Okay I am budgeting out a system and have never built a system before. I have a couple of questions.
What is the difference between a mid and full tower?
What wattage power supply should I be looking for? I am currently looking at putting something together with an i3 and picking up a dedicated video card later.
EDIT: Also are the barebones kits a decent deal for the most part? At least to get my feet wet in building a pc?
I guess I can't edit my posts on my phone, but unless you have both an overclocked gpu And and overclocked sbe or bulldozer cpu or like ten plus hard drives 500 watts on a quality psu will be just fine.
0
facetiousa wit so dryit shits sandRegistered Userregular
So I'm looking for some advice. I bought this computer about.. five years ago now? And at the time it wasn't even that great - decent, but definitely not high-end. And obviously things have progressed since then.
Here are the specs:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5000+ (two of them, I think? it's been a while and I'm a little tech-stupid.)
2.61GHz, 2.0GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT
(and probably other important information I'm forgetting to include)
At the time I worried that I might have scrimped on the processor in particular, and I've always had issues with lag, exacerbated of course when I play games which require intensive processing power. For example, League of Legends takes forever to load a game for me, though I usually don't have too many issues in-game (with settings turned down).
I guess my question is whether or not upgrading my processor would be worth it, or if I should really just save up for an entirely new rig? With the caveat that I'd be terrified of installing a processor, although I did successfully install an extra harddrive at one point.
"I am not young enough to know everything." - Oscar Wilde
It depends on your motherboard. I had a system that started off with very similar specs. The motherboard I used will support, after bios updating, all the way up to some phenom II x4s
At this point your GPU will also hold you back in a lot of games, although you could certainly drop in a new one of those as well.
What kind of power supply do you have?
Day of the Bear on
0
facetiousa wit so dryit shits sandRegistered Userregular
edited February 2012
I have no idea what power supply or motherboard I have, lol.
Would I have to open the case to check? (Which actually, I should probably do anyway, I'm sure I'm waaay overdue to get rid of the dust..)
facetious on
"I am not young enough to know everything." - Oscar Wilde
Opening the case up will be your best bet if you don't know.
And if you haven't dusted it out recently that is almost certainly going to give you a small performance boost all on it's own from reducing heat.
The motherboard should have it's make/model printed on the front, usually either between the CPU socket and the expansion slots, or between two of the expansion slots.
The PSU should have a sticker on it indicating brand and model, among other things. That sticker may or may not be visible depending on your case and the orientation the PSU was installed in though.
0
facetiousa wit so dryit shits sandRegistered Userregular
Yeah like I said, I should probably do it regardless. I'll try to do it tomorrow if I can and report back.
Thanks man.
"I am not young enough to know everything." - Oscar Wilde
Okay I am budgeting out a system and have never built a system before. I have a couple of questions.
What is the difference between a mid and full tower?
What wattage power supply should I be looking for? I am currently looking at putting something together with an i3 and picking up a dedicated video card later.
EDIT: Also are the barebones kits a decent deal for the most part? At least to get my feet wet in building a pc?
To answer your Edit question: it depends. A lot of barebones kits use some pretty good stuff alongside some pretty terrible stuff. So maybe you end up with the CPU you want, with a mediocre motherboard, okay RAM, and a terrible power supply, along with a pretty janky case. I generally find that you can still save some money with the more basic 2 item combos and get a better overall quality of component, rather than getting a barebones kit.
The real key is to find out what's in the barebones and deciding if you're comfortable with the quality of the individual components.
Okay I am budgeting out a system and have never built a system before. I have a couple of questions.
What is the difference between a mid and full tower?
What wattage power supply should I be looking for? I am currently looking at putting something together with an i3 and picking up a dedicated video card later.
EDIT: Also are the barebones kits a decent deal for the most part? At least to get my feet wet in building a pc?
To answer your Edit question: it depends. A lot of barebones kits use some pretty good stuff alongside some pretty terrible stuff. So maybe you end up with the CPU you want, with a mediocre motherboard, okay RAM, and a terrible power supply, along with a pretty janky case. I generally find that you can still save some money with the more basic 2 item combos and get a better overall quality of component, rather than getting a barebones kit.
The real key is to find out what's in the barebones and deciding if you're comfortable with the quality of the individual components.
