Building a new pc, need advice

[kpa2727]

i need a setup for online surfing, big file transfers at fast speeds. some video editing adobe premire, photoshop cs3 extended, the ability to run roller coaster tycoon 3 with no slowdown, and some horsepower if i want to run a more advance game like bioshock or something near that even though i might never do it the flexibility is what i want. i have a 360 , ps3 and wii, doubt i'll do a ton of gaming on the system.

my budget is like 300 maybe 400

i have the 2 dvd burners , OS software and plan on using my 200 gig IDE drive, so 300 for a main board and processor and power supply, ram idk factor that in if it won't hinder what processor i get.

heres what i looked into and i'm considering.

case i already bought

http://www.antec.com/usa/productDeta...n=us&id=15900#


power supply told was crap but idk

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...sku=ULT-LSP650

processor told was decent but idk

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...1-AM2-6000%20C

mother board told was crap but idk

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...&sku=S458-1308

i haven't considered cooling cause that case looks like a beast but idk need some advice on that vs the chips stock cooling.

i also been looking into the amd phenom processor,

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...?EdpNo=4171789

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...?EdpNo=3740791

any guidence apperciated

[not important]

Ultra Power supplies..not good.
ECS Motherboards....not good.
Tiger Direct....not that good.
I would suggest looking on Newegg...an Asus Mothboard....look at the PSU's list here: http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=131195

[Doom]

Some thoughts:

- Asus is a good brand to go with on motherboards, and Corsair is a very good name in PSU (as is PC Power and Cooling).
- You can do with a 500w PSU if that helps the budget. Corsair makes a good 520w unit.
- Given that you don't want to do gaming... you can probably get away with 2GB of RAM. 4GB is good if you can affort it and would help w/ Bioshock or another graphically demanding program. I like Corsair.
- Processor looks fine.
- I didn't see any graphics capability in the parts you listed above. A cheaper nVidia 8800/8600 series or perhaps a9600 would likely do what you wan't without breaking the bank too much. I'm not too familiar w/ ATI... but they tend to be cheaper and may be a better option for you.

[kpa2727]

i'm willing to spend extra to drop 4 gigs in, i work at best buy so i can get ram for decent prices, i wouldn't mind dropping a lil extra on a decent graphics card in case. i have bishock and all th hit games u can think of on 360 lol so technically as i said mainly pc games would be played on it like roller coaster tycoon 3, the main thing would be adobe premiere, adobe photoshop cs3 and moving like 20 - 50 gig files in a hurry. the rest just net surfing. so flexibility is my aim. any opinons on OCZ ram? i got some platinums in the computer i'm using now. OCZ seemed alot better then corsair, i heard corsair is cheap, like a brand made to look good and flashy but is crap at heart.

[not important]

I have Corsair RAM in 3 PC's and a laptop and have never had any problems with it. I recently put together a dual-core PC (Asus P5 MOBO-E7200 CPU-OC'd to 3.0) and I used OCZ Platinum RAM in it. So far so good.

[kpa2727]

condiering these power supplies.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1203815240786

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371010

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139006


these are the motherboards i'm looking at, ones partnered with a Ocz Power supply another is comboed with a Phenom processor, both onboard graphichs are pretty decent i think. i can also buy them seperately.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817341013

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131331

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103291

so what's your opinions? thanks for the help so far btw it has helped me narrow down things alot. i think i'm going to go with corsair or ocz maybe pny ram. ocz is the only ram i'd have to buy online the others my store carries. also carry thermaltake and antec power supplies so i can get them for less if i buy in store, grpahics cards i might wait and use on board to get by for a little while then purchase a really nice card instead of a so so card. plus my store carries a ton of nvidia and ati cards so i can get them cheeper to. so i need some opinions on processors , mobo and power supply. i'm still torn between the one i posted in my first post and the phenom line of processors. idk if that extra power is worth the price for what i want to do.

