Help Building Computer

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toMsons1987

New Member
I need straight up help creating my computer. I am going to start putting together a nice beast, and getting rid of my POS ebay buy (400 bucks). It was good, but enough is enough! Okay, now moving on! This thread isn't to show off, I just need honest help, don't know where to start in some categories. only thing I know so far is the power supply, so I never have issues, and the case which comes with strong fans to avoid future over-heating issues.

Thanks for any help!



Case: XCLIO Windtunnel - $99.98 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811103011)

Power Supply: SILVERSTONE ZEUS - $69.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817163108)

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P - $129.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128358&Tpk=GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P)

Video Card: Radeon HD 4870 - $289.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102801)

Processor (CPU): Intel Core 2 Duo - $188.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115036)

Sound Card: NONE

Ram: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) - $59.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231166)

Hard Drive: 250GB WD + External 250GB SeaGate (Free - Already Own)



Total Cost: $838.93
 
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daisymtc

Active Member
Motherboard: $0-150
GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P/ Asus P5Q Pro

Video Card: $200-300
ATI HD4870

Processor (CPU): $100-200
E8500/ Q6600/ Q8200

Sound Card: $0-100
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer ??

Ram: ?
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK - Retail
 
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NerdyMatt

New Member
Good choice Daisy, Im in love with the EP45's atm been building a fair few system's for family and friends and ive been putting these bad boys in em!

A few years ago you needed to buy a sound card if you wanted to be gaming but the ep45's onboard is pritty decent. I play cod4, cs and occional rpg's and find the sound quality good enough to not dignify buying a sound card.

It might be better to save the 0-100 dorra on a sound card n buy a better cpu or gpu.
 
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toMsons1987

New Member
NerdyMatt said:
Good choice Daisy, Im in love with the EP45's atm been building a fair few system's for family and friends and ive been putting these bad boys in em!

A few years ago you needed to buy a sound card if you wanted to be gaming but the ep45's onboard is pritty decent. I play cod4, cs and occional rpg's and find the sound quality good enough to not dignify buying a sound card.

It might be better to save the 0-100 dorra on a sound card n buy a better cpu or gpu.
Click to expand...
Isn't a sound card important to have, or am I totally missing something?
 
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smoothjk

New Member
toMsons1987 said:
Isn't a sound card important to have, or am I totally missing something?
Click to expand...

Onboard is generally good enough unless you're an audiophile. However, I got the XtremeGamer so that some of the load would be taken off my CPU. Not all sound cards have hardware acceleration, so if you are going to get one, choose carefully.
 
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toMsons1987

New Member
daisymtc said:
Motherboard: $0-150
GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P/ Asus P5Q Pro

Video Card: $200-300
ATI HD4870

Processor (CPU): $100-200
E8500/ Q6600/ Q8200

Sound Card: $0-100
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer ??

Ram: ?
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK - Retail
Click to expand...
:( Would you happen to have some links to like newegg or something, some have so many versions and different stats, it's hard for me to pick.


Sidenote (to anyone): What would you suggest if I wanted to go in the route of AMD and Nvidia, I actually like those companies better for what ever reason. Is there a notable difference between the two? And of course what products would you suggest for this configuration?

More (to anyone): What do you think of my power supply, is it fine or am I setting up for disaster? Also, is my case a good one? I picked it because I am lead to believe it's great for keeping a computer very cool. Though it might be big and heavy, I don't care about that. Just performance, any thoughts?

Also, I added the ram you suggested, much better then anything else I could find for price or performance even NEAR it. Thank you!
 
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shempf

New Member
I'd do E8400+ (non-editing/encoding) or a Quad if your going to encode/edit....depending on your want of a Quad, it may be feasible to go i7.
4850 or 4870 ($50 spread)
Corsair or PP&PC PSU
Mobo - pick one (P5Q is ok)
Mem - ddr2 1066 {more the merrier}
Sound Card - not worth it unless you spend $300+ on a pair of speakers
HD - I favor 320gb or 640gb
everything else, personal preference
 
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toMsons1987

New Member
Okay, a little update. For the CPU, I will go with Intel, since they are more powerful at the moment. And really, more affordable with comparisons to the other side with similar priced products. Now, I am goin' to go a little up in price due to some nice finds. I think it will be worth it in the end.

