The 300W power supply is a bit of a concern, friends are telling me I should be getting 400W to be safe, but my equipment will be drawing fairly low power and there won't be a ton of shhit hooked up, so I think I'll be more than safe.
edit: oh goddamn my goosery, the hdd I was eyeing jumped $15 ten minutes ago
Improvolone on
Voice actor for hire. My time is free if your project is!
0
TehSlothHit Or MissI Guess They Never Miss, HuhRegistered Userregular
edited April 2010
Hmm, dang, that last post about the mATX stuff was supposed to be from me but I stole my roommates netbook and forgot to sign him out. Anyways, my mobo died, and I'm deciding if I'm really interested in upgrading. I've got a Q6600, 8800 GT, 4GB DDR2, plenty of hard drives. I'd like to get a new power supply as well, and have been considering getting a full sized tower. My main options now are:
-Get a new mATX board and plug it into what I've got. Cost: $30-$70, minimal if any improvement
-Get a new regular ATX board, new case, new power supply, use everything else I have. Cost: $260
-Get a new regular ATX board, upgrade to DDR3, new case, new power supply. Cost: $360
AlectharAlan ShoreWe're not territorial about that sort of thing, are we?Registered Userregular
edited April 2010
If you're going to spend $100 on a case, I wouldn't recommend the 902. I feel like it's somewhat, well, antiquated. The system it uses to hold non-optical drives is sub-optimal: it's oriented badly, it eats space and it looks crummy (in my opinion). The PSU is bottom-mounted, which is nice, but there's no vent at the bottom of the case for the PSU fan, which means your PSU is stuck with hot air from your case, which is no bueno. For the same price you can grab the 690 II Advanced, which I think is a better buy.
I don't know if this is true of the entire GX product line from CM, but the 750W version of the supply you mention falls out of ATX spec when you pull more than 450W from it, which is potentially damaging to your components. Better to spend the extra $10 on something like this Corsair supply then risk it.
As for DDR3...meh. For your purposes it's probably not a huge deal.
If you're going to spend $100 on a case, I wouldn't recommend the 902. I feel like it's somewhat, well, antiquated. The system it uses to hold non-optical drives is sub-optimal: it's oriented badly, it eats space and it looks crummy (in my opinion). The PSU is bottom-mounted, which is nice, but there's no vent at the bottom of the case for the PSU fan, which means your PSU is stuck with hot air from your case, which is no bueno. For the same price you can grab the 690 II Advanced, which I think is a better buy.
I don't know if this is true of the entire GX product line from CM, but the 750W version of the supply you mention falls out of ATX spec when you pull more than 450W from it, which is potentially damaging to your components. Better to spend the extra $10 on something like this Corsair supply then risk it.
As for DDR3...meh. For your purposes it's probably not a huge deal.
Thanks for the tips, I've heard of CM enough to know they're pretty reputable, but didn't know anyone who had one so as to whether they compare to Antec's, my old-old roommate had a 900 and another old roommate had a p182. I'm a little worried about poor grounding issues mentioned in reviews on Newegg, but I wouldn't be surprised if it largely amounted to user error. Any other recommendations as far as solid cases on the quieter side at or below $100.
I thought the older Centurion 5 with the anodized blue accents was pretty sexy, but the front bezel just looked a bit cheap in the pictures I saw.
I have a couple of quick question. Recently my video card fried so I need to get a new one. My current motherboard is MS-7529-050 MSI Intel G31M3-L Motherboard. The specs of which are MSI Intel G31M3-L, 8CH Audio, LAN, VGA Intel GMA 3100 - 1333 FSB - 16X PCI-e, 2xPCI, 1xPCI-e 1x, 2xDual DDRII800, 4xSATAII.
Zxerolfor the smaller pieces, my shovel wouldn't doso i took off my boot and used my shoeRegistered Userregular
edited April 2010
That board looks like it's PCIe 1.0, but PCIe 2.0 cards are backwards compatible with 1.x.
