I recently got an awesome job, and would like to build a new computer. Is it worth it to build a high end ($1000+) at this time, or wait for some big, groundbreaking hardware releases in the next few (2-3) months? I'm very out of date when it comes to computer hardware.
Also, to go along with the new computer, can anyone recommend a pair of good monitors to run dualscreen, replacing my 17" CRT?
I've been out of the PC game for a while, but a few years ago when I wasn't, it was always my opinion that if you wait on the next big thing, you're perpetually waiting, because there's always the next big thing after that around the corner.
I am currently working with a 5+ year old system and I desperately need an upgrade. What do you all think of these components:
GIGABYTE GA-P55M-UD2 LGA 1156 Intel P55 Micro ATX MoBo
Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Power Supply (80 PLUS Certified)
Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz LGA 1156 Quad-Core Processor
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
ATI 4850 vid card, case, DVD burner, monitor, etc. from the old computer.
With 64-bit OEM Home Premium version of Win7, the components come out to just under $600 from Newegg. I will be upgrading the video card and monitor shortly hereafter, I hope. Those 58X0 cards from ATI are friggin' sexy.
I was gonna say your vid card could use a bump, but if you're just looking for a "cheap" temporary card to use until you upgrade to a 58XX card in the near future, well, the 4850 is certainly cheap and certainly powerful enough to use until you decide to upgrade to a 58XX or whatever.
I'm running a 4850 now and it runs everything pretty awesome in my book.
I was gonna say your vid card could use a bump, but if you're just looking for a "cheap" temporary card to use until you upgrade to a 58XX card in the near future, well, the 4850 is certainly cheap and certainly powerful enough to use until you decide to upgrade to a 58XX or whatever.
I'm running a 4850 now and it runs everything pretty awesome in my book.
Yeah, it's a pretty good card. The real problem with my system right now is the processor. It's an ancient AMD Athlon 3000+. Since my monitor is only 1280 x 1024, I figure my 4850 will be just fine for now. The proc/mobo/memory is priority #1.
Well I installed my 5870 and SSD in my machine last night. The drive is amazing. Things launch so much faster now. It’s only a test copy, and I’m still not sure if I would fork over the cash to have one just yet though as the price is so much. I started by playing some Dragon age and it looked allot better than on my 8800 GTS. It looked good before, but I get much more detail with the shadows now it seems. I then went on to try borderlands. I didn’t really notice a difference as I was already able to run it with all the settings on high before with no problems. Then came Crysis…. I put it in and pumped up the settings and started the game. There was quite a bit of slowdown. When I lowered the setting back down so I would get a suitable frame rate I didn’t think it looked much different then my 8800. I am going to do allot more playing around with it tonight. So far it doesn’t feel like that big of an improvement over my 8800. It may be that I haven’t fully tested it out yet or one of my other hardware components is slowing it down. Here are my specs what do you all think? Are my expectations just to high?
Well I installed my 5870 and SSD in my machine last night. The drive is amazing. Things launch so much faster now. It’s only a test copy, and I’m still not sure if I would fork over the cash to have one just yet though as the price is so much. I started by playing some Dragon age and it looked allot better than on my 8800 GTS. It looked good before, but I get much more detail with the shadows now it seems. I then went on to try borderlands. I didn’t really notice a difference as I was already able to run it with all the settings on high before with no problems. Then came Crysis…. I put it in and pumped up the settings and started the game. There was quite a bit of slowdown. When I lowered the setting back down so I would get a suitable frame rate I didn’t think it looked much different then my 8800. I am going to do allot more playing around with it tonight. So far it doesn’t feel like that big of an improvement over my 8800. It may be that I haven’t fully tested it out yet or one of my other hardware components is slowing it down. Here are my specs what do you all think?
I would just wait if I was you. The only reason to upgrade a card is if you want to do something NOW that you cannot with your current gear. Just becuase there are new things, that dosen't mean you need them. Now if you were building a new computer, than DX11 makes a whole bunch of sense. Speaking of, first post from the new computer!
