New computer thread

[Drew]

Hi, I need advice on a new computer.


Just kidding, but I am going to buy one. My current setup has windows 7 mirroring 2 hard drives (Windows RAID). I don't think it's possible but can I just transfer these drives to a new system and not have to pay for windows again? If not I have a windows 7 upgrade disc somewhere, what's the cheapest way I can use this?

[Parkbandit]

http://thecollegeinvestor.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/best_buy_logo_3.jpg

[Bhaalizmo]

I don't think it's possible but can I just transfer these drives to a new system and not have to pay for windows again?

That's probably not going to happen. You might have a chance if it was hardware raid and the new computer had the same model raid controller, but if you're using software mirroring you're S.o.L..

[SpiffyJr]

Hi, I need advice on a new computer.


Just kidding, but I am going to buy one. My current setup has windows 7 mirroring 2 hard drives (Windows RAID). I don't think it's possible but can I just transfer these drives to a new system and not have to pay for windows again? If not I have a windows 7 upgrade disc somewhere, what's the cheapest way I can use this?

Transferring Windows is never a good idea. For one, Microsoft has some sort of security measure in there which makes you activate again if you have any major hardware changes. Secondly, you'll have all kinds of drivers installed for hardware that's not on the machine and that can really screw stuff up.

[Buckwheet]

Hey man, there is this computer store that is just awesome. I think they are pretty new and they cater to computer enthusiasts like you.

They have TONS of computer parts and they can build you a sweet rig in like 5 minutes. And the best part is? If you decide later on that hey I need more power, they can just whip a new supply into your machine and only charge you like $200. I picked up a computer there and I also wanted to warm up waffles. So they sold me this machine that plays games just mega awesome and at the same time the heat from the case bakes my waffles to a nice golden brown.

You should check them out, they are called Best Buy, and let me tell you the are THE Best!

[Drew]

I also wanted to warm up waffles. So they sold me this machine that plays games just mega awesome and at the same time the heat from the case bakes my waffles to a nice golden brown.



Sounds like you need to increase your cooling.

[Ceyrin]

Sounds like you need to increase your cooling.

Wrong.

The case needs to be removed. Everyone knows the best waffle-cooking heat is over the motherboard anyway.

[Drew]

So does anyone know the cheapest way I can get a copy of windows to use my windows 7 upgrade disc on?

[Buckwheet]

So does anyone know the cheapest way I can get a copy of windows to use my windows 7 upgrade disc on?

Here is an ISO of my XP disc with SP3. I don't know how the win 7 upgrade works, but you should be able to install this XP without a CD key, then run your upgrade on it.

http://guildpatches.com/winxp/

Give it like 15 minutes after this post time to be available.

[Drew]

Thanks dude, red rep forgiven.

[Back]

So does anyone know the cheapest way I can get a copy of windows to use my windows 7 upgrade disc on?

Have you called Geek Squad?

[Back]

I just saw this on the SWTOR forums and had to share it with you guys... too funny.


Went into bestbuy and talked to the geek squad pros there and got a new setup but it plays this game horrible. He said it would play this game real smooth cause he said he knows what he is talking about when it comes to gaming. I am disappointed in a new pc cant play this game good when the geek squad guys recommended it since they know what they are talking about.

Specs are
AMD Athlon™ II X2 2ghz
2gigs ram
ATI Radeon HD 3000
windows 7 64bit

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=318176

[Drew]

Man, so you're not the only one who did things like that, eh Backlash? That is toooooo funny.

[Rinualdo]

Just to clarify, are you trying to just keep your copy of Windows or are you trying to keep the raid and drive contents in tact?

At one point you could install Win 7 and not activate it, then install the upgrade on top of that and activate without issue.

[Parkbandit]

I just saw this on the SWTOR forums and had to share it with you guys... too funny.

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=318176

Let him know all he has to do is upgrade the HD, video card, power supply and processor in his new Best Buy computer.. and when it over heats, just pull the side off.

Problem solved.

[Fallen]

Hijacking thread as I don't want to start a new one. What do you guys think of the Ivy brige processors coming out soon? I'm thinking about upgrading my Case/Mobo/Processor, but it seems silly to do so with new technology about to hit. Has anyone else heard anything about upcoming changes to Motherboards and/or processors besides socket type and Ivy bridge technology?

