I'm sorry... another PC build thread.

[Siya]

I was planning to put this off til 14 was 1-2 weeks away, however getting into the beta (as well as less than acceptable borderlands performance) I have decided to push this up to this coming up week. The main goal of this build is for FF14, yet not solely, I'll play many games on it .

This is what I got so far:
http://i33.tinypic.com/mbsmlg.jpg
Total: 1,242.36

I've only used Intel in the past, yet a friend suggested the new AMD 6 cores. So I'm wondering how the x6 fares against the new I7s.

I plan to SLI 2 470s in the future, but I assume that I would need a greater power supply for that. And another question about video cards... I see multiple cards with prices +/- 40 dollars or so... yet not entire sure which to get exactly... so far just picked the cheapest one...

I was originally going to go with 4gb only but a friend suggested 8... would that really be worth it? And if so I may start wth 4 then get another 4 later on.

I don't know much about the case, but it seemed rather popular.

I may OC in the future, however I plan to see stock performance before I do that... as I have no experience, which will probably need a better power supply no?

Thanks for the help!

[Kylewhataru]

There's 1 major problem there, so I will cover that first and then the minor stuff.

MAJOR PROBLEM: That PSU sucks ass, NEVER skimp out on the PSU, it doesn't matter if you go cheap with almost any other components because if they suck and/or fail it wont affect the rest of your system. Generally sub $100 PSUs are trash. The best quality "budget" PSU reccomended is usually 850w Corsair and it's $130 : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...=corsair%20850

Just buy that, it will handle a 2nd GTX470 if you get a second one down the road, as well as OCs on both GPUs and processor. It's also quality plain and simple, gives peace of mind knowing it's not going to damage other components.

So that basically leaves you without a case since that PSU was bundled with one. Personally, I don't really care about having a fancy case, I usually buy a cheap barebones case and modify it, add my own filters, fans, etc. if you don't want to fuck around with the case and want something that is just ready to go at a good quality/price I think HAF 922 is pretty good for $90.

Now for minor stuff/nitpicking:

- RAM: Why do you want that ram? It's really unnecessary for someone on a budget, I would recommend this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231193 same brand, budget version, still 1600mhz ram, timings are lower but that stuff barely makes 2-3% difference in synthetic benchmarks, let alone in real world performance. Not that what you have isn't good, it's fine, but this saves you $50 so you can invest in a proper PSU. Some people may tell you to go for 6GB, but when it comes to gaming my upgrade from 4GB to 8GB is the most worthless update I've ever done, total waste of money, essentially no difference whatsoever in gaming performance.

- GPU: GTX470 is a fine choice, the difference in prices is usually better cooling, if they add more powerful heatsink/fan they obviously have to raise the price a bit to compensate. Other differences include brand quality/recognition, for example alot of people swear by EVGA as their commitment to customers is considered top notch, so they usually get away with higher prices. But I would go with the PALIT GTX470, happens to be the same price as that MSI, but has better cooler = lower temps = easier OC, can't go wrong either way.

OCing CPU: You'll surely need to invest in a good aftermarket cooler if you want to get an OC big enough for you to notice the difference, so it's a moot point right now unless you have another $60-80 to throw in for aftermarket cooling. As for i7 vs phenom ii x6, all the benchmarks I've read lean toward the i7, I use an i7 myself.

OCing GPU: It's very easy compared to CPU OCing, most people use a tool called afterburner, with some minor googling you'll "get it" when you use it. I expect you'd get a 10% OC with no effort whatsoever, 15-20% with some trial/error, possibly more with an after market cooler, though that palit cooler is very decent, moreso than the usual stock coolers.

Anyway, with all those suggested changes your budget should only go up by $20 or so, and you'll be much better off. That PSU man... that PSU you were gonna buy was suicide

[Binkie]

The samsung f3 is suppose to be one of the fastest drives around:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-185-_-Product

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2...hput,1010.html

[Neogearzx]

oh thanks for the heads up on the drive, ill get that one instead for my build ;o

[Jurgen]

An i5 750/760 at 4Ghz is going to be better than a Phenom II x6 in 9/10 games. If you're doing video encoding and CAD, then the 6-core would be better. Personally I'd pick up an i5 ($200) and a motherboard ($150) and save yourself a couple bucks.

As others have suggested, get a more quality PSU. Either Corsair/Antec/XFX 850w will do perfectly for SLI 470's down the road.

[Binkie]

the LGA1156 socket chips i3/i5/i7(800s) only support 16 lanes of pci-e, so if you planned on SLI/crossfire each card would only get 8x pci-e.

http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=48496
under expansion options.

[Siya]

A lot of people say the I7s beat the x6 when OCed to 4ghz (As stated above), but how do they both fare when they are both at stock? I really don't know much about OCing and I'm not entirely sure if I want to do so (but it would probably be best, no?).

Swapped ram, upgraded psu (I was not actually going to buy that btw! was more of a place holder til I got some input), changed video card to the palit one and swapped out HDD.

[Jurgen]

the LGA1156 socket chips i3/i5/i7(800s) only support 16 lanes of pci-e, so if you planned on SLI/crossfire each card would only get 8x pci-e.

http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=48496
under expansion options.

