The Desktop PC Building Thread

[ConcernedParent]

Recommend a good video card for gaming under $120?

 

[deantran]

If you guys aren't going for 28"+ monitors, they have some great monitors on pricewatch.com. Some of the monitors are refurbished, but they work just as well as brand new monitors.

 

[Ace Rimmer]

Originally Posted by ConcernedParent

Recommend a good video card for gaming under $120?

Spend $15 more and get a Radeon 5770. Best "bang for the buck" GPU on the market, in my opinion. The link is to a Sapphire 5770, $135 shipped (after rebate) from Newegg.

 

[Rambo]

Hit up SlickDeals for monitor deals.

Skimp on the DVD and splurge on the cpu cooler and good quiet fans.

 

[AR_Six]

BenQ 2700HD just went 80 bucks off so I'm thinking I'll grab it while it's hot after I leave work and put the savings towards an in-store product replacement plan.

 

[pokey07]

How many years do you guys go wait before getting a new PC?


edit: Trying to justify my computer parts purchase, even though my Macbook is running fine. I need to play SCII!

 

[Althis]

I bought an HIS Radeon 5750 from newegg and it kept making my computer crash during any game so I researched what was happening. From what I had read it turned out that it was the drivers from Radeon that were messed up so I called them. They then suggested that I contact HIS for a replacement because apparently it was defective. Although skeptical from all the complaints I read, I got a replacement from HIS today and so far it hasn't failed yet. I hope they were right and the hardware was defective instead of the software.

It averages around 160-170 FPS on CS:S and SC2 was running as smooth as butter

 

[Connemara]

I can't wait to build a new PC. My very old (2004 probably) rig still runs quickly and quietly, though it's in storage at the moment. Thanks to AMD for the Athlon 2500, one of the great CPUs of all time.

 

[chrismgtis]

Originally Posted by Christobevii3

Why not go with a core i3/i5? The power usage would be a bit lower. I wouldn't go with the 6 core over faster 4 cores unless you are doing encoding. Otherwise no real benefit outside of virtualizing ****.
The cost of Intel for a slight 3% speed difference. I will and always will recommend AMD over Intel to anyone for that reason. I've yet to attempt to build an Intel system that came out cheaper than an "equal" AMD system. Power usage isn't really a decision making factor. That's just something people who delve really deep into building systems think about (the same people that overclock). Sure it might mean something when buying a PSU, but as long as you buy a GOOD PSU. It shouldn't really matter, assuming you're not buying an obviously underpowered PSU.

 

[GQgeek]

Originally Posted by Connemara

I can't wait to build a new PC. My very old (2004 probably) rig still runs quickly and quietly, though it's in storage at the moment. Thanks to AMD for the Athlon 2500, one of the great CPUs of all time.

Damn that's old. I remember building an XP1800 just around the time when Dark Ages of Camelot released. I eventually converted it to a dedicated HTPC but at some point I gave it away to someone.

I used to upgrade when big games came out. There hasn't been an MMO that's really interested me in years though, so the upgrades have been slower. I'm using a Q9450 (2.66 ghz quad core) with 8GB/ram and 10TB of disk space right now. I need to build a couple of new PCs soon, actually. One will be a new HTPC and the other will be a VMware/storage server.

 

[AR_Six]

This monitor is huuuuge... posting on SF from my laptop but it's DVI'd out to the 27" and damn. Big.

 

[gwydion]

JD, curious. Where are you buying your parts from? Locally or somewhere online? Check out NCIX.com. They own a few other ones online like DirectCanada(I think that's the one?). They may not always have the cheapest price but you can price match anything so it's awesome

They used to ship pretty much next day to my place from BC so shipping is awesome as well.

 

[AR_Six]

Memory Express in northwest Calgary. Also at memoryexpress.com. They have a lot of similar stock to NCIX and Newegg, and if something's cheaper on one of those two sites they'll just price match it. It's a lot easier than waiting for shipping, I'd rather just carry the stuff out of the store. That being said, I did buy a case fan and my ram from Newegg, as Memory express doesn't sell ram in the configuration I wanted. It shipped on friday so hopefully it'll get here this week. All I need after that is a GPU, optical drive and a keyboard / mouse. The optical drive and the peripherals will be under $100 all told, but the GPU is the expensive thing and the hard thing to buy because there's so much out there. I'm leaning towards this HIS 5850, which has gotten good reviews at sides I've looked at. http://www.memoryexpress.com/Product...8%28ME%29.aspx In any case I have to wait for my OS to show up, too.

 

[GQgeek]

Originally Posted by JD_May

This monitor is huuuuge... posting on SF from my laptop but it's DVI'd out to the 27" and damn. Big.

I'm debating getting a 30. ^_^

 

[BubblyMasquerade]

i'm a cheapo when it comes to computers.

gigabyte ep43 mobo
e5200 @ 3.8 ghz
2gbs geil evo one
fortron psu
9800gtx+
kingwin lian li copy case
22" NEC IPS monitor... you get what you pay for.

runs great. nice and silent with a zalman cpu cooler and an aftermarket silenx gpu cooler.