Building Your Own Computer Vrs. Buying Premade

[Fallen]

I am looking to build a new computer for gaming. I set my last one up and it runs alright, but it is getting old. Does anyone advocate buying versus building? If so, please list a website or what not, and possible models. I'm looking to spend around 2k.

For those thinking building is better, I could use some advice. I am completely out of touch with today's standards, and have no idea where the price breaks are for the various products. CPU, Graphics cards, Motherboard, ram, etc. You name it, I am willing to listen to suggestions. Again, looking to spend around 2k - 2.5k tops. A list of specs and/or benchmarks I should hit for each component would be useful. Any advice at all is welcome, really.

[StrayRogue]

In terms of value for money building always trumps buying. The trade off is of course if something goes wrong with a self-build rig, you're screwed.

Personally I've built my machines up until the last. I earn enough now to buy top-end which includes warranty, 24-hour support, free pick-up/replacement etc.

So in conclusion it depends on A) budget B) technical skill C) how much hassle you can be bothered to put up with.

[Fallen]

A) 2k - 2.5k
B) None, I guess. I've done it before, but I don't have any classes or anything. Just inserted part A into slot B and what not.
C) If it means getting much, much more bang for my buck, I can put up with a lot. If it is just going to save me 100-200, I would rather buy.

[Khariz]

I am looking to build a new computer for gaming. I set my last one up and it runs alright, but it is getting old. Does anyone advocate buying versus building? If so, please list a website or what not, and possible models. I'm looking to spend around 2k.

For those thinking building is better, I could use some advice. I am completely out of touch with today's standards, and have no idea where the price breaks are for the various products. CPU, Graphics cards, Motherboard, ram, etc. You name it, I am willing to listen to suggestions. Again, looking to spend around 2k - 2.5k tops. A list of specs and/or benchmarks I should hit for each component would be useful. Any advice at all is welcome, really.

I've made my own gaming rig twice, and bought it twice. I kind of alternate. My current opinion is: Buy something pre-built, even if you are going to upgrade it.

So for example, if you want to put together a $2500 superhoss, I'd recommend doing it like this:

Buy the $700 prefab computer with the good motherboard, processor, and like 2 gigs of ram, making sure it has a pcie slot.

Then get two more gigs of ram, a 7200rpm+ HDD with as much space as you want, the graphics cared of your choice, and a gigawatt power supply. Throw in extra cooling if you want, and you'll still have saved a lot of money compared to the prefab 3grand gaming comp.

I've been doing it like that and saving about $1000 bucks on the end cost. But this way you are 100% sure to have your motherboard/processor tucked away correctly with a factory heatsink/fan, etc. Gotta be picky about motherboards to do it like this though.

[StrayRogue]

Agreed Khariz. Buy a pre-made with the option to upgrade. So anything that isn't a Dell or someother stupid company like that.

[phantasm]

I've been building my own since 1995. You will always get more bang for your buck that way. If you just want a machine and don't want to go through the hassle, then buy one already put together.

[Ashlander]

Speaking of Dell I know they own Alienware now do they own any other of the bigger gaming pc companies?

[Fallen]

Anyone have specific companies in mind, or should I just check sites like New Egg?

So I should be upgrading the Ram, Graphic's card, and HD. Any specific pieces you guys would suggest?

[Ashlander]

newegg or buy.com hell you might even want to check ebay if you can find a reputable seller.

[septus]

If you want to take the time to tweak it, an OCZ Vertex SSD can be a great drive. However, you have to partition it correctly (As is the case with all SSDs)

[Celephais]

I vote building, but I like to know what I have and I keep up on the tech.

If you already have a monitor spending $2.5k is massive overkill. $1k would net you a monster system that could handle whatever you throw at it. "Futureproofing" is better putting the extra $1.5k in the bank and just building a new system when ready.

Personally I'd build an i7, lowest i7 CPU, midrange X58 MB, 600W+ PSU, don't waste money on a retarded case, 6GB DDR3, two 1TB drives Matrix RAID'd (Personal pref on Matrix, if you don't care about the off chance of losing your data, RAID 0), GTX 260/275/280 (Maybe 285 if you find a good deal, I'm bias'd to nVidia, bang/buck you might be better w/ AMD GPU, but with Hybrid SLI you can 'future proof' your GPU a bit, and personally I am a fan of CUDA).

