Need some advice on building my 1st Computer

woah, sorry, I guess I went way to high with the power supply, no need for a 750 when a 450 will suffice I guess...just used to our graphics engine @ work which has a bank of 120 128MB video cards....
 
Rit, I keep seeing better things that are only 30-40 dollars higher each time I look at something...When everything I look at is $40 more it ends up driving up the price to 200 more. I'll just take your advice and build it the way you said. You seem to know youre stuff. Thanks
 
I have no issues with you building a more expensive system. Just tell me your final max budget and what you intend to do with your PC... :)

You seem to know youre stuff.
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I don't really know that much. I've learnt everything from the wonderful guys here at TS. And I'm still learning. :)
 
Hey Rit, how much more would the final build be if I went with the AMD Phenom II 955 and needed parts? I talked it over with the misses and she said that if it is only a little more, why not build a faster system...again thatnks for your help...and as to your not knowing that much, you don't need to be modest for me, I've been looking at other posts and you seem to be pretty helpful to those of us who know very little....
 
Hey there ir0nli0nzi0n!

If you're willing to go above $900, this would be the way to go:

Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz - $199.99
GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD4P - 169.99
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 - $94.99
CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W - $99.99
Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB - $74.99
XFX GeForce GTX 275 896MB - $219.99
COOLER MASTER RC-690 - $69.99

Total - $929.93 (without optical drive)

You can select a cheaper mobo and RAM to bring the price down a little. But IMO this would be a great gaming rig. (Only if you're looking for some serious high res gaming) :)
 
One more thing, how does that Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 stack up against the GeForce GTX 280? Is it worth the extra 100 bucks?
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The GTX 280 most definitely outperforms the HD 4870. However, like I mentioned in the last build, the GTX 275 is a better choice than the GTX 280. And if you're willing to wait a while before building your rig and can spare $260 on the video card, the HD5850 will be all yours! :)
 
Ritwik, Kitty, and others...I am also looking at laptops, I'm am going to start a new thread for that...can you also build laptops? I know they sell barebones kits for that, but I also know that laptops are incredibly harder to build and upgrade...any of you know any solutions for that? Are there any towers out there that would enable it to be a little more portable than your normal desktop? Thanks guys
 
Well to keep the build that Rit suggested you could go with this Thermaltake case its only $49.99 and has a great big handle on top. But for ultimate portability you cannot beat the Lan Box its more expensive at $124.99 and you would need to go with a micro ATX mother board like this one my by Gigabyte at $149.99 which is a little cheaper than the one Rit suggested and has all the same features. If I was building something geared towards portability thats the route I would take.
 
Hi Adhmuz. I personally like the looks of the CM 690 better than the Thermaltake.

Are there any towers out there that would enable it to be a little more portable than your normal desktop?
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Not really. Then you'll have to get yourself a micro-ATX case and a different smaller mobo. Even that wouldn't be really portable.
I have seen some portable desktops recently which are really small and easy to carry. But you'll never get a high end (or even moderate) gaming build.
 
Ritwik7 said:
Hey there ir0nli0nzi0n!

If you're willing to go above $900, this would be the way to go:

Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz - $199.99
GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD4P - 169.99
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 - $94.99
CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W - $99.99
Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB - $74.99
XFX GeForce GTX 275 896MB - $219.99
COOLER MASTER RC-690 - $69.99

Total - $929.93 (without optical drive)

You can select a cheaper mobo and RAM to bring the price down a little. But IMO this would be a great gaming rig. (Only if you're looking for some serious high res gaming) :)
Click to expand...

i would go with these instead
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 $85.99 Free Shipping
GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD3R LGA 1156 Intel P55 $139.99 Free Shipping

will save you some money and they are just as good also i would wait and buy the ati 5850 over the gtx 275 since it will only cost around $35 more than the gtx 275 and will be dx 11 and faster at the same time :)
 
Ritwik, Kitty, and others...I am also looking at laptops, I'm am going to start a new thread for that...can you also build laptops? I know they sell barebones kits for that, but I also know that laptops are incredibly harder to build and upgrade...any of you know any solutions for that? Are there any towers out there that would enable it to be a little more portable than your normal desktop? Thanks guys
Click to expand...
Some manufactures supply laptop barebones, but building laptops is much more expensive and tricky. Not only that but they perform a lot worse.
 
i would wait and buy the ati 5850 over the gtx 275 since it will only cost around $35 more than the gtx 275 and will be dx 11 and faster at the same time
Click to expand...

That's what I said in #32 klepto. I'm with you! :D
 
This would be a much better build :


Total - $940.93

I know the system exceeds your budget but the HD5850 is the right card to get now. :)

However, if you want to get it a little cheaper you could try an AMD CPU and mobo keeping the rest of the build identical.

AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz - $119.00
ASUS M4A78T-E AM3 AMD 790GX - $129.99

Then your build comes to $840.93. A full 100 bucks less! :)
 
Thanks to all for your good advice! I have been out of town, but I think the last build might do me right, since it is going to be a birthday/christmas present I can afford to spend a little more. The only thing I am looking to save on is the video card I guess, but if there are no other comparable video cards that are a bit cheaper (I have always had GeForce cards before) then I will build as above. Thanks again. I also liked the performance of a toaster comment...it's a shame that no one has come out with a small, relatively portable desktop...I know laptops are nice, but almost impossible to upgrade when they age...
 
Hey all, I have one more question...

Hello again all! I don't know if anyone will see this since it looks like it's been 2 months since anyone was on this thread. An update on the computer situation...Well my wife went and got me a pre-built system from the Black Friday Sale at Best Buy. It's a pretty nice system, except for the Video Card and Power Supply. The specs for it are:

AMD Athlon II X4 620 Processor @2.6
8GB Ram DDR3
1TB HD
DVD/CD Burner
Win7 Home Premium 64-bit
and now the crap...
Nvidia 9100 Integrated card
300W Power Supply

I figure all I need to do to make this a great computer is replace the power supply and the video card. Any suggestions? I am partial to Nvidia (and I'm not sure if a Radeon would work anyways since it has an integrated Nvidia card...)

Thanks all
 
Hi ir0nli0nzi0n ,
I would recommend the HD 5750 over the GTS 250, and getting a 450w Corsair PSU to add to that machine.
 
What's your budget for card + PSU? And what case do you presently have to house this system?
 
Hey Rit, the computer is an HP Pavilion. Like I said, it was purchased @ Best Buy at the Black Friday Sale. Will the HD 5750 work fine with a Nvidia Integrated Card? I have about $200 or so to spend on both. I can go over, but would like to stay at under $300 for sure
 

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