So who's good with the computers?

Macdaddy4738

Macdaddy4738

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 1, 2005
Im thinking about building my own here in the next few weeks (Ive taken A+ Certification classes, never went so far as to get certified, but I know how to get one running from scratch...)

Anyways, my budget is 600 right now, and I put together a cart at Newegg thats coming out right around 626 with rebates, which works for me...

question is, does this system look good to you guys?

For the processor I chose to go AMD, mostly because of the 600 dollar budget. Never used AMD before so this is a new area for me...I chose this one...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727

As for motherboard, I picked a bundle package from newegg to save a bit, the bundle includes

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138194

For power supply and video card, I chose another bundle to save some cash...the bundle is as follows...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.469182

Memory is...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277

Hard drive is...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181

Case...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147153

In my mind the case is a good deal with all the included fans. Not really into the LED one, but meh...I'll get over it for 40 bucks.

and finally the CD drive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204

What would you computer guru's change up? Im aware I could save a bit going with Dual-core over Quad, but Im buying for the future and dont want to be replacing a Dual core in 4 years. I'll eventually be adding a sound card, but that will be a ways down the line. I'll be hopefully adding a 24" monitor to the package eventually, but again thats a little farther down the line.

I will be running Windows 7 Home Premium on it. As a student I can get a full copy of the software for 30 bucks!!! :beer:
 
I build and fix computers at work all the time and this looks like a pretty decent setup. I was checking around over there on newegg and I would change the board to an ASUS or MSI. These are good boards to which I build with all the time. If you want an awesome board I would go with a gigabyte, those things are unstoppable. I was also checking out the mem you have picked out and for a few extra bucks you could get the OCZ 4gb kit that is pc 16000 instead of the Gskill 4gb pc 12800. The Video card is a really good one but I would try and find a bigger power supply. 550w will run the comp but with the high end CPU, mem, and Vid card with an addition of a sound card later on I wouldn't go anything less than 650w. It's always best to go big with the Power supply so it's less wear and tear on the equipment.

This is my desktop:

750w Thermaltake PSU
Q6600 Core 2 Quad (soon to be the Q9650 3gb extreme)
4gb crucial ballistix mem (soon to be 8gb)
500gb HDD with 160gb backup drive.
9800 GTX BFG vid card overclocked edition.
ECS SLI motherboard.
8 Port power hub.
Cold cathode UV lights.
1 DVD rom
1 DVD CDrw combo
1 DVDrw
Win 7 64bit

I tried to upload pics of it but they are much to big. This is just my personal opinions and recommendations; hope it helps a little.
 
twistedjeepster said:
I build and fix computers at work all the time and this looks like a pretty decent setup. I was checking around over there on newegg and I would change the board to an ASUS or MSI. These are good boards to which I build with all the time. If you want an awesome board I would go with a gigabyte, those things are unstoppable. I was also checking out the mem you have picked out and for a few extra bucks you could get the OCZ 4gb kit that is pc 16000 instead of the Gskill 4gb pc 12800. The Video card is a really good one but I would try and find a bigger power supply. 550w will run the comp but with the high end CPU, mem, and Vid card with an addition of a sound card later on I wouldn't go anything less than 650w. It's always best to go big with the Power supply so it's less wear and tear on the equipment.

This is my desktop:

750w Thermaltake PSU
Q6600 Core 2 Quad (soon to be the Q9650 3gb extreme)
4gb crucial ballistix mem (soon to be 8gb)
500gb HDD with 160gb backup drive.
9800 GTX BFG vid card overclocked edition.
ECS SLI motherboard.
8 Port power hub.
Cold cathode UV lights.
1 DVD rom
1 DVD CDrw combo
1 DVDrw
Win 7 64bit

I tried to upload pics of it but they are much to big. This is just my personal opinions and recommendations; hope it helps a little.
Click to expand...


I was going to say the same thing about ASUS. Saw this one for $45 more, kicks the other board's a$$.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131631
 
That's a pretty smoking deal on the PSU/vid card combo... basically getting the PSU for < $20 (compared to $145/ea for other 5770s).

The rest of it looks fine. I'm partial to Gigabyte mobos... but other than that... that's a whole lot of computer.
 
I own two computer stores, so maybe I can help.

6 cores for a few bucks more, biostar is known for low quality and gigabyte has a three year warranty, go with nvidia for graphics, generic power supply is ok, good choice on ram, why skip on the HD? seagate or WD - i picked a sata 3, case is fine and so is the cd.