Yeah, those big combos seem to be a way to clear out poorly selling inventory. They'll temp you with one or two high quality components (usually the sexy parts like the CPU), then hope that you don't notice the crap they're trying to unload with it.
TheCanMan on
0
minor incidentexpert in a dying fieldnjRegistered Userregular
I'd steer clear of most of those barebones kit for that reason. Plus, a lot of good part suppliers (at least Microcenter and newegg that I've seen) will sometimes offer sales on motherboards and CPUs purchased together. I got $75 of my wife's i3/mobo combo from Microcenter this way. It's worth keeping an eye out for.
Ah, it stinks, it sucks, it's anthropologically unjust
Microcenter is great for CPU/mobo deals, and apparently they have decent prices on graphics cards (although I've never bought one there).
0
minor incidentexpert in a dying fieldnjRegistered Userregular
Yep, Microcenter typically beats Newegg's CPU pricing. Sometimes by a lot. I've always found their RAM and GPU pricing to be on par with Newegg. Sometimes a tiny bit more, but not enough to make it worth ordering online, waiting/paying for shipping, etc when I could just buy it in person.
Ah, it stinks, it sucks, it's anthropologically unjust
0
mojojoeoA block off the park, living the dream.Registered Userregular
edited February 2012
Ok. I am days from purchase. tell me where Im f'ing up.
newegg wish list is 'moop.' its public. the jist
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler
Motherboard: ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Hard Drive: OCZ Agility 3 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 OC edition 3GB Video Card
Power Supply: Corsair 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply
Keyboard: Cooler Master CM Storm QuickFire Rapid Wired Gaming Keyboard
mojojoeo on
Chief Wiggum: "Ladies, please. All our founding fathers, astronauts, and World Series heroes have been either drunk or on cocaine."
Ok. I am days from purchase. tell me where Im f'ing up.
newegg wish list is 'moop.' its public. the jist
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler
Motherboard: ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Hard Drive: OCZ Agility 3 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 OC edition 3GB Video Card
Power Supply: Corsair 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply
Keyboard: Cooler Master CM Storm QuickFire Rapid Wired Gaming Keyboard
You don't have a case. :P
Lol. Whooops. I have a home server in an antec p180. I am buying a 20 'special' from new egg for it and the antec will go to this. Shoulda said that earlier.
Chief Wiggum: "Ladies, please. All our founding fathers, astronauts, and World Series heroes have been either drunk or on cocaine."
Ok. I am days from purchase. tell me where Im f'ing up.
newegg wish list is 'moop.' its public. the jist
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler
Motherboard: ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Hard Drive: OCZ Agility 3 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 OC edition 3GB Video Card
Power Supply: Corsair 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply
Keyboard: Cooler Master CM Storm QuickFire Rapid Wired Gaming Keyboard
You don't have a case. :P
Lol. Whooops. I have a home server in an antec p180. I am buying a 20 'special' from new egg for it and the antec will go to this. Shoulda said that earlier.
Also, it may have been a conscious decision, but you don't have an HDD. I'm assuming you either have one lying around or you're just going with the SSD. But figured I'd point that out.
As for what you have listed, everything looks fine. I'm assuming that PSU is the CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX750? That's fairly overkill for this system, but not by an unreasonable amount.
minor incidentexpert in a dying fieldnjRegistered Userregular
I'll add in a recommendation for the OCZ ModXStream 700. Stupid name aside, it powered a pair of 6950s in my system with an overclocked i5 before taking permanent residence in my wife's machine where it has been chugging happily along for months.
My only complaint with it is that the CPU power cable is a bit short, so you may not be able to route it behind the mobo in a moderately large case.
Ah, it stinks, it sucks, it's anthropologically unjust
0
mojojoeoA block off the park, living the dream.Registered Userregular
Ok. I am days from purchase. tell me where Im f'ing up.
newegg wish list is 'moop.' its public. the jist
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler
Motherboard: ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Hard Drive: OCZ Agility 3 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 OC edition 3GB Video Card
Power Supply: Corsair 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply
Keyboard: Cooler Master CM Storm QuickFire Rapid Wired Gaming Keyboard
You don't have a case. :P
Lol. Whooops. I have a home server in an antec p180. I am buying a 20 'special' from new egg for it and the antec will go to this. Shoulda said that earlier.
Also, it may have been a conscious decision, but you don't have an HDD. I'm assuming you either have one lying around or you're just going with the SSD. But figured I'd point that out.