[Rinualdo]

IB is the same socket as sandy bridge, so they will be interchangeable from a mb perspective.
The first wave of IB is the upper end I series (i3, i5, i7) and should be priced the same as the equivalent Sandy Bridge. The remaining IB processors (pentium series and celeron series) won't be released until later this year and early next year.

Ivy Bridge will also see the release of a new motherboard chipset, the Z77. Generally speaking, those will be upper end boards geared more towards enthusiasts then mainstream users.

If you already have a 1155 Sandy Bridge motherboard, without a very specific reason or money to burn, I would say stick with that and wait 2 weeks for an Ivy Bridge processor. If you're not doing any heavy gaming or processor intensive applications, I would stick with Sandy Bridge pentium for a lot less money.

[Fallen]

Unfortunately, my Mobo is 1366(or whatever the old model is) I currently have a Quad-core i7-920.

I thought the socket type I would want is the 2011, or is that different from the Z77? Right now I don't even have a Sandy Bridge chip, so the leap from what I have to Ivy bridge, plus the new motherboard should be a fairly substancial performance increase. I do consider myself a gaming enthusiast even if my knowledge on current technology is far from complete.

Any recommendations on motherboards? I have an EVGA graphics card, and likely will continue to buy from them, so buying an EVGA motherboard seems like a good idea. I'm definitely looking for something capable of SLI, even if I don't have a need for it at the moment. I currently have 12gigs of DDR3 ram, though I would want to be able to move up to 24gigs max. Current games seems to only need 4gigs, but I prefer to have room to grow.

[Rinualdo]

Couple of things. 12GB of RAM is retarded overkill. 24GB is simple a tremendous waste of money unless you're running a ton of VMs. If you're coming from the 1366, I assume your RAM is triple channel? Since RAM is retardedly cheap, I would still recommend getting 2x4GB in dual channel for a new motherboard in whatever frequency you desire.

There's no technical advantage to pairing a motherboard manufacturer with a graphics card.

Specific motherboard recommendation would be based on your requirements and current/desired hardware setup. Budget would also factor into it.

LGA2011 is for IB-e. Unless you have cash to burn, not something you would want to mess with.

I'm going to assume that you're somewhat budget conscious and not willing to throw 4 grand at a machine.

So going back to what you want and how you want to use it, 1155 has several chipset options that will affect what motherboard you get. From H61-Z77 and several inbetween. Some of the primary differences would be overclocking ability, number of sata 3 ports, number of usb 3 ports, etc... There's a significant premium in cost for those.

Sorry, to clarify there is a difference between enthusiast and gaming enthusiast. If you simply enjoy games and want to play they at a decent resolution off a single monitor, that is very easy to do for very little money.

[Rinualdo]

1) Budget
2) What parts are you reusing?
3) What are your specific requirements
4) Do you need an OS? Monitor?


Also, have you considered keeping your current machine and running a home server or something similar?

[Jarvan]

My comp only cost 950 all said and done. I get decent FPS at 1920x1200 on my monitor. System should be useable for a good long while, with just maybe a updated vid card in a year.

[Fallen]

1) Budget
2) What parts are you reusing?
3) What are your specific requirements
4) Do you need an OS? Monitor?


Also, have you considered keeping your current machine and running a home server or something similar?

Budget is fairly flexible. I wouldn't want to spend more than 300-400 on the motherboard, likely the same for the chip. I typically buy the entry level of the best that is available the moment (Hence the i7-920) barring any terrible reviews of the product. You can likely get an excellent motherboard for at or around 300 and a good chip for 250-300 as well, but if there is a significant performance increase I would prefer to spend a bit more.

CPU: Intel Core i7-920 Quad-Core Processor
GPU: Nvidia GTX 580 3gb
RAM: CORSAIR DOMINATOR 12GB (6 x 2GB) DDR3 1600
Monitor: Using my 73'' Mitsubishi DLP
Hard Drive: G.SKILL 128GB (SSD) (Also have a 1.5tb HD for storage)
Motherboard: ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
Case: Antec Skeleton Black ATX Tower Computer Case
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi
Speakers: 7.1 Through my JBL Setup
DVD/Blu-ray: LG Black 6X Blu-ray Disc Burner & HD DVD-ROM Drive SATA
Keyboard/Mouse: Logitech Wireless Wave MK550 Combo
OS: Windows 7 Premium x64

3. Capable of Quad-SLI, running any game at highest settings, support for multiple monitors with 3D gaming as an option, boots around 30 seconds or less. Beyond that, I understand that I would need a second/third/etc graphics card to achieve the 3 screen 3d gaming at highest settings. Basically, I want a board capable of holding that much tech, as opposed to the capability to do so now.