[Celephais]

Buying prebuilt will net you a bare bones motherboard that generally won't have room for much expansion, as well as a power supply that's just adequate. Sometimes the cases are even proprietary formats.

You've got to be careful w/ prebuilt because usually the specs don't list things to support future upgrades, they often swap out the components to be least necessary to fit your specs.

[Fallen]

>>Personally I'd build an i7, lowest i7 CPU, midrange X58 MB, 600W+ PSU, don't waste money on a retarded case, 6GB DDR3, two 1TB drives Matrix RAID'd (Personal pref on Matrix, if you don't care about the off chance of losing your data, RAID 0), GTX 260/275/280 (Maybe 285 if you find a good deal, I'm bias'd to nVidia, bang/buck you might be better w/ AMD GPU, but with Hybrid SLI you can 'future proof' your GPU a bit, and personally I am a fan of CUDA). >>

Thanks for this. Anyone disagree, care to list alternatives? If not I will start looking into pricing this stuff.

[AMUSED1]

Speaking of Dell I know they own Alienware now do they own any other of the bigger gaming pc companies?

Do NOT buy Alienware. It is so over-priced and totally not worth it. Although, I'm not sure how they work nowadays with being a subsidiary of Dell. But, I've bought two Alienware machines in the past, a laptop and a desktop, and it has ended up being so not worth the price. Tech support was a HUGE hassle to have anything done when both machines had problems right out of the box. And I was still left not fully satisfied; but I stopped trying after the hassle of spending hours on the phone with various departments and waiting around without a computer while it was in lieu of "being fixed".

[Proxy]

personally I would say build from grown up, don't bother with pre-build. The only computers I've purchased since college are lap-tops. I've build six systems now, and one server. Ground up is the way to go. More flexibility and bang for your buck. And its not nearly as hard as you'd think. Just get a general idea of what you want and start shopping around for the components to get it. I would HIGHLY recommend checking consumer sources for reviews on boards before you purchase though.

[radamanthys]

I think most of my sentiments are already given.

Case/PS- you might be better off getting this one retail. Shipping and whatnot.

Other than that, if it were me:
Motherboard: I'm an Asus fanboy. But that's me.
Ram: get a metric fuckton. Shove as much into there as possible. Like a bad black guys on blonde chicks porno.
Processor: The architecture matters way more than the speed. Go with the lowest-end i7.
Video: The hardest choice.
Hard disk: If I had my way, I'd use ssd for my working drive, and have a regular one for my big data. Spensive, but how much OS space does one really need?

That said, with 2-2.5k...
i7 -250+
asus p6t -~250
12gb pc1800? -240
3x PCIe x16 graphics cards -sky's the limit. 750?
hard drive- 2x SSD, Raid. 3x (1tb?) IDE, different Raid- depends on size. 500+?
Case & PS... prepare to pay for a PS for this beast.
Leaves 500 for the above and incidentals (dvd burner, blu-ray, USB vibrator, etc).

I think you could get by on 2500, there.

Oh, and Pirate your software or go open source.

[Proxy]

>go open source

Echo that, Open Source FTMW

[Parkbandit]

Agreed Khariz. Buy a pre-made with the option to upgrade. So anything that isn't a Dell or someother stupid company like that.

Same. I always purchase a pre-made that has the capability of being extensively upgraded. Even I can upgrade shit!

[Fallen]

Thanks again guys for the advice.

[Khades]

Virgin post woot. As long as you comfortable doing it I'd go with building, you get so much more value for a much lower price. I'll give my opinion on some things if you're looking to spend 2k, maybe you'll find them useful maybe not.

Processor - i7 would probably be a good bet, to my knowledge most games don't make much use out of quad-core processors yet so a quick dual-core would be just as good if not better, although if you like future-proofing then a quad-core definitely wouldn't hurt. Just avoid AMD processors IMO, they're cheaper but they have issues compared with Intel's processors.

Video Card - There's the whole nvidia vs. ati thing going on, personally I have an ati which I have absolutely no complaints with, whichever way you choose should be fine. Generally ati has cheaper price-points than its nvidia equivalents, although I'm not sure of the price differences on the newest generations. You should probably go big here and get something that you think you'll be happy with for awhile if your budget is $2k (The gtx 200 series or Radeon 4850/4870 X2). You can think about doing SLI or cross-fire with a compatible motherboard if you'd rather not spend a ton all at once. One thing to note also is that some ati video cards can run fairly hot compared with their nvidia equivalents, they're designed to function at these temperatures, but if you were planning on overclocking you'll want to watch the card's temperature and have good cooling in your case, although this is true for overclocking in general.

