Man, you guys are making me sentimental. I too remember when AMD was fo' rizzle (if you will).
I remember building my 6x86 machine. With OS/2.
Oh yea.
I'm building a new computer soonish. Going to have to post a shopping list in here and get expert opinions, but it seems like the i5 3570 is the way to go?
@a5ehren Yes, they're XP and I'm pretty sure all but two don't even have SP2 on them. That said, the computers that have customer information are not connected to the internet (as far as I know), so there isn't much of a cyber security risk there. I kind of wish we'd just buy a bunch of W8 licenses while they're still $39 so we'd have them when and if we ever get new computers.
If I had my way we'd all be running on a mix of i5's and i7's with SSD's, a terabyte of storage, at least 8gb of ram, 24"-30" IPS displays, and have a central server so our two locations could easily share information between each other. I'd overbuild as much as I could within reason because we'd probably keep these computers for 10 years or so
Man, you guys are making me sentimental. I too remember when AMD was fo' rizzle (if you will).
I remember building my 6x86 machine. With OS/2.
Oh yea.
I'm building a new computer soonish. Going to have to post a shopping list in here and get expert opinions, but it seems like the i5 3570 is the way to go?
Depends on your needs, but if you're looking to over clock then it's the best option around.
Man, you guys are making me sentimental. I too remember when AMD was fo' rizzle (if you will).
I remember building my 6x86 machine. With OS/2.
Oh yea.
I'm building a new computer soonish. Going to have to post a shopping list in here and get expert opinions, but it seems like the i5 3570 is the way to go?
Depends on your needs, but if you're looking to over clock then it's the best option around.
I'll never overclock, just looking for the best bang for my buck. It sounded like the i5 was the best just all around for folks, but I haven't built a computer in a few years.
Man, you guys are making me sentimental. I too remember when AMD was fo' rizzle (if you will).
I remember building my 6x86 machine. With OS/2.
Oh yea.
I'm building a new computer soonish. Going to have to post a shopping list in here and get expert opinions, but it seems like the i5 3570 is the way to go?
Depends on your needs, but if you're looking to over clock then it's the best option around.
I'll never overclock, just looking for the best bang for my buck. It sounded like the i5 was the best just all around for folks, but I haven't built a computer in a few years.
If you want 4 cores, an i5 is the best chip for it. The 3570 isn't necessarily the best buy, though. You can save a bit going for a lower end i5, and you'd probably never notice unless you do really compute-intensive tasks. In general, even the i3s are perfectly solid for most gaming and general usage stuff. What exactly you want really depends on how much you plan to spend, and what your usage is like.
The difference between a 3570k and a normal 3570 is $15 normally, and NewEgg has a $10 gift card on it atm (though it'd be a NewEgg gift card iirc). The difference now is $5.00. In the event that you ever do decide to overclock (and there's really no reason not to), $5.00 isn't an amazingly high price to pay for it. I don't know how tight your budget is, but it can't possibly be that tight.
i think if you aren't looking to OC it makes more sense to drop down from the 3570 to one of the cheap i5s, because yeah the k just doesn't cost enough more than the normal 3570 to not go for it
Rethinking the mobo though. Got the Asus P8Z77-V Pro planned right now but not sure if paying the extra 50 quid over the regular P8Z77 or the similar priced (£80-£100) ASRock or Gigabyte.
Gonna be overclocking the CPU a bit but nothing more than that. Will be running a 670 and might SLI in a year or so but not now. Is it worth it or should I just grab a cheaper alternative?
Came in pretty much flawless, delivered to my doorstep 3 days after placing the order. So far, it's absolutely fantastic. The only issue is that the stand is a little bit wobbly, so i'm thinking of picking up a VESA stand for it pretty soon.
Took about 2 hours all in all, including cable management, and the rest of the day will be spent overclocking the processor and the graphics card. Fingers crossed that I don't set anything on fire.
3DS FC: 3067-6095-3603
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Donovan PuppyfuckerA dagger in the dark isworth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered Userregular
It looks like you did a pretty snazzy job with the cables there, well done.
If you want to piss off those HDD cages for vastly improved airflow (and slightly reduced noise) from your front two intake fans, you can just velcro your SSD into the bottom 5.25 drive bay, and get a 5.25-3.5 adapter to put the platter drive in the slot above the SSD.
This totals out to about $910 atm, and I really don't want go much higher. (I still have to tack on a monitor since my current machine's a laptop) If there's anything I can do to improve performance beyond this without spending too much, please tell me.
I'm not sold on the utility of an SSD, but I can always slot one in later if I want to.