As for what you have listed, everything looks fine. I'm assuming that PSU is the CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX750? That's fairly overkill for this system, but not by an unreasonable amount.
have a TB sata drive sitting in a drawer for storage this machine.
Trimming fat is good BUT will 700 power an eventual sli?
If so awesome!
Chief Wiggum: "Ladies, please. All our founding fathers, astronauts, and World Series heroes have been either drunk or on cocaine."
0
minor incidentexpert in a dying fieldnjRegistered Userregular
As I mentioned, I powered two 6950s and a highly overclocked i5, plus 3 HDDs, a substantial CPU cooler, and assorted fans all on a 700watt PSU.
Of course, if you're going with cards sporting drastically higher power draws, it may be worth bumping up a bit.
Ah, it stinks, it sucks, it's anthropologically unjust
0
minor incidentexpert in a dying fieldnjRegistered Userregular
Oh, one thing to note: many 700watt PSUs, like the OCZ one will only have a couple of PCIe power connectors. You'll need 4 for most SLI/Crossfire setups, so you'll have to use some Molex->PCIe adapters.
Not a problem or anything, but something to look out for.
Ah, it stinks, it sucks, it's anthropologically unjust
Oh, one thing to note: many 700watt PSUs, like the OCZ one will only have a couple of PCIe power connectors. You'll need 4 for most SLI/Crossfire setups, so you'll have to use some Molex->PCIe adapters.
Not a problem or anything, but something to look out for.
7950s require less watts.... and Ive have less to put in the machine.... def save me a few bucks.
And OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W is modular...... nice.
Chief Wiggum: "Ladies, please. All our founding fathers, astronauts, and World Series heroes have been either drunk or on cocaine."
Oh, one thing to note: many 700watt PSUs, like the OCZ one will only have a couple of PCIe power connectors. You'll need 4 for most SLI/Crossfire setups, so you'll have to use some Molex->PCIe adapters.
Not a problem or anything, but something to look out for.
7950s require less watts.... and Ive have less to put in the machine.... def save me a few bucks.
And OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W is modular...... nice.
It should be noted that the OCZ (just like pretty much every OCZ PSU) has much less 12V amperage than you'd expect from a 700W unit. In fact, of the five I listed, it has the lowest 12V amperage (2A less than the two SeaSonic 620s, and 7A less than the two 650W units). So it'd actually be my last choice (unless you want to roll the dice and hope for the sweet MIR to actually come through).
0
mojojoeoA block off the park, living the dream.Registered Userregular
Oh, one thing to note: many 700watt PSUs, like the OCZ one will only have a couple of PCIe power connectors. You'll need 4 for most SLI/Crossfire setups, so you'll have to use some Molex->PCIe adapters.
Not a problem or anything, but something to look out for.
7950s require less watts.... and Ive have less to put in the machine.... def save me a few bucks.
And OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W is modular...... nice.
It should be noted that the OCZ (just like pretty much every OCZ PSU) has much less 12V amperage than you'd expect from a 700W unit. In fact, of the five I listed, it has the lowest 12V amperage (2A less than the two SeaSonic 620s, and 7A less than the two 650W units). So it'd actually be my last choice (unless you want to roll the dice and hope for the sweet MIR to actually come through).
seasonic handle an sli?
Its cheaper....
edit- I think its moot the 750 cosair is on sale and very cheap @ like 84-89 after rebates. may as well go big.
mojojoeo on
Chief Wiggum: "Ladies, please. All our founding fathers, astronauts, and World Series heroes have been either drunk or on cocaine."
so according to steam i don't have crossfire enabled while i took the CS:GA survey
i have this motherboard
ASRock P55 Pro LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel
and my 6770 is in the blue slot on it, which is the primary as far as i can tell, and the crossfire logo pops up, so why doesn't it say i am crossfired?
so according to steam i don't have crossfire enabled while i took the CS:GA survey
i have this motherboard
ASRock P55 Pro LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel
and my 6770 is in the blue slot on it, which is the primary as far as i can tell, and the crossfire logo pops up, so why doesn't it say i am crossfired?
hmm you could try running an instance of GPU-Z for each card and monitoring activity, or they could be a better app for it; never done crossfirex but when I was running SLI I'd use eVGA Precision to monitor GPU Load on the LCD of my G15 keyboard.
