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Computer Build?
13 years ago
General
Update
Build is complete! Thank you all for all of your help, I used a ton of the information to figure out what to get ^^ In the end I went with the 1TB Seagate, i5-2500k cpu, Asus Z77 board, a 650W XFX PRO power supply, and a Radeon HD 6850 gfx card. Some of the decisions were based on power vs cost while some decisions were swayed by noise levels (mostly the gfx card). Also had to get some little things, like an IDE to SATA converter and a cheap DVD drive since IDE has been phased out, but they were quite cheap. Thanks again!
Ok, so I'm starting to really think about what I should be getting and I'm a little outdated on the computer building world. I'll try to explain what I've figured out and since there's a lot of you who actually keep up with computers, I was hoping you could chime in and help me with the decisions ^^
Overall, I need a new motherboard. New motherboards don't have the same sockets as the stuff I have, so that means I'd need a new CPU and new memory as well. I am currently using Windows XP Pro 32-bit (I had a friend who had a disc with many installations so I went with that), but apparently that only uses 3.7 gb of RAM at max and would make 8 gb of ram (which is currently quite cheap in general) useless otherwise. So, I would need to upgrade my OS. If I'm upgrading my OS, I might as well get an new HDD, since my current one has already started to get bad sectors and I'm pretty cramped for space. On top of all that, I'd also need to get a new PSU as well, since I don't know if my current one is the reason my motherboard died and I shouldn't risk it.
So, basically, I'll probably be upgrading my computer. The only thing that isn't necessary to upgrade right now is the graphics card, which I might do anyways while I'm at it since they've been dying on me (but thank you XFX for replacing them, even 4-5 years after the original purchase).
CPU
I figure first and foremost I should choose the CPU, since it's the heart of the computer. I think quad-core would be the best choice, since dual-cores have become pretty standard and I tend to run multiple applications. So, in terms of AMD vs Intel in this regard, it seems to be Zambezi vs Sandy Bridge/Ivy Bridge in the "efficiency vs cost" range. However, the Zambezi seems to be pretty bad, not nearly as powerful as its numbers would suggest as its Intel counterparts. So with Intel there's first i5 vs i7. i7 seems to be special for its HyperThreading. But it costs $100 more to get one. Is Hyper Threading really that good, or is it just the "new technology that won't really be useful for another 5 years", like how Quad-Cores were when I built the original computer 6 years ago? Assuming I go with i5, what's the difference between Sandy Bridge and ? Ivy uses slightly less wattage, but I've read a few people having issues with heat and incompatibility with some motherboards. Also, does not having integrated graphics make it run better, or does it not matter either way?
RAM
This one is pretty simple. $40 for most 8 gb 240-pin DDR3 1600 dual-channel kits. Totally beating the 1 gb DDR dual channel I bought for $90 6 years ago XD
Motherboard
Unless I should change the choice in CPU or RAM, the motherboard search simplifies a ton. And with such a core part of the computer, I think I wanna stick to ASUS, because they have pretty good customer service and my other board lasted for 6 years without any problems. I also seem to need a PCI-E 3.0 for most graphics cards nowadays, even the cheaper ones. From there... I pretty much find either [url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131835]this one with 1 PCI-E 3.0, or this one with 2 and a different north bridge chipset (which I know nothing about) and costs about $25 more after rebates and shipping.
Hard Drive
I pretty much want a 1TB drive so I don't have to worry about running out of space anymore XD So I'm looking at either this 1 TB Seagate or this 2 TB Samsung. I've only had experience with Seagate and Western Digital (my WD wasn't nice, but my Seagate is the one I'm still using), so I have no idea about the Samsung, in terms of life and dependability. But the benchmark for the Samsung seems higher and it has twice the capacity (not that I think I'd fill it) and 6gb/s doesn't matter vs 3gb/s.
Windows
I currently have XP Pro 32-bit. Apparently Pro 64-bit increases the RAM limit above 8, but I have no idea where I'd get it. I have Windows 7 on my laptop and it's nice, but I don't exactly use my laptop for gaming or other intense things, mostly for watching videos and browsing. Yet, it seems XP is getting phased out in terms of gaming and stuff, so it is probably worth doing. Now, the main question is: Windows 7 Home Premium or Professional? The "official" differences Microsoft shows doesn't matter to me, but people have told me to go with Professional, though not so much why. There was something about "emulating XP" but they got distracted before they could elaborate XD It's a $40 difference, so some help there would be nice ^^
Graphics Card
This one I haven't put too much thought into yet. I can still use my current ATI Radeon HD 4450 for a while longer if need be. But if I do upgrade, I'd probably go with ATI versus NVidia, because ATI is quieter and cooler, even if it isn't quite as powerful. Though, what is important in a graphics card now? Because I have no idea anymore XD Otherwise I think I'll go with XFX again, because they replaced mine twice over the past 6 years when a capacitor blew or there was an issue, even when it was way past the warranty :v
PSU
This will pretty much depend on everything else I'm getting. I think 550W will cover all my power needs pretty easily, and probably even 500W. This one that was suggested in a previous journal seems nice, but there's no listed MTBF, whereas this Rosewill is about the same with a nice MTBF. Does anybody know what the more reliable PSUs are? Like, ones that last a good while and aren't often known for frying mobos. And should 530W be enough for the things I listed above?
