Building new gaming/office rig

Chevy-SS

Chevy-SS

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 5, 2007
Messages
265
Building new gaming/office rig - would appreciate some tips for parts.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming, Photoshop, web browsing, office work
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
~$800 for remaining parts, willing to go higher
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Newport, RI
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc.
RAM, GPU, CPU, ATX mobo, & storage
pretty much settled on Samsung 840 256gb SSD
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Re-using existing case (ATX), which has brand new 500w PSU
6) Will you be overclocking?
No
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
2560x1600 - 30" Dell 3007WFP
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Now
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
Nothing special
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Not yet, Planning on Windows 7 Pro 64bit

Many thanks!
 
What is the brand/model of your current PSU? Don't want to end up frying brand new components later down the line now do we?
 
tenub said:
What is the brand/model of your current PSU? Don't want to end up frying brand new components later down the line now do we?
Click to expand...

Thermaltake TR2 500w - I bought it from Radio Shack about a month ago when my other PSU (Antec 550w) died. I know this Thermaltake is definitely not the best PSU out there, but it should suffice for my moderate needs - hopefully.

Thanks
 
Chevy-SS said:
Thermaltake TR2 500w - I bought it from Radio Shack about a month ago when my other PSU (Antec 550w) died. I know this Thermaltake is definitely not the best PSU out there, but it should suffice for my moderate needs - hopefully.

Thanks
Click to expand...

If you weren't gaming, doing photoshop, doing anything remotely heavy, and/or had really really low power parts, yes that PSU would suffice. The TR2 PSUs are very very shitty. Often times, they're only capable of half their wattage. So, you're looking at a new PSU as well.

Some additional questions:
1) What case will you be reusing?
2) Is the cost of OS part of that $800 budget?
3) Did you mean the Samsung Evo 250GB or the Samsung Pro 256GB?
4) What games are you planning on playing?
5) Just how extensive is your photoshop use?
 
Dangman said:
.......

Some additional questions:
Click to expand...

1) What case will you be reusing?
Chieftec Dragon - it's a good case with lots of room....
2) Is the cost of OS part of that $800 budget?
The OS is in addition to the parts
3) Did you mean the Samsung Evo 250GB or the Samsung Pro 256GB?
SAMSUNG 840 EVO MZ-7TE250BW 2.5" 250GB SATA 6Gb/s
4) What games are you planning on playing?
Nothing too crazy, BF3 or BF4 likely
5) Just how extensive is your photoshop use?
Not that extensive

Many thanks
 
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Chevy-SS said:
4) What games are you planning on playing?
Nothing too crazy, BF3 or BF4 likely
Many thanks
Click to expand...

heh, I think BF4 at 1600p falls into the "kinda crazy" category. At that resolution, you're going to need more than the standard 2GB of VRAM, at least 3 GB.

At minimum, you should get either a 3GB or 4GB R9 280X options on Newegg ($320-$350). Or on the Nvidia side, a 4GB GTX 770 in the $400 range.

That leaves you about $400 left of your budget. At least $100 needs to go toward a capable PSU, imo.

2) Is the cost of OS part of that $800 budget?
The OS is in addition to the parts
Click to expand...
your wording makes your answer unclear.

With the budget left, I think you'll be lucky to squeeze an i5 in there with a Z87 board and 8GB of RAM. You can compromise a little on the GPU and go for a 3GB/4GB R9 280 or GTX 760.
 
1) Is there any chance of you extending your budget by another $200?
2) Why WIndows 7 Pro? Are you planning on using more than 16GB of RAM?

Without that the extra $200, you're going to have to drop the SSD down to a regular hard drive to fit in both a decent GPU and the OS. Hell, even that $200 is cutting it close IMO since it's requiring you to reuse a case that any $50 to $60 case these days can outperform in almost every way.
 
rastaban said:
heh, I think BF4 at 1600p falls into the "kinda crazy" category. At that resolution, you're going to need more than the standard 2GB of VRAM, at least 3 GB.
At minimum, you should get either a 3GB or 4GB R9 280X options on Newegg ($320-$350). Or on the Nvidia side, a 4GB GTX 770 in the $400 range.
That leaves you about $400 left of your budget. At least $100 needs to go toward a capable PSU, imo.
your wording makes your answer unclear.
With the budget left, I think you'll be lucky to squeeze an i5 in there with a Z87 board and 8GB of RAM. You can compromise a little on the GPU and go for a 3GB/4GB R9 280 or GTX 760.
Click to expand...

