^^^good but not a great recommendation, PSU is a bit overkill, case is expensive, motherboard is a bit over what you need, hard drive is lackluster..... anyhow here's what I'd recommend...

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=12665646

[Edited on October 20, 2009 at 8:03 PM. Reason : ^^^]

10/20/2009 8:02:20 PM

The PSU I had in my list has a $70 instant rebate, which brings it to $109. Cheaper than the one you listed at $159. (There's also a $10 mail-in rebate, but I think both of them have that.)

You listed an SLI-ready GPU, but does that MoBo support SLI? It only mentions Crossfire.

I know I'm not stressing Crossfire/SLI right now, but it would be nice to have the option in the future.

Still checking out the rest of your list...

[Edited on October 20, 2009 at 8:25 PM. Reason : sli]

10/20/2009 8:19:48 PM

Quote :

"Not to rag on the VRs, but wtf is the point of them? If you want speed (access time and transfer speed these days), go SSD. If you want storage, buy some huge 7.2K drive for much cheaper."

Easy. A 256 gB ssd is like $600-700 easy. The 300gB velociraptors are down to $199 now.

I'm talking about using it as your OS/program drive. If you play games you're going to want all those games on the faster drive. A pair of 300gB VP's in raid 0 is great for gaming.

So yeah if you want to spend $$$ get ssd. Just consider most games are passing 10 gBs and the seek time advantage on the VRs are pretty good compared to 7200s.

-although come to think of it you could get 4 256gig SSD's and stick them in raid 0+1 plus a nice hardware controller and you'd have 500 gigs of space for the cheap price of ~$2500!! Be hella fast though.

[Edited on October 20, 2009 at 8:31 PM. Reason : .]

10/20/2009 8:25:00 PM

^^actually i left the 750W PSU that the thread mentioned b/c it was the same price as the 650W, and no, both PSU's I listed were $109 with $10MIR

didn't realize you wanted SLI/Crossfire, no i picked the base board with only (1) PCIex16 slot, for SLI/Crossfire you need (2).

the board listed in the Tom's Hardware thread would be fine for that. but another $50 for a feature you may not use. just a thought. i have a 9800GX2 which is dual-gpu but single slot.

[Edited on October 20, 2009 at 8:32 PM. Reason : ,]

[Edited on October 20, 2009 at 8:32 PM. Reason : .]

10/20/2009 8:31:36 PM

ahh, I completely forgot about the keeping many large games on a fast access drive too. Touché.

edit: also, ZZF has Diamond 5850's in stock if you wanna try to snag one.

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10011258&prodlist=celebros

[Edited on October 20, 2009 at 8:35 PM. Reason : .]

10/20/2009 8:33:54 PM

So i guess the 5850's are where it's at for around $280?

10/20/2009 8:36:40 PM

yeah, it's really an awesome card FWIW. IIRC, it consistently outscores the 285 in nearly every case. Although, at the average resolution (I'd say 1680*1050 or 1920*1200 these days), I would probably just buy a 4890 because I'm tight with money.

edit:

Quote :

"anyhow here's what I'd recommend..."

This is a solid build, I would switch the GPU out for a 4890 though. I'm not an AMD fanboy, but at 200 bucks, the 4890 is currently your best bet.

[Edited on October 20, 2009 at 8:48 PM. Reason : .]

10/20/2009 8:44:40 PM

So what difference does the Memory Bandwidth make for these cards?

The link posted ^^^ is the model with 128-bit, but the one on my list earlier is 256-bit. ZZF lists that one at only $10 more (but it's out of stock there as well) .

10/20/2009 8:48:20 PM

I think that's a misprint, same model number on the egg shows a 256-bit bus.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814103085&cm_re=5850-_-14-103-085-_-Product

I don't even think they make 128-bit 58xx's.

10/20/2009 8:51:24 PM

Quote :

"This is a solid build, I would switch the GPU out for a 4890 though. I'm not an AMD fanboy, but at 200 bucks, the 4890 is currently your best bet."

yea, i was just trying to save some money and at $280, that was a chunk of the build, but i agree the 5850 & 4890 are good cards....

[Edited on October 20, 2009 at 9:20 PM. Reason : .]

10/20/2009 9:12:23 PM

https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/MySavedWishDetail.aspx?ID=16399587

There's where I'm at right now. (not sure if the link will work)

I really don't need a 1TB HD at $95, so a 500GB at $55 works for me.
I'm gonna stick with the case I had before, it's a little roomier and has good fannage.