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spookymuffin( ° ʖ ° )Puyallup WA Registered Userregular
I use an Xbox 360 controller. Before that, I used a Playstation controller with a USB adapter. Most PC controllers I've used haven't wowed me, so I tend to stick to controllers made for game systems.
spookymuffin on
PSN: MegaSpooky // 3DS: 3797-6276-7138 Wii U NNID: MegaSpooky
I use an Xbox 360 controller. Before that, I used a Playstation controller with a USB adapter. Most PC controllers I've used haven't wowed me, so I tend to stick to controllers made for game systems.
Seriously, just go this route. The amount of thought that goes into dedicated PC controllers is maybe a tenth of what goes into a console controller.
I use an Xbox 360 controller. Before that, I used a Playstation controller with a USB adapter. Most PC controllers I've used haven't wowed me, so I tend to stick to controllers made for game systems.
Seriously, just go this route. The amount of thought that goes into dedicated PC controllers is maybe a tenth of what goes into a console controller.
Unfortunate answers because I hate the 360 controller, too bulky.
I recently got an awesome job, and would like to build a new computer. Is it worth it to build a high end ($1000+) at this time, or wait for some big, groundbreaking hardware releases in the next few (2-3) months? I'm very out of date when it comes to computer hardware.
Also, to go along with the new computer, can anyone recommend a pair of good monitors to run dualscreen, replacing my 17" CRT?
I've been out of the PC game for a while, but a few years ago when I wasn't, it was always my opinion that if you wait on the next big thing, you're perpetually waiting, because there's always the next big thing after that around the corner.
Oh I certainly understand that, but considering the job is at least 14 hours a day 6-7 days a week I wouldn't have any time to enjoy the new machine until the job is finished anyway, so I was curious as to whether I would be jumping the gun or not.
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spookymuffin( ° ʖ ° )Puyallup WA Registered Userregular
I use an Xbox 360 controller. Before that, I used a Playstation controller with a USB adapter. Most PC controllers I've used haven't wowed me, so I tend to stick to controllers made for game systems.
Seriously, just go this route. The amount of thought that goes into dedicated PC controllers is maybe a tenth of what goes into a console controller.
Unfortunate answers because I hate the 360 controller, too bulky.
So get a PS1 or PS2 controller and a USB adapter.
spookymuffin on
PSN: MegaSpooky // 3DS: 3797-6276-7138 Wii U NNID: MegaSpooky
I use an Xbox 360 controller. Before that, I used a Playstation controller with a USB adapter. Most PC controllers I've used haven't wowed me, so I tend to stick to controllers made for game systems.
Seriously, just go this route. The amount of thought that goes into dedicated PC controllers is maybe a tenth of what goes into a console controller.
Unfortunate answers because I hate the 360 controller, too bulky.
So get a PS1 or PS2 controller and a USB adapter.
Logitech Rumble Pad 2 is a great PS2 knockoff and is well supported and cheap.
I recently got an awesome job, and would like to build a new computer. Is it worth it to build a high end ($1000+) at this time, or wait for some big, groundbreaking hardware releases in the next few (2-3) months? I'm very out of date when it comes to computer hardware.
Also, to go along with the new computer, can anyone recommend a pair of good monitors to run dualscreen, replacing my 17" CRT?
I've been out of the PC game for a while, but a few years ago when I wasn't, it was always my opinion that if you wait on the next big thing, you're perpetually waiting, because there's always the next big thing after that around the corner.
Oh I certainly understand that, but considering the job is at least 14 hours a day 6-7 days a week I wouldn't have any time to enjoy the new machine until the job is finished anyway, so I was curious as to whether I would be jumping the gun or not.
If you aren't going to use it, wait. Computers will get faster and cheaper the longer you wait. The big things that are coming are USB 3, sata 6Gb, and the new type of sli. USB 3 will be nice, buts it's still about 2-3 away from replacing USB 2 for ubiquity. The new sata really only matters for ssds ATM. While the hydra chip is awesome, it is also useless if you aren't using multiple video cards (which you shouldn't). So yeah, just buy whenever you are ready/parts are available.
