New Computer Being Built (Opinions Needed and Wanted)

[PinkBabieGirl13]

Hello Everybody!

Basically, here is the quick story. My friend is building me a desktop computer. I want to be able to play the new Starcraft II game when it comes out in July. I have never really been into computer games at all but it looks like fun and I have played the original Starcrafts and liked that.

Basically, that is all I am doing, just playing starcraft which I am sure does not really require much of anything but here is the new stuff going into the computer. Can you tell me what you are thinking?

Warning, I don't think it's going to be anything special, from what most of all of you use.

CPU: Intel i5 670
Mother Board: ASUS P7P55 LX ATX 2000/1600/1333/1066 MHz
Hard Drive 1: 64 GB Crucial Solid State
-or-
Hard Drive 1: 300GB 10,000 RPM VelociRaptor
Hard Drive 2: 1TB 7200 RPM Western Digital
Hard Drive 3: Empty
Hard Drive 4: Empty
Power Supply: Corsair 750W
Graphics Card: VisionTek 4650 1GB
RAM: Corsair DDR3 PC3-10666 3x2GB
Sound Card: Rocketfish 5.1
Optical Drive 1: LG Blue-ray DL/DVD+-RW/CD-RW
Monitor: TBD
Mouse: TBD
Keyboard: TBD
Speakers: Klipsch 2.1
-or-
Speakers: Logitech X-540 5.1


Alright, that's it! What does everybody think. Just remember, I'm new at this whole computer thing and all I want to do is just play one game and then "normal" computer stuff. I think this would be a GREAT computer that is overkill but I really want it to be fast.

Thank you sooo much!

 

[kyle69]

well if u like intel then keep that on the hard drive part
i say if want so spend more for a faster boot up time get a solid state drive other wise save ur money and get the hard drive set up
for the ram u will never need 12 gigs of it thats ridiculous
get 4 gigs it will be more then you will ever use
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145260
for your graphics card i would go with ati 5830 or 5850 because its way better
other then that its an alright set up

 

[PinkBabieGirl13]

well if u like intel then keep that on the hard drive part
i say if want so spend more for a faster boot up time get a solid state drive other wise save ur money and get the hard drive set up
for the ram u will never need 12 gigs of it thats ridiculous
get 4 gigs it will be more then you will ever use
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145260
for your graphics card i would go with ati 5830 or 5850 because its way better
other then that its an alright set up

Thank you so much for your opinion! I really appreciate it. The RAM was a mis-type, it is corrected now but it was suppose to be 3x2GB for a total of 6GB.

Thanks again.

 

[kyle69]

ok lol 6 gigs is ok go with that if you will be many things at once but u shouldent need more then 4 for starcraft and web use

 

[PinkBabieGirl13]

ok lol 6 gigs is ok go with that if you will be many things at once but u shouldent need more then 4 for starcraft and web use

Right, I'm an even kind of girl so I might find a 2GB somewhere just so I can have all four slots filled...I'm weird like that.

 

[kyle69]

Right, I'm an even kind of girl so I might find a 2GB somewhere just so I can have all four slots filled...I'm weird like that.

lol watever works for u just make sure its the same speed

 

[jevery]

I'd reconsider the processor. For what the i5-670 costs, ($289@Newegg), you could have a much faster i5-750 or an i7-860.

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lookup.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i5+670+@+3.47GHz

Also give us a model # of the motherboard you're considering.

My opinion on the rest, Get two 2GB sticks of RAM, no more is needed. Get a regular 7200 RPM hard drive 500-750 GB - Save the solid state drive for later - If you feel you need it then. Don't buy a sound card - motherboards onboard audio is fine for nearly everyone. Choose a video card from ATI's 5000 series in your price range - Not the 4000 series. Corsair's 550 watt power supply will be plenty for your needs - Save yourself a little there. You also need to choose a case.

 

[PinkBabieGirl13]

I'd reconsider the processor. For what the i5-670 costs, ($289@Newegg), you could have a much faster i5-750 or an i7-860.

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lookup.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i5+670+@+3.47GHz

Also give us a model # of the motherboard you're considering.

My opinion on the rest, Get two 2GB sticks of RAM, no more is needed. Get a regular 7200 RPM hard drive 500-750 GB - Save the solid state drive for later - If you feel you need it then. Don't buy a sound card - motherboards onboard audio is fine for nearly everyone. Choose a video card from ATI's 5000 series in your price range - Not the 4000 series. Corsair's 550 watt power supply will be plenty for your needs - Save yourself a little there. You also need to choose a case.

Hey! Thanks for your input, I really appreciate it. I model of the mother board I am using is P7P55 LX. I think it has everything that I really need/want. Yeah, I wasn't sure if the mother board had a sound card on it already or not. But I agree with you that nothing extra in that area is needed. Hence the cheap Rocketfish sound card and now I might not even need that.

I was curious about the processors. I the i5 670 runs at 3.4 MHz and the i5 750 runs at 2.6, so isn't that slower? The i7 860 runs at 2.8. Or am I missing something, I know both of the ones you suggested have more chache at 8M verses the 4M in the i5 670.

I guess some of the over kill like the RAM and power supply is because my friend works at an electronic store and is getting all of the parts I want at a huge employee discount, so I can get for example one 2GB DDR3 RAM stick for like $30-40 veres the standard like $70 or $80.

I really appreciate the help!!!!

 

[Breadman177]

The speed they show on CPU's nowadays does not mean what it use to. There are so many different factors that play into the speed now. Even though they are running at a slower speed they are still faster.

 

[funkysnair]

i wouldnt bother with the crucial ssd most of them are terrible, i have owned a 64gig one and sent it back within 3 days...

performance was terrible!

i do think ssd's are a worthwhile purchase for making your pc snappy but if you are just wanting to play one game its prob a waste of money

a
decent 1tb drive will serve you well and there are some fast drives out there of that size

 

[PinkBabieGirl13]

The speed they show on CPU's nowadays does not mean what it use to. There are so many different factors that play into the speed now. Even though they are running at a slower speed they are still faster.

Grrr, you'd think with computer people being so smart they would make some sort of standard with the whole "speed" thing.

I mean I understand that the i7's are all quad-core so that almost makes comparing the i5 to an i7 not totally possible because of the amount of cores, but not I feel like maybe I should get something better. It looks like it is still safe to stay that if the model number is higher then "typically" it's better when looking across the board.

 

[jevery]

The i5 500 & 600 series Clarkdale are duo core processors with onboard video. While they would work in a gaming PC. they are really more suited for a home theater PC, (IMO). A mid to high end gaming PC will have a typically have a quad core processor and one, or even two, video cards to provide the graphics power required by the newest games.

In a single threaded application the higher clockspeed will usually prevail, but in a multithreaded, application the quad core will usually trounce a duo core.

There are very few reviews or benchmarks for the 670, however, here's an article and benchmarks for the 661. You can interpolate about where the 670 would fall in the benchmarks (about 4% speed difference). Look at the difference in the multithread game performance and the conclusion.

 

[daisymtc]

CPU - core i5 750, save $90 for video card
RAM - 2 x 2GB is what you need. save $50 for video card.
Video card - 4650 is low ended card. Get 5750/ 5770
Sound card - I never heard of Rocketfish 5.1
Mobo - I recommend GIGABYTE GA-P55A-UD3, as they are similar price but GA-P55A-UD3 support SATA 3.0 and USB 3.0

 

[PinkBabieGirl13]

Yeah, I think I'm going to stay away the SSD, it doesn't seem worth it. I'll just come down to the 10000 RPM or the 7200. Both are pretty cheap and cheaper than the SSD.