New Build Questions...

A

AceCurby32

n00b
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Feb 19, 2011
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Need some advice on a new build...here's what I have now...

P4 2.8
2GB of Ram
Geforce 8400 GS
2 x 250GB HD

Using it mainly for gaming such as Civ 5, EVE, and other strategy games. Maybe the occasional new MMORPG that comes down the pipe.
Budget is $1000-1500.
Ill need a new CPU, RAM, Graphic card(s), HD(s), power supply, DVD drives, and the my least favorite part to pick (and hardest) - a mobo. Do you even need a sound card anymore? I have a little 2.1 Klips system. I have a Lian Li case that will fit a lot of stuff.
I won't be overclocking it, but the option would be nice.
My monitor is a Viewsonic 22", 1920x1080.
For the mobo, I like it to have either SLI or Crossover support. If there's one part I've learned not to skimp on the features on its the mobo.
I have XP Pro, but will be upgrading to Windows 7 for sure. Don't need to include this in the overall price though.

Any info you guys could share would be great. Like I said, its not going to need to run anything massive, but it would be nice if I could get something that may run Civ 7 or 8 in the future easily enough.

Thanks!
 
OP, just answer these questions since you've already answered most of the questions from that sticky:
3) Where do you live?
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
-) Which Lian Li case do you have?
 
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Using it mainly for gaming such as Civ 5, EVE, and other strategy games. Maybe the occasional new MMORPG that comes down the pipe.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Budget is $1000-1500.
3) Where do you live?
CA
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
Ill need a new CPU, RAM, Graphic card(s), HD(s), power supply, DVD drives, and the my least favorite part to pick (and hardest) - a mobo. Do you even need a sound card anymore? I have a little 2.1 Klips system. I have a Lian Li case that will fit a lot of stuff.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Won't really be reusing anything.
6) Will you be overclocking?
I won't be overclocking it, but the option would be nice.
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
My monitor is a Viewsonic 22", 1920x1080.
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
There's really no timetable on when I "need" it.
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? etc.
For the mobo, I like it to have either SLI or Crossover support. If there's one part I've learned not to skimp on the features on its the mobo. So if its got all the bells and whistles I'm ok with that.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
I have XP Pro, but will be upgrading to Windows 7 for sure. Don't need to include this in the overall price though.
 
AceCurby32 said:
Using it mainly for gaming such as.. EVE,
Click to expand...
Do you happen to run multiple Eve Online clients?
AceCurby32 said:
Do you even need a sound card anymore? I have a little 2.1 Klips system.
Click to expand...
We generally recommend trying the onbaord audio first and then buy a sound card if deemed necessary.
AceCurby32 said:
I have a Lian Li case that will fit a lot of stuff.
Click to expand...
Which Lian Li case?
AceCurby32 said:
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
There's really no timetable on when I "need" it.
Click to expand...
That doesn't tell us anything. We need to know when you're planning on buying to determine whether or not we can actually recommend parts to you or ask you to wait a few weeks before your actual build date and ask for advice then. In other words, when you're planning the build dictates the hardware you should get.
 
I have the Lian Li PC-60FNWX and the LIAN LI PC-A71F, though I'd rather use the smaller PC-60.
No, I don't run multiple Eve Online clients.
For the build date then let's say now - ASAP.
 
You wouldn't happen to live near a Microcenter do ya?
 
The nearest Micro Center is about an hour away, but I'm for sure willing to travel to one if its that much cheaper.
 
AceCurby32 said:
The nearest Micro Center is about an hour away, but I'm for sure willing to travel to one if its that much cheaper.
Click to expand...

Do you live near the Santa Clara one or the Tustin one? I ask because both stores have different stocks of certain motherboards. So depending on which one you're closer to, that's gonna dictate motherboard recommendation.
 