I recently got an awesome job, and would like to build a new computer. Is it worth it to build a high end ($1000+) at this time, or wait for some big, groundbreaking hardware releases in the next few (2-3) months? I'm very out of date when it comes to computer hardware.
Also, to go along with the new computer, can anyone recommend a pair of good monitors to run dualscreen, replacing my 17" CRT?
I've been out of the PC game for a while, but a few years ago when I wasn't, it was always my opinion that if you wait on the next big thing, you're perpetually waiting, because there's always the next big thing after that around the corner.
Oh I certainly understand that, but considering the job is at least 14 hours a day 6-7 days a week I wouldn't have any time to enjoy the new machine until the job is finished anyway, so I was curious as to whether I would be jumping the gun or not.
If you aren't going to use it, wait. Computers will get faster and cheaper the longer you wait. The big things that are coming are USB 3, sata 6Gb, and the new type of sli. USB 3 will be nice, buts it's still about 2-3 away from replacing USB 2 for ubiquity. The new sata really only matters for ssds ATM. While the hydra chip is awesome, it is also useless if you aren't using multiple video cards (which you shouldn't). So yeah, just buy whenever you are ready/parts are available.
Boards are already shipping with USB 3.0 and sata 6gb, check asus and gigabyte. And even conventional hard drives will see a bonus from sata 6gb, usb 3.0 is kinda bleh though.
The lucid hydra is not a new type of SLI. It's release is questionable as nvidia is dead set on killing it and the only board that was going to use it that has been seen (MSI Big Bang) has now been delayed like crazy and the current version was released with that horrid nforce 200 chip that only acts as a PCIE switch and hardware SLI lock. MultiGpu is good if you have a monitor that needs it. If you plan on running 1080p up on newer games with lots of AA/AF it can make a big difference.
That was a letdown in several ways. We never really expected that much out of SATA 6Gb/s technology as our two hard drive samples are just now pushing the boundaries of SATA 1.5Gb/s. Only when we utilized a fast SSD as the source drive to copy files to the Seagate Barracuda XT did we see an advantage in the burst rates available on it and the Marvell 9123 chipset. Even then, the advantage was fleeting as the sustained transfer rates equalized quickly between the two controllers. This test is just the opposite of what a typical user would perform anyway as most would utilize the hard drive for storage purposes and not the SSD.
Even more disturbing was the performance disparity between the Seagate Barracuda XT 2TB and the Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB drive in our limited benchmark test suite. We expected more from the Seagate drive based on its specifications, not the 6Gb/s abilities but platter design and cache setups. Hopefully Seagate can improve performance with firmware changes, if not; the battle is already lost regardless of controller technology.
We just do not see SATA 6Gb/s technology offering any real benefits for spindle-based hard drives on the desktop at this time. Rotational speeds are being kept in check at 7,200rpm with all the performance improvements coming from increased areal densities and cache. We expect SATA 6Gb/s to really come into its own with solid state drives. This will not occur quickly but we expect to see recognizable benefits with controller designs about two generations ahead of where we are currently. By that time, both AMD and Intel will have native 6Gb/s capabilities on their controller hubs.
In the meantime, we see the current implementations of 6Gb/s technology on motherboards as being a marketing checklist feature for the most part. However, since the Marvell 9123 chipset can fall back to SATA 3Gb/s or 1.5Gb/s operational mode it does offer additional SATA ports on the motherboard with performance that is fine for secondary storage devices.
From Anandtech:
The benefits for normal platter drives appear pretty minimal. Regular spindles just don't push enough data for it to be a big issue.
Gah, the random number vomit of video card numbers is making my head hurt. So I'll ask here. Which of these 1 GB cards will give me the best performance for the least money?
