Hey there guys. I have a bit of a sticky wicket here. I'd like to upgrade to Windows 7 soon and just wipe my entire drive nice and clean. Thing is, my hard drive has only 250gigs of space and recently that has been proving to be limiting. I'd like to step up to a 1TB drive and there are some nice ones off of Newegg for $100 or so. Trouble is, what should I do with my current drive? Should I just chuck it or try and work up some complex raid configuration. I'd really like to just have 1 drive if possible...
Ok my HD and Windows 7 just came in the mail. If I'm going to install these, can I just shut down my comp, take out my old drive, put in the new drive and then boot from the Windows 7 CD?
Yep.
Thanks. It worked. Running Windows 7 now, it seems super slick
Edit: Although my 640 GB hard drive is only reading as 596 GB, this doesn't seem right
Nevermind, it's a difference in how GB is measured between manufacturers and Windows
Lookin to build a HTPC to live in my living room. So far I have...a ton of options. I'm looking at trying to build it fairly smallish. Using a micro atx board instead of a regular ATX. I'll be trying to reuse my old e6600 core 2 proc with this system as well. Ideally I want to make this thing run with WMC on Win 7 and use a nice low end harmony remote to handle everything.
I want to run a internal tv tuner card on this. Any recommendations on this? All I'm worried about is compatibility with WMC and it be able to handle just a single tuner source.
Not really too big on gaming for this thing, though running some games would be cool, so probably a midrange card with HDMI mounted on it would be fine. I'm thinking Nvidia with a 9600 or 9800 series card, or something from the GT 240 stuff.
Ok my HD and Windows 7 just came in the mail. If I'm going to install these, can I just shut down my comp, take out my old drive, put in the new drive and then boot from the Windows 7 CD?
Yep.
Thanks. It worked. Running Windows 7 now, it seems super slick
Edit: Although my 640 GB hard drive is only reading as 596 GB, this doesn't seem right
Nevermind, it's a difference in how GB is measured between manufacturers and Windows
Yes, this is something I'll give Apple credit for; in the latest update (Snow Leopard?) they changed how the OS displays hard disk space and it actually reads what makes sense. IIRC
Ok my HD and Windows 7 just came in the mail. If I'm going to install these, can I just shut down my comp, take out my old drive, put in the new drive and then boot from the Windows 7 CD?
Yep.
Thanks. It worked. Running Windows 7 now, it seems super slick
Edit: Although my 640 GB hard drive is only reading as 596 GB, this doesn't seem right
Nevermind, it's a difference in how GB is measured between manufacturers and Windows
Here's a little something I discovered on accident:
Instead of using Alt+Tab, try using Windows Key+Tab.
Ok my HD and Windows 7 just came in the mail. If I'm going to install these, can I just shut down my comp, take out my old drive, put in the new drive and then boot from the Windows 7 CD?
Yep.
Thanks. It worked. Running Windows 7 now, it seems super slick
Edit: Although my 640 GB hard drive is only reading as 596 GB, this doesn't seem right
Nevermind, it's a difference in how GB is measured between manufacturers and Windows
Here's a little something I discovered on accident:
Instead of using Alt+Tab, try using Windows Key+Tab.
My god man! Thats intense! I forgot all about that trick
MeepZero on
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Options
Ubikoh pete, that's later. maybe we'll be dead by thenRegistered Userregular
Ok my HD and Windows 7 just came in the mail. If I'm going to install these, can I just shut down my comp, take out my old drive, put in the new drive and then boot from the Windows 7 CD?
Yep.
Thanks. It worked. Running Windows 7 now, it seems super slick
Edit: Although my 640 GB hard drive is only reading as 596 GB, this doesn't seem right
Nevermind, it's a difference in how GB is measured between manufacturers and Windows
Here's a little something I discovered on accident:
Instead of using Alt+Tab, try using Windows Key+Tab.
My god man! Thats intense! I forgot all about that trick
Ya that's pretty cool. But it doesn't look like it's cycling through all my open stuff sometimes
Also this is a long shot but does anyone know how to get the buttons on the Microsoft Windows Media 3000 keyboard to like maximize or draw attention to a window if it's already running instead of opening a new one.
