Questions I should have asked last week...

[Jester1137]

So, I wandered into Fry's last week and screwed up....


This is my first build in about six years. There are a lot of new (to me) CPU's out there and I'm just lost. I have no idea what I need...and I made the mistake of asking Fry's employees. Unlike all my past building experiences, this time I don't have a friend who built for a living to pretty much tell me what to buy.

I'm looking to build a system that's going to play Old Republic smoothly, that will at least run Civilization V, and that generally won't need to be replaced for 3-4 years. I don't tend to play insanely demanding FPS games like BF3, and I don't need to have all settings maxed to enjoy a game.

Other than gaming, I don't do much that's demanding. No editing video or music, just general arguing on boards and watching movies and the like.

My old computer isn't really worth discussing much. I'm going to grab the optical drives out of it. Not much else is worth salvaging, although I may re-use the HD for a while given price spikes.

Total budget started off around 700 (including 100 for OEM Win7). At first, I was happily under budget..but I question that now.

So, here's what I think I got right.



ASUS GTX560 1GB OC 179.99

FRYS.com*|*ASUS

Corsair Gaming Series GS600 High Performance PSU ATX Power Supply CMPSU-600G 73.99

FRYS.com*|*Corsair

DDR3 8GB-1333MHz DUAL SO 39.99
FRYS.com*|*PNY

Apevia X-DREAMER-3 Mid Tower Red ATX Computer Case 44.99
FRYS.com*|*APEVIA

Here's where I think I went wrong.

AMD Athlon™ II X4 645 104.99
FRYS.com*|*AMD


MSI 880GM-E35 AMD 880G AM3 HDMI mATX Motherboard 64.99
FRYS.com*|*MSI

I got the motherboard and CPU in a combo for 135 bucks that only lasted for last week.

I have yet to pick a hard drive, and was just going to lift the aged one from my old system for a while.

Anyway, while I know the data on the Fry's site says that motherboard is PCI-E 2.0 compliant, when I look at the actual box it only says it's x16. It doesn't say anything about 2.0, which is something I think they'd advertise.

Every thing is still in boxes, and I was planning to assemble it this weekend. Then I looked at the box....and started really questioning whether I'd bought enough computer. I think I got a great deal on the price, but I don't want to be upgrading in 18 months.

Since I don't have to worry about 15% restock yet, I was hoping to get some advice. Does it sound like I bought enough for my needs? I can go about 250 deep for Motherboard+CPU if I return.

[jdeb]

Originally Posted by Jester1137 So, I wandered into Fry's last week and screwed up.... This is my first build in about six years. There are a lot of new (to me) CPU's out there and I'm just lost. I have no idea what I need...and I made the mistake of asking Fry's employees. Unlike all my past building experiences, this time I don't have a friend who built for a living to pretty much tell me what to buy. I'm looking to build a system that's going to play Old Republic smoothly, that will at least run Civilization V, and that generally won't need to be replaced for 3-4 years. I don't tend to play insanely demanding FPS games like BF3, and I don't need to have all settings maxed to enjoy a game. Other than gaming, I don't do much that's demanding. No editing video or music, just general arguing on boards and watching movies and the like. My old computer isn't really worth discussing much. I'm going to grab the optical drives out of it. Not much else is worth salvaging, although I may re-use the HD for a while given price spikes. Total budget started off around 700 (including 100 for OEM Win7). At first, I was happily under budget..but I question that now. So, here's what I think I got right. ASUS GTX560 1GB OC 179.99 FRYS.com*|*ASUS Corsair Gaming Series GS600 High Performance PSU ATX Power Supply CMPSU-600G 73.99 FRYS.com*|*Corsair DDR3 8GB-1333MHz DUAL SO 39.99 FRYS.com*|*PNY Apevia X-DREAMER-3 Mid Tower Red ATX Computer Case 44.99 FRYS.com*|*APEVIA Here's where I think I went wrong. AMD Athlon™ II X4 645 104.99 FRYS.com*|*AMD MSI 880GM-E35 AMD 880G AM3 HDMI mATX Motherboard 64.99 FRYS.com*|*MSI I got the motherboard and CPU in a combo for 135 bucks that only lasted for last week. I have yet to pick a hard drive, and was just going to lift the aged one from my old system for a while. Anyway, while I know the data on the Fry's site says that motherboard is PCI-E 2.0 compliant, when I look at the actual box it only says it's x16. It doesn't say anything about 2.0, which is something I think they'd advertise. Every thing is still in boxes, and I was planning to assemble it this weekend. Then I looked at the box....and started really questioning whether I'd bought enough computer. I think I got a great deal on the price, but I don't want to be upgrading in 18 months. Since I don't have to worry about 15% restock yet, I was hoping to get some advice. Does it sound like I bought enough for my needs? I can go about 250 deep for Motherboard+CPU if I return.

You listed sodimm memory in your link which is for laptops.
FRYS.com*|*Corsair

That power supply will work but if you wanted to save a few bucks
FRYS.com*|*Antec

Your video card will work fine but it is overkill for the games you use. It is backwards compatible with x16.
FRYS.com*|*EVGA

The motherboard/CPU combo will work fine but I prefer Asus AM3+ series because it will enable you to upgrade to a Bulldozer CPU down the road but probably makes little difference. You could stick with the combo and would be happy with the performance.

FRYS.com*|*ASUS

[glc]

I'll take the Antec PSU over that particular Corsair.

[Jester1137]

Ack.

Linked to the wrong memory. This is it. Micro Center - PNY Optima Series 8GB DDR3-1333 (PC3-10666) CL9 Dual Channel Desktop Memory Kit (Two 4GB Memory Modules) MD8192KD3-1333

Thank you for the response. I know the GPU is a bit more than I really really needed, but I expect to keep this build a while.

I'm concerned about the 2.0 issue, since I just don't want to sacrifice that much performance. I know that 16X cards are pretty much all downward compatible....but I want to get out of the card what I paid for.

But I've searched repeatedly, and I think if people were ordering that motherboard and then finding out the hard way that the 2.0 support isn't really there as advertised, a web search would turn up some bad reviews. Might just be an oversight in printing up the box.

Instead, most reviews I find on it are "good value for dollar".

Ah, well. 15% restock on 135 bucks ain't that bad.

[glc]

The MSI is 2.0.

• 1 PCI Express x16 slot with x16 operation (PCI Express Bus SPEC V2.0 compliant)

Even if it weren't, you wouldn't notice the difference. The performance difference is about 2% between 1.0 and 2.0.

[Jester1137]

Thank you!

I saw that on-line too, GLC, which is why I bought it. However, the box and documentation only say "1 PCI Express x16 slot".

I thought the loss was on the order of 10 - 20%. I couldn't care less about 2%.

Time to open boxes after I trade in that power supply.

After rebate, i actually only paid 120 for motherboard and CPU. Even if it does turn out to be a bit under powered in a couple years, I can trade up at no great loss. No screamer by any means but it should do fine by me for a while.

The help is greatly appreciated, from a peace of mind standpoint.

[glc]

http://www.msi.com/product/mb/880GM-...l#/?div=Detail