Any information you guys can give me on any of these subjects will be really helpful ^^ I plan on ordering tomorrow so it'll be processed on Monday and sent out asap.
Build is complete! Thank you all for all of your help, I used a ton of the information to figure out what to get ^^ In the end I went with the 1TB Seagate, i5-2500k cpu, Asus Z77 board, a 650W XFX PRO power supply, and a Radeon HD 6850 gfx card. Some of the decisions were based on power vs cost while some decisions were swayed by noise levels (mostly the gfx card). Also had to get some little things, like an IDE to SATA converter and a cheap DVD drive since IDE has been phased out, but they were quite cheap. Thanks again!
Ok, so I'm starting to really think about what I should be getting and I'm a little outdated on the computer building world. I'll try to explain what I've figured out and since there's a lot of you who actually keep up with computers, I was hoping you could chime in and help me with the decisions ^^
Overall, I need a new motherboard. New motherboards don't have the same sockets as the stuff I have, so that means I'd need a new CPU and new memory as well. I am currently using Windows XP Pro 32-bit (I had a friend who had a disc with many installations so I went with that), but apparently that only uses 3.7 gb of RAM at max and would make 8 gb of ram (which is currently quite cheap in general) useless otherwise. So, I would need to upgrade my OS. If I'm upgrading my OS, I might as well get an new HDD, since my current one has already started to get bad sectors and I'm pretty cramped for space. On top of all that, I'd also need to get a new PSU as well, since I don't know if my current one is the reason my motherboard died and I shouldn't risk it.
So, basically, I'll probably be upgrading my computer. The only thing that isn't necessary to upgrade right now is the graphics card, which I might do anyways while I'm at it since they've been dying on me (but thank you XFX for replacing them, even 4-5 years after the original purchase).
CPU
I figure first and foremost I should choose the CPU, since it's the heart of the computer. I think quad-core would be the best choice, since dual-cores have become pretty standard and I tend to run multiple applications. So, in terms of AMD vs Intel in this regard, it seems to be Zambezi vs Sandy Bridge/Ivy Bridge in the "efficiency vs cost" range. However, the Zambezi seems to be pretty bad, not nearly as powerful as its numbers would suggest as its Intel counterparts. So with Intel there's first i5 vs i7. i7 seems to be special for its HyperThreading. But it costs $100 more to get one. Is Hyper Threading really that good, or is it just the "new technology that won't really be useful for another 5 years", like how Quad-Cores were when I built the original computer 6 years ago? Assuming I go with i5, what's the difference between Sandy Bridge and ? Ivy uses slightly less wattage, but I've read a few people having issues with heat and incompatibility with some motherboards. Also, does not having integrated graphics make it run better, or does it not matter either way?
RAM
This one is pretty simple. $40 for most 8 gb 240-pin DDR3 1600 dual-channel kits. Totally beating the 1 gb DDR dual channel I bought for $90 6 years ago XD
Motherboard
Unless I should change the choice in CPU or RAM, the motherboard search simplifies a ton. And with such a core part of the computer, I think I wanna stick to ASUS, because they have pretty good customer service and my other board lasted for 6 years without any problems. I also seem to need a PCI-E 3.0 for most graphics cards nowadays, even the cheaper ones. From there... I pretty much find either [url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131835]this one with 1 PCI-E 3.0, or this one with 2 and a different north bridge chipset (which I know nothing about) and costs about $25 more after rebates and shipping.
Hard Drive
I pretty much want a 1TB drive so I don't have to worry about running out of space anymore XD So I'm looking at either this 1 TB Seagate or this 2 TB Samsung. I've only had experience with Seagate and Western Digital (my WD wasn't nice, but my Seagate is the one I'm still using), so I have no idea about the Samsung, in terms of life and dependability. But the benchmark for the Samsung seems higher and it has twice the capacity (not that I think I'd fill it) and 6gb/s doesn't matter vs 3gb/s.
