![[H]ard|Forum](/styles/hardforum/xenforo/logo_dark.png){kind=logo}
notalent420
Limp Gawd
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2004
- Messages
- 351
First off I will answer the questions from the sticky:
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Mainly gaming; but I would also like to be able to do the occasional video encode.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Not sure yet. Tax and shipping would most likely have to be included since I live in Hawaii and shipping costs and arm and a leg. If I had to decide, it would be no more than $1500.
3) Where do you live?
Answered in the last question, Hawaii
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
I would need a CPU, RAM, mobo, hard drive, optical drive, possible sound card (I want to go back to using discrete sound instead of onboard).
Definitely want to upgrade to an aftermarket cooler. Was looking at liquid cooling, but I may stick to air for now since it's cheaper and this is my first build which I don't want to mess up.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
I already have a case that has never been used. It's a Lian-Li PC-777 (the shell design). Got it for like $150 from a big sale the now-defunct Monarch Computer had a couple years ago.
Also I already have an eVGA GTX 260 FTW edition card.
6) Will you be overclocking?
I would definitely like to try it out. Probably just a mild OC to begin with.
7) What size monitor do you have or plan to have?
I have a 26" Samsung T260HD (1920x1200).
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
I will plan on gathering the parts together sometime in the next month or so after AMD launches Phenom II.
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
I would like to have SLI with the possibility of adding another GTX 260.
Alright, now that that is out of the way. I currently am using a Dell XPS 710 that I purchased refurbished about a year and a half ago. It has an E6600 CPU with 4GB 667MHz RAM. Stock hard drive with 320GB.
Initially I had purchased an XPS 710 that had a Q6600 and a 8800GTX. But the power supply was faulty and shut off after a few minutes. Sent it back for an exchange. I should have waited for another Q6600, but they offered me the E6600 with an 8800 Ultra. The Ultra died in August, which led me to the GTX 260 I currently have.
I was playing GTA4 and noticed some less than stellar performance. I had to run the game at a lower res. Then I saw some people running the game with the same card as me but with a Q6600 and getting around 40-50 FPS whereas I was getting only 25-35 (probably less).
So now I am looking at building a quad core system myself. Oh, also I was planning on just upgrading the CPU, but I have an nForce 570 SLI motherboard which apparently isn't compatible with Kentsfield anyway. I really want to get a Core i7 system since it will be more future proof. Also, I want to get as much upgradeability as possible since the XPS is a BTX design and we all know they don't make BTX mobos anymore (I haven't seen any).
The system I have works fine. It is still decent to some degree. However, with more games coming out that do utilize more than 2 cores, it would be nice to have something a little more powerful. Anyway, sorry if this is too long. Thank you in advance.
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Mainly gaming; but I would also like to be able to do the occasional video encode.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Not sure yet. Tax and shipping would most likely have to be included since I live in Hawaii and shipping costs and arm and a leg. If I had to decide, it would be no more than $1500.
3) Where do you live?
Answered in the last question, Hawaii
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
I would need a CPU, RAM, mobo, hard drive, optical drive, possible sound card (I want to go back to using discrete sound instead of onboard).
Definitely want to upgrade to an aftermarket cooler. Was looking at liquid cooling, but I may stick to air for now since it's cheaper and this is my first build which I don't want to mess up.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
I already have a case that has never been used. It's a Lian-Li PC-777 (the shell design). Got it for like $150 from a big sale the now-defunct Monarch Computer had a couple years ago.
Also I already have an eVGA GTX 260 FTW edition card.
6) Will you be overclocking?
I would definitely like to try it out. Probably just a mild OC to begin with.
7) What size monitor do you have or plan to have?
I have a 26" Samsung T260HD (1920x1200).
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
I will plan on gathering the parts together sometime in the next month or so after AMD launches Phenom II.
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
I would like to have SLI with the possibility of adding another GTX 260.
Alright, now that that is out of the way. I currently am using a Dell XPS 710 that I purchased refurbished about a year and a half ago. It has an E6600 CPU with 4GB 667MHz RAM. Stock hard drive with 320GB.
Initially I had purchased an XPS 710 that had a Q6600 and a 8800GTX. But the power supply was faulty and shut off after a few minutes. Sent it back for an exchange. I should have waited for another Q6600, but they offered me the E6600 with an 8800 Ultra. The Ultra died in August, which led me to the GTX 260 I currently have.
I was playing GTA4 and noticed some less than stellar performance. I had to run the game at a lower res. Then I saw some people running the game with the same card as me but with a Q6600 and getting around 40-50 FPS whereas I was getting only 25-35 (probably less).
So now I am looking at building a quad core system myself. Oh, also I was planning on just upgrading the CPU, but I have an nForce 570 SLI motherboard which apparently isn't compatible with Kentsfield anyway. I really want to get a Core i7 system since it will be more future proof. Also, I want to get as much upgradeability as possible since the XPS is a BTX design and we all know they don't make BTX mobos anymore (I haven't seen any).
The system I have works fine. It is still decent to some degree. However, with more games coming out that do utilize more than 2 cores, it would be nice to have something a little more powerful. Anyway, sorry if this is too long. Thank you in advance.