Like if I have firefox open and I hit the internet button I want it to maximize firefox and put it on top not open a new window but if firefox is not running then I want it to open firefox
I am looking for the most powerful computer I can aquire for $2000. It will be mostly used for gaming. Can anyone give me a good setup? A friend of mine is going to piece it together once we get all the parts.
Ok my HD and Windows 7 just came in the mail. If I'm going to install these, can I just shut down my comp, take out my old drive, put in the new drive and then boot from the Windows 7 CD?
Yep.
Thanks. It worked. Running Windows 7 now, it seems super slick
Edit: Although my 640 GB hard drive is only reading as 596 GB, this doesn't seem right
Nevermind, it's a difference in how GB is measured between manufacturers and Windows
Yes, this is something I'll give Apple credit for; in the latest update (Snow Leopard?) they changed how the OS displays hard disk space and it actually reads what makes sense. IIRC
Measuring a gigabyte as 1000 bytes instead of as 1024 bytes is not something to give anyone credit for, it's not accurate, and it's sneaky and misleading when hdd manufacturers do it, it's stupid for your computer to lie too you about available space on top of that.
I am looking for the most powerful computer I can aquire for $2000. It will be mostly used for gaming. Can anyone give me a good setup? A friend of mine is going to piece it together once we get all the parts.
Are you dead set on hitting $2000? That's a lot for a gaming PC and far past getting good bang for your buck.
lowlylowlycook on
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
Yeah, $2000 is more than you really need to spend for a kickass gaming PC. I guess if you're getting a huge monitor it might run you that high, but the bleeding-edge hardware has inflated prices.
ok need some trouble shooting help.
i made a computer for my father a bit back.
i3 530
4GB Ram
400W power supply
ASUS p55 motherboard
antec 200 case
win 7
MSE anti virus
OK so he had some weird graphics issue which turned out to be his ctrl key sticking. but a biger problem came up. when he rebooted his computer hoping to fix things (since rebooting fixes everything) he says that during the boot up a CPU overheat warning popped up. it didn't turn off or prompt, it just came up and then continued loading into windows.
1. What is a good monitoring program? does they normally have a way to stress test so to speak?
2. I set it up to use onboard graphics. would putting a cheap seperate card in alleviate that
3. should we just yank out the cpu fan and put in a aftermarket one?
it has been running fine so i don't know if the temps are just on the high end of acceptable
I am looking for the most powerful computer I can aquire for $2000. It will be mostly used for gaming. Can anyone give me a good setup? A friend of mine is going to piece it together once we get all the parts.
Unless you're set on blowing the whole $2000 I would recommend a Core i7 930 with 6 gigs of memory as a starting point. Drop in an ATI HD 5870 and you have a nicely round out system. I would hold out on SSDs until the end of this year when Intel releases their new ones.
ok need some trouble shooting help.
i made a computer for my father a bit back.
i3 530
4GB Ram
400W power supply
ASUS p55 motherboard
antec 200 case
win 7
MSE anti virus
OK so he had some weird graphics issue which turned out to be his ctrl key sticking. but a biger problem came up. when he rebooted his computer hoping to fix things (since rebooting fixes everything) he says that during the boot up a CPU overheat warning popped up. it didn't turn off or prompt, it just came up and then continued loading into windows.
1. What is a good monitoring program? does they normally have a way to stress test so to speak?
2. I set it up to use onboard graphics. would putting a cheap seperate card in alleviate that
3. should we just yank out the cpu fan and put in a aftermarket one?
it has been running fine so i don't know if the temps are just on the high end of acceptable
You're using a P55 motherboard and the GPU integrated into the i3? That should be impossible.
Yeah, on top of builds any suggestions for improvements would be welcome. I think a lot of it should be rewritten since the CPU and GPU situation has shifted.