I'm mainly concerned about whether I've checked every possible compatibility issue - it looked like there were a couple different arrangements for power pins on motherboards, so I think I got that fine, the CPU socket is matching... anything else? (First build - I've worked inside my computers before, but never put one together from parts, just upgrading and such)
I don't need to cut costs, per se - I just don't want the price to go up much. My concerns are, in order: 1) That I haven't made some mistake with part compatibility and 2) That there isn't something I'm missing that would give a noticeable boost for only a little more.
That said, I found the same case in black at Microcenter for $20 less, so some money saved.
I'm now starting to get paranoid about the case size being large enough. Any rule of thumb for that? I may go with this instead, since its slightly larger.
Your biggest concern with smaller cases are: Will it fit my motherboard? (The R4 does as it supports micro ATX, ATX, and ITX), Will it fit my GPU? (You're fine here, also. With the drive cages in place, the R4 can accomidate 290mms, or 11.4 inches. The 660Ti is only 9.5) Does it have the number of expansion slots I need? (You aren't turning it into a NAS, so you're more than covered here.)
ShadowfireVermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered Userregular
The OS mention got me thinking... I have a couple Win 7 licenses already (one for this computer, one for my wife's), but I'll need one for the new computer. This old system I'm planning on putting in the living room as a streaming box/big picture gaming machine. For a TV since it's farther away, would the Win8 desktop be kind of helpful?
The R3/R4 are pretty massive mid towers, pretty long and wide. President build it was concerned about stuff fitting, but during the building I was worried about cables reaching.
The OS mention got me thinking... I have a couple Win 7 licenses already (one for this computer, one for my wife's), but I'll need one for the new computer. This old system I'm planning on putting in the living room as a streaming box/big picture gaming machine. For a TV since it's farther away, would the Win8 desktop be kind of helpful?
Windows 8 has been wonderful on a HTPC. I can make my most commonly used programs or shortcuts to networked folders tiles on the home screen for easy access. It also boots in about 15 seconds, so by the time my Harmony has turned everything on to the right inputs I'm already at the home screen.
The R3/R4 are pretty massive mid towers, pretty long and wide. President build it was concerned about stuff fitting, but during the building I was worried about cables reaching.
President build? Can't parse that one.
How much reach issue - can't reach connector at all, or just can't push it behind the board?
The R3/R4 are pretty massive mid towers, pretty long and wide. President build it was concerned about stuff fitting, but during the building I was worried about cables reaching.
President build? Can't parse that one.
How much reach issue - can't reach connector at all, or just can't push it behind the board?
Yeah, that should be pre-build, stupid auto-correct.
I was able to get everything connected, but the case is big enough/my cables were too short to route cables as I would have liked (but its still routed pretty well).
The OS mention got me thinking... I have a couple Win 7 licenses already (one for this computer, one for my wife's), but I'll need one for the new computer. This old system I'm planning on putting in the living room as a streaming box/big picture gaming machine. For a TV since it's farther away, would the Win8 desktop be kind of helpful?
Windows 8 has been wonderful on a HTPC. I can make my most commonly used programs or shortcuts to networked folders tiles on the home screen for easy access. It also boots in about 15 seconds, so by the time my Harmony has turned everything on to the right inputs I'm already at the home screen.
Out of curiosity, does the Home Screen accept any kind of remote control input? Because that would be awesome, if it did. I might be able to get knock together an HTPC my parents can use if that's the case.
The OS mention got me thinking... I have a couple Win 7 licenses already (one for this computer, one for my wife's), but I'll need one for the new computer. This old system I'm planning on putting in the living room as a streaming box/big picture gaming machine. For a TV since it's farther away, would the Win8 desktop be kind of helpful?
Windows 8 has been wonderful on a HTPC. I can make my most commonly used programs or shortcuts to networked folders tiles on the home screen for easy access. It also boots in about 15 seconds, so by the time my Harmony has turned everything on to the right inputs I'm already at the home screen.
Out of curiosity, does the Home Screen accept any kind of remote control input? Because that would be awesome, if it did. I might be able to get knock together an HTPC my parents can use if that's the case.
Perhaps a Bluetooth receiver could be used with a PS3 remote and some pre-programmed macros?
The R3/R4 are pretty massive mid towers, pretty long and wide. President build it was concerned about stuff fitting, but during the building I was worried about cables reaching.
It's annoying that 8-pin CPU power extensions are an obscure enough product that not even my local TigerDirect/CompUSA has them. They did have 3-pin fan extensions, though, which was nice.
Btw, if I wanted to slap a second 120mm fan on my Hyper212 for a push-pull, how would I go about tying them both to a single CPU fan header? Is there some kind of Y-splitter for that sorta thing? I just want them both to register as a single CPU fan.
Do pantyhose actually work well as a dust filter? And will I be fine tearing them up and taping the mover my P280's existing front fan filter? The one on the P280 is really kind of a plastic mesh seemingly to catch larger particles; the dust in my room and house is mostly a very fine white soot, almost.