As said before the 5770 has pretty much the same performance as the 4870 but has DX11 and uses less power. The 5750 is a step down and last time I checked was selling for too much on newegg. When 512Mb versions of it are on sale for $109 then it wil lbe easier to recommend.
lowlylowlycook on
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
Groovy. I'm doing research on Ars Technica and confusing myself.
cloudeagle on
Switch: 3947-4890-9293
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-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
edited November 2009
Alright, so I have a question about CPU's, since I got out of the whole PC thing before dual core became prevalent. My PC is probably going to have an intel i5 750 in it, which I understand is a 2.66ghz quad core CPU. When I look at system requirements for games, and they say they recommend a 2.5ghz CPU, I realise that it's obviously above that. But where do the 4 cores come in? Is it technically working like a single core CPU at 2.66ghz with better architecture?
Gah, the random number vomit of video card numbers is making my head hurt. So I'll ask here. Which of these 1 GB cards will give me the best performance for the least money?
Radeon 4870
Radeon 5750
Radeon 5770
I agree with lowlylowlycook. Get the 5770 since it is DX11 and on par with or better than the 4870 in every way and is only about $10-20 more.
Alright, so I have a question about CPU's, since I got out of the whole PC thing before dual core became prevalent. My PC is probably going to have an intel i5 750 in it, which I understand is a 2.66ghz quad core CPU. When I look at system requirements for games, and they say they recommend a 2.5ghz CPU, I realise that it's obviously above that. But where do the 4 cores come in? Is it technically working like a single core CPU at 2.66ghz with better architecture?
Heh, well there are a couple things:
The i5/i7 architecture is very efficient so it's a lot faster than a Pentium IV or Athlon I at the same clock rate.
Most games make use of at most 2 cores.
But the i5 is smart enough to "overclock" itself if it's only using a few cores and thus not generating as much heat.
In the end, if you buy a i5 750 you won't have to worry about CPU system requirements/recommendations for a good long time.
lowlylowlycook on
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
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-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
Alright, so I have a question about CPU's, since I got out of the whole PC thing before dual core became prevalent. My PC is probably going to have an intel i5 750 in it, which I understand is a 2.66ghz quad core CPU. When I look at system requirements for games, and they say they recommend a 2.5ghz CPU, I realise that it's obviously above that. But where do the 4 cores come in? Is it technically working like a single core CPU at 2.66ghz with better architecture?
Heh, well there are a couple things:
The i5/i7 architecture is very efficient so it's a lot faster than a Pentium IV or Athlon I at the same clock rate.
Most games make use of at most 2 cores.
But the i5 is smart enough to "overclock" itself if it's only using a few cores and thus not generating as much heat.
In the end, if you buy a i5 750 you won't have to worry about CPU system requirements/recommendations for a good long time.
Awesome. I thought I was going to need to do a Gabe style 'bottom line it for me' but that answered my concern. But I'm still not sure how exactly it works - are they all contributing to the total 2.6ghz speed?
Alright, so I have a question about CPU's, since I got out of the whole PC thing before dual core became prevalent. My PC is probably going to have an intel i5 750 in it, which I understand is a 2.66ghz quad core CPU. When I look at system requirements for games, and they say they recommend a 2.5ghz CPU, I realise that it's obviously above that. But where do the 4 cores come in? Is it technically working like a single core CPU at 2.66ghz with better architecture?
Heh, well there are a couple things:
The i5/i7 architecture is very efficient so it's a lot faster than a Pentium IV or Athlon I at the same clock rate.
Most games make use of at most 2 cores.
But the i5 is smart enough to "overclock" itself if it's only using a few cores and thus not generating as much heat.
In the end, if you buy a i5 750 you won't have to worry about CPU system requirements/recommendations for a good long time.
Awesome. I thought I was going to need to do a Gabe style 'bottom line it for me' but that answered my concern. But I'm still not sure how exactly it works - are they all contributing to the total 2.6ghz speed?