In particular I wouldn't mind someone writing a quick paragraph about sound cards and/or computer speakers or a quick rundown on all the LCD technologies.
lowlylowlycook on
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
Don't have much to contribute, but if people could come up with Value, Mid-range Gaming, and Extreme builds like how Sharky Extreme used to have, that would be a kick ass OP.
Akilae on
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Options
AlectharAlan ShoreWe're not territorial about that sort of thing, are we?Registered Userregular
Yeah, on top of builds any suggestions for improvements would be welcome. I think a lot of it should be rewritten since the CPU and GPU situation has shifted.
In particular I wouldn't mind someone writing a quick paragraph about sound cards and/or computer speakers or a quick rundown on all the LCD technologies.
I'll toss together something about LCDs. What should the price points be for builds? Like, Budget build is 750, midrange is 1500, top-end is 2500?
Budget build should be around $500 or less
Mid-Range (bang for your buck) ~$750
High-End $1000
$2500 is a ridiculous amount to spend on a rig these days. You're not really getting anything more than you'd get for $1500.
Shenanigans, sir, I call Shenanigans.
$500 is really $400 (Gogo-gadget Win7), which is only do-able with the barest of the bare. You'd have to run the lowliest AMD dual core you could find, 2GB of (likely DDR2) RAM, and a motherboard that uses cardboard instead of a PCB. It would be difficult to upgrade because of the 350W PSU you'd be using, not to mention the ancient memory standard you'd be rocking.
I submit to you that you would be better off buying a really nice netbook for $500. At least then you'll have integrated wireless.
I don't know that a system that would rock a singleton 5770 can be termed a mid-range system, and I'd have to hold a virgin sacrifice to cram a 5870 into a $1000 budget.
Maybe this is just me, but I feel like a gaming PC running less than a 5770 is barely even a gaming PC. And come on, you can find one for $150. And I feel like the cheaper AMD motherboards are pretty cruddy. I think a solid budget setup (single 5770) could come in at $650. Mid-range (single 5850/crossfire 5770) at $850 to $900. High end...not sure.
Budget build should be around $500 or less
Mid-Range (bang for your buck) ~$750
High-End $1000
$2500 is a ridiculous amount to spend on a rig these days. You're not really getting anything more than you'd get for $1500.
Shenanigans, sir, I call Shenanigans.
$500 is really $400 (Gogo-gadget Win7), which is only do-able with the barest of the bare. You'd have to run the lowliest AMD dual core you could find, 2GB of (likely DDR2) RAM, and a motherboard that uses cardboard instead of a PCB. It would be difficult to upgrade because of the 350W PSU you'd be using, not to mention the ancient memory standard you'd be rocking.
I submit to you that you would be better off buying a really nice netbook for $500. At least then you'll have integrated wireless.
I don't know that a system that would rock a singleton 5770 can be termed a mid-range system, and I'd have to hold a virgin sacrifice to cram a 5870 into a $1000 budget.
Maybe this is just me, but I feel like a gaming PC running less than a 5770 is barely even a gaming PC. And come on, you can find one for $150. And I feel like the cheaper AMD motherboards are pretty cruddy. I think a solid budget setup (single 5770) could come in at $650. Mid-range (single 5850/crossfire 5770) at $850 to $900. High end...not sure.
Maybe about 1400-1500 USD for a high end, at least for a minimum price? I just went to Newegg and selected an i7-920 (you can overclock the shit out of these things even on stock cooling), 6GB DDR3, a good SLI/Crossfire motherboard, an ATI HD 5870, 750-850 watt quality PSU, a nice case, and no HDD or case fans. That came out to be around 1400 USD. You could toss another 5870 in and that's an extra 400 USD.
Or is that mid-range? Because that's a pretty powerful system that won't have trouble running anything you throw at it. Getting the i7-970 Xtreme Michael Bay processor or something higher than a single 5870 card seems fairly excessive.
I'm actually buying a pre-built, and surprisingly it comes out to be about the same price as that. The Dell Studio XPS 9000 with an i7-920, 6GB DDR3, ATI 5870, 475W PSU, media card reader and a 640GB HDD came out to be 1359 USD. I'm looking at the Alienware Aurora, too, and it has similar specifications but an 875W PSU instead, Asetek CPU liquid cooling, plus other nice touches (SLI/Crossfire support, unlocked BIOS, nicer and cleaner interior design) for about 1559 USD.