Case - Some people say case doesn't matter much, personally I think if you're running a high-end rig there's no reason not to have a case with space and good air-flow. As long as you're not buying a rinky-dink case with two fans, but zomg it has neon lights everywhere!!!, you should be fine. The Antec 900 is one of the better cases out there IMO, you can sometimes find a pretty good deal for it too. My motto is cool components are happy components.

Power Supply - Figure out what you need here after you determine all your other parts, you'll probably need a pretty decent amount of wattage. Only thing I'd say to look for is a power supply with high efficiency, it'll help save on the electric bill in the long run.

Newegg is a great site to buy from, you can check their deals and usually find something that will fit what you need. I'm sure there's plenty of sites like this, but you can check www.techbargains.com which points out good deals on technology from various sites to scope out prices.

[Drew]

>>Personally I'd build an i7, lowest i7 CPU, midrange X58 MB, 600W+ PSU, don't waste money on a retarded case, 6GB DDR3, two 1TB drives Matrix RAID'd (Personal pref on Matrix, if you don't care about the off chance of losing your data, RAID 0), GTX 260/275/280 (Maybe 285 if you find a good deal, I'm bias'd to nVidia, bang/buck you might be better w/ AMD GPU, but with Hybrid SLI you can 'future proof' your GPU a bit, and personally I am a fan of CUDA). >>

Thanks for this. Anyone disagree, care to list alternatives? If not I will start looking into pricing this stuff.


I prefer AMD, but Nvidia is good as well, flip a coin. If you are gonna do SLI (nvidia)/crossfire (AMD) make sure you buy a motherboard with multiple PCI-E slots. Also I'd probably get a 700-1000 watt PSU. If you want to run 2 GTX 280 in SLI (which will run ANYTHING) go with this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139007&Tpk=corsair%20hx1000



If you want to run triple 280s or dual 295 you're talking about a 1200+ watt PSU. And over $1000 in GPUs. Dual 280s will slay anything and is already overkill.

[Jayvn]

avoid an integrated video card :(

[Danical]

I like to build mine because I keep my comp in my room and absolutely need a super silent case.

I could sleep fine when I lived next to a freeway but I can't for the life of me sleep next to my comp.

[AnticorRifling]

I normally build mine but this current rig I got from cyberpowerpc.com and I love it. I just wasn't in the mood to shop parts so I went with a custom ordered pc.

[The Ponzzz]

avoid an integrated video card :(

Yeah, never ever ever ever ever get an intergrated VC.

Personally, on your budget, just but a pre-made monster. While building them is relatively easy and a lot cheaper, buying a pre-made always nets a 1 year warranty. With your budget and no need for a monitor, you could get a killer system...

However... If you're going to go with Windows for an OS, you might want to hold off until Windows 7 is pre-loaded on the machines. That is what I'm doing. I like Vista, but Windows 7 looks like pure sex.

Also: Newegg has been suggested. I haven't done any reviews recently on their shit, but IBuyPower.com use to be awesome.

[Sean of the Thread]

I've built all of my boxes except my commodore 64 and tandy 1000sl early days and the last sony vaio I bought was awesome and with some upgrades is still pwning.

If I had the money I would do what Wayne did. But if you know wtf you're doing and poor as shit you can build for almost nothing.

That being said nice rigs are so cheap now a days /shrug?? hard to decide.

[The Ponzzz]

That being said nice rigs are so cheap now a days /shrug?? hard to decide.

QFT. Computers are no where in price for a pre-made that they use to be. You can even go to Best Buy and walk out the door with a powerful machine at about $1.2k with an HD monitor.

[Proxy]

Echo: Integrated anything is generally a bad idea.(generally)

Avoid ATI graphics cards, I so <3 to </3 those things.

Avoid AMD

That is all.

[Bobmuhthol]

Please do not avoid ATI and AMD.

Granted, my gaming machine has a C2D and 9600 GT, but I still don't prefer Intel or NVIDIA.

[Deathravin]

I am looking to build a new computer for gaming. I set my last one up and it runs alright, but it is getting old. Does anyone advocate buying versus building? If so, please list a website or what not, and possible models. I'm looking to spend around 2k.

