It's been a long time! New build!

[Deleted member 12930]

So I made a thread a while back - maybe a month or two ago. A good amount about that has changed, so I'm making a new thread.

But what really matters is this; I'm READY! Or... at least my money is (almost) ready! Now onto the questions and answers...

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Primarily I will be working - web design and development. I'll be running a local AMP stack on the machine. Either it will be through a virtual machine, or having the services installed directly. And of course I'll be gaming! Right now I'm hooked on Minecraft. I do most my gaming on my 360 though. So it's not a primary focus.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
My budget is $800 give or take. Tax and shipping is included in that. I have an amazon prime account, so whatever I can get through Amazon that's prime eligible, the better.

3) Where do you live?
California

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
I will need the following; motherboard, cpu (+ heat sink and fan if necessary), ram, video, power supply, wifi card, hard drive, monitor, mouse.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
I have a case, keyboard and CD/DVD burner already. I know a lot of power supplies come with cases, my case is a cooler master praetorian. And for reasons that belong in another thread (maybe), I would not object to a slick looking smaller case to replace it with that comes with a power supply that's good.

6) Will you be overclocking?
No.

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
I do not have a monitor at the moment. Since my budget is tight, I think it best if I start with a 20". Eventually I I will add another 20" and then a larger monitor after that. The end goal is to have the 20 inchers in portrait mode and the larger one in between them in landscape mode. Because of that plan, I'd like the monitor to have a thinner bezel, and not be too difficult for me to find an identical one in the future.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
ASAP. Tomorrow or this weekend pending circumstances. My wife's debit card was stolen recently and we're waiting to receive new ones. The bank said we should receive them tomorrow... Basically I want to be ready to pull the trigger as soon as my new card comes in!

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? etc.
If I can save money and have tolerable onboard video for moderate gaming (Minecraft!), I wouldn't object. My hope is to upgrade this machine as the years go by, budget willing. I'm not sure on the best way to plan for this, but it seems like buying the latest mobo that will support the up and coming CPU's would be smart. Yes?

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Yes I do. Windows 7, Home Premium 64bit.

Thank you for all the help!

edit: I didn't mention, it's been something like 7 or 8 years since I built a PC. The last time I build a PC the AMD Athlon was brand new, and the Duron was on it's way... if I remember correctly. I haven't kept up with the times, and really have no idea what is good or not anymore.

edit2: I also forgot to mention that I will need this PC to be as quiet as possible, while still being air cooled.

edit3: remembered I have a CD/DVD burner already.

 

[Dangman]

Prelim build:
$140 - AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition CPU
$80 - MSI 880GM-E43 AMD 880G mATX Motherboard
$45 - Kingston KVR1333D3N9/4G 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$178 - XFX HD-685X-ZNFC Radeon HD 6850 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$60 - Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$90 - Antec Truepower New TP-750 750W PSU
$124 - Asus VH202T-P 20" LCD Monitor
$26 - Asus PCE-N13 Wireless Adapter
$18 - Microsoft Optical mouse
---
Total: $761 shipped.

 

[Deleted member 12930]

Thanks for the build Danny! It looks really solid.

I'm looking up reviews and info on all the pieces!

 

[Deleted member 12930]

I think I'm going to go with just about everything listed with a few modifications.

Corsair TW3X4G1333C9A XMS3 4 GB Memory Kit fro PC3-10666 1333mhz 240-pin Dual Channel DDR3

and I'm curious about the video card. That is the area I'm the least experienced with. Is that a medium range card? Higher? Lower? I'm curious because at $178, it's the most expensive item on my list. Thought there might be room for me to scale down on that.

I'm also thinking of replacing the PSU with something different. But only for cosmetic reasons; I don't like that it has a blue LED. I'd like to avoid too many light sources on my PC.

Thoughts?

 

[Ultima99]

I think I'm going to go with just about everything listed with a few modifications.

Corsair TW3X4G1333C9A XMS3 4 GB Memory Kit fro PC3-10666 1333mhz 240-pin Dual Channel DDR3

and I'm curious about the video card. That is the area I'm the least experienced with. Is that a medium range card? Higher? Lower? I'm curious because at $178, it's the most expensive item on my list. Thought there might be room for me to scale down on that.