No, the clock rate is for all cores, so each of them runs at 2.66GHz. Clock rate is not additive. You can't have 2 1GHz cores on a chip and say that the chip runs at 2Ghz. You will only see benefits from 4 cores over 2 cores if a program can split it's execution over all 4 cores. (An over-simplification, but I'm trying to keep this easy to understand.)
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-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
Alright, so I have a question about CPU's, since I got out of the whole PC thing before dual core became prevalent. My PC is probably going to have an intel i5 750 in it, which I understand is a 2.66ghz quad core CPU. When I look at system requirements for games, and they say they recommend a 2.5ghz CPU, I realise that it's obviously above that. But where do the 4 cores come in? Is it technically working like a single core CPU at 2.66ghz with better architecture?
Heh, well there are a couple things:
The i5/i7 architecture is very efficient so it's a lot faster than a Pentium IV or Athlon I at the same clock rate.
Most games make use of at most 2 cores.
But the i5 is smart enough to "overclock" itself if it's only using a few cores and thus not generating as much heat.
In the end, if you buy a i5 750 you won't have to worry about CPU system requirements/recommendations for a good long time.
Awesome. I thought I was going to need to do a Gabe style 'bottom line it for me' but that answered my concern. But I'm still not sure how exactly it works - are they all contributing to the total 2.6ghz speed?
No, the clock rate is for all cores, so each of them runs at 2.66GHz. Clock rate is not additive. You can't have 2 1GHz cores on a chip and say that the chip runs at 2Ghz. You will only see benefits from 4 cores over 2 cores if a program can split it's execution over all 4 cores. (An over-simplification, but I'm trying to keep this easy to understand.)
You guys are awesome. Thanks, now I'm feeling pretty comfortable with my PC's price tag.
Here is an addition to my list of things that suck:
Zipzoomfly deciding to send you an e-mail claiming the 5850 was somehow a pre-order and they don't know when they will have them.
Fuuuuuuuuuck!
lowlylowlycook on
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
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-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
edited November 2009
I asked this in my other thread, but you guys all seem to congregate here - my PC that I'm putting together is currently going to have a Thermaltake ToughPower 750W power supply. I recall thermaltake being decent back when I was into PC's, are they still any good? I don't want a PSU that's going to do more harm than good in the long run.
So I need a new computer. My laptop is just about done doing anything other than letting me look at the internet.
This is the right thread to get people to tell me what to spend my money on, right?
* What is your total budget?
I'll spend up to $1,000 on it. That doesn't include the monitor/keyboard/etc. (but it would be nice if they fit in that budget)
* What has to be included in that budget? Just an upgrade, just the computer itself or a computer with monitor, mouse and keyboard? Do you have parts from your old computer that you can use?
Most of this I answered in the last one. And no, I don't have any old parts to use.
* Is this computer just for gaming and casual computer use or do you have other computationally intensive tasks in mind?
Gaming mostly, the only other stuff I'd need on it are things like photoshop and such.
* What resolution to you plan on gaming at?
I don't know! Gosh.
* Do you feel the need for cutting edge performance in the most demanding games (*cough* Crysis) or is good performance in most games and "good enough" performance in the most demanding games? Any particular games or upcoming games you care about?
Well this might sound dumb, but I've never been able to run WoW at max settings. Well, anything past the minimum really, or the whole thing just freezes up. I also want to run upcoming/future games at max settings, but nothing like Crysis. That's just ridiculous.
* Are you biased towards either ATI/NVidia or Intel/AMD?
Nope.
* How long do you want this computer to last?
Forever, so if there's any parts made of granite, that would be sweet.
* How important is being able to upgrade your computer at a later time?
I'm assuming that there isn't a way to make computers out of granite, so I'd like to be able to upgrade things as they become outdated/obsolete/whatever.
Also, I don't know anything about computers, other than how to use them. So I wont understand any technical crap about the hardware. Just a warning.
OH, and I need lots of USB ports. My mouse, gamepad, scanner, headset, etc. etc., all use USB. (do they even make them with the big giant plugs anymore?)