Dashui on
Xbox Live, PSN & Origin: Vacorsis 3DS: 2638-0037-166
Budget build should be around $500 or less
Mid-Range (bang for your buck) ~$750
High-End $1000
$2500 is a ridiculous amount to spend on a rig these days. You're not really getting anything more than you'd get for $1500.
Shenanigans, sir, I call Shenanigans.
$500 is really $400 (Gogo-gadget Win7), which is only do-able with the barest of the bare. You'd have to run the lowliest AMD dual core you could find, 2GB of (likely DDR2) RAM, and a motherboard that uses cardboard instead of a PCB. It would be difficult to upgrade because of the 350W PSU you'd be using, not to mention the ancient memory standard you'd be rocking.
I submit to you that you would be better off buying a really nice netbook for $500. At least then you'll have integrated wireless.
I don't know that a system that would rock a singleton 5770 can be termed a mid-range system, and I'd have to hold a virgin sacrifice to cram a 5870 into a $1000 budget.
Maybe this is just me, but I feel like a gaming PC running less than a 5770 is barely even a gaming PC. And come on, you can find one for $150. And I feel like the cheaper AMD motherboards are pretty cruddy. I think a solid budget setup (single 5770) could come in at $650. Mid-range (single 5850/crossfire 5770) at $850 to $900. High end...not sure.
OK, I admit that I wasn't counting an OS in those figures. So yeah add $100-$150 to those.
$5 off the ever popular Antec 300 with Promo Code EMCYRNY32 ($55 w/ free shipping)
$5 off (20% woo!) an OEM LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+RW with Promo Code EMCYRNY52 ($20 w/ free shipping)
$10 off retail (Sale price? Price drop?) on the i3-530 ($115 w/ free shipping)
A $15 NewEgg gift card with the AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black ($180 w/ free shipping), which isn't in any of the OP build but seems well regarded as a good processor for the money. Gift card comes even if you get one of the CPU's numerous combos like a 5850, a 5770 or an Antec 902.
Building a mid-range computer, and was curious if I've added any Bad Things (tm). Really trying to keep it under $800, if possible.
I already (possibly, have to work out the legal details) have a copy of Win 7.
It'll be mostly used for gaming - primarily any combination of RTS, RPG and FPS.
Games that I'd like to be able to play with the graphics turned up to 11: Mass Effect 2; Borderlands; Fallout 3; many of the various Half-Life 2 family; The Witcher; very basic future-proofing is also a major consideration.
So: Any things you'd do differently? There is a Combo Deal on the video card for a BioStar mobo, which looks vaguely comparable, but it's lacking the USB 3.0 slots, as well as being a micro-atx.
Tax refund is coming which means I can finally do this HTPC thing. Fuck yes.
AVSForum's current thread on the topic lists the following build as the current suggestion:
* CPU: Core i3 530 2.93GHz LGA1156, $113.
* CPU Cooler: Cooler Master 風神鍛 (Geminii S) RR-CCH-PBU1-GP, $35.
* Motherboard: ASRock H55M Pro LGA1156 Intel H55 chipset microATX, $90. If you want USB 3.0, go with GIGABYTE GA-H57M-USB3 LGA1156 Intel H57 chipset microATX, $120, or ASUS P7H55D-M EVO LGA1156 Intel H55 chipset microATX, $125.
* Memory: G.SKILL F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ DDR3-1600 2 x 2GB Kit, $105.
* Graphics Card (ATI): Sapphire HD 5670 512GB GDDR5, $90. An alternative is HIS H567Q512 Radeon HD 5670 GDDR5 512MB, $95.
* Graphics Card (NVIDIA): ASUS ENGT240/DI/512MD5/A GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 512MB, $100.
* HDD: Western Digital WD6400AAKS 640GB SATA 3.0Gbps, $65.
