Dying Computer, Need New Computer

[Legend]

My "fun" x15 alienware laptop has finally decided to started dieing. after my internet connection had been failing also, i defraged, adawared, and cleaned up my disk and once i reset it didnt book back up but was stuck on a

black screen with the computer running, and no bios or start up screen.

I thought my videocard might be dieing so i waited and let it cool down and i was able to get it back up.

So instead of fixing, i am gonna try to get a new comp.

I believe is it Newegg.com ??

And anyone got some suggestion as to what i should be shooting for, for my next desktop?

Thank you : )

[Janke 1st MRB]

I've only ever had 3 peripheral graphics cards; a Sapphire ATI Radeon 9200SE (2003-2008), a Zotac NVidia GeForce 9600GT (2008-2010), and an EVGA NVidia GeForce GTX460SE (late 2010-now). When I purchased both of the latter, I'd heard nothing good about ATI's drivers for the cards they offered, and to be honest hadn't been keeping up much with ATI, other than that AMD had decided to re-name them after themselves. I still haven't really been keeping up with ATI, and to be honest, I'm a brand loyalist on 2 accounts; Intel and NVidia. Not even considering getting an AMD CPU, and I'd have to do a fair bit or research and hear almost nothing but good things about an ATI card to get it in the future, but I'm planing on stretching my 460 to last 2 years, just as I did my 9600. I know, though, that if I go ATI, that Sapphire is often considered the best choice, just as EVGA is often considered the best choice for NVidia.

Edited June 1, 2011 by Janke 1st MRB

[Legend]

Yes, a wireless card, but I'd recommend using a wired connection, I actually ran a cable through my ducts to my basement to get wired internet down here.

Ok Janke, ive talked to the dillon and hes saying his build is best for the amount of money iam putting in. So if i went with this build, can we finalize the specs?

[Janke 1st MRB]

I'd be inclined to recommend this motherboard instead: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16813130571

Better rated, and it has the newer tech on board (USB3, Sata6GB). As well, that motherboard you linked, Dillon, is an LGA1156 socket, the CPU you linked is an LGA1155 socket.

Personally, I'd have gone with an LGA1366 i7 & board, as I linked, but your CPU is decently powerful for what he needs.

As to the thing about SSDs and Overclocking, I wouldn't recommend either unless you really know what you're doing, especially the overclocking. I know a lot of shit likes to install a ton of crap into the My Documents folder, which can add up rather quick then the OS is 20GB itself and the SSD only supports 40, and is another $200 on the pricetag. I didn't when upgrading mine because I 1: didn't have the space and 2: didn't want to be bothered to fuck around with re-directing install shit to the right drive, or figuring out of My Documents can easily be moved drives without issues. I have no problems using a 7200RPM 1TB HDD as my primary and only drive, it works perfectly fine for gaming, as far as I know the main place an SSD helps is in startup times and application launching, which are both, IMO, not worth spending an extra $200 on speeding up. Once a game/level/whatever is loaded into RAM, the HDD does nothing. Overclocking is some iffy shit, you fuck it up and there goes your $225 processor. I don't even think of touching it on this rig, and haven't bothered on my old one. I'd advise against it strongly.

I'd also be inclined to say if you're not going for a triple-monitor setup, that http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?...N82E16824236103 would be a better monitor, it's got a larger screen size despite a smaller resolution, it's cheaper, and I don't think the difference between TFT and IPS is going to be that huge, but for the IPS option I'm going to put http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?...E16824236119CVF out there. Same price, higher contrast ratio.

Edited June 2, 2011 by Janke 1st MRB

[Chen]

The pink green tint issue for the u2410 has been around since the monitor came out. In the beginning Dell let buyers exchange and return until they were satisfied but later on they stoped and said the monitor is suppose to be like that which is complete bs because half the screen will have a pink tint the other green.

