2009-05-25 22:58:42 Need a new PC

With Diablo 3, Starcraft 3, and potentially CS2 on the horizon, I think it's about time to ditch my glorified calculator of a computer. What should I be looking at in terms of components if I want to build my own PC. I've kinda been out of the loop for a while now, so I'm not even sure what's considered good anymore.

I'd probably be ordering the parts from oemexpress.com as it's a Canadian site, and I've heard good things about it.

---
"If we can hit that bull's-eye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards...Checkmate." - Zapp Brannigan

2009-05-26 01:41:37

I've recently gotten the following;

Razer DeathAdder - Mouse
Samsung Spinpoint F1 HD103UJ - 1 TB HDD
Cooler Master Powersupply Realpower 620W Modular - Powersupply
Intel Core i7 920 - CPU
Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 - Motherboard

Corsair Dominator TR3X6G1600C8D - 6GB Memory
Acer P241W - 24 inch Monitor
Cooler Master Centurion 690 - Housing
Samsung SH-S22rF - Dvdwriter

It was well worth the money I can tell ya. The Monitor is fucking beautiful and not that expensive. Same with the memory!

And this mouse must be the best I've ever had....

---
"Though I walk through the valley of death I will fear no evil, for I am the evilest motherf*cker in the valley"

"First come smiles, then comes lies. Last is gunfire"

2009-05-26 02:06:46

Did you get a video card as well?

Are Intel CPUs currently better than AMD?
Will a hard drive speed of 7200 be noticeably worse than 10,000?
With respect to ram, is 800Mhz noticeably worse than 1600? What do the "PC" numbers associated with ram mean?

lol...I'm so fucked...

Did you build it yourself?

---
"If we can hit that bull's-eye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards...Checkmate." - Zapp Brannigan

2009-06-02 16:09:47

Intel's CPU's is a bit sharper then AMD and have been that for the past 2 years now. There is no SUPER mayor differences but you ask me, I chose an Intel now, My previous comp was an AMD :P ( I'm no fanboy of there brands, just takes whats currently best )

For harddrive, it depence on what you going to use it, 7200 RPM or even 5200 RPM is for good and long storage, 10k RPM drives is a good system & app drive and not for storage, but if your planing to get an 10k RPM your better of with an SSD disc for that for EVEN better preformence. but those drives is yet again not an storage drive.

The ram speed and so on have no real mayor impotence except you want the run to run at the same buzz speed as your CPU runs at, that's pretty much it. The speed difference is just within a few %, if you ask me, it's more important to have more ram AND that they are synced to your CPU's buss.

2009-06-02 16:15:58

I finished buying all of my components yesterday. I went with the new AMD Phenom II 955. It was a bit cheaper than the Intel chips around here, and is comparable in performance with respect to gaming(not in other areas though).

I attempted to build my PC yesterday as well, but I wasn't getting any video output, and since my case doesn't have a speaker, I couldn't even tell what kind of errors I was getting.

I might just take it to where I got the parts and have them take a look. I really have no desire to troubleshoot for a week...especially if it turns out that one of my components is DOA.

---
"If we can hit that bull's-eye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards...Checkmate." - Zapp Brannigan

2009-06-02 19:10:27

There was a time when 10,000 rpm drives ran too hot and didn't last very long, but those days are probably over.
I'm just in the habit of avoiding them now.

2009-06-03 00:51:33

I just went with 7200. No websites at all claimed that 10,000rpms is necessary even remotely, so why pay more.

---
"If we can hit that bull's-eye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards...Checkmate." - Zapp Brannigan

2009-06-18 21:21:35

If you are into RTS games a fast (quadcore) CPU is key.. Intel i7 920 is the best choice atm..

For videocard I would go with a Nvidia GTX275 atm.. Like the Intel best (affordable) buy for the money in the high-end range atm..

---
http://www.cyberwarriors.nl
http://home.xmsnet.nl/bigbear/mycar.jpg

2009-06-19 01:14:44

Too late. Bought my PC a couple weeks ago. Went with an AMD Phenom II 955 and an ATI 4890.