What I am looking at right now is these two..


Intel Core 2 Duo E8600 ($269.99) ~ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115054

Intel Core i7 920 (299.99) ~ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202


Which one is the best for the cash, or is there another one around this what blows these away? But then, on a side note, I don't really want to go this high to 300 bucks. I don't feel that I need it, to play minor games. I just want something that will blow me away, I have a 3.02 Ghz computer with Hyper threading technology. I got when that was "new" in a really good deal, so just looking for something new that will make me say, "WOW" and I will feel the difference.

More things I've decided, I only need to pick a graphics card and cpu. I can't thank you guys enough for pointing me towards things!
 
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toMsons1987

New Member
2048Megabytes said:
If you want the Intel Core i7 920 you will have to get a different motherboard and different RAM than what you have currently chosen. The Core 2 Duo E8600 processor is overpriced. Take a look at the Core 2 Duo E8500 or E8400 processors:

Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale - $189
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115036

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale - $165
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What's better, quad core, or core 2 duo? Can I get either of these in my current setup and be fine?

I am deciding between these two, finally almost done! I play games mostly, like Counter-Strike and stuff..

(Intel Core 2 Quad) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115017

(Intel Core 2 Duo) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115036

Which has the edge? Also, how much can I over-clock these ones?


...I tried to look through your guys threads about these cards, and my head is gonna explode. Don't know what any of it means! :(
 
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2048Megabytes

2048Megabytes

Active Member
toMsons1987 said:
What's better, quad core, or core 2 duo? Can I get either of these in my current setup and be fine?

I am deciding between these two, finally almost done! I play games mostly, like Counter-Strike and stuff..

(Intel Core 2 Quad) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115017

(Intel Core 2 Duo) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115036

Which has the edge? Also, how much can I over-clock these ones?


...I tried to look through your guys threads about these cards, and my head is gonna explode. Don't know what any of it means! :(
Click to expand...

A Quad-Core means a processor computer chip contains four processors that operate at the same frequency, but independently of each other.

A Dual-Core means a processor computer chip contains two processors that operate at the same frequency, but independently of each other.

You could multi-task better (run more programs at the same time) with the Quad-Core processor over the Dual-Core.

I don't think you will notice a difference with either those processors with what you use your system for, but the Q6600 Quad-Core processor has more processing power.

I would get the E8500 because it has a higher clock speed than the Q6600 in my own opinion. If you like to multitask, then the Q6600 would be a better processor.
 
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shempf

New Member
I didn't see if your just gaming or doing any editing/encoding.
Quad > better encoding/editing (assuming programs are multi-threaded)
Dual > a bit faster for gaming
It's all personal preference. Quads can get to the price-point of an i7, as you found out, which makes it easy(ier) to justify an i7 system....imo.
 
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toMsons1987

New Member
Okay, Core 2 Duo it is!

Now I just need a graphics card, to finish this all off.. I want a really good one, but I notice when I look I just look at speeds and I get confused. ATi has 800 streaming unites, while nVidia has like 216 only. I don't know what that does, but then there are to many numbers. I see some cards at ATi that have 3.6Ghz (800 x 4) speeds, which is huge, cause everything else says like 2,200-2,400mhz. But they get low ratings, and I don't know how to properly pick anything out. I don't know what's better, to get ATi or Nvidia. I came in wanting a 9800 GTX+, but people talk like there is so much better cards for my setup with a price around the same. So I am just, lost.. Seriously, seriously, lost.. I am sorry I am so stupid, it's I don't want to get something bad, this is a one time shot, no going back or switching. I want something sweet, I am sure ya guys get where I am coming from. And will upgrade to 8GB of ram after all the pieces are bought.



How much can you overclock the core I chose (Stock @ 3.16GHz)?