Windows
I currently have XP Pro 32-bit. Apparently Pro 64-bit increases the RAM limit above 8, but I have no idea where I'd get it. I have Windows 7 on my laptop and it's nice, but I don't exactly use my laptop for gaming or other intense things, mostly for watching videos and browsing. Yet, it seems XP is getting phased out in terms of gaming and stuff, so it is probably worth doing. Now, the main question is: Windows 7 Home Premium or Professional? The "official" differences Microsoft shows doesn't matter to me, but people have told me to go with Professional, though not so much why. There was something about "emulating XP" but they got distracted before they could elaborate XD It's a $40 difference, so some help there would be nice ^^
Graphics Card
This one I haven't put too much thought into yet. I can still use my current ATI Radeon HD 4450 for a while longer if need be. But if I do upgrade, I'd probably go with ATI versus NVidia, because ATI is quieter and cooler, even if it isn't quite as powerful. Though, what is important in a graphics card now? Because I have no idea anymore XD Otherwise I think I'll go with XFX again, because they replaced mine twice over the past 6 years when a capacitor blew or there was an issue, even when it was way past the warranty :v
PSU
This will pretty much depend on everything else I'm getting. I think 550W will cover all my power needs pretty easily, and probably even 500W. This one that was suggested in a previous journal seems nice, but there's no listed MTBF, whereas this Rosewill is about the same with a nice MTBF. Does anybody know what the more reliable PSUs are? Like, ones that last a good while and aren't often known for frying mobos. And should 530W be enough for the things I listed above?
Any information you guys can give me on any of these subjects will be really helpful ^^ I plan on ordering tomorrow so it'll be processed on Monday and sent out asap.
Good luck though!
Same thing goes with overclocking for me, I've never tried and have been fine XD
As for hyperthreading it's been around longer then multicores. It allows a single core to handle more processes at once.
As far as the HyperThreading, it's been around since the Pentium 4, but was not used in the Core or Core2 series. It will get you some performance boost if you have the right situation. The i5 is solid enough on it's own, and unless you're a hard-core gamer or graphics artist, it will suit you as well the i7.
And do you know what the top brands are? I thought I knew some, but companies have been sold and new ones have started since, so I'm not sure if I'm accurate.
As far as hard drives, Seagate and WD are both pretty good, look for something with a long manufacturer's warranty. I had an old IDE Seagate that died after four years, and it was still under warranty. It's a good measure, long warranty=they don't expect it to fail in that time. I don't know Samsung's track record on drives.
For RAM, the same applies, a good brand offers a long warranty. Kingston offers a lifetime warranty, but their ValueRAM series doesn't hold up well in the long run (their server-grade chips are really hardy, though). Crucial also offers a lifetime warranty, and they're decent. Mushkin and Patriot are popular, as is Corsair. But RAM's one of those where you can ask five people what's the best and get five answers.
The PSU, though, really dig in and do your homework. MTBF is a good figure to run on, and both models you've pointed at have 2 year warranties. But make sure to look them up on several sites and look at the reviews. Especially if you look at other PSUs as well.
I have an ASUS M4A7BSTD-V model Motherboard, and Quad-core/Dual-core doesn't matter that much in my case since I pretty much use one core anyway (with a lack of a second core as far as I can tell >.>)
My biggest holdback with my performance is my mere 2 gigs of RAM (1.7 gigs operating) And it's pretty much universal of 'get as much RAM as you can' anyway, so I'd be asking for free RAM sticks since I only have 1 DDR3 2 gig RAM stick >.>
My Hard Drive, all I can say is, I wish I had gotten a new one instead of having the old one held in the build... 60 gigs of Hard Disk space is not enough anymore :i ... I'm lucky to have my 325 gig portable hard drive... My recommendation, if you plan on keeping this computer a long time, and if you could definitely afford it without question, would be the 2 TB hard drive... Once you get the 1 TB, you'll find a new shiny thing... and another... and another... and another... then you realize how big those shinies got over the years and find yourself in a lack of space :V
Windows Operating System, I have one thing to say... WINDOWS XP... Don't ever go to any of the other Windows OSs, Vista has way too many compatibility issues, Win 7 (as my mate has found out) works like shiiiiiiiiit if you dont have Norton or McAfee or anything it comes with >.> (might just be her computer design)... I would offer up Ubuntu (Linux) or MAC but that's all on personal preference and computer and code savvyness
My Graphics card, I have an AMD Intel Radeon 4200, and it handles most shit I throw at it... just that it doesn't rez any of the fine details of Skyrim, like the plumes fire or the wisps of snow over the mountaintop... I recommend staying with the newer stuff there, always :V
PSU, all I can say is refer to the professionals, I've learned not to mess with that block or get too low a power output o.o
And maybe your mate might not have the appropriate requirements for 7? They're not as bad as Vista, but if you're under it could be a reason why. And I always make sure I do NOT have Norton or McAfee, they're so bloated and useless XD
OS depends. If you're not worried about major gaming things 5+ years down the line, just get the Home Basic version. Even 8gigs of RAM nowadays is overkill for most stuff. Home Premium just removes the artificial cap and lets ya go to 16. Pro lets ya go to 192; heh heh.
