Buying new computer

[Kuyuk]

I've been pumping myself up to buy a new computer finally after several long years... (I'm sure there's a thread on here from the last one I bought)

Last one was an alienware. Loved it. Still runs awesome after ~3 years I think. I've only upgraded the graphics card.

Problem I have is the size of the freaking case.

25"x19"x9" or some shit.

It's so massive I could barely fit it in my car to travel with it.

I was going to buy another alienware, since I had such a good experience with this one. But it looks the case sizes are all the same [massive]. While I love my system and everything, I still plan on moving a fair amount of times, and the ginormous case wont cut it. And I wont buy a laptop.

I have two choices I need to make.. choice a) buying a system thats pre-built so I can make smaller payments over time to pay it off (~$100/month etc, which is ideal).

or b) buying random parts at various times for two-three months as I get money to build my own system (not quite so ideal financially)

~1200 range

Thoughts?


K.

[Kuyuk]

http://forum.gsplayers.com/showthread.php?t=12850&highlight=computer

2005 when I bought my last alienware.

[TheEschaton]

Buying a new computer? YOU RACIST!

[pabstblueribbon]

For 1200 bucks I could build you a fucking monster. The new Phenom II x4's kick ass btw, and they've dropped their prices a TON. They're better than alot of core II solutions, especially at their price point. You could however wait until the I5's come out, that will compete against this price point, and will subsequently lower the prices again on the Phenom II x4s. I think the high end Phenom II with the highest end MB bundle is around 350 bucks on new egg... think of what you could do with the rest of that money.. can you say... video card(s)?

[Endlin]

I think you'll save a few bucks building your own, if you're comfortable doin that. It's not exactly rocket science. The big downside to piecing one to together yourself, though, is that to get the parts on the cheap you're probably going to buy a lot of them OEM. Which means the warranty is either non existant or miniscule. But then again... In the 4 systems I've built myself, all I have ever had die was a hard drive... Once. Even the PC I built in high school still runs.

Not to mention if you buy a pre-fab and pay it off over time, you're likely going to pay some interest. And eff that.

also: http://www.newegg.com Their return policy is top notch, their prices are usually the lowest you'll find and their delivery is quick.

[Androidpk]

also: http://www.newegg.com Their return policy is top notch, their prices are usually the lowest you'll find and their delivery is quick.

Newegg is definitely a great place for computer components. Only thing I don't like about them is their return policy for LCD monitors with dead pixels.

[Endlin]

Yeah. Something like, fewer than 5 dead pixels and they tell you to fuck off.

I usually buy monitors from the store because of that.

[Anebriated]

I generally compare prices between newegg and tigerdirect. More often than not newegg is the best but once in awhile ill find some great deals on tigerdirect. Im definitely in favor of building your own. I built one for myself probably 3-4 years ago and its still running strong. Was the first time I built one too.

[diethx]

If you do go the build it yourself route, instead of buying one piece here and one piece there as you get the money, just put all the money aside as you save it and then buy it all at once. You don't want to buy a processor first and then (>) a month later finish buying it all and put it together only to find out the processor is bad and it's past the 30 day exchange limit.

[Androidpk]

Yeah. Something like, fewer than 5 dead pixels and they tell you to fuck off.

I usually buy monitors from the store because of that.

It's 8 dead pixels or more to return :/

[Donquix]

I like new egg for their shipping.

I click "submit" and i hear a knock at the door.

[Inspire]

Here is what I bought and built... a few months ago? (I spent about $1200)

Intel Corporation Intel® Boxed Core® i7 Processor 920
samsung 22x dvdrw sata
Seagate 1TB 3.5" Sata 7200 RPM
MS OEM Vista Home Premium SP1 64 MB OE
Asus Computer International P6T X58 1366 ATX Motherboard
e-GeForce GTX 260 896MB GDDR3 PCIe 2.0 Graphics Card (Core 216)
Corsair 6GB Kit DDR3 tr3x6g1600
Corsair 650W Modular ATX PSU
Raidmax Smilodon ATX Case

[Kuyuk]

After a little bit of browsing, here's what I'm looking at... If you spot anything that seems dumb (199.99 computer case...), or that isnt compatable/viable, let me know...


I still need to get an OS. Havent gotten that far, I know there's a combo deal for one, if I Can find out which piece it was on..



