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

[C.C.R.]

My faithful Gateway Pentium IV desktop, purchased on New Year's Day 2005, is about to go Tits Up.  RAM & vid card upgrades have kept me limping along for the past few years, but the inevitable new computer purchase is looming large before me.  Along with the usual condition of Low Fundage, I am also completely clueless about WTF is out there right now, what's HOTT & what's not, and what (at a minimum) I *really* need & what would be overkill.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.  In order to keep up-front costs down I would like to try to get a decent tower & processor right away, but skimp on RAM (which I can always upgrade down the road) & vid card (which I can steal from my current rig to keep me going for awhile).  Getting the right bundle already put together would be preferred, but I wouldn't be afraid to piece stuff together if I had to.

Thoughts?  Ideas?  Comments?  Suggestions?  Help?  Please?  Bueller?  Bueller?  Frye?

[Grey Fox]

No & No!

What do you want to do with your computer?

[C.C.R.]

No & No!

What do you want to do with your computer?

The same thing that we do *EVERY* night, Pinky -- try to take over the world...



Seriously, though, I think a good bar for me to shoot for would be that I want to be able to play Skyrim comfortably when it comes out in November...

[Barrister]

What's your budget?

I think you'll find that computers are so much more powerful, and so much cheaper, then when you bought your old machine, you'll be very pleasantly surprised.  You should be able to get something quite serviceable for $500-$700?

[viper37]

Get the Asus Crosshair IV Formula and build from there.
AMD Phenom X4 965 Black Edition.
8gb RAM DDR3
AMD Radeon 6850
750w Power supply
Microsoft Wireless Natural Multimedia Keyboard&Mouse
decent 24" widescreen monitor.

[Norgy]

Thoughts?  Ideas?  Comments?  Suggestions?  Help?  Please?  Bueller?  Bueller?  Frye?

RIP Pentium IV. 

My list:
MB: Asus P8P67 Sabertooth, Evo or Deluxe
CPU: i5 2500k processor or i7 2600k processor. If you won't be clocking it, just get the ones without the k

GPU: nVidia GeForce GTX 560 Ti of some sort. The Gigabyte Superoverclock one is supposedly the bees knees. If you intend to play at 1080p resolution, get something more powerful, like a Radeon HD 6970 or a GeForce GTX 570. They are comparable, and have about the same power draw and heat production. An alternative to the 560 Ti is a Radeon 6870 or 6950.

RAM. The P67 motherboards are limited to dual channel operation and needs matched sets of DIMMS (2 or 4) if you want more than one DIMM. 2 x 4 GB Corsair Vengeance are good and work at 1.50v, thus they produce no heat to speak of.

PSU: Get something reliable at 750 or 850 W. Why 850? With a classy MB like those mentioned, you can easily upgrade by adding another matched GPU for Crossfire or SLI and still stay at 850W. 750W will be plenty for single GPU operation, as the 2nd generation processors draw a lot less power.


HDs: 1 x 2TB Western Digital Green for storage, Corsair Force series 120 GB SSD for OS. There are other alternatives for SSDs, but I have a hard time telling what is good and what is rubbish. If all else fails, go Intel, as they rarely make crappy stuff.

Soundcard is no longer needed, you have HD audio right out of the box.
If you need more alternatives, check out http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/288311-31-homebuilt-buying-guide

Those guys know their stuff.

Viper's setup is nice too, and quite cheap. The Phenom X4 965 BE or 970 BE gives a lot of value for money, and AM3 socket MBs are cheaper.

[Barrister]

How can you give recommendations when ccr hasn't given us a budget?

Also, he hasn't said if he'd actually do a "build yer own".  His 6 year old machine was a Gateway, so he may well be looking to just buy a complete system.

[Norgy]

Well, sorry. Disregard everything I said, and listen to BB.

[Barrister]

Your Tomshardware link is good - if he wants to DIY.

[Grey Fox]

How can you give recommendations when ccr hasn't given us a budget?

Also, he hasn't said if he'd actually do a "build yer own".  His 6 year old machine was a Gateway, so he may well be looking to just buy a complete system.

Because, even if he did give a budget, we wouldn't listen to it.

Did you buy your kitchen computer yet?

[Ed Anger]

CCR, try http://dealnews.com/. There is usually at least one desktop system there.

[viper37]

How can you give recommendations when ccr hasn't given us a budget?

Also, he hasn't said if he'd actually do a "build yer own".  His 6 year old machine was a Gateway, so he may well be looking to just buy a complete system.

because at some point, you're gonna comme in here and suggest a mac.  But friends don't let friends buy Macs

[Barrister]

How can you give recommendations when ccr hasn't given us a budget?

Also, he hasn't said if he'd actually do a "build yer own".  His 6 year old machine was a Gateway, so he may well be looking to just buy a complete system.

because at some point, you're gonna comme in here and suggest a mac.  But friends don't let friends buy Macs

Real friends do.

I don't always recommend Macs.  Just where appropriate.  It's just some people don't realize when a Mac is appropriate.

But, for example, if CCR said he had a $500 budget, I wouldn't recommend a Mac.

[Tonitrus]

How can you give recommendations when ccr hasn't given us a budget?

Also, he hasn't said if he'd actually do a "build yer own".  His 6 year old machine was a Gateway, so he may well be looking to just buy a complete system.

because at some point, you're gonna comme in here and suggest a mac.  But friends don't let friends buy Macs

Not even an iPad? 

Real friends do.

I don't always recommend Macs.  Just where appropriate.  It's just some people don't realize when a Mac is appropriate.

But, for example, if CCR said he had a $500 budget, I wouldn't recommend a Mac.

[Barrister]

Since CCR's primary need was gaming, and you can't bootcamp an iPad, no I wouldn't recommend one...