The u2410 and the Zr24w are really good monitors in all but only if your lucky, for the u2410 you better hope you dont get one with the tints or dead pixels and same for zr24w, the dead pixels are returnable but its just a big hassle to return and get another one. I hear for the zr24w the dead pixel is more of a problem but the one i ordered came perfectly basically. has a little back light bleeding on lower left hand corner but thats about it the rest is good. I dont have a calibrater my self so i jsut used what tft central had. For both of these monitors to shine, you basically need to calibrate the monitors. I think legend is better off getting the zr24w, its cheaper and he doesnt need to spend the extra 100 on things he wouldnt be using in the monitor.

Sry bout the 6gb/s sata because i havnt been researching pc stuff since october lol so my bad.

Everyone loved ATI's name better than AMD. Sad to see it go but as janke said, ATI hasnt shown me anything to want one of them over nvidia. Like dillan said the lower end of the spectrum maybe AMD gpu's shine just like for lower end cpu's for AMD vs their intel counter parts. for the higher end i definitely recommend nvidia and intel right now.

What i really suggest is to OC the cpu and gpu so u should be getting a great cooling case like ive been saying all along with a 50-80 dollar cpu cooler(one of the noctuas) and youll be set. OCing is so safe now theres really nothing but benefits to doing it. I know Janke doesnt OC his comp but do u dillan? Legend if you have any questions bout the ssd you can ask me def. even if u get it later on after you get the comp. im not too familiar about OCing the sandy's so you should ask dillian if he knows or i can help research for you bout it. Eitehr way OCing has become a very affordable and safe way to get a faster cpu and gpu.

[Dillon 1st MRB]

I'm not going to link, but I've put together an entire build except for a keyboard and mouse. I personally find that those are way too important of a decision for someone else to pick for you. Find what you like, and get it.

Also, Legend expressed 0 interest in overclocking, so I adjusted things accordingly.

Mobo - MSI P67A-G43 (B3) ATX Intel Motherboard - $129.99 (+ a $10 rebate)

CPU - Intel Core i5-2500 3.3GHz LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor - $209.99

GPU - XFX Radeon HD 6950 HD-695X-ZNFC Video Card with Eyefinity - $239.99 ( + a $30 rebate) - its just a better deal than anything I can find from nvidia right now. Bang for the buck winner.

RAM - G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory - $79.99

Storage option #1 (highly recommended)

SSD - OCZ Vertex 3 VTX3-25SAT3-120G 2.5" MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - $269.99

HD - Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive - $79.99

Option #2

HD - Western Digital Caviar Black WD2002FAEX 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive - $149.99

Monitor - Asus VE248H 24" Full HD HDMI LED Backlight LCD Monitor w/Speakers - $199.99 (1920x1080)

PSU - Thermaltake TR2 W0379RU 500W Power Supply - $59.99

Case - LIAN LI Lancool PC-K57 Black Computer Case - $69.99 (Legend says no frills, here it is, but still quality)

Here is why option #1 is what I recommend. An SSD, to be worthwhile as a main drive, has to be of sufficient size. You listed 5 games that you play. This drive, at 120 GB, will hold your applications, games, and OS. Now then. You will want to put movies, music, infrequently accessed programes on the second drive, to keep space free. It does require a bit more thought into how your store your date. However, it reads and writes at over 500 MB/sec. This will give you incredibly fast boots, level loads, copies, etc. However, if you don't want the hassle, go with a 2 GB Caviar Black. Its a bit spendy, but people really can't get by with 1 TB of total storage any more.

Total price? $1339.91 And as a new user of Newegg, you'll get free shipping.

[Dillon 1st MRB]

Everyone loved ATI's name better than AMD. Sad to see it go but as janke said, ATI hasnt shown me anything to want one of them over nvidia. Like dillan said the lower end of the spectrum maybe AMD gpu's shine just like for lower end cpu's for AMD vs their intel counter parts. for the higher end i definitely recommend nvidia and intel right now.

I have a hard time recommending even the top end of nvidia right now. Here is a summary from one of the more respected review sites:

You really shouldn't buy Zotac's GTX 580 AMP²! Yes, the Radeon HD 6970 is a little bit slower and a little bit noisier, but it's not that far behind on either front—and the 6970 costs more than $200 less. Plus, the 6970 draws less power and sends its hot air exclusively out of the expansion slots, reducing its likely contribution to overall system noise. If you can tolerate more noise and power draw, pairing a couple of GeForce GTX 560 Ti or Radeon HD 6870 cards will yield even higher performance than the AMP²! at well under half a grand. Both of those options are better values, all things considered. Your rational mind should understand this.