For those thinking building is better, I could use some advice. I am completely out of touch with today's standards, and have no idea where the price breaks are for the various products. CPU, Graphics cards, Motherboard, ram, etc. You name it, I am willing to listen to suggestions. Again, looking to spend around 2k - 2.5k tops. A list of specs and/or benchmarks I should hit for each component would be useful. Any advice at all is welcome, really.

www.HardOCP.com
www.sharkyextreme.com

What I usually do is I go to the current 'value pc' on sharky extreme and tweak things here and there to get to about my price range. If it's 2,000 you could go with the high-end buyers guide and tweak things down until you hit your 2,000.

[H] is good for finding the right components and getting up-to-date on current hardware trends.

[Fallen]

My monitor is pretty old. It is nice, I guess, but I doubt it is capable of high def (is it just a resolution setting, or do you need high-def hookups?) I am also considering running it directly to my TV so I can use my big screen as a monitor. I imagine most graphic cards can do that these days, right?

Anticor, what do you have and how much did you pay if you don't mind me asking?

[Stanley Burrell]

http://www.corvetteblogger.com/images/content/071807_2.jpg

This is pretty much guaranteed to get you some Impala Girl poonani.

[Sean of the Thread]

Only if it's a HEMI

[Trouble]

AMD and ATI have treated me well. My last two gaming rigs used them. AMD CPUs are great bang/buck. I used to be a loyal ASUS mobo fan but my latest one is Gigabyte (to try something new).

I built my latest system myself but seriously considered buying a premade since everything is dirt cheap now.

I recommend newegg.com. If nothing else, read the reviews there then do a search for the cheapest place to get it. Newegg has good customer service and fast shipping though so unless there's a big difference in price somewhere else, I'll usually order from them.

[Sean of the Thread]

I switched from a gigabyte to ASUS in my last build actually and liked it. I went through three rma's with the gigabyte board.

My latest box is intel cpu with ATI card and have no complaints.

[Proxy]

oh, almost forgot. Check with local mop/pop computer stores. Depending on the area you can sometime get a top of the line computer built for you or one of there high end custom rigs for cheap. My first computer was from a place called computer renaissance in Omaha. Damn fine computer & I only payed 1,000 for it w/ a monitor. If I had gone to best buy or tried to order a similar computer from dell, gateway, etc I would of paid 2x that. This of course was about 9 years ago... so... :shrug:

[The Ponzzz]

oh, almost forgot. Check with local mop/pop computer stores. Depending on the area you can sometime get a top of the line computer built for you or one of there high end custom rigs for cheap. My first computer was from a place called computer renaissance in Omaha. Damn fine computer & I only payed 1,000 for it w/ a monitor. If I had gone to best buy or tried to order a similar computer from dell, gateway, etc I would of paid 2x that. This of course was about 9 years ago... so... :shrug:

I haven't seen a small business computer store survive this economy. Everyone of them have closed their doors.

[AnticorRifling]

My monitor is pretty old. It is nice, I guess, but I doubt it is capable of high def (is it just a resolution setting, or do you need high-def hookups?) I am also considering running it directly to my TV so I can use my big screen as a monitor. I imagine most graphic cards can do that these days, right?

Anticor, what do you have and how much did you pay if you don't mind me asking? I just built a system to play WoW. Nothing uber but it's an Asus M2M-SLI Mobo, NVidia GeForce 8600 GT 512mb video card, 250gb SATA HDD, 3GB ram. When it got here I tossed in a few more fans just for SnGs. Cost me 600 (w/o OS or software because I had all that).

[Celephais]

My monitor is pretty old. It is nice, I guess, but I doubt it is capable of high def (is it just a resolution setting, or do you need high-def hookups?)
It's just if the monitor is capable of the resolution. 1920x1200 is the standard "High def" resolution (WUXGA), although 1920x1080 are becoming more popular (these are 16:9 instead of 16:10 widescreens). I forget if VGA plugs can handle that bandwidth, but I know DVI plugs can, and you can get HDMI<-> DVI wires cheaply (www.firefold.com (http://www.firefold.com))


I am also considering running it directly to my TV so I can use my big screen as a monitor. I imagine most graphic cards can do that these days, right?
Again an HDMI<->DVI will be all you'll need, some new cards come with HDMI out.