Hard Drives kinda seem like a crapshoot to me anymore, but yea, I'd go with a Seagate or Samsung as well. Also look into either getting a 2nd drive for file backups, however small (unless ya just use a stick or something).
PSUs I can never calculate worth crap, but ya might wanna give these a look:
Guide:
http://www.newegg.com/product/Categ.....?articleId=199
Recommended Calculator:
http://images10.newegg.com/BizIntel.....alc/index.html
(^ Of which I'll also list the note they have on that page as well: "The PSU Wattage we recommend only gives you a general idea on what to consider while selecting a power supply. PCI cards, External devices, USB and Firewire devices, Cooling fans and other components may need more power.")
I do use a usb drive for some things, but I also "archive" some things on DvD and some other things I use Dropbox with, so I don't think I need much more in terms of backups. And at least, with less backups, the less tempted I am to be a digital packrat ^^; (I have discs I burned from back in high school XD)
I'd like to get more understanding of the compatibility mode, since I do like playing older games a lot. And the 192 definitely isn't something I'd need to worry about, since most of the motherboards only support up to 32 XD
And that's what I was hoping to hear about the cpus ^^
And why did I respond to all that backwards? o.O
Anyway, after looking down at newer posts, you definitely don't need more than a quad-core. And in AMD's Bulldozer's case, it still gets outperformed by the quad i5 & i7 in a lot of things anyway; which sucks cause I've been AMD for so long, but even my own new build in a few months is going Intel.
As for Pro's compatibility mode being a potential selling point, don't even concern yourself with it unless you're talking REALLY old games; it's only good for basic word processors, web browsing, MSOffice, and stuff like that. What it does is take a chunk of RAM, and emulates XP inside of that (and we're not talking a lot of RAM, either; I think it's 512MB, but it may only be 256). The simpler version is it emulates a video card between 4-16MB of RAM along with a processor type that was created in 1998 (Pentium 2s; i.e. crap for anything you might want to do with it). If ya REALLY need XP you'd be better off partitioning your hard drive and just making it a dual boot drive so ya can pick 7 or XP during startup.
Oh, and as for the dual-booting thing, can I still have my old hard drive that has XP hooked up and be able to browse the file system from the 7 drive? I would imagine I could select the older drive as the chosen boot device to just boot with XP and access everything that way, but it would be very helpful if I could still access the data on that drive when booted into the 7 drive.
i5 2500k
gigabyte z77 motherboard
ADATA 8gb 1600mhz ram
Windows 7 Home Premium (if you really want to emulate XP you are better off doing a vmware method)
AMD HD 7770
1tb seagate barracuda hd drive
nice case
530w PSU
MY company builds computers too but they stack 50-100 bucks for labor and shipping.
this will satisfy anyone for visual editing and definitely enough for coding ;D
A great cost/benchmark comparison of CPUs out there. Helped make my decision on the AMD FX-8120. http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_val.....available.html
Check out the AMD. 8 Cores of awesome, possibly not as powerful as some Intels, but it's $160 right now! It is not overclocked, and sits at about 26c, so not very warm compared to my old amd that would hit 60c!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ.....82E16819103961
I got a sapphire ATI 6850, it works very well. Found it cheaper on amazon.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ.....82E16814102908
Check this out to calculate your power supply needs.
http://extreme.outervision.com/psuc.....ulatorlite.jsp
Get a Corsair PSU. It's quality, and it will last. I got the modular 750 watt, but this one is a good deal with the rebate.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ.....82E16817139021
I don't know a ton about memory, but G-Skill has some good stuff.
I was considering G-skill as well, and it's good to know the Corsair is a quality brand ^^ The calculator is actually the same kind Thermaltake uses too XD I think it may be a little off though, because I just added extra stuff and there wasn't much of a difference to before. But I'm thinking 600-650 might give me the room I need now without going excessive ^^
The ram you said in this is 1600 MHz make sure it is compatible with the motherboard without having to overclock you should see a * on the specs on sites if it isnt
for the motherboard make sure the chipset is the same as the cpu of course and memory clock speed is compatible. If you are going for a atx motherboard make sure you have a atx, or large case. Read reviews on the bridges and temps all that good stuff.
