need some help choosing/deciding on a new pc

**Atreides** · 2010-09-16 19:42

My current PC is... ancient, and sucks. It's like not even dual core, can hardly run most games, and it's really slow. My power supply just failed and I ordered a new one, but I'm pretty tired of this thing and I really want to upgrade.

My problem is that I'm not all that computer savvy when it comes to wires/hardware, so I'm a little wary of building one myself. I also have very little knowledge of specs and whatnot, so looking at pages of components looks like a foreign language to me. From what I understand it's just buying the components you need and plugging them all together so I can probably handle that, but I just don't even know where to begin looking.

My requirements are pretty simple, all I want is something with a decent enough graphics card and processor that it can run most games on the market, and ideally I'd like to spend less than $1000, less than 800 would be even better.

I know it's a lot to ask, but could someone get me started on what components I'd need and what I should be looking for? I don't mind buying pre-built if it's cheap enough either, it would certainly make my life easier.

Thanks in advance

**Calina** · 2010-09-16 19:55

First off buying prebuilt from places like HP, Dell, AW, etc your gonna basically get ripped off huge cost for next to no proformance buying the parts yourself and assempleing is the best way to go.

If I have time tonight ill price some stuff out for ya but few things I need to know first.

1 will you be needing a monitor/OS within the 800-1k budget?
2 is the size of the case going to be an issue? and will fan noise be an issue for you?
2 Do you have a prefrence between nvidia and ATI cards?

EDIT: Put this togeather quick comes out to $811.92(786.92after mail in rebaits on some of the items)

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c3...a_87/800PC.png

as for OS Windows 7 will be another 100 on top of that.

and a monitor I have this I use on my second gaming rig ASUS VH242H Black 23.6" will be another $190

that PC is pretty good for only 800 should play any modern game just fine and even has DX11 compatible card for when thows games roll out. But if you need a monitor and copy of windows it will go up to $1,100

as for putting it together its all pretty simple and id be happy to answer any questions on assembly when your ready^^

**Atreides** · 2010-09-16 20:14

1) I have a 32" TV that I've been using (which is almost too big lol) so I won't need a monitor. I have install discs for Windows XP but I dunno if I can reuse them, but I don't mind pirating windows 7 or something.
2) I have plenty of room and I don't care how loud it is
3) Any graphics card is fine as long as it's compatible with all games lol

Someone I know helped me pick out components, I forced him to help me quickly so I don't know if there's better deals out there. Does this look ok? Comes out to $869 on newegg with instant savings:
Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129079
HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136337
Mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157208
Vid Card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814131368
PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817153127
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231180
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103809

I'd also like to take my HDD from my current PC and use it as a 2nd hard drive possibly, but I assume that's an easy thing to do

**Darus Grey** · 2010-09-16 20:24

You could save money on the motherboard if you really want, unless you plan to use USB3.0 you could get something just as good in the 80-110 range.

**Atreides** · 2010-09-16 20:29

Hm... which of those 2 builds is better lol

and I dont mind spending an extra 30 on the mobo to have USB 3.0 in case I need it, even though I probably won't

**Jefe** · 2010-09-16 20:29

I'd switch that mobo for asus equivalent. If you get that board or the asus one upgrade your HD to SATA 6.0. Ram is fine, for 4 bucks extra you can bump the frequency to 1600. CPU I'd go w/ Phenom II 955, if you want to spend a few more bucks then 965 is fine too. Everything else looks fine.

**Atreides** · 2010-09-16 20:40

I'm not really sure what any of that means

**Jefe** · 2010-09-16 21:41

The mobo you've chosen uses SATA 6 and your HD is SATA 3; which basically means you aren't taking full advantage of that mobo's capabilities. Like Darius mentioned, if you want to save money and aren't interested in those options then you can get a cheaper mobo w/o SATA 6 and USB 3. Just know that you will be stuck w/ SATA 3 and USB 2 (slower specs).

I'd definitely switch the CPU to 955 BE or the 965 BE model.

When choosing a mobo ask yourself, "do I want the latest technology available and options to upgrade later on? "

Yes = a few bucks more expensive.
No = cheaper option.