MB: GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard – Retail 109.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128387

Processor: AMD Phenom II X4 810 2.6GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 4MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Processor – Retail 149.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103650


HD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS 1.5TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive (bare drive) - OEM - 129.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337


Graphic CarD: XFX HD-487A-ZHFC Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card – Retail 149.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150394


RAM: Kingston HyperX 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Quad Kit Desktop Memory Model KHX6400D2LLK4/8G – Retail 127.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104108



Power Supply: XCLIO STABLEPOWER 850W 850W ATX SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply – Retail – 149.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817189015

Case: XCLIO 777 Black/Titanium Finish Chassis: 1.0 mm SECC; ABS Plastic ATX Full Tower Extreme Cooling PC Case – Retail 199.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811103029

Combo deal: XCLIO STABLEPOWER 850W 850W ATX SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply - Retail - 149.99
XCLIO 777 Black/Titanium Finish Chassis: 1.0 mm SECC; ABS Plastic ATX Full Tower Extreme Cooling PC Case - Retail - 199.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.233292


CD/DVD: Sony Optiarc 24X DVD/CD Rewritable Drive Black SATA Model AD-7240S-0B - OEM - 29.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118030

[pabstblueribbon]

Excellent fucking choices bro. I would probably opt for a Black Edition proc my self though :)... You might want to read this article too.

http://anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3620

I personally would probably spend less on the case and more on the processor.

Other than that, you did your homework.

For OS's... steal xp until win7 is available for purchase.

[Celephais]

25"x19"x9" or some shit.
... you said it yourself:

199.99 computer case

Dimensions 23.22" x 9.45" x 25.98"
... it's bigger!


For OS's... steal xp until win7 is available for purchase.
No need to do that... just get the win7 beta until you can buy it. Legit and better.

Oh... and you're missing this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100007

[Androidpk]

Please don't get that case. Not only is it overpriced and made out of horrible materials, it's tacky looking! Either get an antec 300 case or even better, a rebadged lian li rocketfish case for $100.

I would also suggest going intel over amd. The core 2 duo E8400 is a rock solid choice for around $160.

[pabstblueribbon]

The x4's blow the 840 out of the water at that price point. Read up on it.

I am not a fanboy. I would have gone Intel with a personal build UNTIL they released the new x4 chips. Yields are much much better, they're getting rid of the x3's which is evidence of this and they overclock like a sonofabitch.

I cannot wait for the i5 pricewar.

I also suggest nix'in that case and getting a nice antec. Or one with a removeable MB tray if you tinker alot.

[Xaerve]

I'd go for a faster primary HD and then get a huge, cheap, slower slave.

[Celephais]

I'd go for a faster primary HD and then get a huge, cheap, slower slave.
He did get a huge cheap (not too slow) drive... My experience w/ using a Raptor for primary w/ a slower RAID 1 for storage has been mixed, the performance gain for the cost isn't worth it. I haven't personally used any of the high end SSDs, but they're still pretty damn expensive.

If you go intel I'd suggest getting a second large drive (duplicates) and Matrix RAIDing them, so you can have the peace of mind of RAID1 w/ a primary RAID0. If you don't I'd still look into a RAID1 if you've got a lot of content you'd never bear to be able to lose and don't backup often.

[Kuyuk]

Yeah, I havent had good results trying to RAID drives on my current computer - I actually gave up and just got an external HD case and USB ported it..

Yeah, prolly going to switch the case out, didnt even look at the size of it. hah.

Celephais, get on AIM tonight to help me pick out shit bro.

[Danical]

I've always found ArsTechnica to be a fantastic site for info on building rigs.

http://arstechnica.com/hardware/news/2009/07/gaming-guide.ars

[Kuyuk]

I dont think I need that arctic silver compound, I'd probably fuck everything up with it.


Looking for a better/newer case that isnt lame looking. And smaller :)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021

Not sure about the bottom mounted power supply.... perhaps it's just from always seeing it on top.

Or go the skeleton route!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129056 Looks very cool...

Upgrade the Proc? How about going from the x4 810 2.66Ghz to this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103674
AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W

Only $50 more, for .6 Ghz more, and more cache, etc.


Faster HD? I have 7200 rpm w/32MB cache.. not sure what factors determine HD speed other than those..