The difference between 16x/16x and 8x/8x is very slim (~5%) performance.

[Kylewhataru]

A lot of people say the I7s beat the x6 when OCed to 4ghz (As stated above), but how do they both fare when they are both at stock? I really don't know much about OCing and I'm not entirely sure if I want to do so (but it would probably be best, no?).

Swapped ram, upgraded psu (I was not actually going to buy that btw! was more of a place holder til I got some input), changed video card to the palit one and swapped out HDD.

i7 generally beats the x6 in non-gaming benchmarks (video encoding, etc.) and in trivial gaming benchmarks, you might see an i7 getting 180 fps and x6 "only" 140 in games like left 4 dead, but it's irrelevant as you probably won't be playing past 60fps. In games that are actually demanding the GPU plays most of the role, such as:

http://media.bestofmicro.com/E/1/245...sis%201680.pnghttp://media.bestofmicro.com/E/7/245...202%202560.png

If I could go back, I would've gotten a Phenom II X4 965 BE, I like my i7 and all but meh... cheapest 1366 mobo with the cheapest i7 is still over $450 combined, x4 965 + decent mobo would've ran me less than $280. With the leftover savings you can invest in a better GPU, such as a GTX480, or get that 2nd GTX470 much earlier, GPU power is what will give you the raw unquestionable performance gains, with these cpu arguments you have to stare at benchmarks to notice any difference, with powerful GPUs the difference is obvious.

[SephYuyX]

Wth Siya, I feel betrayed you didnt ask me.

[Celeras]

If you plan on definitely SLIing in the future, there's no reason to unnecessarily complicate things by getting a motherboard that isn't SLI compatible. You of course could get it working on any board, but that patch is having all kinds of problems with the latest nVidia drivers. And judging by the fact that you posted a 'help me' thread, I don't think that's anything you want to dabble in anyway.

Either switch the board out or go Intel imo. Power supply like others have said, everything else acceptable.

[Siya]

Wth Siya, I feel betrayed you didnt ask me.

You weren't on at 2am when I finally decided I was gonna make it soon! And I was excited ;-;.

As far as mother boards go that is what I have the least experience in, so I'm not entire sure which to get. Any suggestions would be appreciated . As far as going AMD/Intel, I'm not really a fan of either, just whatever will give me more will do, but again I'm not sure which (maybe leaning more intel based on some of the replies).

[Binkie]

If you have a microcenter near you i'd go i7, the price they have on the cpu there is too good to pass up.

http://www.microcenter.com/single_pr...uct_id=0331303

As far as motherboards go, IMO all the major brands fair well, just depends on how many bells and whistles you'd like on it.

[Siya]

Changed some stuff around, swapped ADM for intel amoung other suggestions. Are microcenters just great for the i7s, or can I exepct to save more from them over newegg? As far as the mobo go I was kinda looking around without knowing much... not sure if this would be a good one or not. Thanks for the help!

Case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119197

Mobo:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813188049

GPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814261073

PSU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139009

CPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115225

RAM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231193

HDD:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152185

DVD drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106289

[Binkie]

I7 900s are tri channel ram, so you have to bump it up to 6gbs (3x2gb sticks). The motherboards have 6 ram slots so don't worry about the space.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-225-_-Product

Also, your case the mobo come in a combo in case you didn't already calculate that (-20):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.469070

Or the ram i posted and mobo (-15):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.467733

[Siya]

Added case + mobo combo and changed RAM. I have a microcenter 2 hours away from where I live, so getting there and back will cost 30 dollars in gas... so I'll save 70 over the CPU which I may end up doing hehe.

So this is what I ended up with, unless anyone has any more suggestions for me
http://i35.tinypic.com/2vbaljd.jpg

A little more expensive than my original build, but going to microcenter will cut it down a little to get it under my original build... so I'll be happy!

[Siya]

Tempted to pick up this GPU instead http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130549 which is 30 dollars more (after MIR) and comes with a game and slightly higher clock (Plus EVGA, people like them ;o). But after reading the reviews people state you need 1000+ PSU (well one person said that...). So I figured I'de ask about it here.

[Binkie]

The evga website lists the card the same minimum PSU of 550 watts as the palit. If you decided on the evga you could get it from amazon.com and save on tax (what almost $30 in ca?) you could probably get a few other things same price ish there, but tax free.

card:
http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-Supercloc...2499243&sr=8-2

psu same price, but with $20 MIR, no tax:

http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-CMPSU-...2500130&sr=1-1

The palit from newegg came with a free game too:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.455052

[Ikith]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813188065

Used the same build with my touches here and there.

Got the above board instead but I need an aftermarket fan. Any suggestions?

[Siya]

Due to some complications I had to hold off for a few days. I'll be ordering the parts tomorrow but I have a few quick questions. When I hook up my laptop to my external monitor via hdmi (the one I plan to use for my desktop) it doesn't display anything til it fully boots. So is this a laptop thing or will I need to use a dvi cable for my desktop? Also I noticed when hooking up my laptop to my monitor things weren't as clean as they would be on the laptop monitor, is that a laptop thing or an hdmi thing?