New Computer

[Thor.]

http://forums.nexusmods.com/public/style_emoticons/dark/whistling.gif the fx chips are okay if you want performance and reliability, stay clear from bulldozer as tedratite mentioned.

 

A six core at 3.90ghz

 

http://www.tigerdire...9961&CatId=7341

 

and 8 core at 3.60ghz

 

http://www.tigerdire...3185&CatId=7341

Edited August 28, 2012 by Thor.

[K00L]

Intel is better, AMD is cheaper. if your not trying to go as cheap as possible, go Intel. and even then, Intel's lower end chips are still just as good/better then AMDs chips.

 

how much are you looking/willing to spend K00L?

Right now I'm not sure, I'm about to get around $500 more and I have to check how much I have already, since I blew 600 on a lap top my dad said I NEEDED but I can't even use in most of my classes.

 

 

From everything I've read, including people posting here complaining about poor performance after they bought one, do NOT get an AMD bulldozer CPU.

 

They just don't perform as well as their specs suggest they will, especially for gaming. I am NOT a fanboy of either manufacturer but I did a LOT of reading when I bought my PC, just a few months ago, and can honestly say I don't think I found a single source that supported the AMD bulldozers. AMD's older processors are really good (especially in value for money terms) but I found near universal agreement that the money you save getting a new AMD bulldozer rather a newest gen Intel isn't worth it.

 

From the ones you listed above I'd take the i5-3450. I did in fact. :biggrin:

I was actually looking at the link hoofhearted4 posted. They have the website separated into AMD and Intel computers.

[fms1]

For the money\ hassle of just not having to do it yourself, iBuypower is good, I currently have one. If you do decide to get any PC that's shipped to you, double or even triple check all your connections, when I got mine the Sata cable had came unhooked from the HDD (and wasn't "obviously" visible), and 1 of the 2 cooling fans for the CPU water cooler had never been connected.

[Erik005]

http://forums.nexusmods.com/public/style_emoticons/dark/whistling.gif the fx chips are okay if you want performance and reliability, stay clear from bulldozer as tedratite mentioned.

 

A six core at 3.90ghz

 

http://www.tigerdire...9961&CatId=7341

 

and 8 core at 3.60ghz

 

http://www.tigerdire...3185&CatId=7341

 

 

Those are the bulldozer chips.

[K00L]

For the money\ hassle of just not having to do it yourself, iBuypower is good, I currently have one. If you do decide to get any PC that's shipped to you, double or even triple check all your connections, when I got mine the Sata cable had came unhooked from the HDD (and wasn't "obviously" visible), and 1 of the 2 cooling fans for the CPU water cooler had never been connected.

I'll remember to do that.

I think I will end up going with a site like iBuypower. The local stores are too far to go just to have them build a computer. I'd rather do it online and have it shipped. I'm going to bed now, but I'll look more into this tomorrow. (I just had to go buy a printer. My family's old one has been dead, its four or five years old and had been used to print a crap ton of flyers so it did well. Our new one has a little touch screen, and can be wireless. Fancy. No faxing though, which is fine because we never faxed.)

[K00L]

Okay well I'll only have around $700 to spend on a computer. I may be able to get 100-300 more, but I'm not sure. Also now would be a great time to get it because it looks like I can save $100-200 if I buy from iBUYPOWER. So I'm going to start spamming some questions!

Alright first, what case should I get? Don't know what a good case is, I just look and say "Ooo that's cool" xD

I like the NZXT Phantom 410 Gaming Case in white. I also looked at the cheapest case (not because it was cheap, but because it had more than one color option), the NZXT Source 210. (Also since when did the PSUs go on the bottom?! :O Much nicer than the top.)

Anyway are either of those a good choice? Any suggestions for a different case?

 

The i5-3570 is the same price as the 3550 because of a sale so I think I will go with that.

The G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 is the same price as any other major brand because of the same sale. Should I go with these?

Not worried about a video card, and mine is almost $150 more than the one its offering (too bad I can't just say I don't need one, I'll set it to the 660 Ti which is only $11 more than the current because of a sale, and I can have it for whatever since I have to buy a card anyway).

 

Okay now I'm stuck for sure. Motherboards. This is what I was looking at so you can see what I am offered. The Asus P8Z77-V LX and the Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H -- 1x PCI-E 3.0 x16, 4x USB 3.0 are the same price. I'd also be willing to spend $12 more for ASUS P8Z77-V LK -- 2x PCI-E 3.0 x16, 4x USB 3.0 or ASRock Z77 Pro4 -- 1x PCI-E 3.0 x16 if they are better.