Ahh fuck, The Santa Clara store just went out of stock of the mobos I was gonna recommend. Well time for plan B:
$170 - Intel Core i5 760 CPU
$180 - Asus P7P55D-E Pro Intel P55 ATX Motherboard
$100 - G.Skill Ripjaw Series F3-12800CL9S-8GBRL 2 x 4GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$291 - XFX HD-695A-CNFC Radeon HD 6950 2GB PCI-E Video Card
$65 - Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$90 - Antec Truepower New TP-750 750W PSU
$30 - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus HSF for LGA 1366 and LGA 1156
---
Total: $926 plus tax and shipping

I went with Amazon.com as much as possible since they do not charge CA residents tax whereas Microcenter and Newegg will.
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
Thanks for the info!

Which mobo were you going to recommend?

Also, in the long run, if I wanted to spend more money on the processor vs the graphics card, I'd assume the processor is the way to go? Does that graphics card support and mobo support Crossfire?
 
For a gaming rig, then you'll want to upgrade the video card until the CPU becomes the bottle neck in most cases. That i5 should be able to handle a lot.

The 6950 can be crossfired and that motherboard supports crossfire although I would probably suggest you going with a single card solution instead of crossfiring 6950s at 1920x1080 if you wanted to spend more money on the GPU. Granted the 6950s will be faster than a single 580 (fastest single card solution). Just take a look at this thread: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1036823981 where they talk about a single card 580 GTX vs CF 6950s.

For your demands though, just one 6950 will be plenty.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
AceCurby32 said:
Which mobo were you going to recommend?
Click to expand...
Well I was planning on recommending an AMD build with the Asus M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 AM3 890GX motherboard.
AceCurby32 said:
Also, in the long run, if I wanted to spend more money on the processor vs the graphics card, I'd assume the processor is the way to go? Does that graphics card support and mobo support Crossfire?
Click to expand...

You want to spend more money on the GPUs. Right now, the Core i5 760 will be more than enough for any game out there. If you do find some lack of performance, all you have to do is to overclock that Core i5 760. Hence why I included DDR3 1600 RAM and that Coolermaster HSF: It allows you to OC the Core i5 760 to 4Ghz.

The Intel Asus motherboard I recommended above supports both Crossfire and SLI.
 
So, the 6950 alone will handle what I want just fine. Down the road though I'd be able to add in another 6950 to increase performance then.

How is this stuff on sound? Loud? What type of case fans do you guys recommend? The quieter the better.

This is good info, so thanks.
 
A single 6950 on a display such as yours should (1080p) with that system should be outstanding. Pushing a second card later is always a tough call, usually by then better cards are out and it doesn't make sense to run Crossfire to only find that it only increases performance in certain games. I have a 5850, makes more sense just to get a 6950/70 rather than Xfire it!

Case fans wise it depends on your budget. Gelid and Yate Loons make good value quieter fans, best to ask Danni on this one as he knows what you can get your hands on.
 
I have one last question...

DVD Drives. What do you recommend? I have a 8 year oldish TDK drive but I want to replace it. I've noticed Blu-ray drives available but don't really see the need for one of those quite yet...or am I missing something?
 
AceCurby32 said:
I have one last question...

DVD Drives. What do you recommend? I have a 8 year oldish TDK drive but I want to replace it. I've noticed Blu-ray drives available but don't really see the need for one of those quite yet...or am I missing something?
Click to expand...

They're all basically the same so the cheapest SATA DVD burner you can find is the deal here
 
I'm back! So, my budget increased $200 bucks. Quick question - so I spend the extra dough on the CPU or upgrade the graphics card to get the most bang for my buck.
 
Go with an I5 2500K and P67 Crossfire/SLI, SATA 6Gbps, and USB 3.0 mainboard like the ASUS P8P67 Pro rather than the I5 760 and P55. Would make Danny Bui's list about $1000.

The P67 boards are starting to come back with the B3 revision and should be refilling stock at Microcenter soon.

Go ahead and get an OEM Windows 7 64 bit disk ($110)

Maybe consider a SSD 120GB Intel ($230) or C300 128GB Crucial ($275) for boot drive and main programs and use the 1TB in the list as storage should still be within $1400 of your original $1000 to $1500 budget.

If your new budget is $1700 tops you could start looking into eyefinity get one active mini display port adapter to DVI for around $30 and pick up two more monitors of the model you already have.
 
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