Hdd pretty much anything will work make sure it has cables to fit into the mobo.
Graphics card I'm an NVidia user, so you're on your own with that one.
and the psu like the early post above just make sure to calculate carefully.
Yeah, I thought that might be the case. I saw some saying 2300 or whatever as (*OC), so it's good to know I should stick to ones that don't require it for basic ram.
How would the chipset be the same? Unless you mean AMD vs Intel, in which case yeah, I can easily sort those out with Newegg ^^ And I'm sticking to ATX. My case can actually take ATX, E-ATX, and BTX... It's big :v But it stays quite cool and gives me plenty of room to work in without hurting myself ^^ Just hard to fit anywhere XD
2: You can't really gauge PSU wattage needed until you have all the components picked out.
3: Go Win 7 for future updates. Whichever one you get should work, but I suggest you get the 64-bit version for large RAM recognition.
4: graphics: I use ATI XFX cards myself. ;)
5: HDD: how often do you backup? if you're like most of us and don't do full backups regularly, I suggest getting 2 drives, and setting up a RAID array for automatic data backup. More expensive than a single disk of twice the size, but very reassuring mentally, once it's set.
6: MB is determined by CPU socket, and sufficient capacity for other components as needed. RAM must of course agree with the MB&CPU speeds... meh.
...okay, there's my quick guidelines on building a new system.
And as for the backups, Dropbox will constantly back up your stuff to their web server as long as you're working in that folder ^^ They only give you 2 gb of storage space though, but I mostly want to back up documents and programs that aren't that big. The only big things that I do kinda back up are porn and anime, which I can always replenish if I need to xD
I'm not sure I'd even consider getting an AMD processor for gaming at this point. It seems like they've really started throwing most of their focus into graphics hardware, and I haven't heard anything about a competitor for the i5 or i7 Intel processors.
Also, I have a free (not illegal) code for Win 7 Pro edition that I don't need as I already have it. If you want it i can send it to you in an email. If you want it, just note me and I will send it. I MIGHT ask for something in Nimin in return, but most likely not.
Sure, I'll send you a note ^^
2) RAM. Eh, depends on which motherboard you end up going with before settling on one. A couple brand names I trust most though are G.Skill and Patriot.
3) Motherboards. At a glance it seems that AMD boards are a bit behind since none of them even have PCI Express 3.0 slots but on the other hand 3.0 slots aren't really necessary at the moment. 3.0 devices (or at least graphics cards) are backwards compatible with with 2.0 slots. PCI 2.0 X8 slots are still plenty fast for current needs and X16's are even moreso. The board I went with was an ASRock 970 Extreme 4. It features PCI-E 2.0 slots that can either act as a single X16 or two that can be run together at X8 speeds.
4) Hard Drive. I'm still using a 1TB Western Digital Caviar Black I bought back in 2009 as my primary drive and a 500GB Western Digital Caviar Green from probably '06 or '07 as my secondary storage and I've never had any complaints.
5) Windows. I would certainly recommend using Windows 7. Unlike Vista this one is a worthy successor to XP. As for Home vs Professional, the biggest difference (or at least biggest one to me) I know of is that Professional has a higher RAM limit than Home edition. Assuming you are going with the 64 bit version, the memory limit on Home Premium is 16GB while the limit on Professional Edition is 192GB. However, any 32 bit operating system has an absolute maximum of 4GB of RAM. In my experience, I've rarely had applications draw on more than 4GB and 3GB seems on the average. For safe measure though I've got 8GB in my system currently.
6) Graphics. I'm still running an old ATI Radeon HD 4670 and I can still play many modern graphics intensive games easily. If you go with an AMD motherboard then you definitely should stick with an ATI (well, technically it's AMD now) graphics card as the two were essentially made for each other.
7) PSU. As you said it depends on all the other parts you get. I tend to err on the far side of caution and bought a Rosewill BRONZE Series RBR1000-M in '09 which has a 1KW supply. I can't say that I've had any issues with not enough power :p
And that's my two cents on computer components. If there's any questions, especially on the whole AMD vs Intel debate I'll answer to the best of my knowledge.
