PC Build Advice/Review Thread

[TSFFXI]

I'd originally planned to spend around $300 on a PC primarily to be used for ffxi and a healthy amount of mathematica, but maybe also a few fps games. My brother then convinced me to spend an additional $100, and we came up with this: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/tspcpp/saved/1C7R

A friend then gave me a list of spare parts that I could have for free:

AN-M2HD-Socket AM2+ motherboard
AMD Athlon 64x2 6000 3.2GHz CPU
OCZ PC6400 2x1GB 240 pin (800) RAM
? 667 2x512mb 240 pin RAM

Unfortunately the motherboard isn't compatible with the graphics card I'd planned to use. Any suggestions on the list in general/ways to save a few bucks? I don't think I really need 500 GB of harddrive space, but I couldn't find any cheaper ones.

[Jojimbo]

You could do a lot better with that setup on ppp.com, for starters the GT 640 is just bad, a HD 7770 will blow it out of the water and costs a similar amount. I wouldn't trust that PSU either, a cheap 80+ Corsair or XFX would be better.

Also that GPU should work with that MB, assuming it's this thing then it has a PCI-E x16 port although the CPU would probably be very slow by today standards and any RAM upgrades would be expensive.

EDIT:: Template part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Ybkb from there you could add a GTX 650 ($75), HD 7770 ($95) or GTX 650 Ti ($120) as a GPU, all of which are close to or over twice as fast as the GT 640. Current gen alternatives for CPU, you could go i3 3210 which is more expensive and performs about the same as a X4 965 but consumes less than half the power and has better single thread performance, Pentium G2020 would work as an extremely budget CPU but lacks HTing and is clocked lower than the i3. With an i3/Pentium a B75 MB would work on a budget, I think MSI have a cheap one.

[TSFFXI]

Preliminary thank you for catching that PSU. I assumed a power supply was a power supply was a power supply, but flipping through the reviews revealed an alarming number of reports of the part arriving broken.

On your recommendation, I looked up the i3 3210 and found a comparison to the CPU I'd chosen here: http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i...enom-II-X4-965 which claims that the i3 uses ~$30 less electricity each year. It is about $40 more expensive, and I'm not sure what level of usage they've based that on--still searching for that, but it could potentially pay itself off within a year. Especially since power here is mind-blowingly expensive.

EDIT: Errr, hang on a second. Isn't the i3 3210 a significant downgrade? Dual-core vs. quad core/half the l2 and l3 caches.

[Jojimbo]

The PSU is something you shouldn't skimp on and always find reviews, a bad PSU can die and take your PC with it, a really bad PSU can do the same but blow up or catch fire in the process.

[TSFFXI]

Regarding the GPU, I'm going to have to look into them a little more. For example, the GT 640 has 2GB DDR3 and runs at 901MHz while the HD7770 has 1GB DDR5 and runs at 1.0GHz My understanding is that means they're essentially the same in the memory department but the 7770 is about 11% faster. There is a 1.12GHz version of the 7770, but it is about 50% more expensive than the GT 640 and at that point I have to factor in what I actually want to use the computer for. I only really play a little planetside 2, Call of Duty 2, and FFXI, which I think the GT 640 should be sufficient for.

I'll take this all into consideration, though. Thanks for a lot of good advice.

[Jojimbo]

You can't compare frequencies like that, especially not between AMD and nVidia but not even between series (ie HD 7770 to HD 7950) the underlying architecture and core count will make more of a difference. The 2GB vRAM would be wasted on that GPU as the settings required to use over 1GB would be unplayable, and GDDR5 is faster than DDR3 for GPUs; the 2GB DDR3 is there because DDR3 is cheaper and big numbers sell to people that don't know any better.

The GT 640 is just bad from a price/performance point of view and there is 0 reason to get it as you can currently you can get a GTX 650 for $75, $5 more than the cheapest GT 640, and it would be around 40~% faster depending on the game. Or a HD 7770 for $95 which would be closer to twice as fast in some games and costs the same amount as the 640 you listed.

[Dominico]

Couple of random questions about tablets. Never had one before, but want to pick one up for basic stuff (watching movies, browsing the web, occasional gaming). Would have loved an iPad, but I'm not dropping $500 on a tablet. Was looking at this one here: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Samsung+...10.1&cp=1&lp=1 and was wondering what everyone thought. Also, I noticed you can upgrade the memory with a microSD card. Can I download apps and store them on the card, or is it just for saving music, movies, etc.?

[TSFFXI]

You can't compare frequencies like that, especially not between AMD and nVidia but not even between series (ie HD 7770 to HD 7950) the underlying architecture and core count will make more of a difference. The 2GB vRAM would be wasted on that GPU as the settings required to use over 1GB would be unplayable, and GDDR5 is faster than DDR3 for GPUs; the 2GB DDR3 is there because DDR3 is cheaper and big numbers sell to people that don't know any better.

The GT 640 is just bad from a price/performance point of view and there is 0 reason to get it as you can currently you can get a GTX 650 for $75, $5 more than the cheapest GT 640, and it would be around 40~% faster depending on the game. Or a HD 7770 for $95 which would be closer to twice as fast in some games and costs the same amount as the 640 you listed.

After reading this I decided to actually look up some of the terms rather than wing it. This has lead to some unpleasant realizations, such as a GTX 560 running laps around a GTX 650. I realize now that this computer is absurdly excessive for FFXI, but well beneath the recommended requirements for Planet Side 2, etc. Thanks for catching the prices as well-I didn't realize multiple companies produced the same line of cards, leading to such wide price ranges.