Switched to the heatsink on Prospero's list.
Stuck with the MoBo I had earlier.
Gonna get that 5850 from ZZF.

Comes out to:
$1,241.88 Newegg
$279.99 ZZF

So it's pretty close to my $1500 goal.

Havn'et bought anything yet, but I probably will tomorrow at the latest.

[Edited on October 20, 2009 at 9:28 PM. Reason : asdf]

10/20/2009 9:27:51 PM

i was suggesting the hard drive because it was the Western Digital Black drive, not necessarily because of the size, but because it's the fastest 7,200rpm drive

10/21/2009 12:11:57 AM

Ah, good point.
Switched to the 500GB WD Black.
32 MB cache instead of the 16MB I had before for only $5 more.

10/21/2009 6:34:12 PM

just use the link i used and change your list number at the end...

yea, 500 WD Black, you won't regret it.

[Edited on October 22, 2009 at 12:40 AM. Reason : ;]

10/22/2009 12:40:24 AM

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=15899668

How's this look? Could always go cheaper. Building it for a friend.

11/3/2009 4:45:01 PM

hmmm at the mobo and x3 choice...

but i'm not up on things anymore so.... others?

11/3/2009 4:50:28 PM

^
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/athlon-ii-x3,2452.html

Kind of basing it off that. It's a budget htpc build and for cheap cpus AMD is the way to go. Socket 775 is already out and intel has moved on. AMD will continue to make AM3 chips which will allow for upgrades.

11/3/2009 4:54:33 PM

Looking to replace one of my Pentium 4 HT computers in the next 6 months or so. So now there's socket 1156 vs 1366 and i5 vs. i7 to consider. Price is the #1 factor. I want to keep it cheap, so I'd be interested in knowing whether the price premium of the i7s was worth it. PC's main function would be gaming.

I want to make sure that I can take advantage of USB 3.0, I assume you can't find a motherboard that doesn't have SATA 3.0 nowadays.

11/11/2009 11:56:28 AM

SATA 3gb/s I think you mean... which is SATA 2.0.

main difference is that
i5/1156 is dual-channel (4x240/DDR3)
i7/1366 is triple-channel (6x240/DDR3)

just look at the differences between the X58 & the P55 chipsets, because that's what you're really talking about.

^^i'd only question your power supply, while i LOVE the antec earthwatts, corsair/thermaltake are quite a bit cheaper for this application where you don't need anything over 400W. the only peripheral is the TV tuner, integrated graphics & audio are minimal power requirements, look at something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139008

11/11/2009 12:49:36 PM

Current computer is aging and would like to upgrade.

What I have that can be used still:

- hard drive
- RAM
- accessories (keyboard, mouse, speakers, etc)
- monitors
- sound card
- optical drive

I'm looking for CPU/motherboard, enclosure/PS, and GPU. I would like to have a quad core and a competent GPU. What would you guys recommend and what is a ball park price for this?

[Edited on November 15, 2009 at 5:41 PM. Reason : . mobo]

11/15/2009 5:40:56 PM

I am trying to finish off the Newegg Christmas Wish List and I am finally upgrading the mobo/proc on my computer. Currently running an Athlon XP 3700+ single core processor with about 2 gigs of RAM. All of that is junk at this point, but I have a 1TB WD Caviar Black which is going in the new rig, as well as the 750W PSU and the ATI Radeon 4890 video card. So I am really looking at a RAM/Mobo/Proc upgrade. My idea is that I am going Core i7 with a mid-level processor. My dilemma is do I go i7-920 Bloomfield with the 2.66Ghz and use the Triple Channel DDR3 1600, or do I go i7-860 with a Lynnfield 2.8GHz and the Dual Channel 2600+ and top out at only 16 gigs of RAM?

This was my original setup:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188046
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202

But now my G-Skill Ripjaw DDR 1600 4 gig RAM is no longer available. So should I switch it over to a Lynnfield and pick another motherboard?

11/16/2009 9:48:03 AM

Quote :

"top out at only 16 gigs of RAM"

oh man, that'd be the deal breaker for me!

11/16/2009 10:13:33 AM

^Well thats why I'm not sure. The Lynnfield is faster in clock speed and my main concern is gaming. I just want to maximize that. I do a little photo editing, but that is not the primary point of this computer and therefore not the determining factor for me. Games is where its at for me.

And yes I will be getting another 1+TB drive and doing a clean install for Win 7 64-bit so I can use DX10 with my card and get the full usage of all the RAM I will have on the system.

11/16/2009 10:36:37 AM

Okay, I don't know much about computers but am looking into buying a desktop to play some of the pc games coming out such as starcraft II, dragon age, and others in the future (Diablo III). I don't want to spend more than 800-1000 range and I don't know how to build my own computer. What do you suggest?

I'm thinking about using http://www.avadirect.com/product_details_configurator.asp?PRID=11023 as a starting point but I'm not sure what to add on other than a wireless network card

I've also been looking at http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/computer_can_series.do?storeName=computer_store&category=desktops&a1=Category&v1=High+performance&series_name=e9250t_series&jumpid=in_R329_prodexp/hhoslp/psg/desktops/High_performance/e9250t_series

suggestions?

11/17/2009 4:47:10 PM

none of those games are graphic intensive so you should be able to get under $1000 quite easily. All you need is to avoid Vista which is now easier than ever with Windows 7 available.

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=dxdwkw3&c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&kc=studio-xps-8000

$1000 right there with monitor and more than enough memory and HP

Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64Bit, English
Studio XPS 8000, Intel® Core™ i5-750 processor(8MB Cache, 2.66GHz)
2Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty

6GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1066MHz - 4 DIMMs
750GB - 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 16MB Cache
16x DVD+/-RW w/ dbl layer write capable + 16x DVD-ROM Drive
20" Dell ST2010-Black High Definition Monitor
1024MB nVidia GeForce GT220
Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
No speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system)
Dell Studio Consumer Multimedia Keyboard
Dell Studio Optical Mouse
Star Trek Movie and Game on 4GB Data Traveler USB Flash Drive


[Edited on November 17, 2009 at 5:17 PM. Reason : and you get Star Trek the movie!!! lol]



[Edited on November 17, 2009 at 5:19 PM. Reason : .]

11/17/2009 5:10:58 PM

hey thanks, that actually looks really good

11/17/2009 9:12:46 PM

CPU: e7200
RAM: 4g of DDR2-800
Video: 8800GT 512mb

Empire Total War is not smooth enough. Where's my weakest link?

11/25/2009 10:14:56 AM

graphics card

11/25/2009 11:19:38 AM

definitely the video card

11/25/2009 11:27:08 AM

I'm pretty sure I need to get a fan/heatsink for my CPU (C2D E6550). What particular size should I get, and what are some decent models for around $30-40? What separates the best-rated ones on Newegg?

I've also had an Ultra XFinity 600W PSU, and I remember people cautioning me against using it. How much of a hassle is it to switch out a power supply? I was thinking of getting the Corsair MPSU-750TX.

11/27/2009 9:57:20 PM

^do both

i have a Freezer7 Pro for my C2D and love it.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134

Corsair is also one of the best PSU's you can get, it's just a matter of swapping out cables.

11/28/2009 11:02:44 PM

How the hell have I stumbled upon six bad DVD burners in the last month?!

Just ordered a pair of Plextor PX-880SA burners, I wonder if they'll last anywhere outside 24 hours or 2 years

11/29/2009 12:46:15 AM

OEM vs. Retail: I've built two systems, one with XP and an OEM optical drive, the other with Vista and a retail drive. The XP machine would not play DVDs until $50 was spent for dvd reading software (I don't recall which one she went with) but my Vista machine plays dvds without a hitch. Now is this due to one drive being OEM and the other being retail or does it have to do with the OS?

11/29/2009 6:51:25 PM

has to do with OS I believe

11/29/2009 6:52:32 PM

So does Windows 7 play DVDs automatically even with an OEM drive?

11/29/2009 7:15:32 PM

the only difference of OEM vs retail is boxing, warranty and included software.. sometimes just one or two of those though and not all. the hardware is the same.

having said that, i've always had DVD's pop right up in windows 7

[Edited on November 29, 2009 at 7:22 PM. Reason : i remember having trouble getting a DVD to play on XP a few years back..it's the OS not drive]

11/29/2009 7:22:39 PM

Thank you, sir.

