Wanting a PC, yet another "Is this pc good guys?" threadd

[UnionStrike]

How decent is this build? I have a budget of $800 but it's slightly over at $960 now, but it's alright, I don't want to go over $1000.

• AMD Phenom II X6 1075T Thuban 3.0GHz

• ASUS AM3 AMD 880G HDMI USB 3.0 ATX Motherboard

• G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB)

• Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB 7200 RPM

• Thermaltake Element G Black ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

• OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W ATX12V V2.2

• GIGABYTE GV-R687OC-1GD Radeon HD 6870 1GB

Canadian prices, ordering everything from newegg.ca

Many thanks for any advices and suggestions, also, am I missing anything? How are AMD's drivers? I could use some guides or good sites to read up, as this is the first pc I'm building.

 

[Azuremen]

Seems pretty solid. I'd suggest looking at an ASRock motherboard and maybe a cheap Antec case. Could save maybe $100 going that option, and then maybe spring on 8 gigs of ram since it is getting stupid cheap at the moment.

As for AMD stuff in general, I've had zero problems in Win7 Pro 64bit. Tomshardware is a good resource, but of computer building is very straight forward these days. Color coding and pin-outs make it very hard to mess things up, aside maybe the front panel to Mobo wiring, but those are pretty clearly labeled these days as well.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

What will you use it for? If gaming is the biggest peformance concern then an i5-2400 might be a good option. Actually, it probably beats that AMD in almost everything. Here's a comparison just on gaming performance.

 

[nick09]

If you do get a Sandy Bridgei3, i5, or i7 cpu then make sure you get one of the K versions if you want to overclock. I built a PC for my Uncle a month ago and he loves it. I got him the i5-2500(not the K version) CU and I noted that it did some single core stuff really good after some benchtesting. It ain't bad for when I had to whip up a parts list within a hour and ordered. Though I suggest you to get a good cooler like a Sycthe(They make great coolers and you can use a 1156 cooler on the 1155 sandy bridge) to replace the crappy intel(The sink would be able to fit in a mini-ITX case easily) one. Though I did slap some GC Extreme on to help the stock heatsink.

 

[EmptySoul]

700W is a little too much. I'm using this thing here:
http://www.coolermaster.de/product.php?product_id=4196

And I power and run almost the same system, that you've posted. I think 600W should be enough, even with the GPU!

 

[UnionStrike]

Seems pretty solid. I'd suggest looking at an ASRock motherboard and maybe a cheap Antec case. Could save maybe $100 going that option, and then maybe spring on 8 gigs of ram since it is getting stupid cheap at the moment.

As for AMD stuff in general, I've had zero problems in Win7 Pro 64bit. Tomshardware is a good resource, but of computer building is very straight forward these days. Color coding and pin-outs make it very hard to mess things up, aside maybe the front panel to Mobo wiring, but those are pretty clearly labeled these days as well.

Many thanks, the whole process do feel simple, I agree, but simple things tend to hide traps well when people least expect it, like new comers like me.

What will you use it for? If gaming is the biggest peformance concern then an i5-2400 might be a good option. Actually, it probably beats that AMD in almost everything. Here's a comparison just on gaming performance.

I'm going to use it for gaming, I'm considering an intel build as well and trying to work a decent one under the budget atm, I'm slightly busy and so I havn't finished it yet, haha, the excitement have overwhelmed me and I wanna take my time finding the best price for everything as well.

I'll have a gander at the comparison, I thought cpu don't matter too much nowdays for gaming.

If you do get a Sandy Bridgei3, i5, or i7 cpu then make sure you get one of the K versions if you want to overclock. I built a PC for my Uncle a month ago and he loves it. I got him the i5-2500(not the K version) CU and I noted that it did some single core stuff really good after some benchtesting. It ain't bad for when I had to whip up a parts list within a hour and ordered. Though I suggest you to get a good cooler like a Sycthe(They make great coolers and you can use a 1156 cooler on the 1155 sandy bridge) to replace the crappy intel(The sink would be able to fit in a mini-ITX case easily) one. Though I did slap some GC Extreme on to help the stock heatsink.

I should pick up a cooler too then? I'll have a look around for some cheaper ones, thanks for the advices, your uncle have a pretty nice rig, how much did it cost?

