[WIP] New Computer

[p0lar_bear]

Thanks to Lightning's help, I've decided on parts for a new computer. I shopped Newegg, and decided to purchase each part individually, seeing as how impulse spending runs in my blood and I can't save money for shit. -_-

Now, really, all I want to do with this rig is rin Vista with Aero, and play Halo CE, Source games, and FarCry at decent looking settings with a good, stable framerate, as well as be able to run lightmaps on my CE levels without it taking a year and a half. I'm not looking to run Crysis at super-high resolutions at max detail settings with over 300 frames per second, so before you tell me that my choices are shit because they're not hardcore enough, piss off. I'm a casual gamer and modder; I'm not a hardcore elite pwner gamer. Also, I'm not into overclocking. I'm aware of how much more power I can milk out of a system if I overclock the CPU and GPU, but I'm not willing to shell out more cash for a cooling system, and with my luck, I WILL fry something.

Also, keep your ATI/NVidia fanboyism out of this thread. It was hard enough for me to decide on a video card simply because of the retard squabbles that happen when someone posts saying that one company is better than the other. I chose my video card because it supports DX10, and is inexpensive at the same time. I'm aware that there are better out there, but keep in mind that I don't make a lot of money, and I don't have rich/generous parents to foot my bill.

To recap, here is my current set-up, as listed in my computer specs over there next to the Reputation icon <-.
CPU - Intel Celeron @ 2.4 GHz
RAM - 768 MB DDR-SDRAM
GPU - ATi Radeon 9200 (PCI, 128MB)
Sound Card - SoundBlaster Live! LS
HDD - 120GB IDE, 40GB IDE
CD Burner & DVD Burner

I have picked out these items for the new system, and I will be salvaging my drives.

Mobo:
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813135024

CPU (Athlon 64 4200+):
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16819103741

Memory (2x 1GB DDR2):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820161030

GPU (NVidia GEForce 8600GT):
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814133199

Power Supply:
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817709011

Case:
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16811208013

[blazedelite]

i like your choices it will come out to be a great casual gaming pc :)

[mR_r0b0to]

Wow.. memory got cheaper by a lot... I bought a gig for $120 @_@

anyway, good stuff, i'm not sure about the motherboard and the PSU though..

[Atty]

Bump it to a GTS.


Wow.. memory got cheaper by a lot... I bought a gig for $120 @_@Try having bought 2GB for nearly $300.

[Patrickssj6]

lol you forgot the X2 because at first I thought you wanted to buy a single core XD

[InnerGoat]

PSU will make a nice paperweight of your system. Then again, you're not going to have it anywhere near full load, so it should be fine. I doubt that system will even draw 200 watts full load. :)

[Xetsuei]

eVGA GeForce 8600GT (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130085)

You should go with eVGA. They have lots of cool stuff like if you register your card on their website, you could get a full refund on it.

[Warsaw]

That is an excellent mid-range system with good upgrade potential for the future.

However, if you are going to buy a CrossFire motherboard, I'd suggest buying an ATI card to go with it (HD2600 or better maybe?), as it would probably agree with the chip set better and yield slightly superior performance.

[Zeph]

Yes, go with an eVGA 8600. I agree that sticking an nVidia GPU into an AMD chipset seems like an odd choice, but for a rig of this level, that better yield would be negligible so go ahead and stick with it.

edit: After reading the reviews, the number of people who say that PSU trips circuit breakers and fries bothers me. You said yourself you have bad luck and expect something to fry if you overclock it. Perhaps you should look for a more stable PSU, even if it puts out less wattage. It's not like you're going to draw the 450 or so watts that will put out under load.

[asian knife]

very good. I have the same case cept its green LED, and RED LED. Also I am ordering the same grapihcs card as u.

[Warsaw]

What bugs me is that he chose a CrossFire motherboard and is pairing it with the nVidia graphics solution. CrossFire does not work with nVidia, so having the feature available is a waste of money. It would be better to buy a motherboard that utilizes nForce and SLi over the CrossFire.

[legionaire45]

I have 4 gigs of Wintec AmpX and I can tell you first hand that Windows ME2 Bloated edition (aka Vista Ultimate) runs great. To this day I have never hit full ram usage, even while playing Oblivion with some tweaks that tell it to utilize that much ram when needed. Halo plays great at 1680 x 1050 x 60hz, almost constant 60 FPS and I can play source based games at this res with everything maxed w/ HDR and 2x AA, 16X AF (In HL2 I can bump it up to 6X because there is no HDR).

And get one of these (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116036) (or bump it up to a 800 mhz FSB Core 2 Duo like this (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115013) if you feel you could wait a week or 2) and one of these (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135047). More performance for the same price. Although if you can hold out for another month or 2 Intel will be cutting the prices on all their CPUs by a huge amount (ex. Quad Core for $266 from $580ish).

and above all, unless you absolutely have to, YOU DO NOT WANT TO SKIMP ON YOUR PSU! Unless you feel like spending another $50 shipping all your broken stuff back to newegg or possibly have to buy a new setup if they don't except your RMA.