I will also need a new case. My current one is terrible. I can barely fit the components I have in it. I would want something easily scalable for cooling and LOTS of room to maneuver. Around 300ish on the case. These purchases wouldn't necessarily be made all on 1 paycheck.

4. I would not need a new monitor or OS at the moment. Would be using the same SSD and my current monitor. Later monitor upgrades aren't out of the question, but I am not worried about it for the moment.

[Rinualdo]

Budget is fairly flexible. I wouldn't want to spend more than 300-400 on the motherboard, likely the same for the chip. I typically buy the entry level of the best that is available the moment (Hence the i7-920) barring any terrible reviews of the product. You can likely get an excellent motherboard for at or around 300 and a good chip for 250-300 as well, but if there is a significant performance increase I would prefer to spend a bit more.

CPU: Intel Core i7-920 Quad-Core Processor
GPU: Nvidia GTX 580 3gb
RAM: CORSAIR DOMINATOR 12GB (6 x 2GB) DDR3 1600
Monitor: Using my 73'' Mitsubishi DLP
Hard Drive: G.SKILL 128GB (SSD) (Also have a 1.5tb HD for storage)
Motherboard: ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
Case: Antec Skeleton Black ATX Tower Computer Case
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi
Speakers: 7.1 Through my JBL Setup
DVD/Blu-ray: LG Black 6X Blu-ray Disc Burner & HD DVD-ROM Drive SATA
Keyboard/Mouse: Logitech Wireless Wave MK550 Combo
OS: Windows 7 Premium x64

3. Capable of Quad-SLI, running any game at highest settings, support for multiple monitors with 3D gaming as an option, boots around 30 seconds or less. Beyond that, I understand that I would need a second/third/etc graphics card to achieve the 3 screen 3d gaming at highest settings. Basically, I want a board capable of holding that much tech, as opposed to the capability to do so now.

I will also need a new case. My current one is terrible. I can barely fit the components I have in it. I would want something easily scalable for cooling and LOTS of room to maneuver. Around 300ish on the case. These purchases wouldn't necessarily be made all on 1 paycheck.

4. I would not need a new monitor or OS at the moment. Would be using the same SSD and my current monitor. Later monitor upgrades aren't out of the question, but I am not worried about it for the moment.


You certainly don't need to pay what you're suggesting.

You can get a great motherboard for 125, similar price for an IV processor.
100$ or so for a case, depending on your preferences.

Make sure you distinguish between performance increase and noticeable performance increase. For 500$ or so you can put together a system that will run any game on the market today on that monitor at or very near max settings.

People vastly underestimate the power of Sandy Bridge. even their pentium line (80$ or so) with a decent graphics card (150$ or so) will vastly outperform single monitor games from systems from Nehlam or previous generations. It's an exceptionally powerful chip.

As a general recommendation, I wouldn't worry about 3D multi-monitor setups until you 1) find a game that actually supports that and 2) are ready to make that investment. Quad-SLI is very, very niche and expensive and 3D monitors are also expensive.

So, if I was putting together something today I would do this:

Motherboard: Asrock Z68 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157271) 120$
Case: Lian Li PC7b (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112099) 90$
Power Supply: Seasonic X750 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151087&cm_sp=Cat_Power_Supplies-_-Spotlight-_-17-151-087) 150$
Ram: Ripjaw DDR3 PC1600 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314) 45$
CPU: i5 2500k (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072) 220$

Reuse your current SSD, cd drive, and graphics card.
I don't believe in using a dedicated sound card but ymmv. I have a decent sound system and I can't tell the difference.

Replace the CPU with an Ivy Bridge (http://www.pcper.com/news/Processors/Intel-Ivy-Bridge-Processors-Launch-March-23-2012) i5 3570K for the same price when they are released.

Case is (mostly) preference. There are a ton of full size (and heavy) ATX cases available. It depends if you like lots of led lights and if you need a lot of passive cooling due to tons of hard drives, overclocking, etc... Note that IB and SB for that matter use much smaller processors then previous generations, so their cooling requirements are much less. Only extreme overlockers requiring a passive water system really make a difference from a case recommendation. Tool-less design, weight, number of bays, and aesthetics make it hard to secure a perfect recommendation.

[Fallen]

Thanks for the information. I will take a look at what you suggested.

[Rinualdo]

Sure. Let me know if you have any questions.