As for the 5670, I believe it's going underperform compared to your old part (and it's $20 too expensive to boot), but someone will probably dig up some benchmarks to prove me wrong. If you can scratch up some extra dollars for a 5770, that'll be a much more noticeable improvement. Of course, that all depends if the rest of your system has the juice to feed it...
Hmmmm, seems like I need to add a section on 6 core procs.
About how you probably shouldn't buy them because they fill a strange middle ground that no one needed between bang-for-buck gaming/general personal computer performance and more powerful production-related processors?
Which more powerful "production-related" processors are you talking about?
Well, I'll admit that's definitely a moniker I'm putting on the i-5 and up intel chips, at least from a personal computer standpoint, but basically what I mean is: AMD phenom II dual cores work great for games. They'll run everything out there and do it well. If you wanna go a little crazier without breaking the bank you can go to 4 core, but to my knowledge that doesn't have a huge effect on games, whereas it has a better effect on editing software (3d modeling/audio-video editing/etc) and the intel chips are better if you want to do heavy duty things and don't mind shelling out the extra cash.
I just don't know where a six-core would fall when it comes to practical application. Seems more like for people who want to dick measure but don't have the cash to actually do it right. Feel free to call bullshit, I could definitely be wrong. I only glanced at the benchmarks, and I don't profess to know exactly how each program takes advantage of each type of processor. This was just my first impression.
If you're going to spend $100 on a case, I wouldn't recommend the 902. I feel like it's somewhat, well, antiquated. The system it uses to hold non-optical drives is sub-optimal: it's oriented badly, it eats space and it looks crummy (in my opinion). The PSU is bottom-mounted, which is nice, but there's no vent at the bottom of the case for the PSU fan, which means your PSU is stuck with hot air from your case, which is no bueno. For the same price you can grab the 690 II Advanced, which I think is a better buy.
I don't know if this is true of the entire GX product line from CM, but the 750W version of the supply you mention falls out of ATX spec when you pull more than 450W from it, which is potentially damaging to your components. Better to spend the extra $10 on something like this Corsair supply then risk it.
As for DDR3...meh. For your purposes it's probably not a huge deal.
Thanks for the tips, I've heard of CM enough to know they're pretty reputable, but didn't know anyone who had one so as to whether they compare to Antec's, my old-old roommate had a 900 and another old roommate had a p182. I'm a little worried about poor grounding issues mentioned in reviews on Newegg, but I wouldn't be surprised if it largely amounted to user error. Any other recommendations as far as solid cases on the quieter side at or below $100.
I thought the older Centurion 5 with the anodized blue accents was pretty sexy, but the front bezel just looked a bit cheap in the pictures I saw.
It seems to be a fairly uncommon issue, generally issues like that seem more common largely because those who have it feel compelled to report it while those who don't simply don't bother to say so. Solutions I've read about range from the simple (using unpainted screws seemed to be a common solution) to the cringe-inducing (anything involving soldering).
As for recommending a case...a lot of that is personal preference, and mine is for the look of the CM 690 II. With that said, there are some elements I think are valuable for a mid-tower:
Bottom mounted PSU: It's easier on the PSU, thermally speaking, which results in higher efficiency, and thus, power savings. For best results, there should be a dust-filtered vent on the bottom of the case for the PSU fan intake.
Hard-Drive Cage: I generally prefer cases that turn the drives so that the "back" of the drive (where the cables go) is turned toward the same side of the case the motherboard rests on. In a case with solid cable-routing features, this allows you to skip the whole mess of cables sticking out from your drives into real estate potentially occupied by other stuff. This brings us to...
Cable Routing: A few holes (with rolled steel edges and/or grommets to keep cabling safe) in the right positions, along with room between the mobo tray and side panel, will make your build a lot cleaner, and airflow a lot better. Cases with even better routing features will have hook-like deals to thread cable ties through.
Aside from this, a lot of the rest depends on your thermal requirements, aesthetic values and noise level concerns. There are several DIY type deals you can rock to quiet your case some, like using rubber washers with your drives if they're screwed in, or adding soundproofing foam to the insides of the side panels in your case. Generally speaking the larger the fan, the less noise required to move a significant amount of air, so keep that in mind as well. You could even get a all-in-one water cooling setup for your CPU (like the Corsair H50) which might also help keep noise down.