[paladin]

Good boy going with AMD!

[p0lar_bear]

What bugs me is that he chose a CrossFire motherboard and is pairing it with the nVidia graphics solution. CrossFire does not work with nVidia, so having the feature available is a waste of money. It would be better to buy a motherboard that utilizes nForce and SLi over the CrossFire.

If anything, this is a temporary setup to allow me to do what I want to do (see first post) for the lowest price. If I feel the need to upgrade and milk all the power possible out of this machine, I'll save up for and spend my money on an expensive Radeon HD series card, SATA drives, a cooling system, etc etc. Like I said, I am, for a lack of better words, poor at the moment, though things are looking up and I can afford to chip away at purchasing this. I'm just sick of not being able to play as well as I'd like to on my games because my framerate is as stable as nitroglycerin, and to tell the truth, I'm interested in messing with the Halo 2 editing kit... playing the game, not so much.

I'm keeping notes about what people are telling me here, the problem is is that I cannot buy the best equipment for the situation, and at the moment, I'm too far out of the loop to look into all of the technologies and learn what is best. I haven't looked into PC building in years; when I learned how to build a computer, PCI-E didn't even exist. :downs:

[Xetsuei]

Instead of getting a $400 Radeon HD2900, you could get an eVGA GeForce 8800GTS KO 640mb (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130081) which is like 2x better. :-3

[SnaFuBAR]

shame i have so many bills to pay, otherwise i would buy it.

[InnerGoat]

Also, get a different motherboard. :-3

[legionaire45]

If anything, this is a temporary setup to allow me to do what I want to do (see first post) for the lowest price. If I feel the need to upgrade and milk all the power possible out of this machine, I'll save up for and spend my money on an expensive Radeon HD series card, SATA drives, a cooling system, etc etc. Like I said, I am, for a lack of better words, poor at the moment, though things are looking up and I can afford to chip away at purchasing this. I'm just sick of not being able to play as well as I'd like to on my games because my framerate is as stable as nitroglycerin, and to tell the truth, I'm interested in messing with the Halo 2 editing kit... playing the game, not so much.

I'm keeping notes about what people are telling me here, the problem is is that I cannot buy the best equipment for the situation, and at the moment, I'm too far out of the loop to look into all of the technologies and learn what is best. I haven't looked into PC building in years; when I learned how to build a computer, PCI-E didn't even exist. :downs:

The stuff I linked you too would cost the same amount and perform better =3.

[SnaFuBAR]

yes listen to him. he helped me build 2 awsim pc's.

[Snowy]

Have you already bought these parts yet?

[Chronos]

Hmm.. What about this.. It's about 100$ more..
Basicly it's the same set up, just with an Intel processor and mobo, since they are officially better then the AMD ones, don't flame at me it's been reviewed a lot.

Mobo:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188017

CPU (Intel 6750):
Couldn't find it on newegg, but here are some specs..

-Socket 775
- Conroe core
- 2.66 GHz
- 1333 MHz FSB
- 4MB L2 cache (2 over each core)
- x86-64
- Max use of power 65 W

Price on July 22: 183$

Memory (2x 1GB DDR2):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820161030 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820161030)

GPU (NVidia GEForce 8600GT):
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16814133199 (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814133199)

Power Supply:
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16817709011 (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817709011)

Case:
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16811208013 (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16811208013)

Total price $573

Just a thought!

[p0lar_bear]

No, and due to circumstances beyond my control, I probably won't be for a week or two. <:mad:>

Legionaire, whachootalkinbout Willis? I don't have any links from you that I can remember, repost them?

[Masterz1337]

Polar, you might want to take a look at this case, I plan on getting it for my new PC.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811144151

[Zeph]

*sigh*
The only benefits of a matching chipsets with GPUs are negligible unless multiple GPUs are used.

[legionaire45]

And get one of these (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116036) (or bump it up to a 800 mhz FSB Core 2 Duo like this (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115013) if you feel you could wait a week or 2) and one of these (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135047). More performance for the same price. Although if you can hold out for another month or 2 Intel will be cutting the prices on all their CPUs by a huge amount (ex. Quad Core for $266 from $580ish).
AgO3RGYJQxA

[Warsaw]

*sigh*
The only benefits of a matching chipsets with GPUs are negligible unless multiple GPUs are used.

And he had a multi-GPU motherboard originally with a non-matching GPU. Therefore, buying a non-matching GPU is a bad investment because he'd have to end up paying twice as much to upgrade to multiple cards.

However, seeing that this new setup is a single PCI-e x16, I am inclined to agree.

[TeeKup]

AgO3RGYJQxA

NOOOOOO WHY DO YOU PEOPLE KEEP MAKING PARODIES OF THAT.

HORRIBLE MEMORIES OF LIZ AND ENGINEERING CLASS.:smithicide: