Help me buy a computer

forget xp!

get windows 7 32bit

Originally Posted by Ace Rimmer

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Agree, AMD has the sub-$200 marked nailed down. However, it will be interesting to see how things work out in the coming months.

Maximum PC magazine reports that Intel will lower the price of the Intel Core i7 950 to $284 in the next few months, which basically renders the Core i7 920 and 930 obsolete. If stores like MicroCenter discount the Core i7 950 to $199.99 (as they did with both the 920 and 930), then PC builders will have serious options if they decide to buy at the upper end of the $200 CPU spectrum.

The huge caveat in the above is the cost of the mobo and chipset. Intel x58 chipset mobos are not cheap. I think I paid $250 for my Asus x58 mobo in October 2009. Then you have to shell out for three sticks of triple-channel memory, which is also more expensive than dual-channel (I paid $130 for six gigs of Patriot Viper DDR3/1600).

In short, the coming months will be very interesting as Intel cuts pricing to compete with AMD. It's good for the consumer.

I completely agree. An i7 950 for $199 is excellent. However as you pointed out, the mobo and tri channel memory really ratchets up the cost for that system. If you have the extra dough and need the power, it would make for quite a stellar setup.

I'd be interested to see how AMD handles the intrusion into their bread and butter price range.

Originally Posted by JD_May

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Where are you finding these systems? I'm looking on the website under computer systems and not seeing them. Wondering if I'm in the wrong category, or what.

I'm using the system configurator to build a custom system.

Originally Posted by whiteslashasian

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Still not sure why unjung insists on using a micro-ATX motherboard when he's using an ATX case. Make use of the extra room! You never know when you want to add a TV tuner card or get a large dual slot video card. Better to future proof and it's not like it's an extra charge to get the larger ATX mobo.

Originally Posted by javyn

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Yeah, especially when a comparable Gigabyte ATX doesn't cost any more than what he chose. I can't think of any reason at all to use a mATX mobo in a mid tower. Sure it'll mount in there, but it will probably take effort, and you're limiting yourself right off the bat anyway.

I just can't tell the difference. On http://memoryexpress.com, please recommend a mobo, case and PS.

mATX stands for micro-ATX, which are a bit smaller than regular ATX motherboards so they will fit in mATX cases. There's nothing wrong with an mATX board, but since you are looking at ATX cases, may as well get an ATX mobo to fill it and have more expandability later. Here is a list of ATX mobo's that will house your AM3 processor. Be sure to check the specs on the motherboards you consider to match up the correct ram. (click on ATX in the form factor column) http://www.memoryexpress.com/Product...Sort=Price_Asc If you are not married to memoryexpress.com, newegg.ca has a bit better selection and prices. http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...CE&PageSize=20 I have the Gigabyte GA-770TA-UD3 ATX for my Athlon II Quad core, and like it a lot. It is ready for SATA 6 (for when the solid state drives come down in price) as well as eSATA, and USB 3.0. http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16813128431 It does not have onboard video though, so I had to buy a card (which I wanted to do anyway), so I opted for this. (I see in Canada though, you are not offered the 20 dollar mail in rebate) http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16813128419

Mobo's with AMD northbridge chips will have an integrated GPU if there is a G, GX, or mention of HDMI in the name of the product.

Ex: GIGABYTE GA-MA785GT-UD3H AM3 AMD 785G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard

This memory express business is getting annoying. You can create wish lists on newegg to put your configs in.

Case: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...-042-_-Product

Modular PSU (they have 600w and 700w options, but this 500w should be more than enough for your config + a dedicated GPU later on): http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...-016-_-Product

Man you guys in Canada really get assraped on the shipping

Also, newegg doesn't offer you guys nearly as many combo deals or rebates. That sucks.

Originally Posted by javyn

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Man you guys in Canada really get assraped on the shipping

Also, newegg doesn't offer you guys nearly as many combo deals or rebates. That sucks.
Ya .. Newegg isn't very good in Canada.

Been building PC's for years for myself and friends .. and have never had anyone compare to www.ncix.com, not only are their prices very competitive, they have he best shipping and RMA in Canada. I've bought stuff from them, using regular ground shipping, and had it in less then 2 business days (ordered Wednesday afternoon, stuff at door Friday am)

Another quick consideration: USB 3.0 and SATA 6.0 Gb/s are just now starting to make their way into motherboards. If you wait a little while longer, you can take advantage of these new features.

Originally Posted by Ace Rimmer

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Another quick consideration: USB 3.0 and SATA 6.0 Gb/s are just now starting to make their way into motherboards. If you wait a little while longer, you can take advantage of these new features.

True. I believe the WD Caviar Black 1TB unjung listed comes in a SATA 6.0 flavor.

This mobo would be able to take advantage of that along with the USB 3.0, integrated graphics, and ATX form factor: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16813128444

Okay, Caviar Blue v. Caviar Black.

Is the speed increase of the Black actually worth the increased noise over the Blue?

I have a Blue b/c my gf is going to use the box for recording, but I'd like the extra speed of the Black with it's 32 megs of cache and dual core. I'm not sure if the Black will be too loud though.

Opinions?

edit: I'll just play it safe and stick with the Blue. Even though the 500 GB Black is faster (and 5 dollars cheaper than the Blue on newegg, wtf?), seems based on the reviews though the Blacks fail in 1 to 2 years, and lots of people had DOAs also.

RAID some SSD's and you'll have a blazing fast system at around 450mb/s (will run you $250 or so).

Or nab another caviar blue and RAID 0 them. Should get you 160mb/s + which isn't too shabby.

When I can get a 80GB SSD for under $150 CAD .. I'll build a new system. I've always wanted a ballin home theater set up with a HTPC that I can use as a standard desktop, but I find standard HDD's to be way to noisy in HTPC cases.

Anyone have any insight into the effects of torrent downloads on SSD's? I know torrents trash HDD's (all the spinning/writing of small file pieces), but this should have minimal/no effect on SSD's right?

Originally Posted by imschatz

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When I can get a 80GB SSD for under $150 CAD .. I'll build a new system. I've always wanted a ballin home theater set up with a HTPC that I can use as a standard desktop, but I find standard HDD's to be way to noisy in HTPC cases.

Anyone have any insight into the effects of torrent downloads on SSD's? I know torrents trash HDD's (all the spinning/writing of small file pieces), but this should have minimal/no effect on SSD's right?

I believe that as long as the SSD drive has TRIM or some other garbage collecting capability you should be good to go.

I know you can get the 64gb drives for ~$120 right now; maybe lower with sales/rebates. THe 128gb drives are still ~$220+.

Originally Posted by whiteslashasian

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RAID some SSD's and you'll have a blazing fast system at around 450mb/s (will run you $250 or so). Or nab another caviar blue and RAID 0 them. Should get you 160mb/s + which isn't too shabby.
Yeah I'll just wait until the SSDs go down in price. My friend tells me though if you are working off an SSD and there is a power outage, you lose all your data. I think that's BS though. I'll stick with the Caviar Blue I have. Seems after reading reviews the 500 GB blacks fail after a year or two, so I'll take reliability over a marginal speed increase. Also don't want to risk the loudness of the Caviar Black since gf is using this box as a recording studio. Save me from having to clone my partitions and move them over, redoing my MBR, reinstalling GRUB and all that mess. edit: About to pull the trigger on a dual core for my Dad. WD 500 GB Caviar Blue, Rosewill MicroATX mid tower, OCZ 500W modular, LiteON DVD burner, 2 gig G.Skill DDR2 800, ASUS M2N68-AM PLUS AM3/AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA Geforce 7025/nForce mobo, AMD Athlon X2 7850 Black Edition Kuma 2.8GHz Socket AM2+ OEM... All for 275 bucks after rebate. Man, that's an awesome deal. http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboB...t=Combo.419979

For just a little more you can get an X3 Rana (comes with a HSF, which your combo doesn't) with a decent mobo that has ACC (unlocks cores and L3 cache if available). A good number of people are reporting the X3 rana chips to unlock to a full blown X4 Phenom II Deneb core.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.429004

If it does unlock to that, you can trade it for your X4 Propus

Get him a 2gb stick of value DDR3 ram ~$50 and you're looking at ~$140 after rebates for better ram, mobo, and MUCH better proc compared to the $132 combo you listed (again the X2 7850 doesn't include HSF so you're looking at least an extra $15). Much better value for very little money.