It looks like you did a pretty snazzy job with the cables there, well done.
If you want to piss off those HDD cages for vastly improved airflow (and slightly reduced noise) from your front two intake fans, you can just velcro your SSD into the bottom 5.25 drive bay, and get a 5.25-3.5 adapter to put the platter drive in the slot above the SSD.
Good news on the monitor, too!
Thanks! I'm tempted to rip out the cages soon, but working on getting stable overclocks first. Super annoying issues happening that I can't resolve on first look. Time to read more and figure out whats up, I guess.
The OS mention got me thinking... I have a couple Win 7 licenses already (one for this computer, one for my wife's), but I'll need one for the new computer. This old system I'm planning on putting in the living room as a streaming box/big picture gaming machine. For a TV since it's farther away, would the Win8 desktop be kind of helpful?
Windows 8 has been wonderful on a HTPC. I can make my most commonly used programs or shortcuts to networked folders tiles on the home screen for easy access. It also boots in about 15 seconds, so by the time my Harmony has turned everything on to the right inputs I'm already at the home screen.
Out of curiosity, does the Home Screen accept any kind of remote control input? Because that would be awesome, if it did. I might be able to get knock together an HTPC my parents can use if that's the case.
I'm going to assume there is someway to, but I use a Levnovo N5902 mini keyboard/mouse to control the PC. I would like something more 'remote like' for controlling XBMC but the N5902 has been fine.
The R3/R4 are pretty massive mid towers, pretty long and wide. President build it was concerned about stuff fitting, but during the building I was worried about cables reaching.
It's annoying that 8-pin CPU power extensions are an obscure enough product that not even my local TigerDirect/CompUSA has them. They did have 3-pin fan extensions, though, which was nice.
Btw, if I wanted to slap a second 120mm fan on my Hyper212 for a push-pull, how would I go about tying them both to a single CPU fan header? Is there some kind of Y-splitter for that sorta thing? I just want them both to register as a single CPU fan.
The OS mention got me thinking... I have a couple Win 7 licenses already (one for this computer, one for my wife's), but I'll need one for the new computer. This old system I'm planning on putting in the living room as a streaming box/big picture gaming machine. For a TV since it's farther away, would the Win8 desktop be kind of helpful?
Windows 8 has been wonderful on a HTPC. I can make my most commonly used programs or shortcuts to networked folders tiles on the home screen for easy access. It also boots in about 15 seconds, so by the time my Harmony has turned everything on to the right inputs I'm already at the home screen.
Out of curiosity, does the Home Screen accept any kind of remote control input? Because that would be awesome, if it did. I might be able to get knock together an HTPC my parents can use if that's the case.
I'm going to assume there is someway to, but I use a Levnovo N5902 mini keyboard/mouse to control the PC. I would like something more 'remote like' for controlling XBMC but the N5902 has been fine.
You can fully navigate the start screen with a keyboard, so I'm assuming a media center compatible remote should be able to be mapped to all the basic functions. I haven't upgraded my HTPC to Win8 yet to test, though.
7870s fall right around that price point. You may be able to get a 660ti down there on rebate and sale, or if you don't mind an older card you could go with a 570.
660ti if you can get one that cheap or a 7870 have my vote
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I remember building my 6x86 machine. With OS/2.
Oh yea.
I'm building a new computer soonish. Going to have to post a shopping list in here and get expert opinions, but it seems like the i5 3570 is the way to go?
If I had my way we'd all be running on a mix of i5's and i7's with SSD's, a terabyte of storage, at least 8gb of ram, 24"-30" IPS displays, and have a central server so our two locations could easily share information between each other. I'd overbuild as much as I could within reason because we'd probably keep these computers for 10 years or so
Depends on your needs, but if you're looking to over clock then it's the best option around.
Battle.net
Want to see scary?
This here's some crazy.
--Mark Twain
Cray Cray
I'll never overclock, just looking for the best bang for my buck. It sounded like the i5 was the best just all around for folks, but I haven't built a computer in a few years.
If you want 4 cores, an i5 is the best chip for it. The 3570 isn't necessarily the best buy, though. You can save a bit going for a lower end i5, and you'd probably never notice unless you do really compute-intensive tasks. In general, even the i3s are perfectly solid for most gaming and general usage stuff. What exactly you want really depends on how much you plan to spend, and what your usage is like.
Battle.net
Rethinking the mobo though. Got the Asus P8Z77-V Pro planned right now but not sure if paying the extra 50 quid over the regular P8Z77 or the similar priced (£80-£100) ASRock or Gigabyte.
Gonna be overclocking the CPU a bit but nothing more than that. Will be running a 670 and might SLI in a year or so but not now. Is it worth it or should I just grab a cheaper alternative?