2.) Yeah, I've already got some GSkill and will probably get more, since they're cheap and reliable ^^
3.) Ahh, I didn't know AMD boards lacked PCI 3.0, that further cements me in Intel for now. Not that the 3.0 slot is better than 2.0 atm, but I prepare for the future since I don't plan on upgrading much, if at all ^^
4.) I had a WD external drive. The thing died on me after a year or two. But, I broke it open and put the actual drive in my computer and it still works, but the fact the casing died left a bad taste in my mouth XD
5.) I... tend to have a lot of applications running, so more RAM is nice XD Soooo many tabs in Firefox >. >
6.) I've actually wondered about the AMD x ATI thing. They're owned by the same company, but I haven't found anything about them actually doing better than an Intel x ATI. But I do like ATI cards for their quiet running ^^
7.) Yeah... I'm not getting 1KW XD I can see having a huge rig with 4x graphics cards and 3x processors needing something like that, but I think 600-650 will be more than enough for my needs x3
Yes, I keep far too many tabs open on FF as well X3 But as the other person who replied to me mentioned, XP mode does come with Home Premium. XP Mode essentially emulates the Windows XP OS in a virtual machine. So, essentially the $40 difference between Home Premium and Professional is that Professional comes with a virtual machine and support for 16GB more RAM.
I've tried a bit more research on AMD x ATI but I've only come up with mixed reports. Some sources I've found say that ATI cards mesh better with AMD boards while others say that there is no difference in performance at all. Although I am leaning more to say that it is a rumor since I haven't found any clear evidence yet.
Wait, I thought you were a laptop guy? this for your work or home?
I have both laptop and desktop. I do internet browsing and coding and writing and videos on my laptop, but I use my desktop for the "powerful" things like gaming and drawing and stuffs. Laptop is more comfortable for the simple tasks, but would burn out if I gamed on it much ^^;
http://www.microcenter.com/single_p.....uct_id=0353898
I'm thinking of one myself, since power blips come and go during the uneasy summers. It'll hold it's charge for a few minutes, long enough for the power to come back (depending on how much juice your pc has).
I think your fine with any setup really. Some people have dual-harddrive clone setups for backup, but usually when the pc goes, that's the last thing that does unless it's really old.
oh, and don't worry about XP programs not running on Win 7. I don't think I've ever run into one that's complained since, and at most it just turns off the aero desktop. I'm sure one of us can get CS4 or CS5 for you (the key setup is still a bitch to setup regardless at this point. It's always a mountain to climb over.) I have the middle-ground premium 7. unless basic ver has gimped that too...
Yeah, even with XP I pull everything back to '98 classic mode XD And I was just starting to look into CS5, but then my computer died and I haven't thought of it since XD Though the home premium version does seem to have a memory limit of 16 gb. The motherboard I think I'm going to get has a max of 32, so that might be a slight impediment. I'm only getting 8 gb now, though, but in ~3 years I may want to go up to 24. Or at least that's what happened with my original build; started with 1gb and it seemed fine but after a few years I upgraded to 3gb to give me some breathing room again.
The other "main reason" as you mentioned is the XP program emulation, which is something that allows you to run programs that would normally work in XP but NOT in 7. There are several reasons why I think this is silly, but it basically boils down to this: With Windows 7 having been out so long that Windows 8 is right around the corner, the only way you're going to find an XP only program is if you use something old, outdated, obsure, and terribly programmed. Programs are made for Windows 7 these days, and even when they weren't, nearly everything that worked on XP worked with 7.
I honestly think they only reason they even included this option was to make people feel more at ease about upgrading.
And since I'm upgrading anyways, I'll need to get a 650W or so to make sure things are powered ^^
And since I'm upgrading anyways, I'll need to get a 650W or so to make sure things are powered ^^
But for the HD7 vs. GTX6 so far, ATI can only score with lower prices as NVIDIA only has released the highend cards that cost over 400$ up to over 1000$. but they are way more efficient then the ATIs...at least in gaming. (some benchmarks the ATIs dominate with up to 300% more speed)
Hyperthreading is highly depending on applications and whether or not they use a core completely ore not, it can double performance or do nothing at all and with quadcores i'm not sure what you could be doing other than maybe rendering, numbercrunching or HD/XD-Videoencoding that would really bottom out all four cores.
Ivy bridge is the "TICK"-step in devellopment in Intels Tick-Tock cycle of shrinking and architechtural change. So it uses a tad less energy than Sandy Bridge and offers a tad more performance. Its like the E8xxx vs E6xxx and Q6xxx vs Q9xxx...except not even that much.