I'll spend a little more then, thanks. I plan on ~$800-$900 for the parts, and then the OS will be extra, still not quite decided on the OS. :)

Dangman said:
1) Is there any chance of you extending your budget by another $200?
2) Why WIndows 7 Pro? Are you planning on using more than 16GB of RAM?
Without that the extra $200, you're going to have to drop the SSD down to a regular hard drive to fit in both a decent GPU and the OS. Hell, even that $200 is cutting it close IMO since it's requiring you to reuse a case that any $50 to $60 case these days can outperform in almost every way.
Click to expand...

1 - yeah, no problem at all.......
2 - well, I actually have a few programs that I enjoy and they seem to work best with XP, and 7 Pro has an XP mode, so that's my main reason.

Many thanks gents, the help is much appreciated! I know just enough to be dangerous, LOL, so I'm not afraid to admit I'm ignorant on many of these details..... Dave F.
 
Then I recommend this setup:
$190 - Intel Core i5-4570 CPU
$88 - ASRock H87M Pro4 Intel H87 mATX Motherboard
$64 - Kingston HyperX Blu KHX1600C10D3B1/8G 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$153 - Samsung 840 Evo Series 250GB SSD
$298 - XFX RADEON Double D R9 280X 3GB PCI-E Video Card
$75 - Seasonic G Series SSR-450RM 450W Modular PSU
$140 - Windows 7 Professional SP1 64bit OEM
----
Total: $1008 shipped
 
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Dangman said:
Then I recommend this setup:
$190 - Intel Core i5-4570 CPU
$88 - ASRock H87M Pro4 Intel H87 mATX Motherboard
$64 - Kingston HyperX Blu KHX1600C10D3B1/8G 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$153 - Samsung 840 Evo Series 250GB SSD
$298 - XFX RADEON Double D R9 280X 3GB PCI-E Video Card
$75 - Seasonic G Series SSR-450RM 450W Modular PSU
$140 - Windows 7 Professional SP1 64bit OEM
----
Total: $1008 shipped
Click to expand...


Many thanks! I will likely do your whole list, but a couple of quick questions:
1) what's the difference between "mATX" and "ATX" edit: I just Googled the question, and I see ATX mobo is slightly bigger, with maybe more slots and such. So could you recommend an "ATX" mobo please? Bigger is better for me..:)... gracias!
2) Why would you recommend 450w PSU when I recently bought a 500w? I'm assuming it's a quality issue.... ;)
3) Is your 8gb ram one stick or two? I have heard some folks say two sticks is better than one, but I have no idea what that's all about.
4) Can you ever see me needing 16gb ram?

Much appreciated.....

Dave F. :D
 
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1) Why would bigger be better for you? What makes mATX less of an option for you than ATX?
2) Quality issue: That 450W is of significantly better quality than your current 500W PSU. It's like deciding what to eat for dinner: A medium-rare rib-eye steak (Seasonic) or a literal pile of shit (TT TR2). Easy choice.
3) One stick. Two sticks do provide about a 5% performance increase but I haven't seen any 2 x 4GB sticks of RAM that are that much cheaper than the set I posted.
4) If you ever decide to do more Photoshop work, then yes, 16GB of RAM would be needed at a minimum. Just from my own GIMP usage for game texture work, I can get close to my previous 16GB RAM limit (I now have 24GB of RAM :) quite easily.
 
I have tons of USB connectors, which is why I would prefer larger mobo with more connectors.....

Again, many thanks!
 
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rastaban said:
Your H87 ATX options will be in the $100 range.

The MSI H87-G43 would be the most cost efficient, since the cheaper ASRock H87 Pro4 seems to be getting poor reviews.
Click to expand...

Dangman said:
Then I recommend looking at the Gigabyte GA-H87-D3H:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CU4L3AU/?tag=extension-kb-20

Or the AsRock Z87 PRO4:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157381

Both of those motherboard have a total of 8 rear USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 ports.
Click to expand...



