Computer Talk

Dragonfire · Post by **Dragonfire** » Tue Oct 20, 2009 10:41 pm

Dragonfire wrote:Well maybe I can help with computer building. I just built my big rig (~$1500) back in October 2008, but i started looking into builds back in January 2008. I guess I'll just ask you some questions about what you want, what you will be using it for, what potential you want it to have, etc.

You said you wanted to be able to run Halo CE and Source at once? Dualc-re would be great for that, however, do you have any programs that you would like to have some breathing room?

Video cards is something to talk about here, you can do one of two or three things. Go with onboard (integrated) GFX, they usually arent the best, but you can always get another video card and crossfire/SLI them together. The downside to an onboard is more power usage on thr mobo, and it makes the mobo (motherboard) a little more difficult to upgrade sometimes. If you got a mobo w/o any GFX, usually they allow 2 or up to 4 GFX slots (usually PCI Express x16 2.0) so you can instead swap GFX cards, join them together, or even totally go with something new.

Memory, now this is the fun stuff. If you want something with potential, I would go with at least 3GB of ram. Why? With the new release of Win7, it is very efficent with ram, and also gives your programs some much needed breathing room.

Now about the motherboard, this is the tricky part. Lemme know what you want about the onboard GFX (or not), hard drives, disc drives, and so-on.

Power supply, NEVER SKIMP ON A POWER SUPPLY, you will pay dearly in the end. Corsair and PC Power & Cooling are the best. Wattage will depend on what you want to put in the system, hardware wise.

Case, now LEDs and flashy colors arent everything, look for layout, design, and FANS! Fans is what keeps your computer cool and running where you want. For instance my case has dual 250mm, independantly controlled fans on the side, with a 120mm in the rear. Some good cases could be Antec, Thermaltake, and XClio )I have an XClio Windtunnel).

Ok, well I'll stop blabbing here, just for reference, here are my computer specs off the top of my head, and also the reasons why I have what I have.

AMD Phenom X4 9950BE Quad-Core --> I do some CADD work on the side as well as my extreme gaming time lately, also I run many applications at once, currently running 70 processes.

4GB of RAM --> Reason being I'm actually looking to upgrade to 8GB, ram can go quick when you start adding more demanding apps to your computer, especially like running 3 CADD programs at a time.

22" Widescreen monitor --> I currently have this and a 17" CRT running dual monitor configuration, tell you one thing, once you go dual, you don't go back. I usually have Call of Duty on screen one, TeamSpeak and iTunes on the secondary, very handy.

XClio Windtunnel --> The case decision is prolly what took the longest for me to decide. Full Tower ATX gives your computer lots of room to breathe inside, as well as cable management in empty bays. The 2x 250mm side fans help keep this beast running cool. Also its not flashy, just look clean and professional.

Ok, enough is enough, lemme know if you want more advice, tips, or just for me to shut up, lol. I'm out!

Click16 · Post by **Click16** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 1:09 am

Is that the case you have?

Dragonfire · Post by **Dragonfire** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 12:24 pm

OwnZ joO · Post by **OwnZ joO** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 9:04 pm

What do you guys think of this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819116091

Paired with this?:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813128357

The cpu is the shell shocker today, and I just got paid today, wasn't expecting to until next week, so I might buy something today if that's decent. I'd probably OC it, since it should run fairly cool being a 65W right? Let me know, I don't really want top of the line for CPU or mobo or GPU or ram right now, just good bang for the buck. I'm planning on pretty good monitor, power supply, and probably case too for this build. When I do eventually upgrade I'm thinking I might get a SSD because I'm sure prices will have come down a bit by then, but I'll be upgrading mobo and all that core stuff with it then.

Dragonfire · Post by **Dragonfire** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 11:34 pm

Looks ok to me...

xxpenguinxx · Post by **xxpenguinxx** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 11:53 pm

That setup looks good. It should last you a long time plus there's room for upgrades in the future.

OwnZ joO · Post by **OwnZ joO** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 12:58 am

Dragonfire wrote:Looks ok to me...

Does that really mean it's ok? Or does that ... mean it's crappy. I don't want a crazy quad core beast, I just want a pretty decent dual core, and from the reviews this mobo and cpu combo looks like I'll be able to do some basic overclocking to improve performance a bit.

xxpenguinxx wrote:That setup looks good. It should last you a long time plus there's room for upgrades in the future.

Yeah hopefully that does last me a while. I don't plan on upgrading anything with that mobo though(only 2 ram slots), especially since mobo and processor are 130 combined, if I get 6+ months out of that it's worth the money.

Haha I might buy tonight if you guys think it's a decent investment, if you see anything that would better suit my needs or be a better value then don't hesitate to point it out. I might even be ok with a less powerful processor. My current desktop(my parents) has a P4 2.53Ghz cpu, so anything decent would be a step up and right now I'm just interested in having my own computer.

Click16 · Post by **Click16** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 2:58 am

heh better then mine. xD

OwnZ joO · Post by **OwnZ joO** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 3:25 pm

So I ordered the mobo/cpu combo last night. I decided for this rig I'm just gonna go budget all the way and give it to my parents once I want to upgrade. So I am just gonna use onboard graphics(Only game I'll load up will probably be halo pc if that, and maybe use a bsp renderer). Now I need to know if this case/power supply combo will be decent enough for a budget build?