I get $645 and $10 coupon and $30 rebate on video card. Much faster system at about the same price.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103851

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128431

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127495

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817170017

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533
 
Maybe we should back up and ask what the intended purpose is.

Unless you're making a habit of encoding HD video, you don't need a six core. You don't even need a four core.

The 5770 is a deal if you're looking for a gaming card. That should run most any current-era game at 1920x1080, maybe with a few detail settings dropped. If you're not gaming, you don't need the 5770, and any on-board video solution would suffice. Look into the 785 series Gigabytes if that's the case. I have one and can play many games with the on-board video, although at much lower settings. There's no good reason to buy a GTS 250.

Don't waste money on a cheap PSU. Most every 'broken' computer I've collected over the years has had a bad PSU in it. A cheap PSU can fry other components as it dies, too... wiping out the caps on a motherboard or even frying peripherals.

The Samsung is a good drive. I have two TBs from them -- one older generation, one current F3. The Seagate has a 5yr warranty, but I'm reluctant to use a drive that large as a boot disc. No real reason not to... I just like to segregate mass data storage from the operating system, swap file, etc. I have two 1TB Seagates as well... FWIW. I've recently warrantied a 400GB Seagate and a 500GB Western Digital, so make backups regardless.
 
one thing that is often overlooked when building is software.
I am not going to approach the subject of warez stuff, but if you intend to "buy" windows..you will be hard pressed to build cheaper than buy.
 
I'll be using it mostly for gaming and will be downloading ArcGIS on it, as I can get it for 40 bucks from ASU.

As for Windows, I can get the full Windows 7 Professional for only 30 dollars. Ive done research on this and it really is the full 7 with CD.

With the hard drive, Ive had my current Dell computer for close to 9 years now (seriously...its old) and I have well over 75% of the hard drive empty. Ive got a host of external Hard Drives I use, just in case, so I see no reason to bump up to TB sizes.

I was really looking for a way out of the Biostar Mobo, so I will definitely look into ASUS or Gigabyte if I only need to add a few dollars.

GubNi, the video card you linked, how does that compare to the 5770 I posted?

Oh, I picked a Quad-Core mostly because that is hopefully future proofing the machine, at least for a few years. I know most software now doesnt properly utilize quad core technology, but it will in the next 2-3 years.
 
The 250 is based on the previous-gen Nvidia chips. It doesn't support DX11, displayport, or have HDMI out.

Summary here: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-460-radeon-hd-5570-gaming,2697-3.html

And yes, the student deal on MS software is real, full-versioned stuff.

I don't really have any mobo recommendations right now, aside from the Gigabyte 785 board I mentioned earlier. This is one area where you could potentially save a bunch of cash though, depending on your actual use and needs... ie, ditch USB3, opt for an older chipset architecture, etc.
 
I've had the same computer for going on 6 years now. I've turned it off over the years for collectively probably about a week. I keep it on 24/7/365 and only turn it off to update it or move it.

That said -

I currently have-
3.2GHz Intel Pentium 4
1 gig ram
300gig external/10gig internal
Radeon 9700pro
Gigabyte GA-8ipe1000 Pro G

The only issues I have had have been the Seagate 100gig SATA drive that crashed and the e-GeForce 7600GS which all the capacitors just ruptured on last week.

I'd highly recommend Gigabyte boards.
 
 
got all my hardware in yesterday and set up the computer.
First try, booted to BIOS with no issues!!! :beer:
Ended up going with
Asus M4A89GTD Pro/USB3 motherboard (890gx chipset)
AMD 3.1ghz Triple Core Athlon II X3 445
Samsung Spinpoint 1tb 7200RPM hard drive
G.SKILL Ripjaws - 4gb
Antec NEO 620w power supply
ASUS DVD drive
Antec Three Hundred case
Went together great, no real issues. BIOS wont show my front usb hubs as functioning for whatever reason, but they definitely work (tested with USB mouse).

you guys know anything about ACER monitors? Looking at picking this one up. Its on sale for 200 rather than 270, and im really shooting for 24".
 
finished the build.

Turns out my 50 dollar Win7 was actually the upgrade, IE I needed previous windows installation.

It was weird because the disc fully installed just fine, which lead me to believe that the only thing different about the "upgrade" was the product key, and in fact the upgrade was just a new operating system.

Turns out I was able to change some registry settings, reset my 30 day trial counter, and then re enter my product key and it activated :lol:
 
What video card did you end up buying?
 
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