* PSU: Corsair VX450W CMPSU-450VX 450W, $65. An alternative is Enermax ECO80+ 400W EES400AWT, $61.
* Case: Antec Fusion Remote Black microATX, with LCD/IR receiver/remote, $140.
* Total Cost: $703 for ATI, $713 for NVIDIA
$700 seems insanely high (and thats without Win 7), but then again this is from AVSForum. I want to rip DVDs and BluRays, Hulu and Netflix it up, stream Last.fm, etc. The only heavy lifting it'll really need is being able to push HD video and sound with minimal distortion.
Improvolone on
Voice actor for hire. My time is free if your project is!
Building a mid-range computer, and was curious if I've added any Bad Things (tm). Really trying to keep it under $800, if possible.
I already (possibly, have to work out the legal details) have a copy of Win 7.
It'll be mostly used for gaming - primarily any combination of RTS, RPG and FPS.
Games that I'd like to be able to play with the graphics turned up to 11: Mass Effect 2; Borderlands; Fallout 3; many of the various Half-Life 2 family; The Witcher; very basic future-proofing is also a major consideration.
So: Any things you'd do differently? There is a Combo Deal on the video card for a BioStar mobo, which looks vaguely comparable, but it's lacking the USB 3.0 slots, as well as being a micro-atx.
You should go with an ATI 5770. If needed, you could downgrade the CPU to a i3 530 or something from AMD to save money.
lowlylowlycook on
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
Building a mid-range computer, and was curious if I've added any Bad Things (tm). Really trying to keep it under $800, if possible.
I already (possibly, have to work out the legal details) have a copy of Win 7.
It'll be mostly used for gaming - primarily any combination of RTS, RPG and FPS.
Games that I'd like to be able to play with the graphics turned up to 11: Mass Effect 2; Borderlands; Fallout 3; many of the various Half-Life 2 family; The Witcher; very basic future-proofing is also a major consideration.
So: Any things you'd do differently? There is a Combo Deal on the video card for a BioStar mobo, which looks vaguely comparable, but it's lacking the USB 3.0 slots, as well as being a micro-atx.
You should go with an ATI 5770. If needed, you could downgrade the CPU to a i3 530 or something from AMD to save money.
Looked into the 5770; well within my price range, and will probably go with this one, as the so-called Vapor-X seems to really help with the cooling.
Posts
create a partition on the tb the same size as the 250 and create a striped raid for your system and use the remaining 750 as storage.
you could toss the 250 and put it all on the tb
you could install the tb as a slave drive and put all your media/ancillary stuff on there, and keep system and programs on the 250.
you could use the tb as your system drive and buy a portable hdd enclosure and turn the 250 into portable storage.
Thanks. It worked. Running Windows 7 now, it seems super slick
Edit: Although my 640 GB hard drive is only reading as 596 GB, this doesn't seem right
Nevermind, it's a difference in how GB is measured between manufacturers and Windows
I want to run a internal tv tuner card on this. Any recommendations on this? All I'm worried about is compatibility with WMC and it be able to handle just a single tuner source.
Not really too big on gaming for this thing, though running some games would be cool, so probably a midrange card with HDMI mounted on it would be fine. I'm thinking Nvidia with a 9600 or 9800 series card, or something from the GT 240 stuff.
This is the case I'm thinking about running with...though I wonder if its too big and expensive.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129054
Any thoughts or recommendations on the hardware would be appreciated.
Yes, this is something I'll give Apple credit for; in the latest update (Snow Leopard?) they changed how the OS displays hard disk space and it actually reads what makes sense. IIRC
Robots Will Be Our Superiors (Blog)
http://michaelhermes.com
Here's a little something I discovered on accident:
Instead of using Alt+Tab, try using Windows Key+Tab.
My god man! Thats intense! I forgot all about that trick
Ya that's pretty cool. But it doesn't look like it's cycling through all my open stuff sometimes
Also this is a long shot but does anyone know how to get the buttons on the Microsoft Windows Media 3000 keyboard to like maximize or draw attention to a window if it's already running instead of opening a new one.