I won't be getting the $400+ range graphics cards, so I won't have to worry about the change in efficiency. Means I'll be good with an ATI now, but may have to think more carefully next time in several years XD
And that's what I wanted to hear ^^ They're too "advanced" for much to actually use them, and things hardly use what's already available anyways, so that saves me $100+ either way. And apparently Ivy Bridge runs hotter than Sandy Bridge and doesn't really have any benefits right now except maybe slightly lower wattage, which I'm not too worried about XD
On a Quadcore and normal consummer use you never ever will be needing it in the next couple of years. (read needing, as in making or breaking the use of a program) You are better off investing the 100$ save into a faster clocking cpu, getting an i5 that runs 500mhz faster than the i7. Or a Heatsink so you can potentially overclock it beyond 4Ghz in case you ever need more speed and don't want to upgrade just yet. (of course, OCing is always a gamble)
Motherboard - I see your point with ASUS. I've had one for ages and I'm taking the baby steps, based on my colleagues advice to intel boards. They seem to be relatively cheap and also utilize the full potential of an intel processor without overclocking. I can't tell you how reliable etc they are until I've tried mine, once its delivered >_< A decent intel board can cost about £
Memory - DDR3 1666Mhz Kingston HyperX is my first choice every time. Another brand I've looked into and has had good reviews is called "Team"? they are relatively new and make a LOT of components and have 4 tiers based on a customers needs. They could be worth looking into (I've bought some of their 2nd tier memory to try out.) 8GB Kingston is £40 and 8GB Team Elite is £30. Depends on funds again.
HDD - 1TB should be enough anything with a good read/write speed @ 7200 rpm is a good choice. I'd recommend a Western Digital Green due to energy savings :P I bought mine for £
If you have the cash, splash on a Solid State Drive for the OS. About 80-120GB and leave that as the OS and program install section, and the HDD as Document storage. That should boost reading/writing speed as well. SSD can cost between
Graphics - Depends on what sort of usage. I have a GT 520 as it can play all the latest games and multitask art/video/browsing at once without graphics delays/lags like some cards. We get them here in the UK for about £20-25 (so about $15-20). Decent value I think.
PSU - I personally think there might be a need for a little bit more. 500W doesn't sound like a lot when I see myself needing 750W for a less powerful PC.
OS - Windows 7 Professional. Ultimate has many things not many people need and Home Premium lacks some functionality.
I think vista and 7 do have improvements with indexing, defrag and trim but i don't know if the swapfile handling has changed.
CPU: i5 is adequate. (I'm transcoding 480p and 720p video on the fly to stream over Plex and the i5-2500k is bored. I run an i5-5xx on my laptop and rarely run into anything that makes me wish it was faster.)
Sandy vs. Ivy: I'm running Sandy on the Linux box. Ivy is more power efficient and generally supposed to be better, but I wouldn't pay a lot more for it.
MoBo: Get a Z68 chipset if you're going for Sandy Bridge. It lets you run either integrated or discrete graphics. (I'm running an ASUS Z68 board on the Linux box.)
Memory: Depends on the CPU/MoBo combo. DDR3 xxxx is variable. For example, some DDR3 1333 runs at 10600 other DDR3 1333 runs at 10666, etc. Check your MoBo and CPU recommendations.
(FWIW, I bought the CPU, MoBo and RAM for about $450 back in December. Should be possible to do cheaper now.)
HDD: I'm running my RAID on 5 of the Samsung F4s with a 6th waiting to be added when I get around to it. They spin 24x7 and have been for over a 18 months with no hitches. This includes several copy cycles that ran for over 24 hours while moving data from the old RAID to this one. Watch for decent sales. The F4s were going for $100 recently.
Graphics: If you aren't playing graphics-heavy games, the integrated graphics on Sandy will be adequate. It will definitely put your Radeon 4xxx to shame. I suggest start with integrated graphics, then add discrete graphics if you actually need it.
PSU: Used the one I had (plus another one outside the case when I was spinning 14 disks at once during the RAID transfer). The new Linux config described is only drawing about 75 watts idle according to the UPS. Unless you go for a power-hungry graphics card, you should be able to get away with about 500 watts. PSUs are generally most efficient at about 50% of rated load. (Also look at the efficiency ratings.) Modular PSUs that let you install power cabling from the PSU as you need them are a good way to keep your machine's innards cleaner and more airflow-happy.
OS: I run Win7 Home Premium and haven't missed a thing. See the link below for a comparison--or Google "Windows 7 home premium vs professional". Basically, unless you care about encrypting file system (I'd get TrueCrypt for free and set up an encrypted partition) or Windows backup (I never trust Windows backup, always use a program that can recover everything without reinstalling the OS) or some of the other stuff (In over 2 years of Win7, I've never found an XP program that won't run), Pro isn't worth it IMO.
http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/artic.....professional/?