PierceNeck on
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-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
edited November 2009
Further tweaking my PC from this store, I think I'm going with a 600w coolermaster, since I can get it bundled in the package with a Gigabyte GZ-X7 case for less than the Thermaltake PSU without a case. Should 600w be plenty for a modern system?
Further tweaking my PC from this store, I think I'm going with a 600w coolermaster, since I can get it bundled in the package with a Gigabyte GZ-X7 case for less than the Thermaltake PSU without a case. Should 600w be plenty for a modern system?
Unless you are running a bunch of velocaraptors and multiple gpus that should be plenty.
Further tweaking my PC from this store, I think I'm going with a 600w coolermaster, since I can get it bundled in the package with a Gigabyte GZ-X7 case for less than the Thermaltake PSU without a case. Should 600w be plenty for a modern system?
That should be plenty of power, especially if you are only running a Core i5 750 and a single video card. For PSUs, look for the 80 PLUS certification which certifies that the PSU performs at > 80% efficiency.
Perfectly Cromulent on
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-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
Further tweaking my PC from this store, I think I'm going with a 600w coolermaster, since I can get it bundled in the package with a Gigabyte GZ-X7 case for less than the Thermaltake PSU without a case. Should 600w be plenty for a modern system?
That should be plenty of power, especially if you are only running a Core i5 750 and a single video card. For PSUs, look for the 80 PLUS certification which certifies that the PSU performs at > 80% efficiency.
Quick google check says it's 80+ certified, so cool.
Further tweaking my PC from this store, I think I'm going with a 600w coolermaster, since I can get it bundled in the package with a Gigabyte GZ-X7 case for less than the Thermaltake PSU without a case. Should 600w be plenty for a modern system?
Unless you are running a bunch of velocaraptors and multiple gpus that should be plenty.
Gah, the random number vomit of video card numbers is making my head hurt. So I'll ask here. Which of these 1 GB cards will give me the best performance for the least money?
Radeon 4870
Radeon 5750
Radeon 5770
I agree with lowlylowlycook. Get the 5770 since it is DX11 and on par with or better than the 4870 in every way and is only about $10-20 more.
Anandtech has the 5770 benching a bit lower (between 5 and 15 fps less) than the 4870 actually, which holds true even in Battleforge, a DX11 game. http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3658 To me, that's pretty significant if you have a modern HD monitor and would want to run games at the kinds of resolutions anandtech tests at. Seeing as the 5770 costs ~$20 more than the 4870, I find it hard to recommend.
For my build I really would have liked to break the bank and get a 5850, but they are hard to get right now, and I found a 4890 for $190, which has performance extremely similar to the $260 5850 sans DX 11. I figured that was the way to go. If DX11 becomes a big deal, I can always upgrade.
Edit: of course ananadtech's benchmarks are typically done with antialiasing on, which is not necessarily a huge deal on a modern LCD screen.
Everything else I'm ordering for my desktop says "Retail", so I was wondering-
Would this and this come with a SATA cable and everything I'd need to mount/connect it to the the motherboard, etc...? The HDD is labeled a "bare drive" and the DVD burner is OEM.
And while I'm on it, if I order something "retail" from newegg, could I assume it would come with all the necessary items to connect it/ hook it up?
I'm afraid I'll order all the components and then find out I need to wait another week for this one little cable.
Posts
I've been out of the PC game for a while, but a few years ago when I wasn't, it was always my opinion that if you wait on the next big thing, you're perpetually waiting, because there's always the next big thing after that around the corner.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
GIGABYTE GA-P55M-UD2 LGA 1156 Intel P55 Micro ATX MoBo
Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Power Supply (80 PLUS Certified)
Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz LGA 1156 Quad-Core Processor
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
ATI 4850 vid card, case, DVD burner, monitor, etc. from the old computer.
With 64-bit OEM Home Premium version of Win7, the components come out to just under $600 from Newegg. I will be upgrading the video card and monitor shortly hereafter, I hope. Those 58X0 cards from ATI are friggin' sexy.
