Something that compares...

[LA22]

So I built the comp in my sig a little over 5 years ago and got a lot out of it with only upgrading the ram to a larger quantity.

Basically I am looking for something that will compare to that built but into todays parts. If that makes sense.

I am really only looking for CPU and mobo. Feel free to add other suggestions if you like.

So yeah I am looking for a CPU and mobo that would compare to the ones I purchased 5 years ago.

I hope that makes sense.

Thanks

[glc]

What is your budget? You will also need new ram. Your video card is obsolete for gaming.

[LA22]

Originally Posted by glc What is your budget? You will also need new ram. Your video card is obsolete for gaming.

Hmm...let me try to explain what I mean.

So lets say when I bought those parts 5 years ago they were in the "3rd tier" in terms of performance with other parts on the market.

What I am looking for is the "tier 3" parts in todays market.

They reason I am not asking for ram, graphics card, etc is because I already have a GPU (not the one listed) and I am capable of picking out my own

I hope that makes better sense.

[Nuclear Krusader]

What GPU is this that you currently have?

[glc]

While we are at it, the XClio power supplies are starting to fail. They aren't as good as we thought they were.

Someone else is going to have to help you. I go by budget, not "tiers". I also only do Intel.

[jdeb]

in 2005, those were quality components, not sure what you mean by 3rd tier.

today you would be looking for...

785 or 880 amd chipset ASUS brand
ddr3 memory 4 gigs 2X2, ADATA, Crucial, Corsair, Kingston
AMD Phenom II X2 or X4 AM3 CPU
Corsair, Seasonic, Antec power supply to match Video Card
AMD 5000 series graphics card with the 5830 being a sweet spot gaming card
Nvidea GT460 being the sweet spot gaming card
Video card manufactures Diamond, Asus, EVGA, HIS, Saffire being the best manufacturers
Case: preference really, I prefer Antec and Lian LI
Hard Drives: WD Black series, 5 year warranty, fast, reliable

Giving us a budget we can tailor it a little better

[glc]

The 6850 and 6870 have taken over as the best ATI cards for the money. They are equal to the Nvidia GTX 460 and 470 respectively. Sapphire is a good card, but there's no end user support.

[jdeb]

Originally Posted by glc The 6850 and 6870 have taken over as the best ATI cards for the money. They are equal to the Nvidia GTX 460 and 470 respectively. Sapphire is a good card, but there's no end user support.

right, I have not used or seen any so I was going with what I know.

[techellis]

This may help you i read this: its from Custom Pc

So you want to build your own custom PC? Well, welcome to the world of the tech savvy build-to-order clan. Since you have made your decision to build your own custom PC, what do you need to know at a basic level?

Let's start at the base level of designing what you want in your PC but first you need to know what you are going to use it for. Is it for business? Is it for gaming? Are you rendering 3D models of molecular structures? Or are you just going to use it for Microsoft Office applications? You must decide before you start designing, buying and building.

When you build a custom PC, please follow some basic guidelines:

1) Do not buy tier 2 and tier 3 level components. Stick with tier one players. Why? Even though tier 2 and tier 3 components are less expensive, they are also cheaply made. For example; the curse of the dreaded cheap memory card. Memory is all the same, right? Sure it is and I own the Golden Gate Bridge. Memory is not all the same. Buy cheap memory and you are asking for that dreaded intermittent error or freeze that not even a superb engineer can find. Bottom line, stay away from cheap memory. Buy tier one memory.

2) Processor and motherboards. Just because you decided to buy the fastest Intel i7 processor doesn't mean your PC is going to hum through every game or application. Buying an Intel processor is pretty safe BUT and it's a big but, as long as you buy a quality tier one motherboard that can handle the speed and functions of the Intel i7 chip. The motherboard's design and architecture must be built to handle the processor chip or again you are just throwing your money away. So make sure your motherboard can handle the processor you want. Companies can put any processor chip on any board and it will run, maybe at 10% of the chip design, maybe 30% but the point being is you want a motherboard that will allow the processor to run at least in the 90%+ efficiency range. Stick to tier 1 motherboard manufacturers.