Other: Seriously consider a UPS. For around $100, you get insurance against the "power 'flickers' whenever there's a storm" that you mentioned. Something like the one below. (I'm running several of the bigger versions of this for server, main machines, and network hardware.)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ.....82E16842102082
PSU - I'd highly suggest you to get a quality psu, don't buy anything from cheap companies. The PSU is one of the most important parts of your pc. I would rather buy a very good one than letting a cheap one fry your whole system again. It's better to spend +50$ on a good PSU than 500$ later on for damaged parts.
Motherboard - I can't give you any advice here since I've no experience with gigabyte, I currently have http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ.....82E16813131702 and haven't had any problems till now.
Now, generally with PSUs, go name brand, and higher wattage than you think you need. PSU manufacturers tend to inflate their numbers, and you'll never know how much current draw you're actually using without test equipment, so aim high. Another rule of thumb for PSU quality, which unfortunately you can't do with online shopping, is feeling how much the PSU weighs. Generally, the heavier, the better, unless they stuck a lead weight in there, so look as well. More components in there is also better. Remember, this single part can make or break your entire system, so don't skimp.
But seriously. Some of the components cant withstand even 30 holts.
But the human body can easily store 10 000 volts.
You can easily figure out how much volts you had when you get zapped.
For each centimeter between you and the object that you discharged at = 1000 volts
I could be wrong. In that case you ahve to multiply that with 10
Processor: Amd is normally cheaper than intel. If you don't need 8 cores than a http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ.....82E16819103727 is roughly $100 cheaper than http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ.....82E16819115073 and gets 0.1 ghz more standard clock. If you include the turbo clock most good motherboards will allow the amd processor up to 3.9 easily( asus has an unlocker that does it automatically). I also overclocked that one to 4.5 ghz with a nice air cooler. Processors without the integrated graphics can get to a higher clock speed for less heat and watts since there isn't a graphics unit also producing heat.
Motherboard: First depending on the processor You then have to determine whether you need a regular board, gaming, or overclocker with the differences mainly being how stable the power is and how many slots are available. I can tell you right now that PCIE 3.0 cards will not be more useful than their 2.0 counterparts and benchtest show that besides protein folding and super computers the improvements are minimal if at all. Other than that pick a well rated board that has more usb ports and hard drive ports than you think you will need, you will use them all.
Graphics Card: You can find nice cheap graphics card fairly easily. You don't need an overly powerful card to play most games and many cards you can get under $200. Appearntly an nvidia 560 is a good card for the money right now but I can't personally say. I have a radeon 6950 toxic card which means its really a radeon 6970.
PSU: For all that is good for computers get a modular powersupply. Nothing is more annoying than having 50 cables you don't use and nowhere to put them. Also get a PSU with the nice features like surge protection as it can be the thing that saves your computer. I also got a APC as I am that paranoid.
Windows: I can't help you much, stay with a 64-bit version as it can allow more ram and seems to be the future right now.
As far as the anti-static wrist thing, (knock on wood) I have never used one and never had a problem with static discharge. However I also work barefoot at my house and on tile floor the entire time. I also
"ground" myself to the case every time before I touch the motherboard.
Might I suggest using cnet to find what you're looking for?
http://reviews.cnet.com/desktops/?sa=500035&tag=columnSpan.0#maxPrice=956&filter=500035_125046_500053_15242097%2C500016_119831%2C500076_15894429&sort=lowPrice9%20asc
is a decent starting point, based on what you were talking about above.
subscription fee anti-virus program. I don't even have "active defense" type program.
My suggestion is to get Spybot Search and Destroy, Adblock, and Noscript. All completely free, and work great. Spybot Search and Destroy is my real line of defense. Adblock prevents attack ads(as well as makes the internet look nicer), Noscript prevents hostile data on websites from running(and all data, really, but it's configurable), and Spybot Search and Destroy can clean up any mess you make, as well as help prevent most with it's Teatimer sub-program(if you are worried that something you downloaded will fuck up your computer when you run it, set Teatimer into Paranoid mode and it'll act like Windows Vista UAC on steroids, asking if anything which wants to run can do so or go fuck itself).
Spybot SD doesn't get nearly the credit it deserves. I've gone through 5 computers and it's kept all of them safe from viruses and things. It helps that I'm a bit paranoid on the Internet, but a ounce of prevention...
Intel as pricy as it is, is actually pretty good. While it dominates AMD so far, most people have yet to realize that the difference in speed between the companies flagships are hardly even noticeable, especially outside of games. Just go with what fits in your budget I'd say.
But, if you strongly believe in Zambezi being bad, then get a Phenom x6. Intel... the I5 at most. Anything higher is to much money going into something that won't benefit it.