Hey All, I'm looking to replace my aging desktop (athlon 64 3000) with something new, with a bit of power for gaming. I haven't kept up much on the new cpu's, but is there anything that you'd recommend? I've been looking at quad core AMD phenom's. But I've also seen some dual core AMD Athlon "Black Editions" around, which I'm not sure how they stack up. I briefly looked at Intel Core i7's but they seem a bit pricy at the moment. I'm looking for something with a bit of power behind it, but also something that's affordable. I'd say my budget is $1500 max. I'm leaning more to looking at a barebones system, something where I can still easily put in what i want. Any suggestions? Ryan
I'm biased, but I'd go with a Phenom II quad-core. The Black Editions are simply for overclocking, if you're into that sort of thing. Since you have a pretty decent budget, you should look into getting an AM3 board with support for DDR3. It's a little more pricey but it doesn't jack up the price like getting a Core i7 would, and it future-proofs you a little bit. For a graphics card, depending on what you want to play, the best budget card at the moment seems to be the HD 4770's. They're about $100 and fall right behind the HD 4850's in terms of performance. If you just want a badass graphics card you should look at the HD 4890's or maybe a 4870 x2.
I was just surfing tigerdirect and saw this: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4679657&CatId=3508 Doesn't seem to bad a deal. I think it falls pretty well in line with what i want, the case I'm not worried about, as i don't particularly care for the clear sides or anything. From what it looks like, all i really need afterwards is a case fan, cpu fan, possible sound card and an optical drive. Whaddya think? Ryan
Well for one I'd stay the fark away from tigerdirect. :noooo: Everything they have is way over priced and their support sucks if you need to RMA something. Newegg is way better, just priced this out: HITACHI Deskstar 7K1000.B 160GB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Hard Drive HEC 6C28BBOH48D Black Computer Case AMD Phenom 9600 2.3GHz Socket AM2+ 95W Quad-Core Processor OCZ 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Memory EVGA GeForce 9400 GT 01G-P3-N945-LR Video Card MSI K9N2 SLI Platinum ATX AMD Motherboard Total:$380.94 Your also not paying for a power supply because it comes w/ the case. And you have way more money left over for that case fan and sound card. Also I'm biased more towards intel, but then again I'm not really gaming, I just build hackintoshes and do low level hacking and virtualization. Also I'm much more of an Nvidia fan, but this could be taint from working at Dell and having to deal with getting ATI cards to do much of anything except show the Windows GUI. That and Nvidia has Cuda (GPGPU) and its awesome to play with.
Newegg does have a canadian store and I highly recommend it over tiger direct. I am also a bit biased, too, so, I'd get an AMD Phenom over Intel. I would recommend a DDR3 PC as that will future proof you for a good 2 years at least (given how long you owned that system you're replacing now). It can definitely handle Vista and Windows 7.
This is my suggestions on what you type of things you should go for, i'm not saying this is exactly what you should get but giving you a general idea without being biased and suggesting what i'd go for. CPU/Mobo wise. I'd say if your going to go intel then stick with a intel P45 based motherboard and quad core unless you really want to go i7 or if you decide AMD then go with a 790 amd motherboard and phenom II. Graphics wise. i'd say if your going for a budget option then for ATI the 4770 is a great looking card for standard resolutions or an Nividia gts250. Both cards are great but i'd say the nvidia card will handle higher resolutions better as it has 256bit memory bus over the ati card having only a 128bit bus. If you spend a bit more you can get a ATI HD4850 which is great card although all thos will have decent gaming performance. Memory Wise. I'd say go with ddr3 at least 3gb or more as it doesn't seem like you'll be chopping and changing your components arround all the time and ddr3 will be fine for a good few years. PSU. Go for something with 600watts or more and make sure its a decent branded one which has all the connections you need and not a cheapy as i had a cheapy which went *bang* or actually more like *pop* after about 2 months but luckily it was only the psu which fired and not my components. A modular PSU would be ideal as you'd only need to connect what cable you'd be using which would help keep things tidy and possibly aid airflow, Case I can't really comment on any particualr case as its really down to what suits you but go for something with good airflow, cable management holes as well as a decent amount of fans. Hopefully this helps you a bit and i hope i've not missed anything out or that.
I agree Tigerdirect is a bit overpriced, but the only reason i do like them, is there is a brick and mortar direct just down the road from me, which usually has everything in stock, otherwise i use Canada Computers which is cheaper (and has some good deals) but its sometimes hit or miss if they have items in stock I haven't built a pc in several years now, but i finally figured this is the time to do it, and I'm going to do it right. I think 8gb of ram will do me nicely, considering ram is cheap these days (50 bucks for ddr2 4gb) And like you've said, I think it would benefit me to future proof it a bit. I toyed with the thought of crossfire or sli, but I dunno if thats something i really need, most likely though i think this pc will come together as i buy parts for it here and there, so I am not afraid of swapping or upgrading it at a later date! Ryan
DDR3 isn't quite as cheap. I'm seeing $90 for 6GB (3x 2GB) of DDR3 1333, but that's still not nearly as bad as it was just a few months ago. RAM for my Macbook has dropped $40 since I bought it in February. SLI isn't necessary unless.. I don't know. I just don't really think it's necessary, especially if you aren't planning on extensive gaming. Some people just like having more than one graphics card, though, so it's pretty much up to you. I will say that you should look for a motherboard with SLI/Crossfire support just in case you want to add another card later.
Was about to say just the same thing. I would definatly go for an SLI or Crossfire compatible motherboard if your thinking about going for multi GPU's as with a single card it will be just as good as a motherboard with single pic-e garphics slot and you have the ability to add an extra graphics card if you want. you could go for one higher-end graphics card now then add another once prices come down. Also i'd say if your going for tons of RAM then you'd be best going for ddr2 as thats cheap but something like 3gb triple chanel kits of ddr3 isn't that expenive and is alot cheaper than it has been and is more future proof but it dpeneds on what motherboard you get as to what type of memory you'll get.
This is what I think isn't a half bad setup, of course, this isn't including a monitor or two, speakers, but thats extra costs: CPU $209: http://www.canadacomputers.com//index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=021929&cid=CPU.907 GPU $234: http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=023861&cid=999.243.272 PSU $60: http://www.canadacomputers.com//index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=019983&cid=PS.830 SOUND CARD $80: http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=021379&cid=SC MOTHERBOARD $100: http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=023292&cid=MB.486 MEMORY $95: http://www.canadacomputers.com//index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=018562&cid=RAM.346.754 CASE $70: http://www.canadacomputers.com//index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=018460&cid=CS.664 HDD $80: http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=021392&cid=HD.443.877 DVD $35: http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=019525&cid=CR.184 Before taxes: $935ish (add in another 300 for monitor, speakers etc) I can't think of any other required parts, but what do you think? Ryan
That's a micro-ATX motherboard, and the case probably supports full ATX. I wouldn't buy an Asus motherboard, either, as their quality has dropped considerably in the past few years. I usually look at Gigabyte for a solid motherboard, although there are others, of course.
Whoa!...I can't believe i missed that, hell it was late, and I had a couple beers, that's my excuse... ...goes back to the beer...
