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Need some general hardware advice

Crowzone

n00b
Joined
Feb 5, 2008
Messages
16
So, I'm building a new computer system (Upgrading from a C2D system), ready to purchase immediately, have some general questions to direct my research however:

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc

Gaming (Mostly MMO's, Starcraft 2, but the odd FPS here and there) Very little, if any, video/sound/photo editing


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

1200-1500 Canadian including shipping

3) Where do you live?

Niagara Falls, Ontario

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.

CPU/Mobo/Ram/Vidcard/Optical Drive/SSD/HD/OS

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.

Reusing, if possible: Case : Antec p182 and PSU - Enermax Liberty 500W psu, Monitor - 20inch@1650x1200

6) Will you be overclocking?

Eventually

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

have a 20 inch @ 1650x1200 - Not upgrading immediately but yes eventually.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?

Immediately.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.

I suppose I would want support for USB3 as I am sure eventually I will get a USB3 device of some sort.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?

No - need to buy a license of Win7 64

OTHER NOTES:
The i7-9xx line is out for me since I don't feel the 1366 socket is worth investing in and I want to get the most bang for my buck - so I'm planning on going 1156 which gives me two options:

1) Get an i7-870 with a 5850GPU (among everything else)

OR

2) Get an i5-760 with a 5870GPU

Keeping in mind presently using a 20 inch display at 1650x1200 - but monitor upgrade is next as well

As an aside - Is it worth jacking up everything else in the system a notch and using an AMD based processor?
 
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my opinions carry zero weight around here since I'm a n00b, but general consensus on the forums seems to be that if you only game, an AMD system A) gives a slight performance edge in gaming compared to similar intel CPUs, and B) costs less, allowing you to spend your moneyz on other components, like video cards.
 
Current Newegg Cart:

LG DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model GH24NS50 $24.99

Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive $54.99

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders $104.99

XFX HD-585X-ZAFC Radeon HD 5850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card w/ Eyefinity $309.99

CORSAIR DOMINATOR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMD4GX3M2A1600C9 $109.49

GIGABYTE GA-P55A-UD3 LGA 1156 Intel P55 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard $149.99

Intel Core i7-870 Lynnfield 2.93GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor BX80605I7870 $309.99

OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTXE60G 2.5" 60GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) $169.00

Grand Total: $1,420.99 (taxes and shipping included)
 
My big question is - downgrade to an i5-750 and then upgrade the video card to a 5870? or stay at the i7-870 and 5850?
 
with that size display you are going to see much of difference between 5850 or 5870 in 99% of the games out there.
 
very few games will take advantage of 8 gigs of ram in real world gameplay...
 
In the end, I splurged anyways -

Ended up with:


Intel Core i7-870 Lynnfield 2.93GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor BX80605I7870
ASUS P7P55D-E LX LGA 1156 Intel P55 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel
XFX HD-587X-ZNFC Radeon HD 5870 1GB 256-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTXE60G 2.5" 60GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s
LG Black Blu-ray Disc Combo SATA Model CH10LS20 OEM LightScribe Support - OEM
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM


Now to wait for it to arrive....
 
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