Also- When I buy the OS, should I get the 32 or 64 bit system? What are the differences/etc that I should think about? I believe there was something regarding how much ram an OS could use at 32 bit or something? I'd like to upgrade to 16gigs ram eventually, if the OS can even use it.

K.

[pabstblueribbon]

Yup. Thats the proc im talking about. If you follow my earlier link it discusses it in detail and talks about how there's gonna be a massive price drop soon. Also AMD is cutting about 30ish dollars if you go with certain CPU/MB combos. I've always liked anandtechs technical articles. Ignore the news from dailtytech on the right though...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.239579

Thats what I want... but so long as you get a Deneb you should be good.

[Kuyuk]

With the upgrades and the OS, I think my estimate price is $1021 currently.

Not too bad..

[Androidpk]

I'd like to upgrade to 16gigs ram eventually, if the OS can even use it.

K.

What are you planning on doing with this computer?

[Kuyuk]

the biggest difference between your mobo and mine is the ram ddr2 vs ddr3..

if I buy 8g ram ddr2, it's $127 ish

if I buy 8g ram ddr3, it's 160ish, but it's 1600 speed vs 1333 or 800 as mine is..

total difference if I upgrade the mobo and then the ram would be fairly substantial... (also, the proc I picked, the slightly less one than yours, doesnt have that mobo combo deal :( it has this deal instead: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.239849 and that mobo has onboard video, boo.)

[Kuyuk]

<<What are you planning on doing with this computer?>>

Plan to take over the world of course.

Not buy a new one for another 4 years.. play all the latest games until my next purchase 4 years from now :)


K.

[pabstblueribbon]

If its an ATI onboard video you can crossfire it with what you got in your PCIE.. depending on the chipset. I know of one board that does this and thats just badass.. its also a DDR3 board.

EDIT: And im pretty sure thats the mobo that does it..

[Kuyuk]

yeah, but if the onboard video blows balls, why would you want to crossfire it?


K.

[pabstblueribbon]

It doesnt. Its not a bad onboard solution. ATI Radeon HD 3300 built-in 128MB DDR3 1333

Just more frame pushin for.. the cushin? I dont know where I was going with that.

Not so sure about that particular board though. Lots of notsogood reviews. Shrug. Interesting chipset tho.

[Androidpk]

the biggest difference between your mobo and mine is the ram ddr2 vs ddr3..

if I buy 8g ram ddr2, it's $127 ish

if I buy 8g ram ddr3, it's 160ish, but it's 1600 speed vs 1333 or 800 as mine is..



And the performance gains from the 1600 over the 800 will be miniscule, probably not even noticeable by eye. Same with having 8 gigs versus 4. Unless you do heavy photoshop/video editing you don't need that much memory right now

[pabstblueribbon]

Uh.. I would go with DDR3. Newer tech, more overclocking headroom. And just get 6gb of it.

EDIT: I'm reading up on the 790GX. There are some caveats to using the onboard video with a discrete solution in crossfire.. apparently some boards lower the x16 descrete down to x8.. still doing some research. (cause i want to build one)

Rethinking 920 though.. sigh.

[Celephais]

I dont think I need that arctic silver compound, I'd probably fuck everything up with it.
It's so easy, and it's not just for overclocking, it'll increase the life of your CPU. Really worth it (I don't know anyone who has messed it up, you just put a small drop on, use a razor to flatten it, the consistency of the stuff actually will dictate to you how thick to go, intuitively).

Buying a high end MB will help overclocking and usually has a lot of features (more SATA, raid options, extra ethernet, multiple bios, etc), if both of these things are going to go unused, the performance difference won't be noticable. Same w/ RAM speed. Having extra RAM could make a difference with multi-tasking.

64-bit with > 4GB (3) of RAM is highly recomended. There's a bit more to it, but easy answer is the rest of the memory will just be ignored if you go 32bit.

Sorry I didn't check aim (or the boards) last night ... won't be able to tonight either.

[Kuyuk]

Changed a few things based on everyones ideas/thoughts.

Changed my power supply to something cheaper that was the same power ($50 off instant!)

Changed RAM to something a bit cheaper.

Hopefully this picture wont break the forum..

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3451/3836953068_706296ac73_o.jpg

Anything I seem to be missing?

probably a power cord..

