Computer Building Suggestions

[Slapshot136]

I was thinking about getting a big pc, but then an epic deal came up

$800 HP
i7 2.4 ghz with turbo to 3.0ghz
4gb ram (spending $40 to upgrade it to 8gb ram)
2gb ATI radion 6700 with Eyefinity.
15" screen
then ive got that hooked up to my 24" monitor

runs super cool, fairly quiet.

wait, how is that a good deal? and aren't those specs for a laptop?

 

[Ghan]

All builds refreshed!
Price points:

$600
$1000
$1500
$2000
$3000

Note:
- I have not included CD/DVD drives this time. They are fairly cheap and are becoming less common anyway.

 

[Accname]

Wow, ghan.
That $600 PC looks pretty neat.
But what would you do with that $3000 one? I cannot see what applications you would try to launch with that? Playing 3 video games at once while watching tv and recording? lol.

 

[Ghan]

Maxing out Crysis 3 at 5760x1080 resolution would likely be problematic.

 

[Accname]

Ghan, what kind of Graphics card would you suggest for the $600 pc?

 

[Ghan]

None. It has graphics built in to the CPU.

 

[Accname]

None. It has graphics built in to the CPU.

Wow, how does that work? Is the chip like incredibly huge or something?

 

[Ghan]

It might be larger than an Ivy Bridge chip, but I don't think it's massive. The graphics aren't awesome or anything, but it's acceptable. That's why this is the cheap build.

 

[Accname]

Can you make a suggestion for only Motherboard + CPU (Quad core 3.4ghz or better) + Graphics Card + Power supply + RAM (4 gb or better) ?
It would be awesome if this can go below $500 or even below $400.

I really never understood how to pick the right motherboard for a cpu / gpu.

 

[Ghan]

Take the parts from the $600 build I have posted. You're not going to find a graphics card to go with those components for that cheap and expect it to do anything.
Maybe if you went with older AMD architecture like an Athlon II X4 or something, but I'd recommend just getting the Trinity chip.

 

[Dean01]

I can not say thank you more for your suggestions, you really helped me a lot

 

[seph ir oth]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS9500 AT Ball Bearing CPU Cooler ($31.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($144.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Gaming Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3GB Video Card ($429.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Antec Nine Hundred ATX Mid Tower Case ($112.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic M12II 750W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($115.17 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1505.07
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-02-04 15:27 EST-0500)

Do you really need that big a power supply for this computer? Or are you just allotting more power for add-ons?

 

[Slapshot136]

Do you really need that big a power supply for this computer? Or are you just allotting more power for add-ons?

the CPU is 77W and the GPU is 250+ (stock is 250, but it's OCed...), so just those two require roughly 350W - now taking into account that PSU's are generally most efficient between 40-60% load, and a 750W PSU is slightly large, however it still might be a good choice if anyone chooses to add a 2nd 7970 ghz in later

 

[Ghan]

This particular PSU is quite a high quality one and it is a really good value for the price. No, it's not needed at all for what I have in the spec there, but it does allow you lots of headroom to add another card/new cards with no worries about the PSU. SeaSonic does have the lower power version (650W) which I have in one of the other builds. That would certainly be sufficient here.

 

[seph ir oth]

This particular PSU is quite a high quality one and it is a really good value for the price. No, it's not needed at all for what I have in the spec there, but it does allow you lots of headroom to add another card/new cards with no worries about the PSU. SeaSonic does have the lower power version (650W) which I have in one of the other builds. That would certainly be sufficient here.

Makes sense.

Do you have any sort of opinion on Haswell CPUs? Worth the cost in your opinion, or is it overheating rubbish? 15C hotter than Ivy Ridge according to Wiki! Eek. Not that I heavily OC but still ...

 

[Ghan]

I bought a Haswell, but yes, it runs hot. I haven't been able to overclock it even with a decent aftermarket air cooler.
It depends on what you are after. I think that for gaming, you won't notice much difference either way. Going Haswell now does give you the possibility of dropping in Broadwell when it comes out, but there is no guarantee here as far as I know. If you are looking for a low power machine, then Haswell gives you the most capability out of one chip from Intel. In the budget area, AMD can be a good choice with their APUs, though you need to watch the power consumption.

