MWM Seeking Desktop, Likes Long Walks On Beach & Watching Sunsets

[Norgy]

Buying a Mac is of course an option. If C.C.R. was a teenage girl who wanted to blog.

[C.C.R.]

I was going to apologize for starting this thread & then not coming back to it, but it looks like Hilarity ensued, so I'll save my apology for a more pressing time...



Things aren't quite as dire as I had initially thought -- it turns out that my primary HD failed & my mobo/processor were little flakey when I first switched over to my backup HD (which is what prompted me to start this thread), but things have smoothed out considerably since then.  Which is Good, because my I Need A New Computer Right F'ing Now Budget is woefully small, whereas having a little more time means that I can better plan what I want and/or need.  To answer a couple of questions:

1)  Budget probably around $500 to $700
2)  I'm not opposed to building it myself, but I'm still running XP on my current rig & don't have a copy of a new OS, so unless it's A-OK to run XP on a quad core I'll probably have to come up with a new OS
3)  I am not afraid to cut back a little on RAM & vid card to save me a few bucks out of the gate & upgrading later

Or something.  Need coffee.  I'll be back later...

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

2)  I'm not opposed to building it myself, but I'm still running XP on my current rig & don't have a copy of a new OS, so unless it's A-OK to run XP on a quad core I'll probably have to come up with a new OS

Unless you need more than ~3.6GB of RAM, XP should be fine for now, though I'd budget for a Windows 7 upgrade sooner rather than later since new stuff is going to stop working properly with XP over time and Microsoft is no longer releasing new updates for it.

[Barrister]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/budget-gaming-pc-phenom-ii-radeon-hd-6850,2903.html

$500 gaming PC - specs look nice actually.  It is AMD if that matters to you.

[viper37]

I was going to apologize for starting this thread & then not coming back to it, but it looks like Hilarity ensued, so I'll save my apology for a more pressing time...



Things aren't quite as dire as I had initially thought -- it turns out that my primary HD failed & my mobo/processor were little flakey when I first switched over to my backup HD (which is what prompted me to start this thread), but things have smoothed out considerably since then.  Which is Good, because my I Need A New Computer Right F'ing Now Budget is woefully small, whereas having a little more time means that I can better plan what I want and/or need.  To answer a couple of questions:

1)  Budget probably around $500 to $700
2)  I'm not opposed to building it myself, but I'm still running XP on my current rig & don't have a copy of a new OS, so unless it's A-OK to run XP on a quad core I'll probably have to come up with a new OS
3)  I am not afraid to cut back a little on RAM & vid card to save me a few bucks out of the gate & upgrading later

Or something.  Need coffee.  I'll be back later...

Go for Windows 7 64bit.  It's a new computer, it will work like a charm

[Norgy]

As for graphics cards, they are practically giving away the Radeon HD 5770s these days, and they are still good enough for titles coming out this year and the foreseeable future, due to consoles being Just As Important, and having hardware limitations.

I am guessing even an old Q9540 or Q9660 would be a massive upgrade for C.C.R., so why not go for an old LGA 775 setup on the cheap.

[viper37]

He's better with a brand new AMD than an old Intel, I think...

[Norgy]

Oh, I agree, and the AM3 socket seems to be the future in AMD processors too.

[C.C.R.]

Good suggestions, Guys -- thank you.  The rational consensus seems to be that I probably want an AMD Phenom II x4 or an Intel i5, which is more or less the part that I was clueless about (which happens when you make a computer last six or seven years).  Now that I have a baseline for what to look for I'll probably try to pick something up Out Of The Box to get me started, add on a bigger HD immediately (which is no big whoop, because I like to keep a backup HD with an OS installed -- it makes troubleshooting the primary HD sooooo much easier when the need arises) & then work on upgrading RAM & vid card as wanted/needed.  I'm not afraid to put something together from scratch, but I'm so out of date on everything right now (especially the OS) that it will probably be easier to start over fresh.

Or something.  If/when this goes down I'll be sure to share...

[Norgy]

Tom's Hardware has charts up the wazoo about the various components, but given that CPUs and GPUs invariably are the most costly items, they are perhaps the most useful charts:

Gaming CPUs:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/best-gaming-cpu-core-i3-2100-recommended-processor,review-32155.html

GPUs:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/best-graphics-card-radeon-hd-6990-geforce-gtx-590,review-32170.html

They recommend within several price-ranges, and quite frankly, I've found that the i7 950 and a GeForce GTX 580 both are way overkill for my real needs.

I'd have been fine with an i5 2500k and a HD 6950 or GTX 560ti.

I suppose what you should be wary of, are SSDs.
These are now "old" and more affordable, but the guide is useful, nonetheless, since a new SSD could cost you the same as a low-spec computer and still not really offer that much of a performance boost.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/windows-7-ssd-trim,review-31982.html

Corsair Force and Crucial both get the thumbsup from me. The Kingston SSDNow not so much.

[C.C.R.]

SSDs are bad, but STDs are much, much worse...

[Norgy]

Still, they are nothing compared to CTDs. 

[MadBurgerMaker]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/budget-gaming-pc-phenom-ii-radeon-hd-6850,2903.html

$500 gaming PC - specs look nice actually.  It is AMD if that matters to you.

Oh cool.  I just bought something fairly close (CPU, mobo, gfx, RAM only) to this about 5 minutes ago.  The GFX card I got isn't nearly as ballsy as that thing (5770 vs. 6850, about $55 cheaper) though, since I was trying to keep it closer to $300 than $400.  The chip is a Phenom II X4 3.2ghz (higher clock speed, no L3, ~$25 cheaper with the combo discount, meh), RAM is exactly the same, and motherboard is a similar looking MSI that was bundled with the CPU instead of the ASRock (+$5).  With shipping and rush processing, it was $330.  Would have been $462 with the rest of their stuff there, maybe a little more if there are shipping charges for the other stuff. 

Some sort of rebate card is coming with the gfx card.  Don't know what I'm going to do with it, but I'm sure I can find a way to flush $20 on newegg.  New fans or something dorky like that.

Edit:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103921
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130290
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102873
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231396

With your budget though, CCR, you can get better stuff.  This is el-cheapoish here, upgrading from an Athlon X2 2.7ghz, 2gb ram, and an HD3650 1GB card.

[C.C.R.]

If/when this goes down I'll be sure to share...

It went down yesterday.  Ended up going 

Alienware Aurora
i5-2400 overclocked turbo boost to 3.6 GHz
Windows 7 Home Premium
8GB dual channel at 1333MHz
Dual 1.5GB NVIDIA GTS 450 SLI enabled (I kinda skimped here, will upgrade down the road)
1TB HD (plus I've got like three other HDs sitting around the house)
Alienware 19-in-1 media card reader
23" monitor
Integrated 7.1 channel audio
802.11n Wi-Fi & Bluetooth 2.1 EDR USB combo adapter
single DVD+/RW burner drive (again, skimped here to get started but will add a Blue Ray drive down the road)
Microsoft Office Home & Student 2010
Netgear WNDR3400 N600 wireless dual band router (never had a router, need one)

The rig set me back a few bucks, but like I told my wife I wanted a decent rig out of the box that I can upgrade easily & last me another 5-7 years.  Or something...



EDIT - Oh, and went with the 875W or whatever power supply...

[Richard Hakluyt]

Not bad given your $500 budget