Which more powerful "production-related" processors are you talking about?
Well, I'll admit that's definitely a moniker I'm putting on the i-5 and up intel chips, at least from a personal computer standpoint, but basically what I mean is: AMD phenom II dual cores work great for games. They'll run everything out there and do it well. If you wanna go a little crazier without breaking the bank you can go to 4 core, but to my knowledge that doesn't have a huge effect on games, whereas it has a better effect on editing software (3d modeling/audio-video editing/etc) and the intel chips are better if you want to do heavy duty things and don't mind shelling out the extra cash.
I just don't know where a six-core would fall when it comes to practical application. Seems more like for people who want to dick measure but don't have the cash to actually do it right. Feel free to call bullshit, I could definitely be wrong. I only glanced at the benchmarks, and I don't profess to know exactly how each program takes advantage of each type of processor. This was just my first impression.
Well I was talking about both AMD's and Intel's newish 6 core procs. From what I've read the i7 980X is actually worth the $1000 Extreeeeme price if you need the power, unlike any of Intel's recent high end chips.
And it seems like the AMD 6 core chips would be good if you did some video coding or 3D work as a hobby or as a student and didn't want to shell out a lot of money.
lowlylowlycook on
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
0
ZampanovYou May Not Go HomeUntil Tonight Has Been MagicalRegistered Userregular
Which more powerful "production-related" processors are you talking about?
Well, I'll admit that's definitely a moniker I'm putting on the i-5 and up intel chips, at least from a personal computer standpoint, but basically what I mean is: AMD phenom II dual cores work great for games. They'll run everything out there and do it well. If you wanna go a little crazier without breaking the bank you can go to 4 core, but to my knowledge that doesn't have a huge effect on games, whereas it has a better effect on editing software (3d modeling/audio-video editing/etc) and the intel chips are better if you want to do heavy duty things and don't mind shelling out the extra cash.
I just don't know where a six-core would fall when it comes to practical application. Seems more like for people who want to dick measure but don't have the cash to actually do it right. Feel free to call bullshit, I could definitely be wrong. I only glanced at the benchmarks, and I don't profess to know exactly how each program takes advantage of each type of processor. This was just my first impression.
Well I was talking about both AMD's and Intel's newish 6 core procs. From what I've read the i7 980X is actually worth the $1000 Extreeeeme price if you need the power, unlike any of Intel's recent high end chips.
And it seems like the AMD 6 core chips would be good if you did some video coding or 3D work as a hobby or as a student and didn't want to shell out a lot of money.
Ah, I didn't realize the intel 6 cores were out. I just saw the stuff about the AMD 6 cores coming out today and assumed that's what you were talking about. My bad!
With any luck I'll be going to uni in october and will be wanting some technology with me.
Personally I would like to take a desktop, though my friends are mentioning how heavy it would be and what a hassle to transport there and back; I would be allowed to leave it in my dorm if I wanted. How safe that would be though...
If I was to get a desktop I think I would consider getting a small netbook to take notes on and carry around. But then that's more money to spend, would I be better off getting a laptop straight off?
If a desktop is the best option, when to buy, sooner rather than later? I wasn't thinking of putting it together before september time, will markets have settled somewhat or is ram likely to continue to get more expensive?
That board looks like it's PCIe 1.0, but PCIe 2.0 cards are backwards compatible with 1.x.
As for the 5670, I believe it's going underperform compared to your old part (and it's $20 too expensive to boot), but someone will probably dig up some benchmarks to prove me wrong. If you can scratch up some extra dollars for a 5770, that'll be a much more noticeable improvement. Of course, that all depends if the rest of your system has the juice to feed it...
With any luck I'll be going to uni in october and will be wanting some technology with me.
Personally I would like to take a desktop, though my friends are mentioning how heavy it would be and what a hassle to transport there and back; I would be allowed to leave it in my dorm if I wanted. How safe that would be though...