After that I'll probably just get a 500Gb 7200rpm sata3 drive, 4 gigs of ram, and use my parents monitor for a while. Any other suggestions?

socrates · Post by **socrates** » Sat Oct 24, 2009 12:36 am

that link's broken bro
this is what I got, I didn't get the cool UFO hub with it though XDD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811144113
looks nice, got a good Blue LED fan in it, the thermometer's are kinda weird and not accurate and the wires to go to your mobo may be a little lacking pending on your mobo (simple wire splice and electrical tape will suffice..not like you'll be moving the wires after the case is closed up. Handle has been used on multiple occasions, and it does hold up.. so no worries, and its got three windowed sides..so your friends can have a looksie at your innards... the blue LED fan makes certain parts of mobo glow (my mobo had iridescent PCI slots..)

OwnZ joO · Post by **OwnZ joO** » Mon Oct 26, 2009 4:43 pm

Is this case/power supply decent for what I need? I decided that I'm not gonna get a GPU with this build, nowadays integrated can run halo pretty decent can't it. As long as the power supply doesn't crap out on me really quickly it shouldn't be a problem. I ordered that microATX board, the cpu, and 4 gigs(2x2) of corsair ram. Now I just need a case, power supply, and keyboard to have a usable computer(Haha I'm gonna run a live linux distribution off of a thumb drive til I order a hard drive, which I can afford now, but don't wanna buy it yet)

I'm also contemplating this one and just looking for a good deal on a power supply. What do you guys think? Any better deals on some cases and power supplies? They can be a little more expensive, I just don't wanna spend hundreds and hundreds more on it for a system without a gpu that I'll probably just give to my parents when I'm done with.

Gary · Post by **Gary** » Wed Nov 18, 2009 10:34 am

My friend said this was a pretty good card, http://www.provantage.com/pny-technolog ... NY90FF.htm

I want something under 150, but still good.

socrates · Post by **socrates** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 5:23 am

yea that's good, but my 9500 hasn't failed me yet.. got a bit choppy playing Prototype, but nothing too bad. Unless you plan on doing hardcore gaming or something you don't need a 9800... and a 9500 or even 9600 would be around $30-$75

xxpenguinxx · Post by **xxpenguinxx** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 1:48 pm

From my experience the 9600GT performs better then the 9800GT...

Gary · Post by **Gary** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 10:14 pm

I want it to be somewhat future-proof, so I don't have to keep upgrading every year, but I don't want to spend too much.

xxpenguinxx · Post by **xxpenguinxx** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 12:52 am

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/charts/gr ... rds,1.html
Gary maybe this is something you're looking for: Nvidia 9800 GTX+

I'm actually looking for a Nvidia 9800 GX2 but I believe nvidia no longer manufactures them.

xxpenguinxx · Post by **xxpenguinxx** » Fri Nov 27, 2009 6:32 am

Does this look good?:

neodos · Post by **neodos** » Fri Nov 27, 2009 2:06 pm

Nope, its teamviwer so I am not sure of how it would translate a graphic card problem, but it looks like its a graphics card problem, though could be motherboard/cpu/ram too :/ you have to test by replacing each component by another to find out what it could be, I had this problem with a damaged motherboard.

Though if he is using motherboard integrated graphics then it can also be the RAM.

Click16 · Post by **Click16** » Fri Nov 27, 2009 6:37 pm

Yeah, no its not teamviewer. Its really how my desktop looked

My graphics card does that if it gets hot. I am almost ready to shoot my computer.

Gary · Post by **Gary** » Sat Nov 28, 2009 6:16 pm

Cool, found a new internet feature.

It's called, be an ass-hole of an ISP.

Hit my bandwidth limit, now, no internet and when internet does connect, it fails for the next page.

Awsome...

xxpenguinxx · Post by **xxpenguinxx** » Sun Nov 29, 2009 12:30 am

Are you sure there are no other ISP's you can choose from in your area? I know wireless sucks but wouldn't using one of those wireless AT&T usb cards be better then not having enough bandwidth?

Gary · Post by **Gary** » Sun Nov 29, 2009 1:42 am

We have 3-6 computers using the internet at the same time.

OwnZ joO · Post by **OwnZ joO** » Sun Dec 06, 2009 6:06 pm

I am in the market to buy a GPU. I just got a 23" 1080P monitor with vga, dvi, and hdmi ports. I'm thinking I want to connect using hdmi, but it came with a cable for each, so dvi would be alright also. I don't really play any computer games, aside from maybe booting up halo pc and possibly h2 vista in the future. I might eventually want to upgrade to dual monitors(could one use the onboard graphics or does GPU need 2 outputs or a crossfire/sli setup?). I definitely want 512MB ram, but a gig would probably be better. I don't really know what I need for sure though, I'm not that interested in hardware so I don't know as much about it. Any ideas on what I should get? I have money, but I'd like to keep it under 150 probably, I don't need cutting edge, any help is appreciated.

iBotPeaches · Post by **iBotPeaches** » Sun Dec 06, 2009 7:10 pm

http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/ ... rview.aspx

ATI Radeon 5770.

Can run 2 monitors by itself, has 2 HDMIs and 2 DVIs, its pretty long though so you would need to confirm case specs to be sure you can house it.

socrates · Post by **socrates** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 12:00 am

should I try to get another monitor, not sure how cheap I could get one, or a graphics tablet? also not sure on price.. but I've got $40 and figured I could probably find a cheap one of either of the two, if nothing else I'm sure I could get a CRT for free....

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