 

I don't know what this Intel Smart Technology is but the default is none.

I know power supply pretty well so I'm good there.

I'm looking at 2 TB HARD DRIVE -- 64M Cache, 7200rpm, 6.0Gb/s - Single Drive because its a free upgrade from the 1 TB version.

And the rest of it I don't care about (optical drive, second optical drive, sound card, etc.) so its all staying at the default settings.

 

 

Edit:

So this would be around $900 (I will for sure have enough for it), but the keyboard is technically free, and there are some mail in rebates

Labor Day Intel i5 Special

1 x Case ( NZXT Phantom 410 Gaming Case - White )

1 x Processor ( Intel® Core™ i5-3570 Processor (4x 3.40GHz/6MB L3 Cache) )

1 x Processor Cooling ( Liquid CPU Cooling System [sOCKET-1155] - Standard 120mm Fan )

1 x Memory ( 8 GB [4 GB X2] DDR3-1600 Memory Module - G.Skill Ripjaws X )

1 x Video Card ( NVIDIA GeForce GT 640 - 2GB )

1 x Video Card Brand ( Major Brand Powered by AMD or NVIDIA )

1 x Motherboard ( Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H -- 1x PCI-E 3.0 x16, 4x USB 3.0 )

1 x Power Supply ( 700 Watt - Standard )

1 x Primary Hard Drive ( 2 TB HARD DRIVE -- 64M Cache, 7200rpm, 6.0Gb/s - Single Drive )

1 x Optical Drive ( 24X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive - Black )

1 x Sound Card ( 3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard )

1 x Network Card ( Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100) )

1 x Operating System ( Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium + Office Starter 2010 (Includes basic versions of Word and Excel) - 64-Bit )

1 x Keyboard ( Razer Lycosa Gaming Keyboard )

1 x Speaker System ( iBUYPOWER 2.1 Channel Stereo Super Bass Subwoofer Speaker System )

1 x Case Engraving Service ( Custom Message - Max 35 characters (including spaces) - [sine Timore] )

1 x Warranty ( 3 Year Standard Warranty Service )

1 x Rush Service ( Rush Service Fee (not shipping fee) - No Rush Service, Estimate Ship Out in 5~10 Business Days )

 

 

Does that look okay? No bad decisions or anything? (The engraving was free, and I had to buy a graphics card.)

Edited August 30, 2012 by K00L

[hoofhearted4]

I like the NZXT Phantom 410 Gaming Case in white. I also looked at the cheapest case (not because it was cheap, but because it had more than one color option), the NZXT Source 210. (Also since when did the PSUs go on the bottom?! :O Much nicer than the top.)

Anyway are either of those a good choice? Any suggestions for a different case?

both cases are fine. cases in general are all going to be whichever you like best. for example, i would choose the Corsair 550D. a little more expensive, but its sound proof, which would give me a silent PC, again its all preference, both cases you pointed out are good.

 

The G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 is the same price as any other major brand because of the same sale. Should I go with these?

RAM is RAM. this is fine.

 

Not worried about a video card, and mine is almost $150 more than the one its offering (too bad I can't just say I don't need one, I'll set it to the 660 Ti which is only $11 more than the current because of a sale, and I can have it for whatever since I have to buy a card anyway).

so you dont need a card because you already have one? is yours in the list? because if so, you may be able to get it and put it into SLI with the one you have. if not, a 660ti is one of the better cards on the market. you can either use it over the one you have, and keep yours as a back up (or the 660ti as a back up) or sell one of the cards for some extra cash.

 

Okay now I'm stuck for sure. Motherboards. This is what I was looking at so you can see what I am offered. The Asus P8Z77-V LX and the Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H -- 1x PCI-E 3.0 x16, 4x USB 3.0 are the same price. I'd also be willing to spend $12 more for ASUS P8Z77-V LK -- 2x PCI-E 3.0 x16, 4x USB 3.0 or ASRock Z77 Pro4 -- 1x PCI-E 3.0 x16 if they are better.

ASRock z77 Extreme4, one of the better boards on the market for the price. will have what you need.

 

I don't know what this Intel Smart Technology is but the default is none.

basically with the Z68 and Z77 boards, you can use an SSD up to 64GB in size and use it as a cache. the more you use a program (like Microsoft Word, or a game or booting your system up) the fast it will go. just letting you know what it is. not saying you should or shouldnt go with it.