If I was to get a desktop I think I would consider getting a small netbook to take notes on and carry around. But then that's more money to spend, would I be better off getting a laptop straight off?
If a desktop is the best option, when to buy, sooner rather than later? I wasn't thinking of putting it together before september time, will markets have settled somewhat or is ram likely to continue to get more expensive?
The big question is how much PC gaming you want to do? For gaming purposes a desktop + netbook would work nicely. Otherwise maybe a not to big laptop would be enough.
lowlylowlycook on
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
Does anyone know why my eSATA port on my Asus Rampage II Extreme motherboard would be unable to recognise anything connected to it? I have an eSATA External HD which connects fine through USB, but turns on and isn't recognised through eSATA to eSATA?
One of many incredible memories from PAX East involved a processor giveaway.
The guys from the Intel booth gave us a pretty motherfucking sick piece of hardware to give awayan [B]Intel Core i7-975 Extreme 3.33 GHz[/B], more or less at our discretion. You might be aware of the button culture at the other PAX, where people create pins and trade them, and they are fun to collect. It's hot. PAX East introduced the idea of collectible cards, and someone had put together a comprehensive set with the intention of giving it to us at a panel. We were tremendously honored by that, and thought we'd trade him the processor straight across.
The moment I handed it to him - understand that we're talking about a thousand dollar hunk of silicon, now - he gave it back. He said we should auction it for Child's Play instead. Incredible.
I have a couple of quick question. Recently my video card fried so I need to get a new one. My current motherboard is MS-7529-050 MSI Intel G31M3-L Motherboard. The specs of which are MSI Intel G31M3-L, 8CH Audio, LAN, VGA Intel GMA 3100 - 1333 FSB - 16X PCI-e, 2xPCI, 1xPCI-e 1x, 2xDual DDRII800, 4xSATAII.
I have a couple of quick question. Recently my video card fried so I need to get a new one. My current motherboard is MS-7529-050 MSI Intel G31M3-L Motherboard. The specs of which are MSI Intel G31M3-L, 8CH Audio, LAN, VGA Intel GMA 3100 - 1333 FSB - 16X PCI-e, 2xPCI, 1xPCI-e 1x, 2xDual DDRII800, 4xSATAII.
NewEgg Shell Shocker deal on an Acer B233HU bmidhz Black 23" 5ms HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor with Height/Swivel Adjustment & USB for $180 and free shipping.
Also, after having it in my cart for months, I finally pulled the trigger on the LIAN LI Lancool PC-K62 as (a) it's got free shipping at the moment and (b) there's $10 off with promo code EMCYRNV35 through May 3. Okay, you got me NewEgg.
89.99 is the lowest that case has gotten in the last year, good timing.
I'm looking for an HDD for a HTPC. A friend is suggesting I get a 5400rpm drive as he doesn't think a 7200rpm will really give me any advantage for my purposes, that and 7200 drives are more volatile.
He also asked me to double check that, lol.
Bonus question: will ATX cases fit microATX motherboards, even if they don't explicitly say they will?
Corlis on
But I don't mind, as long as there's a bed beneath the stars that shine,
I'll be fine, just give me a minute, a man's got a limit, I can't get a life if my heart's not in it.
Thanks, I kept hearing it in various places and I couldn't figure out what it meant! XD
Corlis on
But I don't mind, as long as there's a bed beneath the stars that shine,
I'll be fine, just give me a minute, a man's got a limit, I can't get a life if my heart's not in it.
Bonus question: will ATX cases fit microATX motherboards, even if they don't explicitly say they will?
I would assume so, but try to find more detailed pictures or reviews that might answer the question so you are not SoL.
risumon on
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
0
ShadowenSnores in the morningLoserdomRegistered Userregular
edited April 2010
Hrrmm...
I can't seem to build what I'm looking for without brushing up against $2000CAD.
I should ask: is Intel really that much more powerful these days that you can get a lower clock speed and it costs more and you get more performance out of it than AMD? i.e.: Is this really slightly better than this in most gaming and web surfing situations?