I'm running a 4850 now and it runs everything pretty awesome in my book.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
Yeah, it's a pretty good card. The real problem with my system right now is the processor. It's an ancient AMD Athlon 3000+.
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
Q6600 G0
Gigabyte P35-DS3R
4GB OCZ Platinum RAM DDR2 800
HIS 5870
XION Supernova
Intel X25-M 160GB
Thermaltake Mozart Tx
I would just wait if I was you. The only reason to upgrade a card is if you want to do something NOW that you cannot with your current gear. Just becuase there are new things, that dosen't mean you need them.
I use an Xbox 360 controller. Before that, I used a Playstation controller with a USB adapter. Most PC controllers I've used haven't wowed me, so I tend to stick to controllers made for game systems.
Wii U NNID: MegaSpooky
Seriously, just go this route. The amount of thought that goes into dedicated PC controllers is maybe a tenth of what goes into a console controller.
Unfortunate answers because I hate the 360 controller, too bulky.
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16534
Oh I certainly understand that, but considering the job is at least 14 hours a day 6-7 days a week I wouldn't have any time to enjoy the new machine until the job is finished anyway, so I was curious as to whether I would be jumping the gun or not.
So get a PS1 or PS2 controller and a USB adapter.
Wii U NNID: MegaSpooky
Logitech Rumble Pad 2 is a great PS2 knockoff and is well supported and cheap.
If you aren't going to use it, wait. Computers will get faster and cheaper the longer you wait. The big things that are coming are USB 3, sata 6Gb, and the new type of sli. USB 3 will be nice, buts it's still about 2-3 away from replacing USB 2 for ubiquity. The new sata really only matters for ssds ATM. While the hydra chip is awesome, it is also useless if you aren't using multiple video cards (which you shouldn't). So yeah, just buy whenever you are ready/parts are available.
Boards are already shipping with USB 3.0 and sata 6gb, check asus and gigabyte. And even conventional hard drives will see a bonus from sata 6gb, usb 3.0 is kinda bleh though.
The lucid hydra is not a new type of SLI. It's release is questionable as nvidia is dead set on killing it and the only board that was going to use it that has been seen (MSI Big Bang) has now been delayed like crazy and the current version was released with that horrid nforce 200 chip that only acts as a PCIE switch and hardware SLI lock. MultiGpu is good if you have a monitor that needs it. If you plan on running 1080p up on newer games with lots of AA/AF it can make a big difference.
From Anandtech:
The benefits for normal platter drives appear pretty minimal. Regular spindles just don't push enough data for it to be a big issue.
Radeon 4870
Radeon 5750
Radeon 5770
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
I agree with lowlylowlycook. Get the 5770 since it is DX11 and on par with or better than the 4870 in every way and is only about $10-20 more.
Heh, well there are a couple things:
The i5/i7 architecture is very efficient so it's a lot faster than a Pentium IV or Athlon I at the same clock rate.
Most games make use of at most 2 cores.
But the i5 is smart enough to "overclock" itself if it's only using a few cores and thus not generating as much heat.
In the end, if you buy a i5 750 you won't have to worry about CPU system requirements/recommendations for a good long time.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
Awesome. I thought I was going to need to do a Gabe style 'bottom line it for me' but that answered my concern. But I'm still not sure how exactly it works - are they all contributing to the total 2.6ghz speed?
No, the clock rate is for all cores, so each of them runs at 2.66GHz. Clock rate is not additive. You can't have 2 1GHz cores on a chip and say that the chip runs at 2Ghz. You will only see benefits from 4 cores over 2 cores if a program can split it's execution over all 4 cores. (An over-simplification, but I'm trying to keep this easy to understand.)
You guys are awesome. Thanks, now I'm feeling pretty comfortable with my PC's price tag.
Zipzoomfly deciding to send you an e-mail claiming the 5850 was somehow a pre-order and they don't know when they will have them.