Processor (CPU): Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale - $188.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115036)
 
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2048Megabytes

2048Megabytes

Active Member
toMsons1987 said:
It's so cheap, you never know :p
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I think spending $44 for another 4 gigabytes of memory that you won't even use is a waste of money in my opinion.

What you should start saving your money for are the new solid state disk hard drives. They are overpriced currently (around $600) but give it a year and the price may be at a decent level. The Intel SSDSA2MH080G1C5 80 gigabyte solid state disk has 185 megabyte per second read speeds which about three times faster than most current hard drives. I think your boot up times would be around 9 seconds with a hard drive like that. Too bad they are so ridiculous in price currently.
 
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toMsons1987

New Member
2048Megabytes said:
I think spending $44 for another 4 gigabytes of memory that you won't even use is a waste of money in my opinion.

What you should start saving your money for are the new solid state disk hard drives. They are overpriced currently (around $600) but give it a year and the price may be at a decent level. The Intel SSDSA2MH080G1C5 80 gigabyte solid state disk has 185 megabyte per second read speeds which about three times faster than most current hard drives. I think your boot up times would be around 9 seconds with a hard drive like that. Too bad they are so ridiculous in price currently.
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My comp boots up in 11 seconds, so that's not that good -- IMO.. And it's a old rusty heep, so I hope that's not it's only advantage. It seems rather small for such a HUGE price difference of my Hard Drives.. Maybe cause my computer is practically empty, I dunno. I do think a HDD is a waste of money to be honest, at least with RAM I will have plenty to render high-detailed movies much faster.

I only have 6.91 GB's used out of my main 250 HDD, and 250 GB HDD on the side. I recently put them in, so it's why it's practicly empty. Only thing on it is AIM and stuff, then Counter-Strike (my only game ATM). But I prolly wont by more ram, I'll end up upgrading my HDD in my PS3, it's on its last 3GB's!

:eek: So anyone else wanna suggest a graphics card for my setup? Or is this it?
 
2048Megabytes

2048Megabytes

Active Member
toMsons1987 said:
My comp boots up in 11 seconds, so that's not that good -- in my opinion .. And it's a old rusty heep, so I hope that's not it's only advantage. It seems rather small for such a HUGE price difference of my Hard Drives.. Maybe cause my computer is practically empty, I dunno. I do think a HDD is a waste of money to be honest, at least with RAM I will have plenty to render high-detailed movies much faster.
Click to expand...

I think you don't have any idea how much memory 4 gigabytes is. When you get your new computer up and running open task manager (by hitting Control + Alt + Delete) and analyze how much RAM your operating system is using with 4096 megabytes of memory. Adding another 4 gigabytes of memory will do little to nothing to increase the performance of your system because the operating system and programs you are using won't utilize it.

I do agree with you that solid state disk hard drives are ridiculous in price right now, but in two years they won't be. The biggest bottleneck in a computer system is the hard drive. If you triple the hard drive data transfer rate you will see an increase in performance not only in boot up times, but also in many other areas on a computer.

Take a look at this video card:

MSI N260GTX-T2D896 OC GeForce GTX 260 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - $209

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127361
 
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toMsons1987

New Member
2048Megabytes said:
I think you don't have any idea how much memory 4 gigabytes is. When you get your new computer up and running open task manager (by hitting Control + Alt + Delete) and analyze how much RAM your operating system is using with 4096 megabytes of memory. Adding another 4 gigabytes of memory will do little to nothing to increase the performance of your system because the operating system and programs you are using won't utilize it.

I do agree with you that solid state disk hard drives are ridiculous in price right now, but in two years they won't be. The biggest bottleneck in a computer system is the hard drive. If you triple the hard drive data transfer rate you will see an increase in performance not only in boot up times, but also in many other areas on a computer.

Take a look at this video card:

MSI N260GTX-T2D896 OC GeForce GTX 260 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - $209

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127361
Click to expand...
Is ATi a safer bet? I heard they are faster and stuff...
 
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