Ok. I am days from purchase. tell me where Im f'ing up.
newegg wish list is 'moop.' its public. the jist
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler
Motherboard: ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Hard Drive: OCZ Agility 3 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 OC edition 3GB Video Card
Power Supply: Corsair 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply
Keyboard: Cooler Master CM Storm QuickFire Rapid Wired Gaming Keyboard
That's pretty much my system, which is running great by the way!
Only differences are I have a GTX560 for a video card, and a 650W Corsair PSU.
Nice, and glad to hear it! Was the processor easy to seat?
750 is on sale this week @ 79.99 after rebate and some patriot memory with the same clocks is 35.99 too. Making those switches and buying by Friday dependent on how fast the paperwork goes through.
mojojoeo on
Chief Wiggum: "Ladies, please. All our founding fathers, astronauts, and World Series heroes have been either drunk or on cocaine."
Ok. I am days from purchase. tell me where Im f'ing up.
newegg wish list is 'moop.' its public. the jist
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler
Motherboard: ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Hard Drive: OCZ Agility 3 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 OC edition 3GB Video Card
Power Supply: Corsair 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply
Keyboard: Cooler Master CM Storm QuickFire Rapid Wired Gaming Keyboard
That's pretty much my system, which is running great by the way!
Only differences are I have a GTX560 for a video card, and a 650W Corsair PSU.
Nice, and glad to hear it! Was the processor easy to seat?
750 is on sale this week @ 79.99 after rebate and some patriot memory with the same clocks is 35.99 too. Making those switches and buying by Friday dependent on how fast the paperwork goes through.
Yeah, the processor was a piece of cake, just drop it in there and lock.
The Cooler Master was a bit of a daunting task though, you might need an extra set of hands to set it up (at least I did). Haven't seen my processor over 50C though!
I'd check in the catalyst control center to see if it says CFX is enabled.
see thats where i am iffy. if i go to the crossfire tab, there is a check in the box next to enable crossfire, but the actual text looks like it is greyed sort of like it wasn't an option. however, i can select disable crossfire and apply that
if i do that, it won't let me reclick enable and apply
I'd check in the catalyst control center to see if it says CFX is enabled.
see thats where i am iffy. if i go to the crossfire tab, there is a check in the box next to enable crossfire, but the actual text looks like it is greyed sort of like it wasn't an option. however, i can select disable crossfire and apply that
if i do that, it won't let me reclick enable and apply
What I would do is fully uninstall the catalyst drivers, then do a reinstall of the latest version with both cards present in the system.
After doing this my cfx setup was happily enabled in everything
0
mojojoeoA block off the park, living the dream.Registered Userregular
i am just gonna get a haf 912 to toss all the parts in...
the cable management is so sexy in it.
Chief Wiggum: "Ladies, please. All our founding fathers, astronauts, and World Series heroes have been either drunk or on cocaine."
Posts
What is the difference between a mid and full tower?
What wattage power supply should I be looking for? I am currently looking at putting something together with an i3 and picking up a dedicated video card later.
EDIT: Also are the barebones kits a decent deal for the most part? At least to get my feet wet in building a pc?
Depending on your setup, a i3 2100 and a dedicated video card can get away with a quality 500w power supply.
Here are the specs:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5000+ (two of them, I think? it's been a while and I'm a little tech-stupid.)
2.61GHz, 2.0GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT
(and probably other important information I'm forgetting to include)
At the time I worried that I might have scrimped on the processor in particular, and I've always had issues with lag, exacerbated of course when I play games which require intensive processing power. For example, League of Legends takes forever to load a game for me, though I usually don't have too many issues in-game (with settings turned down).
I guess my question is whether or not upgrading my processor would be worth it, or if I should really just save up for an entirely new rig? With the caveat that I'd be terrified of installing a processor, although I did successfully install an extra harddrive at one point.
Steam: Chagrin LoL: Bonhomie
At this point your GPU will also hold you back in a lot of games, although you could certainly drop in a new one of those as well.
What kind of power supply do you have?
Would I have to open the case to check? (Which actually, I should probably do anyway, I'm sure I'm waaay overdue to get rid of the dust..)
Steam: Chagrin LoL: Bonhomie
And if you haven't dusted it out recently that is almost certainly going to give you a small performance boost all on it's own from reducing heat.