Thank you both for the recommendations on the mobo's. How accurate and dependable are the reviews at Newegg?

I will definitely pick one of the ones you guys listed.

I have two front USB connectors on my case. I assume that all these mobo's have connectors for those???

Very grateful for your assistance........ :cool:
 
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Yes, 10-pin USB 2.0 headers are standard on all boards. All of these new boards also have a 20-pin USB 3.0 header, but your current case will not be able to take advantage of that.

edit: oh my, that is one strange looking case 0_o
 
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Upon closer inspection, the MSI H87, Gigabyte H87, and ASRock Z87 boards mentioned earlier all have 2x 10-pin USB 2.0 headers. The MSI and Gigabyte have 1 USB 3.0 header, and the ASRock has two USB 3.0 headers. Most new cases will only have two USB 3.0 front panel ports though, so usually only one USB 3.0 header is needed. You can always convert a USB 3.0 header for USB 2.0 usage with an adapter though.
 
Chevy-SS said:
Thank you both for the recommendations on the mobo's. How accurate and dependable are the reviews at Newegg?
Click to expand...
50/50 and dependent on the type of part in question. MOtherboards I would say are 50/50. PSUs I would pretty much ignore.

rastaban said:
edit: oh my, that is one strange looking case 0_o
Click to expand...
It was a popular design (unfortunately IMO) during the early 2000s.'

With that said, Chevy-SS, I really do recommend getting a new case as I'm fairly sure that your current case won't be able to adequately cool the above parts. So I recommend this case:
$72 - Corsair Graphite Series 230T Black ATX Case

It has SSD mounts, three 120mm fans, and plenty of cable management room. A cheaper option without SSD mounts and one less fan would be this case:
$50 - NZXT Source 210 Elite White with Black Front Trim ATX Case

Either way, I'm more than willing to bet the above cases will outcool your current case by a large margin.
 
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You guys are terrific, thanks.

I currently use a GeForce GTX 460 1GB GPU, which I bought about 18 months ago. I think this GPU is more than my computer (Asus A8N SLI plus AMD 4000 cpu) can handle. Is this GTX 460 worth considering re-using at all?
 
Chevy-SS said:
You guys are terrific, thanks.

I currently use a GeForce GTX 460 1GB GPU, which I bought about 18 months ago. I think this GPU is more than my computer (Asus A8N SLI plus AMD 4000 cpu) can handle. Is this GTX 460 worth considering re-using at all?
Click to expand...

If you can't afford to buy a new GPU, then yes reuse the card. If you can afford to buy a new GPU, don't reuse that GTX 460 as there are now plenty of cards out there that offer far superior performance.
 
Dangman said:
If you can't afford to buy a new GPU, then yes reuse the card. If you can afford to buy a new GPU, don't reuse that GTX 460 as there are now plenty of cards out there that offer far superior performance.
Click to expand...

Thanks Dang........ I can afford the new card, but I am building a garage addition onto my house, which is eating a ton of cash. I may try the 460 card for a bit, and then this puts me well within budget and I can easily upgrade the card down the road sometime. :)

I appreciate all the tips and tricks! :D
 
Dang, one last question - I went to order the Win 7 Pro that you linked and I see that it is "System Builder" version. What does that term mean?

Thanks, Dave
 
Chevy-SS said:
Dang, one last question - I went to order the Win 7 Pro that you linked and I see that it is "System Builder" version. What does that term mean?

Thanks, Dave
Click to expand...
Basically it means that the OS key is tied to that one computer forever as far as MS is concerned. So you can't technically reuse that OS key on another PC in the future which means you'll have to buy Windows 9 or whatever MS has around that time for your next PC.
 
Dangman said:
Basically it means that the OS key is tied to that one computer forever as far as MS is concerned. So you can't technically reuse that OS key on another PC in the future which means you'll have to buy Windows 9 or whatever MS has around that time for your next PC.
Click to expand...

OK thanks, kinda like 'OEM' then.......
 
Got it all built and it works like a champ. Many thanks for all the help gentlemen! :) The SSD is an especially nice feature, with boot times in 20-30 seconds.
 
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