Fuuuuuuuuuck!
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
This is the right thread to get people to tell me what to spend my money on, right?
* What is your total budget?
I'll spend up to $1,000 on it. That doesn't include the monitor/keyboard/etc. (but it would be nice if they fit in that budget)
* What has to be included in that budget? Just an upgrade, just the computer itself or a computer with monitor, mouse and keyboard? Do you have parts from your old computer that you can use?
Most of this I answered in the last one. And no, I don't have any old parts to use.
* Is this computer just for gaming and casual computer use or do you have other computationally intensive tasks in mind?
Gaming mostly, the only other stuff I'd need on it are things like photoshop and such.
* What resolution to you plan on gaming at?
I don't know! Gosh.
* Do you feel the need for cutting edge performance in the most demanding games (*cough* Crysis) or is good performance in most games and "good enough" performance in the most demanding games? Any particular games or upcoming games you care about?
Well this might sound dumb, but I've never been able to run WoW at max settings. Well, anything past the minimum really, or the whole thing just freezes up. I also want to run upcoming/future games at max settings, but nothing like Crysis. That's just ridiculous.
* Are you biased towards either ATI/NVidia or Intel/AMD?
Nope.
* How long do you want this computer to last?
Forever, so if there's any parts made of granite, that would be sweet.
* How important is being able to upgrade your computer at a later time?
I'm assuming that there isn't a way to make computers out of granite, so I'd like to be able to upgrade things as they become outdated/obsolete/whatever.
Also, I don't know anything about computers, other than how to use them. So I wont understand any technical crap about the hardware. Just a warning.
OH, and I need lots of USB ports. My mouse, gamepad, scanner, headset, etc. etc., all use USB. (do they even make them with the big giant plugs anymore?)
Unless you are running a bunch of velocaraptors and multiple gpus that should be plenty.
Super lame. Time to start stalking Newegg:x
Are you OK with building your own computer or know someone that can help you do it?
If so here is a place to start (I'm in a cheapo mood today)
Antec VSK-2000 Black ATX Mid Tower Computer Case + Antec Basiq BP430 430W PSU combo
SAPPHIRE 100283L Radeon HD 5770 (Juniper XT) 1GB video card + Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders combo
AMD Phenom II X2 545 Callisto 3.0GHz Socket AM3 80W Dual-Core Processor+ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard combo
4 GB DDR3 RAM
ASUS VH222H Black 21.5" 5ms HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS 500GB HD
DVD drive
Total $829 - $40 in MiR = $789
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
That should be plenty of power, especially if you are only running a Core i5 750 and a single video card. For PSUs, look for the 80 PLUS certification which certifies that the PSU performs at > 80% efficiency.
Quick google check says it's 80+ certified, so cool.
I got the most awesome mental image from that.
Also I will own not just one 5850 but all of them. Bahahahahahah.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
Anandtech has the 5770 benching a bit lower (between 5 and 15 fps less) than the 4870 actually, which holds true even in Battleforge, a DX11 game. http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3658 To me, that's pretty significant if you have a modern HD monitor and would want to run games at the kinds of resolutions anandtech tests at. Seeing as the 5770 costs ~$20 more than the 4870, I find it hard to recommend.
For my build I really would have liked to break the bank and get a 5850, but they are hard to get right now, and I found a 4890 for $190, which has performance extremely similar to the $260 5850 sans DX 11. I figured that was the way to go. If DX11 becomes a big deal, I can always upgrade.
Edit: of course ananadtech's benchmarks are typically done with antialiasing on, which is not necessarily a huge deal on a modern LCD screen.
Also, thanks!
Would this and this come with a SATA cable and everything I'd need to mount/connect it to the the motherboard, etc...? The HDD is labeled a "bare drive" and the DVD burner is OEM.
And while I'm on it, if I order something "retail" from newegg, could I assume it would come with all the necessary items to connect it/ hook it up?
I'm afraid I'll order all the components and then find out I need to wait another week for this one little cable.