 

[seph ir oth]

I bought a Haswell, but yes, it runs hot. I haven't been able to overclock it even with a decent aftermarket air cooler.
It depends on what you are after. I think that for gaming, you won't notice much difference either way. Going Haswell now does give you the possibility of dropping in Broadwell when it comes out, but there is no guarantee here as far as I know. If you are looking for a low power machine, then Haswell gives you the most capability out of one chip from Intel. In the budget area, AMD can be a good choice with their APUs, though you need to watch the power consumption.

Definitely not going low power as you can see with my build:

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/AndrewCory/saved/2sAn

I am aiming my budget at $2k which I'm hitting. Added the keyboard and monitor for flair (not necessary but it'd be cool to have).

From your experience, is it best to buy all parts at one retailer (newegg) or just buy them at the cheapest listed on pcpartpicker? I figured that an all-in-one buy might reduce/eliminate shipping costs. Also if I buy at one retailer, it is assumed that I'd get all parts on the same day, and that'd be a plus.

 

[Ghan]

I would definitely go for some higher clocked RAM. Take a look at this article:
http://anandtech.com/show/7364/memory-scaling-on-haswell

There is evidence to show that at least 1866 RAM is a big benefit to a Haswell machine. Here is some 2133 RAM that is the same price as what you have:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231571

As for the wireless, you might want to consider an adapter that supports the ac standard in case you upgrade to a router that supports it. This seems to get good reviews:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA2RY0X68385

That power supply is:
1. Too expensive
2. WAY too much power
Unless you are planning on running something on the order of three video cards and a whole array of HDDs, there is no reason for something even close to 1000W. Get one of these two:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151106
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151107

Get the second one if you really plan on doing SLI with high end cards. Else, the 650W should be plenty for overclocking + one really good graphics card. I got the 650W with my recent build. (i7 4770k + GTX 670 from my old computer) My computer draws something like 175W under load.

 

[seph ir oth]

Thanks for the input! I was thinkin that in time I'd buy a 2nd GTX 770 so I wanted to make sure I had ample power. I wouldn't mind havin gold or silver over bronze though, I'll have to browse around. Savin on dat electricity bill bit by bit! Lol.

EDIT: Updated, same list - http://pcpartpicker.com/user/AndrewCory/saved/2sAn

 

[Ghan]

Hmm. 80 Plus Gold? Let's try a thought experiment.

80 Plus Gold is 5% higher in all efficiency requirements across the board as compared to Bronze. Let's assume you get that extra 5% efficiency.
Let's assume your new computer will average 50W of power usage 24/7 (more when you have it on, less when you have it off, etc. Just taking a guess here)
50W is 0.05 kW. So running it for 24 hours per day = 1.2 kWh per day.
A kWh typically costs about $0.12 in the US (average). No clue if you live in the US, but if you're buying from NewEgg, it's a good possibility. So then.
$0.12 x 1.2kWh/day x 365 days/yr = $52.56/year to run your computer.

You are going to increase your efficiency by 5%. That means your computer now uses 47.5W of power on average.
47.5W = 0.0475 kW. For a day = 0.0475 x 24 = 1.14 kWh per day
$0.12 x 1.14 kWh/day x 365 days/yr = $49.93/year (approx.) to run the computer with an 80 Plus Gold PSU.

$52.56
-$49.93
= $2.63/year in savings

This means that in order for this to be a good choice, you need to use your computer long enough that you make up the cost difference between a Bronze and Gold PSU. Assuming 5 years of usage out of your computer:

$2.63 x 5 = $13.15

Don't spend more than $13.15 on a Gold PSU as opposed to a Bronze one, or you'll be losing money. Assuming you keep the computer for 5 years. Roughly.
Basically, it's not that big of a deal. But you found a good deal on a Gold PSU anyway, it seems.
Just to note, that PSU is made by FSP. EVGA doesn't make their own, as far as I know. I'm not sure how good FSP is, but you might be able to look up some reviews. I do know that SeaSonic makes their own and they are good quality all around, if that factors in to your decision.
I think either one will probably be fine if they have good reviews on NewEgg.

That's my fun for the day. Hope you enjoyed it. And by the way: nice computer build.