[kpa2727]

ok one last change, i bought a 850 watt black widow edition thermaltake psu. i got it for half price so i figured it would work great.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1218007088315

[Doom]

Normally I'm dubious about on-board video, but that's because I'm usually thinking of running games at max settings. I think the mobo and processor (with your PSU and 4GB or RAM) will probably meet your expectations. Given that you work at best buy... should you decide you want better graphics you can always move to an upgraded card without spending too much at all.

Also, you'll notice in my signature line below that I'm a Corsair nut. It's highly recommended in these forums and I've used them (both PSU and RAM) for a while with solid results. OCZ and Patriot are other RAM types I've heard good things about.

[kpa2727]

i was about to go with corsair and i found g skill ram for 54 bucks, i hate to keep bugging but moneys tight i rather not buy the wrong thing.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231209

for the price, is there any advantages going intel instead of amd for the price of the things i picked out? cause i was told amd is not what it used to be i should go intel over the amd phenom cpu i picked out.

[David M]

Lets be truthful to kpa and let him know the financial realities of what he wants.

Come on guys...$300 to $400 is too tight of a budget for what he is asking for. Tell me how he is going to do all those things and run Bioshock for $400 bucks? A graphics card that can run Bioshock at 30-40 FPS with decent resolution of 1024 x 768 and some of the eye candy turned on like 2x anti-aliasing or is going to be more than half the cost of the computer. No onboard graphics is going to do this.

Realistically? I think the budget needs to be raised to twice that.

For $400 the best thing that can be done it is to buy a used Dell 530 that can run everything he needs except Bioshock.

http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnlineS...n%20530s&s=dfh

[kpa2727]

ok i'm not going to run bioshock. i have a 360,wii, ps3 and bioshock on 360 so no i'm not going to but i'd like to run a game in the future with those needs. for prob the majority of the use it will see roller coaster tycoon 3, adobe photoshop cs3 extended and adobe premiere, with huge file transfers of 20 to 40 gig moved in a hurry. so thats what i need the pc for. i was curious, if i went intel, i assume a huge l2 cache would make a world of difference coupled with fsb when choosing.

[David M]

The Dell 530 might be able to run Roller Coaster Tycoon 3. Its not that graphics intensive of a game...at least compared to Bioshock. Keep in mind that upgrading a Dell to run a high powered graphics card also means replacing its power supply. Dells power supplies are proprietary but you can get aftermarket power supplies designed to run on Dell machines. PC Power & Cooling has some. But then, sinking money into a Dell might be a waste of money since their parts are so proprietary....making it better to have purchased a different computer in the first place.

If you can increase your budget so you can have a computer that you can upgrade in the future, then I would do that.

[kpa2727]

have u been reading my posts? i'm building a new rigg don't even own that dell. i put up a asus motherboard and a phenom processor. i'll recap one more time, i have a Antec 900 case already bought, a black widow edition 850 watt thermatake psu, i just need ram, a mobo, and processor i have a 200 gig seagate from the current hp i'm using i upgraded a few years ago and 1 pretty new dvd burner and another dvd burner lightly used that came witht this hp. i have vista Os and xp OS. so i have everything i need. except the mobo, processor and ram.

[kpa2727]

btw my hp runs roller coaster tycoon 3 with a amd 3300 + processor in it and 2 gigs of ocz platinum memory so i know it can be ran i just want to make sure i get a beefy enough setup t handle the most abuse a game like that for now can dish out. but i'm going over kill cause of the other stuff i listed.

[Masaki 7-11]

Originally Posted by kpa2727 have u been reading my posts? i'm building a new rigg don't even own that dell. i put up a asus motherboard and a phenom processor. i'll recap one more time, i have a Antec 900 case already bought, a black widow edition 850 watt thermatake psu, i just need ram, a mobo, and processor i have a 200 gig seagate from the current hp i'm using i upgraded a few years ago and 1 pretty new dvd burner and another dvd burner lightly used that came witht this hp. i have vista Os and xp OS. so i have everything i need. except the mobo, processor and ram.

