Building a new PC...trying to decide!

S

Snooble

Gawd
Joined
Mar 19, 2004
Messages
865
Howdy all

Ive recently come across a Phenom 2 X4 965 and a Core i5 750 for a near identical price (2 different sites here in Canada) that are appealing to me. Motherboard and ram are the same price also, so now it comes down to the clincher. And this is where I need help. As a side note I really like my PC to run nice and quiet ;D

1) What will you be doing with this PC?
Gaming

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
About $400

3) Where do you live?
Ontario, Canada

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget?
CPU, motherboard, ram

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing?
GeForce 280GTX, PSU (600w), case, hdd, DVD

6) Will you be overclocking?
Possibly, not decided yet

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
1680x1050

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Within the next few weeks

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support?
I dont have the cash for buying a 2nd card for crossfire/SLi

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
Yes
 
I would say go the AMD route because it will be easier to overclock(i dont think that intel CPU has an unlocked multiplier) and if you want to upgrade your CPU later it will be cheaper(the AM3 socket will be having a hexa core in 2010)
 
I'd put my hat in the ring for the Core i5:

* Stock speed, the two CPUs trade blows in many benchmarks. But the i5 has a slight edge.

* The i5 is already plenty powerful enough stock (will overclock itself to 3.2GHz for single-threaded loads without you doing a thing).

But the real selling point of the i5 is power consumption:

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3634&p=17

The i5 trounces the Phenom II at both idle and load power. This means the i5 system will cost you less to run, and will be quieter.
 
I'd go for i5 if it's the same price.

BTW, what 600W PSU do you have?
 
ouch on that PSU

i5 is the best route, unless you want to have some fun unlocking 2 extra cores on a Phenom 550 Black edition.

going that route + the mobo would probably only cost you $200-220 all told

plus you'd have money left over to replace that shitty PSU
 
oh, if you put that PSU in there, please have someone holding a cam nearby so we can watch the fire

also have an extinguisher handy
 
Snooble said:
Orion hp585d

Not the best but it should do the trick.
Click to expand...

I'm honestly surprised it's powering that GTX 280 right now without killing it, Then again PSU related problems do take some time to show up...

In other words dude, I'd highly highly recommend getting a new PSU for that system, regardless of whether or not you upgrade the CPU/mobo/RAM.
 
Im not using it in my new one yet, I ordered it for another PC that it's in and it's been running fine.

Besides not being a brand name we all know and love what is wrong with it?
 
you have 3 different people who have no relationship with each other telling you to replace that PSU and you're still questioning that?
 
Yes, yes I am. 3 different people just saying it'll catch fire, explode and send me in a time warp back to 1999
 
and you don't hear klaxon sirens going off inside your mind after reading what we're saying?
 
well in that case, go full steam ahead with your PSU, but make sure you get some winning lottery numbers from the last few years and then when you get warped to 1999 you'll be richer than Bill Gates
 
it's a valid question... Orion is HEC's budget line, so its of rather LOW quality.
Snooble said:
... Besides not being a brand name we all know and love what is wrong with it?
Click to expand...

EDIT: Removed... read the link from tiraides.
 
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The only thing to worry about would be if it provides enough power to run it properly. Only time I see things dying in a new computer is when the parts stuck in it are faulty to begin with.

If it doesn't provide enough power than it will just run crappy, crashy, or so on.

If something shorts than it won't be in the PSU. It will be some other faulty part and no matter what PSU I get it'll happen. PSU's are made not to short, and if for some reason they do (say a small piece of wire falling into it) they have failsafes to divert/stop/shunt the power. If not my expensive powerbar should sense this and turn off.

If it overheats that THAT is what I'd have to worry about. Lack of proper cooling is what causes most, if not all, issues with a PSU.

Chances are I'll snag a good one when I go get the parts, I saw a swank 700w name brand at Tiger Direct in the store for $30 ish, $70 off :D
 
Just took a look, those posts are 3-4 years old on [H] but I think I'm going to open up my PSU and take a gander. Seems that hec made decent PSU's a few years ago but slid..may as well use what I know about electronics and be safe.
 
Snooble said:
The only thing to worry about would be if it provides enough power to run it properly. Only time I see things dying in a new computer is when the parts stuck in it are faulty to begin with. If it doesn't provide enough power than it will just run crappy, crashy, or so on. ...
Click to expand...

Just because it's not supposed to, doesn't mean it can't happen. Crappy PSU's can deliver dirty power or power fluctuations out of ATX spec. Such fluctuations (aka ripple) can kill parts over time. (eg. FSP Epsilons above 500W)

You get what you pay for most of the time. Hopefully, you're talking about a quality unit, but at that price, its highly doubtful. Do some research on the unit before buying it. Better yet, make a post either here or in the PSU subforum and/or at jonnyguru.com forums.

Snooble said:
Just took a look, those posts are 3-4 years old on [H] but I think I'm going to open up my PSU and take a gander. Seems that hec made decent PSU's a few years ago but slid..may as well use what I know about electronics and be safe.
Click to expand...

The link from tiraides is much more recent...

tiraides said:
Read this.
Click to expand...
 
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Yeah I posted mine before refreshing the page. I might slap this one on Kijiji and get rid of it, snag a better one just to be safe.
 
Snooble said:
Besides not being a brand name we all know and love what is wrong with it?
Click to expand...

In addition to Tiraides' great link, there are several things wrong with the PSU that you can easily see from the PSU label or on the website:
- No mention of what temperature it was rated at
- No mention of whether it was rated at peak or continuous load
- No mention of what the total amperage on the +12V rail. And no, you don't add up the +12V rails. Doesn't work that way.

For your setup, a good quality PSu in the 650W to 750W range would suffice. Try to get one from a reputable PSU company. And no, OCZ or Rosewill aren't ones.
 
it's still a good PSU, he doesn't have to buy it from Newegg, lol
 
Tiger Direct had some nice modular PSU's on for a SWEET price in the store, can't remember the brand but it is a solid name brand, and it was for about $40 taxes incl...was like 80% off or something like that because of the amount of overstock they had.
 
To be on the safe side, what would you recommend as a minimum PSU?

I don't run alot in my systems, the average 1-2 hdd, dvd burner, and the other usual suspects.

I suspect I'll be running a i5 750 so just use that as a reference.
 
Snooble said:
To be on the safe side, what would you recommend as a minimum PSU?

I don't run alot in my systems, the average 1-2 hdd, dvd burner, and the other usual suspects.

I suspect I'll be running a i5 750 so just use that as a reference.
Click to expand...

A quality 650W PSU at a bare minimum from Antec, Corsair, etc.
 
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