Like if I have firefox open and I hit the internet button I want it to maximize firefox and put it on top not open a new window but if firefox is not running then I want it to open firefox
Measuring a gigabyte as 1000 bytes instead of as 1024 bytes is not something to give anyone credit for, it's not accurate, and it's sneaky and misleading when hdd manufacturers do it, it's stupid for your computer to lie too you about available space on top of that.
Are you dead set on hitting $2000? That's a lot for a gaming PC and far past getting good bang for your buck.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
Twitter 3DS: 0860 - 3257 - 2516
i made a computer for my father a bit back.
i3 530
4GB Ram
400W power supply
ASUS p55 motherboard
antec 200 case
win 7
MSE anti virus
OK so he had some weird graphics issue which turned out to be his ctrl key sticking. but a biger problem came up. when he rebooted his computer hoping to fix things (since rebooting fixes everything) he says that during the boot up a CPU overheat warning popped up. it didn't turn off or prompt, it just came up and then continued loading into windows.
1. What is a good monitoring program? does they normally have a way to stress test so to speak?
2. I set it up to use onboard graphics. would putting a cheap seperate card in alleviate that
3. should we just yank out the cpu fan and put in a aftermarket one?
it has been running fine so i don't know if the temps are just on the high end of acceptable
Unless you're set on blowing the whole $2000 I would recommend a Core i7 930 with 6 gigs of memory as a starting point. Drop in an ATI HD 5870 and you have a nicely round out system. I would hold out on SSDs until the end of this year when Intel releases their new ones.
You're using a P55 motherboard and the GPU integrated into the i3? That should be impossible.
Battle.net
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
i guess i read to fast, H55 not p
I always think "Hey, I should create the OP for one of these threads that I love!"
Then I look at how extensive most OPs are, and I realize I haven't the time nor patience to make a good one.
Twitter 3DS: 0860 - 3257 - 2516
I'm not sure I want to do the whole OP, but I think opening up the floor for builds people believe should be included in the next OP would be cool.
SpeedFan displays temp info. Not sure how accurate it is, I don't know a lot about monitoring software like that.
However, see if you can replicate the issue. Reboot the computer and take note of the warning/error if you see it.
Battle.net
In particular I wouldn't mind someone writing a quick paragraph about sound cards and/or computer speakers or a quick rundown on all the LCD technologies.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
I'll toss together something about LCDs. What should the price points be for builds? Like, Budget build is 750, midrange is 1500, top-end is 2500?
Battle.net
Mid-Range (bang for your buck) ~$750
High-End $1000
$2500 is a ridiculous amount to spend on a rig these days. You're not really getting anything more than you'd get for $1500.
This is about what I aim for +$100 for a copy of Windows.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
PSN: Beltaine-77 | Steam: beltane77 | Battle.net BadHaggis#1433
I just texted her and complained and she's going to get the XFX. :P
Think I'll keep the Sapphires too and just build 2 SLI setups instead of 2 single-gpu. I mean Crossfire...oops.
PSN: Beltaine-77 | Steam: beltane77 | Battle.net BadHaggis#1433
Let me know if you get the "big cursor" curse.
Shenanigans, sir, I call Shenanigans.
$500 is really $400 (Gogo-gadget Win7), which is only do-able with the barest of the bare. You'd have to run the lowliest AMD dual core you could find, 2GB of (likely DDR2) RAM, and a motherboard that uses cardboard instead of a PCB. It would be difficult to upgrade because of the 350W PSU you'd be using, not to mention the ancient memory standard you'd be rocking.
I submit to you that you would be better off buying a really nice netbook for $500. At least then you'll have integrated wireless.
I don't know that a system that would rock a singleton 5770 can be termed a mid-range system, and I'd have to hold a virgin sacrifice to cram a 5870 into a $1000 budget.
Maybe this is just me, but I feel like a gaming PC running less than a 5770 is barely even a gaming PC. And come on, you can find one for $150. And I feel like the cheaper AMD motherboards are pretty cruddy. I think a solid budget setup (single 5770) could come in at $650. Mid-range (single 5850/crossfire 5770) at $850 to $900. High end...not sure.