 

Edit:

So this would be around $900 (I will for sure have enough for it), but the keyboard is technically free, and there are some mail in rebates

Labor Day Intel i5 Special

1 x Case ( NZXT Phantom 410 Gaming Case - White )

1 x Processor ( Intel® Core™ i5-3570 Processor (4x 3.40GHz/6MB L3 Cache) )

1 x Processor Cooling ( Liquid CPU Cooling System [sOCKET-1155] - Standard 120mm Fan )

1 x Memory ( 8 GB [4 GB X2] DDR3-1600 Memory Module - G.Skill Ripjaws X )

1 x Video Card ( NVIDIA GeForce GT 640 - 2GB )

1 x Video Card Brand ( Major Brand Powered by AMD or NVIDIA )

1 x Motherboard ( Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H -- 1x PCI-E 3.0 x16, 4x USB 3.0 )

1 x Power Supply ( 700 Watt - Standard )

1 x Primary Hard Drive ( 2 TB HARD DRIVE -- 64M Cache, 7200rpm, 6.0Gb/s - Single Drive )

1 x Optical Drive ( 24X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive - Black )

1 x Sound Card ( 3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard )

1 x Network Card ( Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100) )

1 x Operating System ( Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium + Office Starter 2010 (Includes basic versions of Word and Excel) - 64-Bit )

1 x Keyboard ( Razer Lycosa Gaming Keyboard )

1 x Speaker System ( iBUYPOWER 2.1 Channel Stereo Super Bass Subwoofer Speaker System )

1 x Case Engraving Service ( Custom Message - Max 35 characters (including spaces) - [sine Timore] )

1 x Warranty ( 3 Year Standard Warranty Service )

1 x Rush Service ( Rush Service Fee (not shipping fee) - No Rush Service, Estimate Ship Out in 5~10 Business Days )

 

 

Does that look okay? No bad decisions or anything? (The engraving was free, and I had to buy a graphics card.)

only thing i dont like about it is the Liquid Cooling. idk what they are going to use. it could be some generic PoS and idk if i would trust it. if you want a closed loop system, thats fine, just get like an H60 or H80, whichever option you have, as those are tested loops and are good. otherwise just get a heatsink. even if its generic, its simple and cheap to put on a good one. nor do you have to worry about a hose coming loose in shipping and leaking fluid on your system. just my opinion. other then that, everything looks fine

[K00L]

Not worried about a video card, and mine is almost $150 more than the one its offering (too bad I can't just say I don't need one, I'll set it to the 660 Ti which is only $11 more than the current because of a sale, and I can have it for whatever since I have to buy a card anyway).

so you dont need a card because you already have one? is yours in the list? because if so, you may be able to get it and put it into SLI with the one you have. if not, a 660ti is one of the better cards on the market. you can either use it over the one you have, and keep yours as a back up (or the 660ti as a back up) or sell one of the cards for some extra cash.

 

only thing i dont like about it is the Liquid Cooling. idk what they are going to use. it could be some generic PoS and idk if i would trust it. if you want a closed loop system, thats fine, just get like an H60 or H80, whichever option you have, as those are tested loops and are good. otherwise just get a heatsink. even if its generic, its simple and cheap to put on a good one. nor do you have to worry about a hose coming loose in shipping and leaking fluid on your system. just my opinion. other then that, everything looks fine

Okay first, thanks.

Also I meant 640 Ti... I was reading the one below it for whatever reason, but I really meant to type 640 not 660. Little difference spelling wise, big difference in everything else. xD

I have a 560 Ti. Specifically I believe it is this but I got mine for $200 or something at Best Buy because I had a coupon for that specific one. I could technically add it, because its on the list but its also going to add like $150 or so.

And I saw that on the liquid cooling. The don't have any brand name or really anything about it at all. There are 4 options for cooling:

• Certified CPU Fan and Heatsink
  
• Liquid CPU Cooling System [sOCKET-1155]
  
• Asetek 550LC Liquid CPU Cooling System (Intel)
  
• Corsair Hydro Series H60 Liquid CPU Cooling System
  

Every computer I've had has a fan and heatsink, never had liquid cooling so I don't know much about that. Your saying the Corsair one is good?

[fms1]

I have had no problems at all with the water cool setup in my PC, I've had it for a little over a year now. To be honest I love it, it might not be, but I swear it's quieter than air cooled setups, and much easier to keep clean because of the strait through air flow. Later I will open my case and post back what cooling system it is.

[K00L]

Honestly pretty much anything is an improvement over my current computer setup. This thing is pretty loud and slow at times. The only nice things I have are my monitor and my video card. Well, my RAM is nice too, but its not much anymore.