How often do you buy a new computer? I'd like to reiterate my suggestion to not spend a fuckton, you can easily spend twice the money for 10% performance increase, when a year down the line you could use that money to buy a whole new fresh computer at 20% performance increase.

[Fallen]

K. I ended up spending 2.5k on the nose for the rig. Bought everything from New Egg. Was searching for best prices, but Newegg kept coming up. Here is what I got:

Antec Skeleton Black ATX Mini Tower Computer Case
ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
GIGABYTE GV-N295-18I-B GeForce GTX 295 1792MB 896 (448 x 2)-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
PC Power & Cooling Silencer Dell Upgrade PPCS500D 500W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply
Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor
CORSAIR DOMINATOR 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory
G.SKILL FM-25S2S-128GB 2.5"
128GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid state disk (SSD)
RAZER Tarantula RZ03-00070100 Black USB Standard Gaming Keyboard
Microsoft SideWinder X8 Black USB 2.4GHz Wireless Gaming Mouse
LG Black 6X Blu-ray Disc Burner & HD DVD-ROM Drive SATA Model GGW-H20L
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64-bit for System Builders
ZALMAN CNPS9900LED 120mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler

No monitor on there because I am going to be hooking it up to my big screen in the main room. Graphics/sound card was pricey, but I figured because I was going through the TV/Receiver I shouldn't fuck about.

[Proxy]

hmmm...... You best be posting pics of that beast when finished.

Oh, did you check to make sure there wouldn't be any compatibility issues between the hard ware before you bought it all.(dumb question I know, but that was my biggest screw up with my 1st computer build.)

Any ways, looks like a killer build, and enjoy playing Vanguard Saga of Heroes in ultra high res with max detail.

[Fallen]

I actually bought a magazine that outlined which pieces they liked best, and went with their suggestions for CPU, Motherboard, Ram, Graphics and Sound card to ensure I wouldn't run into that problem. I took your guy's advice and went with the entry level i7 chip. The rest just seemed like overkill, and I can always upgrade later.

I think I will get Fallout 3 first so I can mod the shit out of the game.

[Fallen]

Anyone have any experience with Solid State Disk HDs? They said they were faster, but aren't as big. I figure if I need a ton of space I will get an external standard HD.

[Bobmuhthol]

Picture SSD as having a permanent thumb drive in your machine. Definitely faster because it eliminates the speed restrictions from physical movement (eg., rpm ratings).

[Fallen]

It was a LOT less space, but I don't need insane amounts.

[pabstblueribbon]

Honestly, the black edition phenom II 45 nm is what i'd be looking at if I was going for bang/buck. The entry level i7 is a good deal but they fuck you on the x58 chipset motherboards. The 944 is 4 cores and can overclock like a som bitch, save the money, throw it into SSD's raid striped/better vid card.. drool. Anyways, pay attention to what you buy and what SSD controller you got. Intels got the best controller right now, there've been some bugs out there. Read up on www.anandtech.com if you need insight.

[septus]

I use a OCZ Vertex SSD 60Gb in my laptop. Drops the bootup speed by about half. However, you do have to partition it correctly and there some other tweaks you can do to get the best out of it. If you google the OCZ Vertex forum, and go to their SATA SSD section there's a sticky that has optimizations for windows.

[Celephais]

Antec Skeleton Black ATX Mini Tower Computer Case $150
What did I tell you about not getting a stupid case? You didn't spend a lot but... You may run out of room.

ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard $270Solid base to work with

GIGABYTE GV-N295-18I-B GeForce GTX 295 1792MB 896 (448 x 2)-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card $530A monster, but you're certainly paying for it.

PC Power & Cooling Silencer Dell Upgrade PPCS500D 500W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply $75Considering the rest of the build, I think you low balled yourself here. It should be fine, but if you ever look to SLI I'd consider upgrading this.

Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor $280Great choice

CORSAIR DOMINATOR 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory $166Corsairs are kind of a rip... Considering you could have filled your MB with 6x2GB sticks for the same price or less, with the same default timings (Eg. Patriot Viper).

G.SKILL FM-25S2S-128GB 2.5"
128GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid state disk (SSD) $290I'm not a fan of SSD yet, but hopefully it pays off for you. 128 GB will disappear quickly, but you can get an extremely cheap HDD as a 'storage' drive to add to your rig whenever it becomes a problem.

RAZER Tarantula RZ03-00070100 Black USB Standard Gaming Keyboard $90
Microsoft SideWinder X8 Black USB 2.4GHz Wireless Gaming Mouse $80Wired keyboard & Wireless mouse? ... Personally I'm a fan of wired both and I know sometimes you can't find the wired version of a given mouse.

LG Black 6X Blu-ray Disc Burner & HD DVD-ROM Drive SATA Model GGW-H20L $200Can you pirate me some blu ray movies?

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional $140Your motherboard has great integrated sound, I'd wager this is the least bang/buck add to the build.

Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64-bit for System Builders $180Good deal, watch for a Microsoft "release party" when Win 7 is released, they're usually for developers/sys admins, but they give away free software (I got Vista Ultimate 64 for free at the last one).

ZALMAN CNPS9900LED 120mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler $60Zalman is good stuff.

You've got some great overclocking room in your build, I don't know if you plan to overclock it. Anyway hope you don't consider this me ragging on it, it's going to be a great system, thought I'd give you a point/point thoughts.

[Androidpk]

Nothing wrong with the PSU he picked out, that brand is one of the best IMO.

[Fallen]

Ack. I couldn't tell if that damned keyboard was wired or wireless. Can you buy an extender cord for it? I don't mind a cord along the ground, as long as it is just one, and it isn't a mouse cord. They wanted me to buy a 300 power source. Seemed a bit silly.

[Androidpk]

300 would be too low and yes you can get a 25 foot cable extension for the keyboard for like $2.

Edit to add: Most of the components you've picked are very nice and it is going to be one killer gaming rig. Gotta agree with Celephais about the case though, horrid. If it isn't too late I would swap out that for something better. The Antec 300 and 900 are both very nice and would be much better then the skeleton.

[Fallen]

I don't really need to overclock anything for quite a while. Couldn't I just plug in an external HD into the wall?

[Bobmuhthol]

You could get a portable hard drive powered by USB as well.

[Fallen]

300 would be too low and yes you can get a 25 foot cable extension for the keyboard for like $2.

Edit to add: Most of the components you've picked are very nice and it is going to be one killer gaming rig. Gotta agree with Celephais about the case though, horrid. If it isn't too late I would swap out that for something better. The Antec 300 and 900 are both very nice and would be much better then the skeleton.

Is the complaint about the case because it is too small, or ..? I will look at those two cases.

[Androidpk]

It's very small and from what i've been told you really do need to research all your components carefully before you purchase them as there is not a lot of leg room inside the skeleton and some parts just don't fit.

[Fallen]

This case was recommended with the other components I purchased.

[Bobmuhthol]

Yeah but the case is also a mini tower and only pussies need smaller cases for their gaming machines.

[Fallen]

Maybe I should just order the other (Antec 900) case, and send the skeleton back when it arrives. Skeleton looks cool, and this will be right in my main room, but I don't think it will work with my fan, and I really don't feel like modding the case.

I don't think I need a full Tower. At all.

[Sean of the Thread]

I give a thumbs up to my two Antec cases and power supplies used in the past.

One had 8 bays as well.

[Fallen]

You guys saw what I am putting into this case. Full tower sounds like overkill. All those empty bays. I think I am going to order a different CPU fan and go with what I have.

[Fallen]

Ended up getting a CPU fan that reportedly fits inside this case. Should be good to go.

[Fallen]

Well, turns out that playing on a 70'' screen is REALLY hard on the graphics card. Even the best one on the market. I am going to have to buy a second 295x and run them both using SLI. Even on the crappiest settings Farcry 2 and Fallout 3 still have terrible clipping issues. Very, very annoying.

[Celephais]

umm... the size of the screen doesn't make a difference, it's the resolution. The only thing that could be messed up would be refresh rate. I can run fallout 3 at the highest settings at 1920x1200 on an 8800 GTS. Your TV is likely running at 1920x1080.

[Fallen]

umm... the size of the screen doesn't make a difference, it's the resolution. The only thing that could be messed up would be refresh rate. I can run fallout 3 at the highest settings at 1920x1200 on an 8800 GTS. Your TV is likely running at 1920x1080.

Tried running on different resolutions. Got all the latest drivers. Did everything possible. All games still run like shit. Kinda out of options at this point.

[Celephais]

Tried running on different resolutions. Got all the latest drivers. Did everything possible. All games still run like shit. Kinda out of options at this point.
And when you're hooked up to a regular monitor? The TV shouldn't have any effect. Throwing another GPU at the problem won't fix it... Sounds like there is something else going on.

[Fallen]

Any suggestions? I'm thinking of having Geek Squad take a look. It is expensive, but less so than buying another 550 dollar Graphics card.

[Celephais]

Get something like 3d mark, I believe it'll give you a better idea of what the bottleneck is. It could be something as simple as your card not getting enough power from the power supply (does it take two plugs?) and reverting to a low power mode.

[Bobmuhthol]

Because Best Buy, a company interested in profit maximization, is totally the place to go when you have problems with your computer.

[Fallen]

Bob, you comments of late have been extremely cynical. If you've something useful to add to a conversation, by all means do so. If you've nothing but snippy comments, you can straight piss off.

[Fallen]

Get something like 3d mark, I believe it'll give you a better idea of what the bottleneck is. It could be something as simple as your card not getting enough power from the power supply (does it take two plugs?) and reverting to a low power mode.

I'm think it may just be my PSU. It does take two separate plugs, but both are obviously plugged in. At first, they were incorrectly, and the light on the thing was red. It turned green when it was properly assembled. Still, it may not be enough to power all of my components. It isn't like I have a hundred things going on at once, though.

I will have to check out that 3d mark.

Edit: For those curious: http://www.futuremark.com/benchmarks/3dmarkvantage/download/

I will play with this later.

[BigWorm]

Sounds like a driver issue to me.

[Fallen]

It turns out the Power Source is nowhere near strong enough to power the card. It will run, but not deliver the required amps. A new one is on its way. For whoever said not to skimp on a PSU when building this thing, do your dance of victory now. You were completely right (assuming that fixes the problem)

[Celephais]

PC Power & Cooling Silencer Dell Upgrade PPCS500D 500W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply $75
Considering the rest of the build, I think you low balled yourself here. It should be fine, but if you ever look to SLI I'd consider upgrading this.


Nothing wrong with the PSU he picked out, that brand is one of the best IMO.


...It could be something as simple as your card not getting enough power from the power supply (does it take two plugs?) and reverting to a low power mode.


It turns out the Power Source is nowhere near strong enough to power the card. It will run, but not deliver the required amps. A new one is on its way. For whoever said not to skimp on a PSU when building this thing, do your dance of victory now. You were completely right (assuming that fixes the problem)

Oh believe me, I'm doing my little dance, even if it doesn't end up fixing the problem, I'll continue to revel in victory :tumble:

[Fallen]

It isn't a bad PSU, it is just not powerful enough to fuel that monster of a card. You can actually link 3 of those things together for a total of 6 GPU's in one system (Each card is actually two put together). I don't think I will need that kind of power for some time, but the new bastard I got whould have the ability to fuel it.

[Celephais]

No I got that, that's why you're in low power mode. Most GPUs will tell you the amperage you need over the 12v rail, on the order of 26-28 for high end cards. The problem is that a lot of the specs for PSUs on sites like newegg don't list the individual rail amperage, and you need to look up the specs yourself.

A 1000W PSU might not actually be able to handle your GPU, it's all about how much they have dedicated to an individual rail.

[Androidpk]

That's odd because that PSU delivers more then the required amount of amps on the +12v rail.

[Celephais]

All the 12v rails? He may not have it configured properly, that and if he's got enough other components on that rail instead of just the GPU that'll drop the amps.

[Androidpk]

I double check the PSU and it looks like that one is a single rail only, that could be why. I thought it was a dual rail, my mistake :(

[Fallen]

PC Power & Cooling Silencer Dell Upgrade PPCS500D 500W ATX12V

500W, is what the PSU is rated, with +12V@35A giving me what I believe to be 35 amps. The min requirements for the GPU is 680W with 46A on the +12V. It can't do it, Androidpk. It doesn't have the power.

[Androidpk]

Is that what it says on the video card's box? I checked a few places and they all said the GTX 295 amp requirement was 26A.

[Fallen]

I'm reading what is in the instruction manual, yeah.

[Fallen]

Swapped PSUs, didn't help.

[Celephais]

Too busy dancing, can't help....

What's the new PSU?

[Fallen]

Corsair 1k Watt. One of the ones recommended in the mag.