Battle.net
Maybe about 1400-1500 USD for a high end, at least for a minimum price? I just went to Newegg and selected an i7-920 (you can overclock the shit out of these things even on stock cooling), 6GB DDR3, a good SLI/Crossfire motherboard, an ATI HD 5870, 750-850 watt quality PSU, a nice case, and no HDD or case fans. That came out to be around 1400 USD. You could toss another 5870 in and that's an extra 400 USD.
Or is that mid-range? Because that's a pretty powerful system that won't have trouble running anything you throw at it. Getting the i7-970 Xtreme Michael Bay processor or something higher than a single 5870 card seems fairly excessive.
I'm actually buying a pre-built, and surprisingly it comes out to be about the same price as that. The Dell Studio XPS 9000 with an i7-920, 6GB DDR3, ATI 5870, 475W PSU, media card reader and a 640GB HDD came out to be 1359 USD. I'm looking at the Alienware Aurora, too, and it has similar specifications but an 875W PSU instead, Asetek CPU liquid cooling, plus other nice touches (SLI/Crossfire support, unlocked BIOS, nicer and cleaner interior design) for about 1559 USD.
OK, I admit that I wasn't counting an OS in those figures. So yeah add $100-$150 to those.
It's understandable why consoles have gotten so popular.
@Improvolone: Win 7 Home Premium should have you covered for a HTPC.
Or did you mean differences in Win 7 from Vista/XP?
PSN: Beltaine-77 | Steam: beltane77 | Battle.net BadHaggis#1433
Steam profile.
Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
I already (possibly, have to work out the legal details) have a copy of Win 7.
It'll be mostly used for gaming - primarily any combination of RTS, RPG and FPS.
Games that I'd like to be able to play with the graphics turned up to 11: Mass Effect 2; Borderlands; Fallout 3; many of the various Half-Life 2 family; The Witcher; very basic future-proofing is also a major consideration.
So: Any things you'd do differently? There is a Combo Deal on the video card for a BioStar mobo, which looks vaguely comparable, but it's lacking the USB 3.0 slots, as well as being a micro-atx.
AVSForum's current thread on the topic lists the following build as the current suggestion:
* CPU: Core i3 530 2.93GHz LGA1156, $113.
* CPU Cooler: Cooler Master 風神鍛 (Geminii S) RR-CCH-PBU1-GP, $35.
* Motherboard: ASRock H55M Pro LGA1156 Intel H55 chipset microATX, $90. If you want USB 3.0, go with GIGABYTE GA-H57M-USB3 LGA1156 Intel H57 chipset microATX, $120, or ASUS P7H55D-M EVO LGA1156 Intel H55 chipset microATX, $125.
* Memory: G.SKILL F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ DDR3-1600 2 x 2GB Kit, $105.
* Graphics Card (ATI): Sapphire HD 5670 512GB GDDR5, $90. An alternative is HIS H567Q512 Radeon HD 5670 GDDR5 512MB, $95.
* Graphics Card (NVIDIA): ASUS ENGT240/DI/512MD5/A GeForce GT 240 GDDR5 512MB, $100.
* HDD: Western Digital WD6400AAKS 640GB SATA 3.0Gbps, $65.
* PSU: Corsair VX450W CMPSU-450VX 450W, $65. An alternative is Enermax ECO80+ 400W EES400AWT, $61.
* Case: Antec Fusion Remote Black microATX, with LCD/IR receiver/remote, $140.
* Total Cost: $703 for ATI, $713 for NVIDIA
$700 seems insanely high (and thats without Win 7), but then again this is from AVSForum. I want to rip DVDs and BluRays, Hulu and Netflix it up, stream Last.fm, etc. The only heavy lifting it'll really need is being able to push HD video and sound with minimal distortion.
You should go with an ATI 5770. If needed, you could downgrade the CPU to a i3 530 or something from AMD to save money.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
Looked into the 5770; well within my price range, and will probably go with this one, as the so-called Vapor-X seems to really help with the cooling.
Any other thoughts?