---
"If we can hit that bull's-eye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards...Checkmate." - Zapp Brannigan

2009-06-21 15:31:57

From a pricepoint of view AMD + ATI is probably a smart choice.. But having been in the hardwarebusiness for almost 20 years now I still have some trouble with those brands.. I've seen to many problems with them (compatibility and driver issues etc) over the years.. Intel and Nvidia are not perfect either, in general a bit more expensive, but seem to have less problems overall.. I've always used Intel, even when AMD was the better choice for games, and I've only used ATI when Nvidia had problems with their 5xxx cardseries..

But that's just me, overall it's good that we have competition going on in the PC hardware business.. Have fun with your new PC, it's a powerfull machine.. Now all we need is new PC games that really push the hardware again.. :P

---
http://www.cyberwarriors.nl
http://home.xmsnet.nl/bigbear/mycar.jpg

2009-06-21 15:42:54 In reply to Inflatable (2009-06-21 15:31:57)

I don't know about that Inflatable.

I've had a case where a client had deleted items on his desktop constantly re-appear again after a reboot, only to find out (eventually) this was due to crappy Nvidia drivers. Or not being able to run certain software (non-gaming related) because of new Nvidia drivers, forcing you to rollback to older Nvidia drivers again. Or having severly decreased performance in certain applications (non-gaming related) due to new Nvidia drivers that turn out to be crap again.

I don't want to start a Nvidia vs Ati war, because honestly...I couldn't care less...I'm just pointing out that in my experience (not 20 years though), I've encountered numerous issue's with Nvidia drivers and none with Ati drivers. All non-gaming releated though...

---
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=JatoNL

http://www.myspace.com/jatonl

2009-06-21 20:15:23 In reply to Inflatable (2009-06-21 15:31:57)

I'm not even sure about that.. ATI, sure.. but you can get an E8400 on the super cheap, and they're still widely available. It's a lightning fast CPU, even by today's quadcore i7 standards.

But what's done is done! His machine is performing well and he's enjoying himself some PC gaming, so congrats!

Also, I love my Radeon.

2009-06-21 20:43:00 In reply to GriftGFX (2009-06-21 20:15:23)

Yup! I'm more than pleased with what I've got, and had I went the Intel/Nvidia route, I'm sure I would be equally as happy. I spent a ton of time reading hardware reviews and user reviews of a myriad of different parts, so I'm confident I got something that will get the job done and at a reasonable price.

Also, there's not a ton of PC games on the horizon that I'm looking forward to playing just yet...although I'm fucking desperate to play some Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3. It's actually sad how often I rewatch the D3 character reveal vids.

---
"If we can hit that bull's-eye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards...Checkmate." - Zapp Brannigan

2009-06-21 21:01:39 In reply to Ronsauce (2009-06-21 20:43:00)

Same here.. I totally suck at Star Craft but I can't wait to get some Diablo 3! Although I don't think D3 is coming out this year.... Blizzard needs to reveal another character!!!!

---
"Though I walk through the valley of death I will fear no evil, for I am the evilest motherf*cker in the valley"

"First come smiles, then comes lies. Last is gunfire"

2009-06-22 02:33:18

Yeah, D3 isn't slated until 2010, and I think we're only currently scheduled to get the Terran campaign(wtf?) Q4 of this year.

And yeah, I'm pretty bad at SC, but MP aside, the SP in the first gave me all sorts of tingly feelings when I first played it. The music and sound effects were absolutely perfect.

---
"If we can hit that bull's-eye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards...Checkmate." - Zapp Brannigan

2009-06-24 21:28:15

When it comes to RTS games, I'm waiting for an announcement of Company of Heroes 2..

---
http://www.cyberwarriors.nl
http://home.xmsnet.nl/bigbear/mycar.jpg

2009-06-24 21:40:10 In reply to Inflatable (2009-06-24 21:28:15)

I thought you were more of an fps kind guy :-)

---
"Though I walk through the valley of death I will fear no evil, for I am the evilest motherf*cker in the valley"

"First come smiles, then comes lies. Last is gunfire"

2009-06-26 01:52:31

Right now I play more CoH then anything else on my PC (Blitzkrieg mod), but yes overall I think I play FPS most of the time..

---
http://www.cyberwarriors.nl
http://home.xmsnet.nl/bigbear/mycar.jpg