3) All other custom PC components follow the same rules. Don't buy tier 2 & 3 disk drives, internal or external. They may run great for awhile but only long enough for you to build and add all your files and then screech to a blazing stop. No warning, nothing. Just one big piece of metal with all your life on it and no way to access it. Power supplies, 2 key things: Always buy quality tier 1 and always add 50% more watts than what you have calculated. You can ruin an entire PC by turning on a power supply that is too small to handle the load of the parts. If you like the smell of smoke, buy a 500 watt power supply when you really needed 1000 watts. Buy good tier one quality parts.

One final thought. As you prepare to build your custom PC, build it in a way that allows you to easily upgrade the system. Do not lock yourself in with some special deal on a computer case or a one-of-a -kind motherboard or disk drive. You want to give yourself a choice when it's time to buy an upgrade. So decide what you need the custom PC for, allow room for overhead in case you come up with another application you must have 9 months out, and always buy compatible tier 1 components from reliable manufacturers. Good luck and don't forget the static wrist guard strap.

[glc]

I have a feeling you are defining "tier" in a different context than the original poster. I think he is using it in a performance and/or price bracket context, while you are using it in a manufacturing quality sense. I can't agree with you more on the quality aspect. Have you read the sticky we have in the Hardware forum about recommended brands?

[LA22]

Originally Posted by jdeb in 2005, those were quality components, not sure what you mean by 3rd tier. today you would be looking for... 785 or 880 amd chipset ASUS brand ddr3 memory 4 gigs 2X2, ADATA, Crucial, Corsair, Kingston AMD Phenom II X2 or X4 AM3 CPU Corsair, Seasonic, Antec power supply to match Video Card AMD 5000 series graphics card with the 5830 being a sweet spot gaming card Nvidea GT460 being the sweet spot gaming card Video card manufactures Diamond, Asus, EVGA, HIS, Saffire being the best manufacturers Case: preference really, I prefer Antec and Lian LI Hard Drives: WD Black series, 5 year warranty, fast, reliable Giving us a budget we can tailor it a little better

Thank you. This is what I was looking for.

Originally Posted by glc I have a feeling you are defining "tier" in a different context than the original poster. I think he is using it in a performance and/or price bracket context, while you are using it in a manufacturing quality sense. I can't agree with you more on the quality aspect. Have you read the sticky we have in the Hardware forum about recommended brands?

You got it. Yep I have read it many times.

I just wasnt sure on all the numbers and chip sets because a lot of numbers have changed since I built my last computer and I did not keep up with it.

[David M]

Originally Posted by LA22 Hmm...let me try to explain what I mean. So lets say when I bought those parts 5 years ago they were in the "3rd tier" in terms of performance with other parts on the market. What I am looking for is the "tier 3" parts in todays market. They reason I am not asking for ram, graphics card, etc is because I already have a GPU (not the one listed) and I am capable of picking out my own I hope that makes better sense.

The better approach to take is to give us budget and to let us know which applications you plan on running and how you plan on using your computer. Requesting third generation hardware is not going to be of any benefit to you. It's better to keep an old computer in one piece and to use it for something else than it is to try to Frankenstein in old hardware into a new build. Much of the third generation hardware is not even going to work with a modern computer.

If I made a mistake and "third tier" hardware means cheap junk that is likely to fail and make you frustrated, then that's not how we work around here. Our goal is to provide you with the best quality hardware that is going to be reliable at the lowest prices from high quality vendors. Third tier parts from the lowest priced vendors out there is only going to create a junk computer that is bound to fail, provided the vendor does not screw you in some way before you even get the parts.

You are going to pick your own graphics card anyways. Just let us know what it is so we can build a system that is going to be compatible. We choose video cards based on what we think are your needs. There are a lot of very knowledgeable people around here who really know their stuff.

[LA22]

Originally Posted by David M The better approach to take is to give us budget and to let us know which applications you plan on running and how you plan on using your computer. Requesting third generation hardware is not going to be of any benefit to you. It's better to keep an old computer in one piece and to use it for something else than it is to try to Frankenstein in old hardware into a new build. Much of the third generation hardware is not even going to work with a modern computer. If I made a mistake and "third tier" hardware means cheap junk that is likely to fail and make you frustrated, then that's not how we work around here. Our goal is to provide you with the best quality hardware that is going to be reliable at the lowest prices from high quality vendors. Third tier parts from the lowest priced vendors out there is only going to create a junk computer that is bound to fail, provided the vendor does not screw you in some way before you even get the parts. You are going to pick your own graphics card anyways. Just let us know what it is so we can build a system that is going to be compatible. We choose video cards based on what we think are your needs. There are a lot of very knowledgeable people around here who really know their stuff.