Got my RMA'd RAM sorted, and have pics to share.
Good stuff:
So that was my best attempt at cable management, hopefully I shouldn't need to touch it until I have to.
Hardware:
Gigabyte Z77X UD3H
Gigabyte GF GTX670
Samsung Spinpoint 1TB
Crucial M4 256GB
CM Storm Enforcer
Corsair Vengeance 8GB
Hyper 212EVO
Seasonic M12ii 620 Watt
Thoughts on 27" monitor:
Took about 2 hours all in all, including cable management, and the rest of the day will be spent overclocking the processor and the graphics card. Fingers crossed that I don't set anything on fire.
If you want to piss off those HDD cages for vastly improved airflow (and slightly reduced noise) from your front two intake fans, you can just velcro your SSD into the bottom 5.25 drive bay, and get a 5.25-3.5 adapter to put the platter drive in the slot above the SSD.
Good news on the monitor, too!
Case Fractal Design R4
Board Link
CPU i5-3570k
GPU 660Ti
RAM 8 GB
PSU 500W Silverstone
HDD 2 TB 7200 RPM
DVD-RW Link
This totals out to about $910 atm, and I really don't want go much higher. (I still have to tack on a monitor since my current machine's a laptop) If there's anything I can do to improve performance beyond this without spending too much, please tell me.
I'm not sold on the utility of an SSD, but I can always slot one in later if I want to.
I'm mainly concerned about whether I've checked every possible compatibility issue - it looked like there were a couple different arrangements for power pins on motherboards, so I think I got that fine, the CPU socket is matching... anything else? (First build - I've worked inside my computers before, but never put one together from parts, just upgrading and such)
3DS: 0473-8507-2652
Switch: SW-5185-4991-5118
PSN: AbEntropy
That said, I found the same case in black at Microcenter for $20 less, so some money saved.
I'm now starting to get paranoid about the case size being large enough. Any rule of thumb for that? I may go with this instead, since its slightly larger.
3DS: 0473-8507-2652
Switch: SW-5185-4991-5118
PSN: AbEntropy
Your biggest concern with smaller cases are:
Will it fit my motherboard? (The R4 does as it supports micro ATX, ATX, and ITX),
Will it fit my GPU? (You're fine here, also. With the drive cages in place, the R4 can accomidate 290mms, or 11.4 inches. The 660Ti is only 9.5)
Does it have the number of expansion slots I need? (You aren't turning it into a NAS, so you're more than covered here.)
It's not factored in, that's the budget on the tower - the rest I'm not worried about.
3DS: 0473-8507-2652
Switch: SW-5185-4991-5118
PSN: AbEntropy
Windows 8 has been wonderful on a HTPC. I can make my most commonly used programs or shortcuts to networked folders tiles on the home screen for easy access. It also boots in about 15 seconds, so by the time my Harmony has turned everything on to the right inputs I'm already at the home screen.
President build? Can't parse that one.
How much reach issue - can't reach connector at all, or just can't push it behind the board?
3DS: 0473-8507-2652
Switch: SW-5185-4991-5118
PSN: AbEntropy
Yeah, that should be pre-build, stupid auto-correct.
I was able to get everything connected, but the case is big enough/my cables were too short to route cables as I would have liked (but its still routed pretty well).
Out of curiosity, does the Home Screen accept any kind of remote control input? Because that would be awesome, if it did. I might be able to get knock together an HTPC my parents can use if that's the case.
Battle.net
Perhaps a Bluetooth receiver could be used with a PS3 remote and some pre-programmed macros?
It's annoying that 8-pin CPU power extensions are an obscure enough product that not even my local TigerDirect/CompUSA has them. They did have 3-pin fan extensions, though, which was nice.
Btw, if I wanted to slap a second 120mm fan on my Hyper212 for a push-pull, how would I go about tying them both to a single CPU fan header? Is there some kind of Y-splitter for that sorta thing? I just want them both to register as a single CPU fan.
Thanks! I'm tempted to rip out the cages soon, but working on getting stable overclocks first. Super annoying issues happening that I can't resolve on first look. Time to read more and figure out whats up, I guess.
I'm going to assume there is someway to, but I use a Levnovo N5902 mini keyboard/mouse to control the PC. I would like something more 'remote like' for controlling XBMC but the N5902 has been fine.
Use something like this
thats a 4 pin since the stock fan on the hyper212 is 4pin. if you want 3pin this one should do the trick
You can fully navigate the start screen with a keyboard, so I'm assuming a media center compatible remote should be able to be mapped to all the basic functions. I haven't upgraded my HTPC to Win8 yet to test, though.
660ti if you can get one that cheap or a 7870 have my vote