700W is a little too much. I'm using this thing here:
http://www.coolermaster.de/product.php?product_id=4196

And I power and run almost the same system, that you've posted. I think 600W should be enough, even with the GPU!

Awesome! I've checked out some users reviews and is kinda pissed that the mobo I've picked out isn't playing nicely with the ram I've gotten , which mobo do you have? The same as mine?

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

I'll have a gander at the comparison, I thought cpu don't matter too much nowdays for gaming.

After reading through the article that final graphic is skewed a bit most likely due to them probably not fixing the f1 2010 result.

Generally that is true, but sometimes the 2500 can pull a pretty large margin on AMD's processors, where as I haven't seen the reverse to be true. I would expect it to be a bit more future-proof and at the same price(w/o factoring in motherboard) there wouldn't be much of a choice to make for me.

 

[nick09]

I should pick up a cooler too then? I'll have a look around for some cheaper ones, thanks for the advices, your uncle have a pretty nice rig, how much did it cost?

It cost about $822.91 without shipping. Though I'd suggest an Antec 300 case(made a PC for my parents in it), they are great to work on,cheap, great build quality, and I always feel happy after working on a build in the case. Always ran the fans that came with the Antec 300 at medium since they pull air so easily. Hard to tell if it's on since it's all a soft hum.

You should look into getting a SSD to serve as your boot drive(pay attention to the read and write speeds, that really helps with boot times) and then you can spend $40-$50 getting a 750GB WD drive to hold your media and games.

 

[SpartanG]

You should look into getting a SSD to serve as your boot drive(pay attention to the read and write speeds, that really helps with boot times) and then you can spend $40-$50 getting a 750GB WD drive to hold your media and games.

jumping into this thread without reading too much, I agree with this. Drop the 6 core down to a quad and get an SSD. The Phenom quads are still pretty competitive when overclocked. 6 cores is only useful for video encoding for the time. Very few programs and games have implemented it yet.

And the antec 300 is a great case. I would basically consider it the honda civic of computer cases. It isn't good at anything in particular but the build quality is amazing for the price.

 

[EmptySoul]

Awesome! I've checked out some users reviews and is kinda pissed that the mobo I've picked out isn't playing nicely with the ram I've gotten , which mobo do you have? The same as mine?

Hey!

I use that one right there: http://usa.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=YATvwCy0OZLGNWwp&templete=2

Has everything, what the Computerindustry currently has to offer.
USB 3, sATA 2 and so on. And it's cheap + 6 Core Ready.

Use it with this RAM: http://www.corsair.com/memory/xms-classic/xms3-ddr3-memory/cmx4gx3m1a1333c9.html

Got this 2x on this board. 8GB is more than enough.

 

[GTR3mh]

If you are going down the gaming route, drop the 1075T ASAP. It's going to be useless to you. 6 cores is incredibly unneccesary for gaming, and if you want to pay more for a processor, you should be going for a Sandy Bridge i5. If you want to stick with AMD, get a 955. Another good choice would be going for a Samsung Spinpoint F3 HDD, as they are faster and there seems to be less failures than the Seagate.

As others have mentioned, the PSU isn't an overly good choice. It's solid, but has much more wattage than you need, costing you money. The Antec Neo Eco 520w would be a good choice for you.

 

[EmptySoul]

I agree with the "Unneccesary" - Part.
But first of all -> Intel is more expensive, for just a slight bit more speed.

The 955 is a very good processor, but in about it will need overclocking!
To by a 6 - Core now may be a little early, but in the end you won't regret it.

 

[GTR3mh]

I agree with the "Unneccesary" - Part.
But first of all -> Intel is more expensive, for just a slight bit more speed.

The 955 is a very good processor, but in about it will need overclocking!
To by a 6 - Core now may be a little early, but in the end you won't regret it.

The AMD processors are more than adequate for games - I have a 965 - but if you have the money, the Sandy Bridge will last longer and will provide better frames now. The difference can be as much as 15 FPS in some games, even though the FPS would probably already be high with the PII. In a hierarchical sense, AMD is sitting a couple of generations behind Intel in processing power (unless a large overclock is applied).

Also, you could regret a hexacore system. Very little uses more than 4 cores currently. When hexacore processors become mainstream, the current ones will likely become outdated and be destroyed by the cheap ones in future. The only use for a hexacore right now is for people who do an awful lot of multitasking, which most people won't, especially people who mainly use their computer for gaming.