The motherboard should have it's make/model printed on the front, usually either between the CPU socket and the expansion slots, or between two of the expansion slots.
The PSU should have a sticker on it indicating brand and model, among other things. That sticker may or may not be visible depending on your case and the orientation the PSU was installed in though.
Thanks man.
Steam: Chagrin LoL: Bonhomie
To answer your Edit question: it depends. A lot of barebones kits use some pretty good stuff alongside some pretty terrible stuff. So maybe you end up with the CPU you want, with a mediocre motherboard, okay RAM, and a terrible power supply, along with a pretty janky case. I generally find that you can still save some money with the more basic 2 item combos and get a better overall quality of component, rather than getting a barebones kit.
The real key is to find out what's in the barebones and deciding if you're comfortable with the quality of the individual components.
Battle.net
Yeah, those big combos seem to be a way to clear out poorly selling inventory. They'll temp you with one or two high quality components (usually the sexy parts like the CPU), then hope that you don't notice the crap they're trying to unload with it.
newegg wish list is 'moop.' its public. the jist
You don't have a case. :P
Lol. Whooops. I have a home server in an antec p180. I am buying a 20 'special' from new egg for it and the antec will go to this. Shoulda said that earlier.
Also, it may have been a conscious decision, but you don't have an HDD. I'm assuming you either have one lying around or you're just going with the SSD. But figured I'd point that out.
As for what you have listed, everything looks fine. I'm assuming that PSU is the CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX750? That's fairly overkill for this system, but not by an unreasonable amount.
Still, if you're looking to trim some fat, you could get something like a SeaSonic S12II 620 Bronze, or an XFX Core Edition PRO650W, or you could stick with Corsair but step down to a TX650. The SeaSonic M12II 620 and OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W will get you modular.
My only complaint with it is that the CPU power cable is a bit short, so you may not be able to route it behind the mobo in a moderately large case.
have a TB sata drive sitting in a drawer for storage this machine.
Trimming fat is good BUT will 700 power an eventual sli?
If so awesome!
Of course, if you're going with cards sporting drastically higher power draws, it may be worth bumping up a bit.
Not a problem or anything, but something to look out for.
7950s require less watts.... and Ive have less to put in the machine.... def save me a few bucks.
And OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W is modular...... nice.
It should be noted that the OCZ (just like pretty much every OCZ PSU) has much less 12V amperage than you'd expect from a 700W unit. In fact, of the five I listed, it has the lowest 12V amperage (2A less than the two SeaSonic 620s, and 7A less than the two 650W units). So it'd actually be my last choice (unless you want to roll the dice and hope for the sweet MIR to actually come through).
seasonic handle an sli?
Its cheaper....
edit- I think its moot the 750 cosair is on sale and very cheap @ like 84-89 after rebates. may as well go big.
i have this motherboard
ASRock P55 Pro LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel
and my 6770 is in the blue slot on it, which is the primary as far as i can tell, and the crossfire logo pops up, so why doesn't it say i am crossfired?
hmm you could try running an instance of GPU-Z for each card and monitoring activity, or they could be a better app for it; never done crossfirex but when I was running SLI I'd use eVGA Precision to monitor GPU Load on the LCD of my G15 keyboard.
That's pretty much my system, which is running great by the way!
Only differences are I have a GTX560 for a video card, and a 650W Corsair PSU.
BF3 Battlelog | Twitter | World of Warships | World of Tanks | Wishlist
Nice, and glad to hear it! Was the processor easy to seat?
750 is on sale this week @ 79.99 after rebate and some patriot memory with the same clocks is 35.99 too. Making those switches and buying by Friday dependent on how fast the paperwork goes through.
Yeah, the processor was a piece of cake, just drop it in there and lock.
The Cooler Master was a bit of a daunting task though, you might need an extra set of hands to set it up (at least I did). Haven't seen my processor over 50C though!
BF3 Battlelog | Twitter | World of Warships | World of Tanks | Wishlist
see thats where i am iffy. if i go to the crossfire tab, there is a check in the box next to enable crossfire, but the actual text looks like it is greyed sort of like it wasn't an option. however, i can select disable crossfire and apply that
if i do that, it won't let me reclick enable and apply
What I would do is fully uninstall the catalyst drivers, then do a reinstall of the latest version with both cards present in the system.
After doing this my cfx setup was happily enabled in everything
the cable management is so sexy in it.