I'm also thinking of replacing the PSU with something different. But only for cosmetic reasons; I don't like that it has a blue LED. I'd like to avoid too many light sources on my PC.

Thoughts?

6850 is the lower of AMD's 2 current midrange cards. You probably don't want to go a whole lot lower than that.

 

[Deleted member 12930]

Good to know! Thanks!

 

[Dangman]

Corsair TW3X4G1333C9A XMS3 4 GB Memory Kit fro PC3-10666 1333mhz 240-pin Dual Channel DDR3

Biggest con I can see is that those RAM sticks will limit your future RAM uprades a bit. The RAM stick that I recommended is a single 4GB RAM stick. So that allows you to eventually add 16GB of RAM to the PC whereas your route would only allow for 12GB of RAM. And the higher cost as well. Up to you if you think the Corsair brand name is worth the extra $10 and lower RAM expansion

and I'm curious about the video card. That is the area I'm the least experienced with. Is that a medium range card? Higher? Lower? I'm curious because at $178, it's the most expensive item on my list. Thought there might be room for me to scale down on that.

I would not go any lower. It's pretty much just right for the resolution of the monitor I chose for most high-end games out there. I will admit however that it is probably overkill for Minecraft.

I'm also thinking of replacing the PSU with something different. But only for cosmetic reasons; I don't like that it has a blue LED. I'd like to avoid too many light sources on my PC.

In terms of best bang for the buck value, that Antec 750W is the best choice. It's really at the right price point. However if lights bother you that much and you're willing to accept a worse price to performance ratio:
$80 - Antec Truepower New TP-650 650W PSU
$105 - Corsair 750TX 750W PSU

The Antec TP-750 750W Blue has 2A more on the +12V rail than the Corsair 750TX, which means that the Antec 750W actually has more power than the 750TX. And then there's the slighlty higher quality of the Antec. Not bad for $15 less than the Corsair. And it's obvious why the TP750 Blue is a better value than the Antec TP650.

 

[Deleted member 12930]

Biggest con I can see is that those RAM sticks will limit your future RAM uprades a bit. The RAM stick that I recommended is a single 4GB RAM stick. So that allows you to eventually add 16GB of RAM to the PC whereas your route would only allow for 12GB of RAM. And the higher cost as well. Up to you if you think the Corsair brand name is worth the extra $10 and lower RAM expansion

I thought it's better to run RAM in pairs? Or is that a thing of the past? Honestly, I don't ever foresee this build requiring even 12GB of RAM. At most I'd at another 4GB...

I would not go any lower. It's pretty much just right for the resolution of the monitor I chose for most high-end games out there. I will admit however that it is probably overkill for Minecraft.

I think I'll stick with your selection at this point. I could definitely save money on getting a lower card, but that may just end up forcing me to upgrade it sooner... which I'd want to avoid.

In terms of best bang for the buck value, that Antec 750W is the best choice. It's really at the right price point. However if lights bother you that much and you're willing to accept a worse price to performance ratio:
$80 - Antec Truepower New TP-650 650W PSU
$105 - Corsair 750TX 750W PSU

The Antec TP-750 750W Blue has 2A more on the +12V rail than the Corsair 750TX, which means that the Antec 750W actually has more power than the 750TX. And then there's the slighlty higher quality of the Antec. Not bad for $15 less than the Corsair. And it's obvious why the TP750 Blue is a better value than the Antec TP650.

The reason I want to avoid an extra light is because my PC will be in the same room that my daughter is sleeping in at the moment. Granted, we're trying to get her sleeping in her crib now, so that problem won't really apply soon.... but it still bothers me having my PC lit up like that.

What about this one? http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-CMPSU-650TX-650-Watt-Certified-Supply/dp/B000X24ISU/ref=pd_cp_e_1 Same price, 100W lower... so more per watt... but performance wise, will it do the job well?

Also, I'm not familiar with Nvidia's latest video cards. How do those compare to the card you selected? I see plenty that are in the same price point, that from at least memory seem to all have the same stats. At that point, is it pretty much preference? Or do the ATI/AMD chipsets have a definite edge over Nvidia?

