:
CASE:
Current: Antec Lanboy
Proposed: will stay the same
PSU:
Current: OCZ StealthXStream 600W ATX12V 20/24PIN Active PFC ATX
Proposed: I don't really know here if I need/should upgrade...
MOBO:
Current: Gigabyte EP45-DS3L ATX LGA775 P45 DDR2 PCI-E 2PCI SATA2 HD Sound 2GBLAN Motherboard
Proposed: ASUS Rampage II Extreme ATX LGA1366 X58 DDR3 3PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 PCI CrossFire SLI Motherboard
=$150.00 CAD
NOTE: the only reason I have chosen this mobo so far is that on NCIX it is on sale for $350.00 together with my proposed CPU, $429 off regular price
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...s&promoid=1336
MOBO alternative:
ASUS P8P67 Pro ATX P67 LGA1155 DDR3 3PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 2PCI Sandy Bridge B3 Motherboard
=$179.99 CAD
CPU:
Current: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Dual Core Processor LGA775 3.0GHZ Wolfdale 1333FSB 6MB Retail
Proposed: Intel Core i7 950 Quad Core Processor LGA1366 3.06GHZ Bloomfield 8MB LGA1366 4.8GT/S
=$200.00CAD
NOTE: the only reason I have chosen this cpu so far is that on NCIX it is on sale for $350.00 together with my mobo
CPU alternative:
Intel Core i5 2500K Quad Core Unlocked Processor LGA1155 3.3GHZ Sandy Bridge 6MB
=$214.99 CAD (combined total with mobo=$394.98)
RAM:
Current: Corsair XMS2 TWIN2X4096-6400C5 4GB DDR2 2X2GB PC2-6400 DDR2-800 CL 5-5-5-18 240PIN
Proposed:Kingston ValueRAM KVR1333D3N9/4G 4GB 1X4GB DDR3-1333 240PIN CL9 DIMM Memory X2
($29.99 each, so total=$59.98 for 8 GB
Hard Drive:
Current: Western Digital Caviar SE16 640GB SATA2 7200RPM 16MB Hard Drive OEM 3YR MFR Warranty
Proposed: will stay the same
Video Card:
Current: Diamond Radeon HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 PCI-E Dua
Proposed: Gigabyte Radeon HD 6950 800MHZ 1GB 5GHZ GDDR5 2XDVI HDMI Display Port PCI-E DIRECTX11 Video Card
=$230
Opticals: already taken care of
Monitor:
Current: old "19 or something CRT
Proposed: ASUS VE247H 23.6IN Widescreen LED LCD Monitor 1920X1080 2MS 10M1DC HDMI DVI-D VGA Speakers
=$170
All purchases will be through NCIX, as I can get free shipping and total is=
$810 with the i950 and ASUS rampage bundle or
$860 with the 2500k and ASUS P8P67
thank you for your time and patience, and future help!
1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
-Mostly for gaming. Longevity and pretty good performance for a good price are my main concerns here.
2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread
-$600-900 CAD
3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
-Canada, most likely NCIX
4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc.
-Performance and price are my brand preferences.
5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
-see #10:
6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.
-done much searching and comparing already on Anandtech, Tom's Hardware, and others so I think I have done my research
7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
-Not sure at this moment
8. What resolution YOU plan on gaming with.
-1920x1080 seems to be all the rage, so I will go with that
9. WHEN do you plan to build it?
-order the parts within the next couple of days and build it in a week when I return to Canada
10. Proposed build:
CASE:
Current: Antec Lanboy
Proposed: will stay the same
PSU:
Current: OCZ StealthXStream 600W ATX12V 20/24PIN Active PFC ATX
Proposed: I don't really know here if I need/should upgrade...
MOBO:
Current: Gigabyte EP45-DS3L ATX LGA775 P45 DDR2 PCI-E 2PCI SATA2 HD Sound 2GBLAN Motherboard
Proposed: ASUS Rampage II Extreme ATX LGA1366 X58 DDR3 3PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 PCI CrossFire SLI Motherboard
=$150.00 CAD
NOTE: the only reason I have chosen this mobo so far is that on NCIX it is on sale for $350.00 together with my proposed CPU, $429 off regular price
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...s&promoid=1336
MOBO alternative:
ASUS P8P67 Pro ATX P67 LGA1155 DDR3 3PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 2PCI Sandy Bridge B3 Motherboard
=$179.99 CAD
CPU:
Current: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Dual Core Processor LGA775 3.0GHZ Wolfdale 1333FSB 6MB Retail
Proposed: Intel Core i7 950 Quad Core Processor LGA1366 3.06GHZ Bloomfield 8MB LGA1366 4.8GT/S
=$200.00CAD
NOTE: the only reason I have chosen this cpu so far is that on NCIX it is on sale for $350.00 together with my mobo
CPU alternative:
Intel Core i5 2500K Quad Core Unlocked Processor LGA1155 3.3GHZ Sandy Bridge 6MB
=$214.99 CAD (combined total with mobo=$394.98)
RAM:
Current: Corsair XMS2 TWIN2X4096-6400C5 4GB DDR2 2X2GB PC2-6400 DDR2-800 CL 5-5-5-18 240PIN
Proposed:Kingston ValueRAM KVR1333D3N9/4G 4GB 1X4GB DDR3-1333 240PIN CL9 DIMM Memory X2
($29.99 each, so total=$59.98 for 8 GB
Hard Drive:
Current: Western Digital Caviar SE16 640GB SATA2 7200RPM 16MB Hard Drive OEM 3YR MFR Warranty
Proposed: will stay the same
Video Card:
Current: Diamond Radeon HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 PCI-E Dua
Proposed: Gigabyte Radeon HD 6950 800MHZ 1GB 5GHZ GDDR5 2XDVI HDMI Display Port PCI-E DIRECTX11 Video Card
=$230
Opticals: already taken care of
Monitor:
Current: old "19 or something CRT
Proposed: ASUS VE247H 23.6IN Widescreen LED LCD Monitor 1920X1080 2MS 10M1DC HDMI DVI-D VGA Speakers
=$170
All purchases will be through NCIX, as I can get free shipping and total is=
$810 with the i950 and ASUS rampage bundle or
$860 with the 2500k and ASUS P8P67
thank you for your time and patience, and future help!
, looking for between $220-240 if possible, or lower
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