Bonus question: will ATX cases fit microATX motherboards, even if they don't explicitly say they will?
I would assume so, but try to find more detailed pictures or reviews that might answer the question so you are not SoL.
Hmmm, I'll have to hunt down the manufacturer's page then. Thanks!
Corlis on
But I don't mind, as long as there's a bed beneath the stars that shine,
I'll be fine, just give me a minute, a man's got a limit, I can't get a life if my heart's not in it.
I purchased this CPU. The installation manual for it does not mention using thermal paste.
I don't really want to blow this too badly, so my question becomes: is thermal paste required in all cases, or just if the CPU is bought totally OEM?
The last time we had this discussion , it seemed that the general verdict was that the new i7's come with good enough and well spread thermal paste on the included heatsink/fan, so you don't need to worry about buying and adding it separately yourself... obviously if you install an after-market cpu fan, then things are different
Posts
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811108065
The 300W power supply is a bit of a concern, friends are telling me I should be getting 400W to be safe, but my equipment will be drawing fairly low power and there won't be a ton of shhit hooked up, so I think I'll be more than safe.
edit: oh goddamn my goosery, the hdd I was eyeing jumped $15 ten minutes ago
-Get a new mATX board and plug it into what I've got. Cost: $30-$70, minimal if any improvement
-Get a new regular ATX board, new case, new power supply, use everything else I have. Cost: $260
-Get a new regular ATX board, upgrade to DDR3, new case, new power supply. Cost: $360
twitch.tv/tehsloth
I don't know if this is true of the entire GX product line from CM, but the 750W version of the supply you mention falls out of ATX spec when you pull more than 450W from it, which is potentially damaging to your components. Better to spend the extra $10 on something like this Corsair supply then risk it.
As for DDR3...meh. For your purposes it's probably not a huge deal.
Battle.net
Thanks for the tips, I've heard of CM enough to know they're pretty reputable, but didn't know anyone who had one so as to whether they compare to Antec's, my old-old roommate had a 900 and another old roommate had a p182. I'm a little worried about poor grounding issues mentioned in reviews on Newegg, but I wouldn't be surprised if it largely amounted to user error. Any other recommendations as far as solid cases on the quieter side at or below $100.
I thought the older Centurion 5 with the anodized blue accents was pretty sexy, but the front bezel just looked a bit cheap in the pictures I saw.
twitch.tv/tehsloth
My old video card; EVGA 320-P2-N811-AR GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card.
First question; does my motherboard support pci-e 2.0? If it doesn't then is http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814103104 a comparable replacement?
LoL: failboattootoot
As for the 5670, I believe it's going underperform compared to your old part (and it's $20 too expensive to boot), but someone will probably dig up some benchmarks to prove me wrong. If you can scratch up some extra dollars for a 5770, that'll be a much more noticeable improvement. Of course, that all depends if the rest of your system has the juice to feed it...
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
About how you probably shouldn't buy them because they fill a strange middle ground that no one needed between bang-for-buck gaming/general personal computer performance and more powerful production-related processors?
At least that's what I'm seeing at first glance!
PSN/XBL: Zampanov -- Steam: Zampanov
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
Well, I'll admit that's definitely a moniker I'm putting on the i-5 and up intel chips, at least from a personal computer standpoint, but basically what I mean is: AMD phenom II dual cores work great for games. They'll run everything out there and do it well. If you wanna go a little crazier without breaking the bank you can go to 4 core, but to my knowledge that doesn't have a huge effect on games, whereas it has a better effect on editing software (3d modeling/audio-video editing/etc) and the intel chips are better if you want to do heavy duty things and don't mind shelling out the extra cash.
I just don't know where a six-core would fall when it comes to practical application. Seems more like for people who want to dick measure but don't have the cash to actually do it right. Feel free to call bullshit, I could definitely be wrong. I only glanced at the benchmarks, and I don't profess to know exactly how each program takes advantage of each type of processor. This was just my first impression.