Oh I completely understand what you are saying.

I 100% for sure wont be using any of the parts listed in my signature, except the hard drive. And that will be a secondary at best.

My current video card is a 9800GT. Not great but im not looking to upgrade that right now since its brand new and it will do what I want it to do.

I can list the parts I am probably going to get or have since you guys are curious :P

Phenom II x4 965 Black Edition
WD caviar black 3.0 gb/s
ADATA Ram 4gigs
EVGA 9800GT vid card (already have)
GIGABYTE GA-890GPA-UD3H AM3 AMD 890GX HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0

[LA22]

Is there better chip sets out there better than the 785 or 800? I picked out a motherboard with an 890GX chip set, how is this?

I am not really familiar with what chip sets or good or bad.

Thanks

[LA22]

bump bump

still have the question about the chip set!

[David M]

One of the AMD experts like Khalil will need to answer that. Be patient.

[glc]

Sorry, guy - I only do Intel. We can't count on Khalil to see this right now, he's really busy at work.

[LA22]

no worries.

Thanks for letting me know. I sought advice from a friend so all is good.

[Nikon]

well, as far as amd chipsets go, the 890fx is the cream of the crop. there are a few differences between them. the gx is equipped with integrated video, and does not support xfire. it has 22 pci-e lanes

the fx version has no onboard video, but does support xfire, with 38 pci-e lanes.

the fx also supports more features geared towards the tweaker/overclocker, whilst the gx is more mainstream. the real treat with these chipsets is the sb850 southbridge they both come with, enabling sata 6gbps and usb3 (if the mobo supports it, it varies from board to board, so if it is something you want, make sure you check the specs.)

i hope this helps you out a bit.

[LA22]

Originally Posted by Nikon well, as far as amd chipsets go, the 890fx is the cream of the crop. there are a few differences between them. the gx is equipped with integrated video, and does not support xfire. it has 22 pci-e lanes the fx version has no onboard video, but does support xfire, with 38 pci-e lanes. the fx also supports more features geared towards the tweaker/overclocker, whilst the gx is more mainstream. the real treat with these chipsets is the sb850 southbridge they both come with, enabling sata 6gbps and usb3 (if the mobo supports it, it varies from board to board, so if it is something you want, make sure you check the specs.) i hope this helps you out a bit.

That helps quite a bit.

I dont think I need the integrated video card, so the FX is appealing. At the same time I wont be doing any over clocking and am not very computer savy. I know how to build it and thats about it.

After checking the prices, I am just going to stick with the 890GX Gigabyte.

Thanks for the help!

[LA22]

My final build and last 3 questions:

This is my final build

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-890GPA-UD3H AM3 AMD 890GX HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-890GPA-UD3H AM3 AMD 890GX HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 970 Black Edition Deneb 3.5GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Desktop Processor
Newegg.com - AMD Phenom II X4 970 Black Edition Deneb 3.5GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Desktop Processor HDZ970FBGMBOX

Hard Drive:Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive

Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

RAM: A-DATA 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory

Newegg.com - A-DATA 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model AD3U1333B2G9-DRH

CASE: COOLER MASTER HAF 912 RC-912-KKN1 Black SECC/ ABS Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER HAF 912 RC-912-KKN1 Black SECC/ ABS Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

GPU: EVGA 512-P3-N987-TR GeForce 9800 GT HDMI 512MB 256-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

PSU: FSP Group SAGA+ 500R 500W ATX2.2 Power Supply

Newegg.com - FSP Group SAGA+ 500R 500W ATX2.2 Power Supply

Windows 7

Optical drive: LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA CD/DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM

Newegg.com - LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA CD/DVD Burner - Bulk - CD / DVD Burners

My last 3 questions:

1) How does this build look?
2) Is my power supply strong enough?
3) I plan on ordering right now, should I wait until next week to see if I get any good deals or should I just go a head and order?

[David M]

How did you choose the FSP power supply?

You may want to read this...
What Power Supply should I get? How many Watts? Who made it? Guide Inside.

You may want to get a Antec, Corsair or Seasonic PSU

[LA22]

I choose it from the reputable list on that guide because it was in bold blue. I already have it so I was looking to reuse it. Same with the video card. Is 500W strong enough?