[Celephais]

Heh, the PSU will come w/ one (Retail).

I'm not seeing any glaring problems, except maybe the OS, I'd look into seeing if it's the free upgrade to 7 (I forget how that works). If it's not I'd just burn yourself an RC edition of 7 and buy it in october.

I never commented on the hard drive thing. 7200 RPM is the fastest SATA other than the raptors, but the faster seek time provided by the raptors just isn't substantial enough IMO (I'm using one, I feel it's a waste), loss of space and density per platter (which effects transfer speed) doesn't make it worthwhile. SSD would make a difference but it's pretty expensive, considering you could just crossfire a second card in there at the same costs I'd rather have the "action" performance over the "loading" performance.

[Kuyuk]

yeah, I got the OS that has a free upgrade to win 7 when it's released.

[Ashliana]

I'd go with 8GB of DDR2. Any more than 8GB is beyond future-proofing; it's unnecessary. And you're better off investing the money you save by using DDR2 vs. DDR3 in a better video card or raptor.

Speaking of raptors; I've noticed huge differences in responsiveness and boot-up times with a raptor as the primary drive.

I'd definitely go with the 64bit OS.. otherwise your OS won't be able to address more than 4GB of RAM--this includes RAM that the video card and (possible) sound card address. So you could end up with only 3.2GB/etc of "available" memory.

An 850 watt PSU may be somewhat overkill; people have a tendency to overestimate their power demands. I'm using a 600 watt supply on my heavily overclocked Q6600 (3.6GHz), 4GB of DDR2 overclocked to 1066, a blu-ray drive, three hard drives (one raptor), my old audigy 2, and an overclocked 8800GT with no problem.

I personally wouldn't go with a Phenom, but the i7 crap is still pretty pricey at the moment. From a price perspective, might make sense. /shrug

[Kuyuk]

Not positive how to calculate power supply needs, so I go the safe route and over estimate

[AnticorRifling]

Just get a Mr. Fusion.

[Kuyuk]

no idea wtf that is.

[Celephais]

I'd go with 8GB of DDR2. Any more than 8GB is beyond future-proofing; it's unnecessary. And you're better off investing the money you save by using DDR2 vs. DDR3 in a better video card or raptor.
He is going w/ 8 GB based on his last screenshot...


Speaking of raptors; I've noticed huge differences in responsiveness and boot-up times with a raptor as the primary drive.
As compared to what old drive...

Boot-up time is the usual arguement people make, but it's a rather stupid place to try to make gains.


An 850 watt PSU may be somewhat overkill; people have a tendency to overestimate their power demands. I'm using a 600 watt supply on my heavily overclocked Q6600 (3.6GHz), 4GB of DDR2 overclocked to 1066, a blu-ray drive, three hard drives (one raptor), my old audigy 2, and an overclocked 8800GT with no problem.
He's only spending $100, to save $10 and go w/ a 600 watt (or whatever) wouldn't be worth it. He'll be putting less load on the power supply, and he'll have more headroom. Effeciency could also be a factor (although this is weird, like you're supposed to aim for using 60% or whatever of the max to get the best effeciency)


I personally wouldn't go with a Phenom, but the i7 crap is still pretty pricey at the moment. From a price perspective, might make sense. /shrug
I'm a fan of the i7 too, cost makes it tough to justify, but from the coolness factor I want one.. so waiting for it to drop myself.

[AnticorRifling]

l2 Back to the Future FFS.

[Celephais]

no idea wtf that is.
:(

[Kuyuk]

I think I've only seen back to the future once, when I was like eight.


If I fuck up my new computer putting it together, I'm gonna hire celephais to come up here and fix it.


I might be able to find a swamp donkey at a local pub for him too :)



K.

[Kuyuk]

purchased.

Should be here in about a week, 3 day shipping + 1-2 day processing..

woot

$953.91 total.

Had a $50 certificate chillin in email.

[Kuyuk]

holy shit, already started getting pieces in the mail today.

I Got the case already, woot.


K.

[Kuyuk]

got all my stuff, putting it together...

Looks like my dvd rom drive uses esata, but my MB doesnt have an esata port :(


Everything else seems to be going in well. Will post pics if it works, and pics of me crying if it doesnt!


K.