Nvidia has been price gouging on their top end. In absolute performance, they edge out AMD by very few percentage points, at a resolution of 2560x1600, its 1 fps. It just doesn't justify the $200 increase in price. From a price : performance position, AMD has better products right now. We'll see what the next generation brings.

[Janke 1st MRB]

I beg to differ that people can't get by with only 1TB of storage, I've not even half filled my 1TB Deckstar, which I bought because I had nearly filled a 500GB, though when I upgraded I still had 75GB left on the drive. Unless you're torrenting movies/music galore, or buying every single game available on Steam, you won't need an excessive amount of space, and 2TB is definitely excessive. If you can cut price, I'd recommend only getting a 1TB Western Digital Caviar Black, it will probably shave nearly $100 off the cost, and most people likely won't need much higher than 1 TB for average use for at least another 4 years.

[Chen]

I also recommend not getting anything over 1TB, anything higher has a higher chance of failing. And also the more you put on it the slower it gets so good idea not to completely fill it then get another drive. games don't benefit ssd's as much as apps and OS so try to not put games in there unless you have the space.

[Legend]

I beg to differ that people can't get by with only 1TB of storage, I've not even half filled my 1TB Deckstar, which I bought because I had nearly filled a 500GB, though when I upgraded I still had 75GB left on the drive. Unless you're torrenting movies/music galore, or buying every single game available on Steam, you won't need an excessive amount of space, and 2TB is definitely excessive. If you can cut price, I'd recommend only getting a 1TB Western Digital Caviar Black, it will probably shave nearly $100 off the cost, and most people likely won't need much higher than 1 TB for average use for at least another 4 years.

First, do you like the SSD drive? i feel i could live without to save money on that.

Also i will be able to spend 1600 on this system, i wanna include the mouse and

headset in this cost.

Janke What would your recommend to do with this extra money if we drop the SSD and bring the hardrive down to 1TB, and with a price range of up to 1600?

[Janke 1st MRB]

For keyboard, the 2 companies I can recommend are Razer and Logitech. I use a Logitech G15 and have for nearly 2 years, and I love it. That being said, I may not get another Logitech keyboard, because I hardly ever use the screen on it. I don't know exactly what Razer to recommend, haven't looked into it, but I know they make some quality shit. The Logitech I use runs $100-$130, but you could get a good Razer for $60-$80.

For mice, I'd recommend Microsoft and Razer. Some people don't like the Microsoft Sidewinder mice series, but 3 of my last 4 mice have been MS and I've loved all of them, they've all been awesome. I'm using the MS Sidewinder X5 right now, but if I were to get a new mouse, I'd again be looking at Razer. A friend of mine has the Razer Imperator, and loves it. These mice will run around $50-$80, but they're pretty awesome.

For headsets I'd have to recommend what I bought recently, the Logitech G930. I replaced my SteelSeries 5Hv2 with it and I couldn't be happier to be rid of that terrible SteelSeries. This headset has a batter that lasts hours, a wireless range from my basement to my bedroom on the second floor of my house, 3 programmable buttons, a switch to activate the 7.1 channel surround sound or to run it in stereo (and in stereo music sounds AMAZING), volume controls, and a voice changer in the software. As well, you can use it while it's charging, and the base has a fairly long cable for charging it with. I paid, after taxes, $130 for this headset, and I would have paid up to $150. I've seen them run anywhere from $120-$180, but I wouldn't recommend paying over $150 for it. The only qualm I have with it is the microphone is a shitty quality, they actually capped it at what Windows calls "tape recorder quality" for wireless bandwidth reasons, but the quality sounds ok to me, just don't do any hardcore recording on it. It could definitely be better, but it's passable.

As well, I didn't get an SSD myself last upgrade, and I don't think the difference is going to be worth the still colossal cost for it ($200 for 160GB, ridiculous, no matter how fast it is, I still think that's too expensive).

[Chen]

sorry but PLEASE stay away from logicrap for headsets and speakers.