PSN/XBL: Zampanov -- Steam: Zampanov
It seems to be a fairly uncommon issue, generally issues like that seem more common largely because those who have it feel compelled to report it while those who don't simply don't bother to say so. Solutions I've read about range from the simple (using unpainted screws seemed to be a common solution) to the cringe-inducing (anything involving soldering).
As for recommending a case...a lot of that is personal preference, and mine is for the look of the CM 690 II. With that said, there are some elements I think are valuable for a mid-tower:
Bottom mounted PSU: It's easier on the PSU, thermally speaking, which results in higher efficiency, and thus, power savings. For best results, there should be a dust-filtered vent on the bottom of the case for the PSU fan intake.
Hard-Drive Cage: I generally prefer cases that turn the drives so that the "back" of the drive (where the cables go) is turned toward the same side of the case the motherboard rests on. In a case with solid cable-routing features, this allows you to skip the whole mess of cables sticking out from your drives into real estate potentially occupied by other stuff. This brings us to...
Cable Routing: A few holes (with rolled steel edges and/or grommets to keep cabling safe) in the right positions, along with room between the mobo tray and side panel, will make your build a lot cleaner, and airflow a lot better. Cases with even better routing features will have hook-like deals to thread cable ties through.
Aside from this, a lot of the rest depends on your thermal requirements, aesthetic values and noise level concerns. There are several DIY type deals you can rock to quiet your case some, like using rubber washers with your drives if they're screwed in, or adding soundproofing foam to the insides of the side panels in your case. Generally speaking the larger the fan, the less noise required to move a significant amount of air, so keep that in mind as well. You could even get a all-in-one water cooling setup for your CPU (like the Corsair H50) which might also help keep noise down.
Battle.net
Well I was talking about both AMD's and Intel's newish 6 core procs. From what I've read the i7 980X is actually worth the $1000 Extreeeeme price if you need the power, unlike any of Intel's recent high end chips.
And it seems like the AMD 6 core chips would be good if you did some video coding or 3D work as a hobby or as a student and didn't want to shell out a lot of money.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
Ah, I didn't realize the intel 6 cores were out. I just saw the stuff about the AMD 6 cores coming out today and assumed that's what you were talking about. My bad!
PSN/XBL: Zampanov -- Steam: Zampanov
Personally I would like to take a desktop, though my friends are mentioning how heavy it would be and what a hassle to transport there and back; I would be allowed to leave it in my dorm if I wanted. How safe that would be though...
If I was to get a desktop I think I would consider getting a small netbook to take notes on and carry around. But then that's more money to spend, would I be better off getting a laptop straight off?
If a desktop is the best option, when to buy, sooner rather than later? I wasn't thinking of putting it together before september time, will markets have settled somewhat or is ram likely to continue to get more expensive?
Thanks!
LoL: failboattootoot
The big question is how much PC gaming you want to do? For gaming purposes a desktop + netbook would work nicely. Otherwise maybe a not to big laptop would be enough.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
Steam profile.
Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
EVGA has a lifetime guaranty, don't they? And the 320 GTSs are pretty old too, so if they replace it, it'd probably be something marginally better.
No idea, I got it free from some WoW friends who had replaced it themselves with something newer.
LoL: failboattootoot
My mobo runs PCIEx16 in slots 1 and 3. Slot 2 only gets PCIEx8
The shorty bridges I got from XFX will only work if I have the GPUs in slots 1+2 and I want them in 1+3.
PSN: Beltaine-77 | Steam: beltane77 | Battle.net BadHaggis#1433
Also, after having it in my cart for months, I finally pulled the trigger on the LIAN LI Lancool PC-K62 as (a) it's got free shipping at the moment and (b) there's $10 off with promo code EMCYRNV35 through May 3. Okay, you got me NewEgg.
Steam profile.
Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
I'm looking for an HDD for a HTPC. A friend is suggesting I get a 5400rpm drive as he doesn't think a 7200rpm will really give me any advantage for my purposes, that and 7200 drives are more volatile.