Do you need a video card as well, or do you already have one or are planning to use integrated?
If you do need a video card, here is a good list of parts for around $300:


GIGABYTE GA-MA74GM-S2 AM2+/AM2 AMD 740G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128342
$54.99

MSI N9600GT-T2D512-OC GeForce 9600 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127382
$94.99

mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 996557
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820146692
$54.99

AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Windsor 3.0GHz Socket AM2 89W Dual-Core Processor Model ADA6000CZBOX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103233
$92.00

Subtotal: $296.97

If you plan on using integrated graphics or you already have a graphics card, here is a good parts list for about $300:


mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 996557
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820146692
$54.99

ASUS P5KPL-CM LGA 775 Intel G31 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131288
$52.99

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor Model BX80562Q6600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115017
$182.45

Subtotal: $290.43

[kpa2727]

i plan on going with onboard graphics for now but i think i can afford a beefier motherboard. i'd like at least a hdmi out cause i run on a 32 inch samsung high deff tv as the moniter plus that board u gave me is based on a micro atx setup. i'll bl,ow 300 on a motherboard and cpu since the ram is like 54 or so. so i really wan t something decent.

[Masaki 7-11]

Originally Posted by kpa2727 i plan on going with onboard graphics for now but i think i can afford a beefier motherboard. i'd like at least a hdmi out cause i run on a 32 inch samsung high deff tv as the moniter plus that board u gave me is based on a micro atx setup. i'll bl,ow 300 on a motherboard and cpu since the ram is like 54 or so. so i really wan t something decent.

If you want a better motherboard with HDMI, take a look at this one (it's socket 775): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131336

[kpa2727]

thanks for all the help i decided to stick with my amd setup of a amd phenom processor and amd mobo.

[Chris Linder]

You'll regret not having Intel later down the line.

[Masaki 7-11]

Originally Posted by 1life2live4 You'll regret not having Intel later down the line.

That's probably not the case as Intel is switching sockets and will start restricting upgrade options. From what I have read the new 45nm processors will be fully backwards compatible with socket AM2+, so you will have a good amount of upgrade options.

[kpa2727]

exactly, i ran amd for over 7 years alongside my intel's. i'm happy with what i'm going with.

[Khalil]

Originally Posted by 1life2live4 You'll regret not having Intel later down the line.

Why would one regret buying and using AMD? I am tired of this negative propganda against an American company that have been there for many of us with great prices and an excellent product!

[Rev_pizzaguy]

Eh, it's a personal preference. However, Intel's usually clock higher and can do more per cycle than their AMD counterparts. I currently have and AMD Athlon X2 BE-2300 in my desktop and an AMD Turion X2 TK-57 in my laptop. I have run tests (winrar, etc) with Intel Core2Duo's at the same clock speed and ram and the Core2Duo consistently takes less time to complete. It's not negative propaganda, it's just fact. I have no problem with AMD, but when it comes down to performance clock for clock, Intel wins. AMD was there for me when I needed a low-priced build. I do regret myself not spending a little extra and going for a socket 775 build where I could have upgraded to a Wolfdale Core2Duo.

[Khalil]

Originally Posted by Rev_pizzaguy Eh, it's a personal preference. However, Intel's usually clock higher and can do more per cycle than their AMD counterparts. I currently have and AMD Athlon X2 BE-2300 in my desktop and an AMD Turion X2 TK-57 in my laptop. I have run tests (winrar, etc) with Intel Core2Duo's at the same clock speed and ram and the Core2Duo consistently takes less time to complete. It's not negative propaganda, it's just fact. I have no problem with AMD, but when it comes down to performance clock for clock, Intel wins. AMD was there for me when I needed a low-priced build. I do regret myself not spending a little extra and going for a socket 775 build where I could have upgraded to a Wolfdale Core2Duo.