Or does that open up a can of worms?

 

[Dangman]

I thought it's better to run RAM in pairs? Or is that a thing of the past? Honestly, I don't ever foresee this build requiring even 12GB of RAM. At most I'd at another 4GB...

Thing of the past unless you desperately benefit from at the most 5% performance increase.

The reason I want to avoid an extra light is because my PC will be in the same room that my daughter is sleeping in at the moment. Granted, we're trying to get her sleeping in her crib now, so that problem won't really apply soon.... but it still bothers me having my PC lit up like that.

What about this one? http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-CMPSU-650TX-650-Watt-Certified-Supply/dp/B000X24ISU/ref=pd_cp_e_1 Same price, 100W lower... so more per watt... but performance wise, will it do the job well?

That 650TX, while a good PSU, is still not that good of a value compared the $80 Antec TP-650 650W PSU that I linked to earlier. And yes the Antec 650W PSU (not talking about the Antec 750W Blue) I linked to earlier is of slightly better quaity than Corsair 650TX.

Also, I'm not familiar with Nvidia's latest video cards. How do those compare to the card you selected? I see plenty that are in the same price point, that from at least memory seem to all have the same stats. At that point, is it pretty much preference? Or do the ATI/AMD chipsets have a definite edge over Nvidia?

Or does that open up a can of worms?

From a price to performance standpoint, Nvidia isn't that good of a choice. Yes some of their cards do indeed outperform some AMD cards but they often have a price of an even faster AMD card.

The closest Nvidia card to the HD 6850 1GB is the GTX 460 1GB. The HD 6850 1GB has the slight edge over it. Unfortunately the cheapest GTX 460 1GB on Amazon.com is $190. And before you bring up that you saw a GTX 460 1GB for $160, that's the GTX 460 1GB SE. That's a gimped version of the regular GTX 460 1GB and is actually slower than Nvidia's own GTX 460 768MB cards in many games. So yeah, Nvidia overall doesn't have that great of a price to performance value.

 

[Deleted member 12930]

While I do appreciate all your help Danny, I'm interested to hear others opinions as well! If anyone can give me advice on how my build is shaping up, I would appreciate it!

We got our new debit cards in the mail today; the wife and I are going to look through our finances one more time tomorrow, and then I'm going to pull the trigger and purchase my new computer!

 

[tiraides]

My opinion: Listen to Danny. He said practically everything that I would have said to you.

Show us what your final list looks like before you hit checkout.

 

[Ultima99]

Best value for nvidia:

GTX560 listed here:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1595235

It would be faster than the 6850 but $21 more expensive.

 

[Deleted member 88227]

No one has suggested an aftermarket CPU cooler to keep the noise level low?

 

[tiraides]

In most cases, the stock HSF isn't that loud. If you're really that picky, however, the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus is reportedly pretty quiet in most cases.

 

[Deleted member 12930]

I figured I can always buy a cooler after the fact, if the stock one is too loud.

Amazon doesn't carry the non-blue LED antec power supply that's the same wattage (well, one that's not really expensive), but Newegg does... I'm willing to pay the 8 extra bucks in tax for no LED. So I'm going to get that.

So as of now, this is my build:

From Amazon
$80 MSI 880GM-E43
$140 AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition
$174 XFX HD 6850 775M
$54 Corsair XMS3 4GB Memory kit
$60 Samsung 1TB Spinpoint HDD
$20 Asus PCE-N13 Wireless PCI card
$28 Logitech MX518 mouse
$124 ASUS VH202T-P 20 Inch Widescreen Monitor
--
subtotal: $688

From Newegg:
$98 Antec TruePower New TP-750 (free shipping, includes tax)
--
total: $786

Still waiting on final word on the finances. But it should be fine

 

[Dangman]

Looks good to me.

 

[Deleted member 12930]

And my computer has been ordered!!!

Thank you so much for all the help!

 

[Dangman]

Good luck!

 

[Deleted member 12930]

The shipments have started coming in

 

[Deleted member 12930]

My new computer is built and running good so far! The stock HSF is pretty loud, so I think I'm going to look into getting one that's more quiet.

Thanks again for the help!!!

 

[Dangman]

No prob!