He also asked me to double check that, lol.
edit: This drive is, according to the description, built for HTPC
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136496
Is that a legitimate claim or marketing nonsense and any quality drive will do?
Bonus question: will ATX cases fit microATX motherboards, even if they don't explicitly say they will?
I'll be fine, just give me a minute, a man's got a limit, I can't get a life if my heart's not in it.
I'll be fine, just give me a minute, a man's got a limit, I can't get a life if my heart's not in it.
I haven't used a 5400 in probably 6 years, and all the 7200s I've bought in that time period are still running fine.
I found some longer crossfire bridges in a stash of parts I had lying around. The beast is almost complete, pics coming soon.
PSN: Beltaine-77 | Steam: beltane77 | Battle.net BadHaggis#1433
- ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO AM3 AMD 785G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard
- AMD Athlon II X4 635 Propus 2.9GHz Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Model ADX635WFGIBOX
$180 total with free shipping. The CPU is part of a three way tie for best value at the $120 price point in Tom's Hardware's Best Gaming CPU's For the Money: April 2010, along with the i3-530 and the Phenom II x3 720 Black.NewEgg also hasa Daily Deal $10 off for a Bushnell 4 x 32mm Banner Matte Riflescope. Why is NewEgg selling rifle scopes?
Steam profile.
Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
I would assume so, but try to find more detailed pictures or reviews that might answer the question so you are not SoL.
I can't seem to build what I'm looking for without brushing up against $2000CAD.
I should ask: is Intel really that much more powerful these days that you can get a lower clock speed and it costs more and you get more performance out of it than AMD? i.e.: Is this really slightly better than this in most gaming and web surfing situations?
Yes, but not just slightly. There are some benchmarks here, you can find a thousand others if you look around.
Whether you need that extra performance is another question.
I'll be fine, just give me a minute, a man's got a limit, I can't get a life if my heart's not in it.
I don't really want to blow this too badly, so my question becomes: is thermal paste required in all cases, or just if the CPU is bought totally OEM?
This, with the following options:
(I didn't get into vendors)
Intel Core i5 750 Quad Core Processor Lynnfield LGA1156 2.66GHZ 8MB Cache Retail Box
Onboard cooling
ASUS P7P55D-E Pro LGA1156 P55 DDR3 2PCI-E16 3PCI-E1 2PCI SLI CrossFireX USB3.0 SATA 6GB Motherboard
1 G.SKILL F3-10666CL7D-4GBRH Ripjaws PC3-10666 4GB 2X2GB DDR3-1333 CL7-7-7-21 Core i5 1.5V Memory Kit
Radeon 5850
Antec Twelve Hundred Mid Tower Gamer Case 1200 ATX 12 Drive Bay No PS Top USB2.0 1394 Audio eSATA
Seasonic SS-600ET 600W EPS12V 24PIN ATX Power Supply PFC 80PLUS Bronze 6PIN 8PIN PCI-E 120MM Fan OEM
Windows 7 Home
No Office
No antivirus
Western Digital WD20EARS Caviar Green 2TB SATA2 3GBPS 64MB Cache 3.5IN Hard Drive OEM
No solid state drive
LG CH10LS20 Bluray Reader & DVD Writer Combo Drive 10X BD-ROM 16X DVD-RW Lightscribe SATA Retail Box
No floppy drive
No flash card reader
Basic mouse
Basic keyboard
Creative Sound Blaster X-FI Xtreme Audio 24BIT Sound Card 7.1 PCI OEM
No speakers (I'll be getting those separate), no headphones
No gaming controller
No mousepad
Onboard network card
No router
Assembly
1 year warranty
No printer
No power bar/surge protector
$1886 (including mail-in rebate).
Any suggestions for either price reduction or better performance for same price?
The last time we had this discussion , it seemed that the general verdict was that the new i7's come with good enough and well spread thermal paste on the included heatsink/fan, so you don't need to worry about buying and adding it separately yourself... obviously if you install an after-market cpu fan, then things are different
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
I shall begin the process tomorrow, once I have a free case.