new build suggestions

Z

zohair

n00b
Joined
Jan 18, 2007
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49
Hi guys, hoping to put together a new system over the coming holidays and wanted to start getting some ideas on parts now so I can keep my eyes peeled during all the holiday deals. Also curious if generally people go for AMD vs Intel for these mid range gaming rigs.

Thanks for the help/suggestions.

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

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
~700 ish, but flexible

3) Where do you live?
California

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
CPU, RAM, MB, GPU.

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 Antec Nine Hundred case which i think should be fine, a coolmax 500 w ps, not sure if it will cut it. I have all the peripheries I will need, and a decent hard drive.

To give you an idea of my current specs, I am using G.SKILL 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800, Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz, GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L, and a Nvidia 8800gt

6) Will you be overclocking?
I like the idea of it, but honestly haven't ever tried, so its not high on the list of priorities

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
I swtich b/w my 20.1 LCD 1680x1050 and my 40 inch (?) HD LCD tv which is 1080p.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Over the next 2 months.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
Don't need RAID/firewire

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
Yep, planning on using windows 7
 
amd you will save some money no doubt. i like both intel and amd. 700ish can definately build a nice amd rig. hmm not sure how good a coolmax psu is. might have to figure that into your budget.
 
 
Do you guys suggest not updating the motherboard etc? I mentioned my old RAM/CPU/MB more for reference, I am not tied them by any means.
 
zohair said:
Do you guys suggest not updating the motherboard etc? I mentioned my old RAM/CPU/MB more for reference, I am not tied them by any means.
Click to expand...

Yeah, no point in replacing the motherboard.
 
another question (sorry! so much I still have to learn) how do you guys differentiate between power supplies? What kind of stats do you look for? Also how can you tell if one is really more quiet then another, they all seem to advertise how their "fan" is silent etc.
 
zohair said:
another question (sorry! so much I still have to learn) how do you guys differentiate between power supplies? What kind of stats do you look for? Also how can you tell if one is really more quiet then another, they all seem to advertise how their "fan" is silent etc.
Click to expand...

What I look for in a good PSU:
- Total amperage on the +12V rail
- What temperature it was rated at
- Whether or not it was rated at peak or continuous
- Who the actual manufacturer was. Generally determines who the better PSU in most situations.
- Proper reviews (like done by HardOCP.com and JonnyGuru.com) of the PSU or a PSU based on the same platform
- Price
- Then decide which PSU has the better price to performance ratio.

And you really can't tell if a PSU is quieter than another without reading an actual review of it. However if the PSU uses 80mm fan, it generally means that it will be a bit louder than a PSU with a 120mm fan.

Personally, I'd spend the extra $10 for the better quality and larger Corsair 650TX:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005&Tpk=650TX

More amperage on the +12V rail (52A VS the 40A of the CM PSU) and of better quality due to its Seasonic manufacture
 
Danny Bui said:
What I look for in a good PSU:
- Total amperage on the +12V rail
- What temperature it was rated at
- Whether or not it was rated at peak or continuous
- Who the actual manufacturer was. Generally determines who the better PSU in most situations.
- Proper reviews (like done by HardOCP.com and JonnyGuru.com) of the PSU or a PSU based on the same platform
- Price
- Then decide which PSU has the better price to performance ratio.

And you really can't tell if a PSU is quieter than another without reading an actual review of it. However if the PSU uses 80mm fan, it generally means that it will be a bit louder than a PSU with a 120mm fan.
Click to expand...

This should be made into a sticky. :)
 
PC_User said:
This should be made into a sticky. :)
Click to expand...

QFT.

as to the 4th and 5th point, if you're thinking about buying a perticular PSU, find it here, here, or here, before you reach for your credit card. Some general safe buys are Seasonic, BFG*, corsair, Enermax*, PC P&C, and Silverstone branded units. Generally speaking, when one of the afformentioned companies puts out a cheap unit, it'l perform cheaply, but almost always in-spec. The two with stars have been known to, in the past, put out a couple questionable units. BFG in perticular, before hiring John Gerrow (of jonnyguru.com), put out this unit, among two others in the same line, which were, in the words of John; "The Performance [of the BFG 650W] gets a 6 [out of 10] due to poor voltage regulation, negative reaction to the hot box, lack of power factor correction and mediocre efficiency". Some products to avoid are OCZ, Apevia, Coolmax, Dynex, Rocketfish, Topower, Rosewood, Sunbeam, Startech, and Raidmax branded units. Below $60, these companies rarely build units that have sufficient Over Current Protection (OCP), or properly regulated rails making them not just poor units but in some cases making them dangerous units.

Anyways, to the OP, If I were you I'd go for an XFX (of the ATI AIB's XFX is the only company to offer a reputable lifetime warranty) HD5850, a nice new Q9550, and a new solid 500W unit. As a canadian I don't pay as much attention to Newegg specials as I do to the canadian Etailer specials, so I'm sure danny or HardwareGuru could find you a better deal, but I'd suggest:

- XFX HD 5850 ( specs)
- Intel Q9550 (full 12MB L2!)
- and maybe a BFG GS 550W, or Enermax Pro82+ 550W
I remember I was looking for a review of the GS550W for a long time, and Anandtech finally did one for us, and its very good news; for $50 you get an Enhance w/ a max of 65mV noise on the 12V.
 
Last edited:
Why would he go from an E6400 to an E6300? That's going backwards.

IF you're gonna spend $700 might as well go with an i5 and step up to the next generation.

CPU+ Mobo. i5 750 + EVGA FTW Motherboard combo. $415.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.266098

RAM+GPU. 4GB Gskill Ripjaw DDR3 + XFX 4890. $270.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.265563

Total: $685.

PS. You can just buy the RAM alone and wait for the 5770 to be released if you want DX11 as well.
 
vjcsmoke said:
Why would he go from an E6400 to an E6300? That's going backwards.
Click to expand...

Your wrong. Its a mutiplier move. A e6400 (65nm) has a 8multi and a E6300(45nm) has a 10.5 multi. SO:

to reach 4.0ghz, the e6400 would need to go to 500fsb, whereas the e6300 could reach that at 386fsb. eaiser on the board and other componets. More money to spend on a new videocard.

Also since the e6400 is selling for $50-60 right now, its easy to upgrade the processor to the 45nm chips.
 
Live near a Fry's? If so, pickup the E7500 for $99, sell the MSI P43 Neo-F and your E6400. If not, just get a nice cooler and OC that E6400. That thing is a beast, assuming you got one of the earlier versions. If you have the latter revision, then it'll still hit 3.2Ghz with a cheap cooler, like the AC Freezer 7 pro, CM Hyper 212 or 212+ (get the cheapest).

Simply go into MIT, set your clock control to manual, lock your pci-e clock at 100mhz, make sure the cpu multiplier is 8x and dram multiplier is at 2x, bump your cpu voltage one or two notches up, bump the fsb voltage to +.01v, bump the mch voltage to +.01v, and set your FSB clock to 400Mhz, and you should be good to go. ;)

If you'd rather sell all your old stuff an buy something new, go for it if you don't mind the price... i5 750, P55-UD3L, 4GB DDR3-1600 G.Skill Ripjaws, and an HD5850.
 
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