11/29/2009 7:23:41 PM

Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136073 $55.99

or

Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136320 $69.99

$15 for 16MB more cache?

11/29/2009 8:56:33 PM

it's faster for sure, but not 21% faster, so not worth 21% cost premium, unless of course it'll be a primary drive.

11/29/2009 9:22:36 PM

Which it likely will be. >.<

So here we go:
Video - SAPPHIRE VAPOR-X 100269VXL Radeon HD 4890 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102841 $199.99 x2

Case - Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042 $59.95

Mobo - ASUS P7P55D EVO LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131407 $174.99

Power - Antec EarthWatts EA750 750W Continuous Power ATX12V version 2.3 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC "compatible with Core i7/Core i5" Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371026 $89.99

CPU - Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115215 $179.99 (with mobo combo deal)

RAM - CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMX4GX3M2A1600C9 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145260 $94.99

HDD - Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136320 $69.99

Optical - LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW SATA CD/DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106289 $26.99

OS - Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754 $104.99

Thoughts? To be honest, I wanted something much, much cheaper but even after pricing out an older Q8400 it was only like $200 less and RAM was just about as expensive even for DDR2. Thanks for the constructive input!

[Edited on November 29, 2009 at 10:31 PM. Reason : .]

11/29/2009 10:10:25 PM

solid build, first one i don't actually have anything to comment on. other than it's a shame you didn't jump on some BF deals, the Antec Three-Hundred was $30

keep your eyes peeled tomorrow, it's cyber-monday, you'll probably see some deals in the next couple hours online

[Edited on November 29, 2009 at 11:10 PM. Reason : .]

11/29/2009 11:09:03 PM

some g.skill ripjaw for $79.99

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231303&Tpk=20-231-303

[Edited on November 29, 2009 at 11:44 PM. Reason : ;]

11/29/2009 11:44:03 PM

Thank you very much for your help and insight.
Hanns·G HH-241HPB Black 23.6" 5ms HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 DC 15000:1(1000:1) Built in Speakers - Retail $159.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824254044
is already on its way! I am kicking myself for waiting a day too late and I missed out on the Acer 23" that was $10 cheaper.

11/30/2009 12:07:17 AM

the antec mini p180 in black is now $50 AR/FS

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129041

11/30/2009 11:51:47 AM

So what's the current "best value" nVidia card. E.g. the 8800 GT was the best value card a few years ago. Looking to play games, but not spend $300 on a gfx card that will be $90 in a year.

I'm looking to build in 3-4 months time. Is it worth waiting on the DirectX 11 cards?

12/4/2009 11:07:33 AM

I would wait. NVIDIA is supposed to have their new GT300 cards out in January which would push the current cards down in price.

12/4/2009 5:52:38 PM

sadly anything under $120 and you might as well buy ATI, the peformance difference under that price range is significantly in ATI's favor.... for instance the 4670 is only $75 and is close to the 9800GT ($100) in performance.

if you have to go nvidia, go GTX260 for $170 or so.

[Edited on December 4, 2009 at 6:06 PM. Reason : .]

12/4/2009 6:02:55 PM

I'd like to upgrade to Windows 7 sometime in the next couple of months, but I want to get a new drive to put it on, either a Raptor or an SSD. The 30ish gb SSDs are probably too small, and I don't really want to shell out $200+ for a bigger one. Is the performance difference between a Raptor drive and an SSD pretty large? Should I suck it up and buy a larger SSD?

12/5/2009 1:50:09 AM

don't waste money on either...get a WD black drive and call it a day...i've got a few 1.5tb samsung "green" drives that chug along at 90-95mbps...the black drives are even better

raptors aren't nearly as spectacular as they used to be, and SSDs are still ridiculously expensive (because if you're going to buy one for speed, you might as well get one of the good ones instead of the cheap crappy ones, and that cost $vermont)

12/5/2009 9:34:45 AM

Got a question:

Is it worth to upgrade? Currently have 2 x 1 GB PC2 9200 (1150). A friend is going to cut me a deal on a 2 x 2 GB PC2 8500 (1066).

I don't have the expansion slots of have both - just two slots. Is it worth paying the little extra money to move up in RAM (and thinking of moving to 64 bit system)?

I'm thinking yes, as really, my mobo isn't taking full advantage of the 1150 memory speed.

I'm just double checking on this, to make sure I'm not shooting myself in the foot...

12/7/2009 4:43:19 PM