You are correct the core2duo are awesome processors however the "regret" is hardly the right word to use in conjunction with AMD. I can't get my hands on enough of them from distribution, vendors are buying them like there is no tomorrow.

[Doom]

Hoo-rah Khalil. I use intel... but not because I think AMD is in any way regrettable. I think some people have also bought into the advertising on nVidia vs. ATI too much. ATI is often a much better value. If these CPU or GPU products really were crappy... they wouldn't be in business after all these year and getting all the recommendations in forums like these.

[Rev_pizzaguy]

The reason I "regret" buying an AMD is that I have an AM2 socket and cannot benefit from quad-core AMD processors. I have no problem buying AMD. I have bought AMD in the past and may still buy AMD in the future. My computer is mostly used for gaming outside of everyday internet browsing. If I had gone with a Core2Duo, I could be getting much better performance. Yes, some AMD processors will overclock to 3.2 or so, but, you don't see them getting to 4.0 or 4.5 like you do with the Intel's. AMD makes great processors and a lot of people use them. It depends on your needs as to which company you go with. "Regret" is a personal feeling, not a statement of quality.

[Masaki 7-11]

Originally Posted by Rev_pizzaguy The reason I "regret" buying an AMD is that I have an AM2 socket and cannot benefit from quad-core AMD processors. I have no problem buying AMD. I have bought AMD in the past and may still buy AMD in the future. My computer is mostly used for gaming outside of everyday internet browsing. If I had gone with a Core2Duo, I could be getting much better performance. Yes, some AMD processors will overclock to 3.2 or so, but, you don't see them getting to 4.0 or 4.5 like you do with the Intel's. AMD makes great processors and a lot of people use them. It depends on your needs as to which company you go with. "Regret" is a personal feeling, not a statement of quality.

Does your motherboard not have a bios update to support quad core? Most AM2 motherboards support quad cores, especially the 95w versions. The new 45nm quad cores are supposed to go up to and past 4.0GHz once overclocked.

[Rev_pizzaguy]

No, my motherboard doesn't support the Phenom line. Most AM2 motherboards DO NOT support quad cores, even with a bios update.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...ards,1749.html

Have you checked overclocking results on the new 45nm quad cores? Good luck getting it to 4.0GHz. Intel Wolfdale's are hitting 4.0 and above without even adjusting the voltages.




P.S. Not trying to turn this into a flame war.

[kpa2727]

my boards phenom compatible, the biggest thing is i just don't plan to over clock so i perfer the phenom plus i do mostly multitasking and no gaming outside of building games like roller coaster tycoon 3. i'll be running my consoles for gaming so i got a board that i can upgrade if the urge strikes but the stock board will run perfect for my intentions, the parts were shipped today so when i recieve them i'll build and post up all the parts i got, there were a few changes.

[Masaki 7-11]

Originally Posted by Rev_pizzaguy No, my motherboard doesn't support the Phenom line. Most AM2 motherboards DO NOT support quad cores, even with a bios update. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...ards,1749.html Have you checked overclocking results on the new 45nm quad cores? Good luck getting it to 4.0GHz. Intel Wolfdale's are hitting 4.0 and above without even adjusting the voltages. P.S. Not trying to turn this into a flame war.

That's a pretty old article, some manufacturers have since provided new BIOS updates, but notice that all motherboards have the necessary hardware components but only the motherboards that have up to date BIOSes support it, the main thing with motherboards that don't support the phenom processors is that the manufacturer hasn't provided the necessary amount of support ( pretty much all AM2 motherboards I've worked with have support for Phenom processors, I've worked mainly with MSI, Gigabyte and ASUS motherboards). I've seen a engineering sample 45nm a few months ago which was overclocked to 4.0GHz. I don't see that as being that difficult to do given that the 45nm quad core will launch with 3.0GHz frequency requiring only 25% overclock (should be quite possible since the 45nm processors have more headroom than the older 65nm processors).