[Adajer]

You might can run FFXI off an Intel 4000 IGPU or the new haswell one. Idk about any compatibility issues, but it should be able to run those games fine. Could get an APU as well.

[TSFFXI]

I reset and came up with a new build, unfortunately I wasn't able to find all of the parts on pcpartpicker.

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/tspcpp/saved/1CeQ

8GB of 1600 DDR3 RAM as well as the following MB: BIOSTAR A960D+ AM3+ AMD 760G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard.

Right off the bat I'm pretty sure the power supply is another bust and the case may not be ideal. I'd like to cut down on the power consumption, but the i3 was too much of a hit to processing power. Also unsure if everything is compatible. I came up with a different combination of parts earlier, but then found the power supply wasn't compatible with the motherboard.

Upgraded to a 7790HD GPU, which is a pretty huge boost from what I was working with originally. Maybe I should switch it to a GTX 560, since it's basically the same price.

[Adajer]

I'm not sure what you meant by i3 being too much of a hit to processing power. It outperforms all the budget offerings from AMD and is far more energy efficient. If you want AMD, some of the Visheras arent too bad, like the 6300 or 4300. Which can be gotten for $119 or $109 respectively.

Yes that PSU is a bust again.

Sell those donated parts for scrapmetal and use the money to increase your budget.

And as always, check to see if you live near a MicroCenter. Fry's may have a few sales as well.

Gov't is pushing for online taxes so make any purchases asap.

[TSFFXI]

My comments about the i3 were based on the following comparisons: http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_look...enom+II+X4+965 and http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i...enom-II-X4-965. They show the i3 coming in below the AMD chip.

The power supply issue is a real pain.

Unfortunately, the nearest micro center is at least 3 hours away from my house (two states over).

[Adajer]

Dont confuse yourself with sandy bridge i3s and ivy bridge. Any i3-2xxx processor is sandy bridge. i3-3xxx processors are ivy bridge. I see quite a few i3s ahead of that cpu on your chart.

Here is a guide to budget CPUs. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...lock,3106.html

[TSFFXI]

On the benchmark comparison chart I searched for the i3-3220 3.2 GHz specifically. It scored 4,022 vs. the AMD chip's 4,306. The article you provided seems to say the opposite. I guess the question is which source is more reliable?

Edit: Err, oops. I guess intel also makes an i3-3210, which is what I found on amazon. Removing that bit.

[Shadowhusky]

Rebuilding my computer and I have a 5-6 year old PSU. It's rated at 80+. My question is would I be fine reusing this thing after that long or should I just buy a new one?

[Adajer]

Brand and model? Some older PSUs are not compatible with newer motherboards.

[TSFFXI]

I bugged you guys a lot, so I thought I'd post the final stuff I came up with. I ended up with two set-ups: one AMD, one intel. Haven't quite chosen yet, but I think they're pretty good. Thanks for all the help.

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/tspcpp/saved/1Ceb with a BIOSTAR A960D+ AM3+ AMD 760G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard and 8 Gb of RAM. Approximately $440. My only concern with this is that I couldn't find the motherboard PSU connector type, so I hope it's a 20+4pin.

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/tspcpp/saved/1CGT with a BIOSTAR TZ77MXE LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard instead of the listed one. Approximately $520.

[goinundercover]

Looking to upgrade my computer, any advice on what to upgrade?

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8600 Wolfdale 3.33ghz, Stock Cooler
Ram: 2x2 OCZ DDR2 Ram
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-EP43-UD3L (rev. 1.0)
PSU: Tunia 550W
GPU: Sapphire 100355-1GOCL HD 7850
HDD: Western Digital 740GB (Not sure, 698 gb available)
Case: NZXT Apollo

Nothing's oc'd. I was wondering what I should upgrade first.

[Buffy]

Looking to upgrade my computer, any advice on what to upgrade?

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8600 Wolfdale 3.33ghz, Stock Cooler
Ram: 2x2 OCZ DDR2 Ram
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-EP43-UD3L (rev. 1.0)
PSU: Tunia 550W
GPU: Sapphire 100355-1GOCL HD 7850
HDD: Western Digital 740GB (Not sure, 698 gb available)
Case: NZXT Apollo

Nothing's oc'd. I was wondering what I should upgrade first.

Well, you're gonna have a problem because of your motherboard. That's socket 775 which is pretty damn old at this point. In fact, Tigerdirect is only selling 1 socket 775 chip entirely.

You could dump a chunk of RAM in it, which would probably maximize whatever performance you can get out of it. You could run it up to 16gb ram, which is the max that board supports, at 4x4 gb, for about $400. Bu that would be pretty dumb honestly.

Based on your motherboard, it's time for a rebuild.

[goinundercover]

Well, you're gonna have a problem because of your motherboard. That's socket 775 which is pretty damn old at this point. In fact, Tigerdirect is only selling 1 socket 775 chip entirely.

You could dump a chunk of RAM in it, which would probably maximize whatever performance you can get out of it. You could run it up to 16gb ram, which is the max that board supports, at 4x4 gb, for about $400. Bu that would be pretty dumb honestly.

Based on your motherboard, it's time for a rebuild.

Yea, that's what I thought. Probably gonna go for something i5, 8gb ddr3.