 

[nick09]

I made a list for fun and it's a little over your budget. I went the same way I went for my Uncle's except for some different parts.
Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - $20 USD rebate
ASUS P8P67 LE (REV 3.0) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
SAPPHIRE 100314-2SR Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity - $20 USD rebate
Antec NEO ECO 520C 520W Continuous Power ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply
Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K
ADATA S599 AS599S-40GM-C 2.5" 40GB SATA II Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-8GBXL
Western Digital Caviar Green WD6400AARS 640GB SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
LITE-ON Black 4X Blu-ray Reader SATA Model iHOS104-06 - OEM - Free Blu-Ray player software from what I read in the reviews
Scythe SCSMZ-2000 92mm Sleeve CPU Cooler

The final price is $1,028.40, not including the rebates or shipping. You can reduce the price if you get rid of the SSD and go for a black series WD HDD. Can also go down to a DVD drive to save $30. I'd suggest adding the GC Extreme thermal paste to the aftermarket heatsink. Great thermal paste and was well worth the price for me. Went with the 520watt PSU since it would do well for a single GPU(also since the 6870 GPU only required a 500watt PSU) and I know that this PSU is very stable.

 

[UnionStrike]

Wow, lots of replies, going to have to take a while to go though everyone and reply to each of you guys, I feel like building another build with you guy's suggestions so far and compare it price and performance wise.

 

[Azuremen]

I don't get why people are suggesting a small SSD. Just get 2 7200 RPM drives and use RAID. Just as fast in most situations and you don't have to worry about what to load onto the SSD.

 

[nick09]

It's easy to install a OS and have most essial programs installed on the SSD and then you just make folders for your videos, photos, music, and games on the HDD. The SSD I suggested has 280MB read and 270MB write speeds. HDD's don't get that fast even in RAID. With RAID you have to worry if one HDD fails, then you will lose all of your data since the data on two HDD's is split 50/50.

 

[EmptySoul]

But a SSD is soooooo unneccesary.
Just a waste of money.

 

[Casio]

But a SSD is soooooo unneccesary.
Just a waste of money.

In real world benefit, an SSD is probably the best thing you can buy for the money, much more noticeable than say, 8GB vs 4GB of RAM. Yes, you can do a RAID0 set-up on a regular HDD, but it's a more risky set-up compared to an OS on SSD and a separate hard-drive, or have an alternative form of back-up.

That said, now with the 6Gbps SSDs out and about, I'd probably hold off a few months and wait for those to come down a little bit.

 

[EmptySoul]

Yeah, but it is still quite unneccesary, you have to say?!

 

[GTR3mh]

The problem is with the budget of the build. If there was $1500 to play with, an SSD would definately belong in the build. With the current budget, all it will fit is the OS and maybe a game or two max, seeing as the only way to fit an SSD in would be buying a 30-40gb one. I'm pretty sure that Windows 7 took up about 18-21gb of space, which really doesn't leave much for anything else.

For this budget, money would be better spent on a good 1tb 7200 RPM HDD and then what would have been spent on an SSD be spent on the GPU. It would probably be enough to go from a 6870 to a 6950, if not a GTX 570.

 

[nick09]

No. It only takes a few extra seconds to access media that is on your HDD. I placed shortcuts in the regular music, phot, etc folders in my uncle's PC and that only takes a few seconds to double-click a shortcut to get to your media.

The problem with a simple RAID0 is that you have to worry about your data getting corrupted and if you have a two HDD RAID0 the files are split 50/50. If you start with a larger RAID0 such as 4 HDD's, then the files are split 25/25/25/25. It makes recovery of the files a real hassle compared to taking your broken down media/program HDD to a company that takes the HDD apart in whiterooms and takes the files off of the platters for $100-$1K depending on how much you want the files.

@GTR3mh: That will depend on the OP and if he wants to get a better GPU. I got my uncle a SSD within a budget of $800 with sandy Bridge and a decent GPU. It won't be hard for the OP to get a SSD in his budget.

 

[Azuremen]

40GB is nothing these days. That is the OS and maybe a couple of large applications, which are the ones you really notice the improvement.

In a budget build, gaining a small increase in loading times isn't worth the cost to other, more useful gains.