**Akucaen** · 2010-09-16 22:00

BE models will be useless to him since he won't OC. The added features on the motherboard will last him down the road considering how long he holds onto PCs too.

**Atreides** · 2010-09-17 14:29

I currently have some windows XP install discs but I'm pretty sure I want to upgrade to Windows 7. Should I spend 100 bucks on it, or is there no harm in pirating? I don't mean morally, I mean will I have problems down the road and whatnot. I'm actually not too sure how I'd go about installing it, since I'm not sure if my old macbook can burn a windows install disc or not

**Icari** · 2010-09-17 14:45

if you have a cd/dvd rw drive on your macbook it can burn the iso with no problems

**Atreides** · 2010-09-18 16:42

so... literally 24 hours after my PSU on my desktop PC goes kaboom, my macbook hard drive decides to fail. The PC I guess I was kinda expecting (around 7 years old now) but the macbook is only 3 years old and I just had the hard drive replaced about a year ago. My applecare ran out like 2 months ago too, but I somehow managed to finagle the employee to replace my HDD for free.

So anyway yeah, that was enough of a scare and I'll definitely be ordering this on monday. I'll probably go with the list of stuff I posted originally.

Does anyone know how it'd work with installing my current PC's HDD as a 2nd hard drive for my new one? Does it just recognize it as an additional hard drive and I can delete all the system files from the old PC? Or should I backup just the files I want and reformat?

**fishstix** · 2010-09-18 17:00

As long as you set the BIOS to boot from the new harddrive first, you should be golden. You can delete the system files from the 2nd harddrive once hooked up with little problem. Although for some reason, sometimes I'm unable to delete flash related files on the 2nd hd. I'd backup and reformat if you're worried about performance, but if it's just a storage drive, it's really up to you.

**Atreides** · 2010-09-18 17:02

yeah it's pretty gummed up considering I hardly ever defragment or even run virus scans... and all I have to back up are some games and porn so I guess I'll do that

**SaviorSelf** · 2010-09-18 17:24

For the $165 you're paying for that card, ditch it and get a GTX 460. Much better, around the same price range.

**Atreides** · 2010-09-18 17:34

any one in particular? most of the gtx 460s on newegg are 230+, I saw a few in the 170 range but I haven't the foggiest which I'd get

**SaviorSelf** · 2010-09-18 17:57

Depends on what you want to spend; closer to the $165 and you're looking at the 768MB version, little bit more and you can get the 1GB version. I'll post the chart here and you can shop around~

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127510
That one has had great reviews, $229 with a $20 MIR.

Spoiler: show

**Kerberoz** · 2010-09-18 23:36

Pirating windows 7 is obscenely easy, they don't even attempt to stop you, literally run a loader once and it acts like a legit copy:
http://forums.mydigitallife.info/thr...s-7-Repository

or borrow someone's .edu email and pay $30 for pro, but fuck that, only macfags pay to use their OS.

**Atreides** · 2010-09-23 14:45

ok more or less have everything picked out, does this look ok? I had to make a few changes, but I'm still up in the air about the video card. I'd liek to order this today so I'm really just wondering if there's anything that's overtly bad, rather not deal with nitpicks and minor upgrades, since stuff in my cart keeps going out of stock/unavailable the longer I wait.

Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129079
HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136337
Mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157208
PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139006
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231180
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103808

The video card I'm really not so sure on. If I go with the one SaviorSelf recommended it still keeps the total cost below 900 before mail-in rebates: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127510. The one I had originally (different brand) is http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125327. Is the nvidia one that much better that it's worth spending another 60-70 bucks?

Thanks!

**Jefe** · 2010-09-23 15:05

I'd get this HD instead: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136533

Are you going to xfire/sli? If so that PSU ain't enough. If you aren't then this should suffice: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139005

Last, if you choose that PSU there's a combo deal w/ the CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.492970

Thread: need some help choosing/deciding on a new pc

Thread Tools

need some help choosing/deciding on a new pc

Similar Threads

trying to decide on a new phone, and i need help

Need some help on choose LCD monitor

Latest Threads

Up & Coming Threads

Hottest Threads