Just too many options to look at need help please..

Its been years since building a pc. Im a little over whelmed with the choices of motherboards and processors. Im not looking for anything over the top. As a matter of fact if I buy a prebuilt I will not go over 600$. You can check on Newegg to compaire and see..

Do I want AMD? INTEL? What socket??Too many options with the motherboards and processors..Im wanting to game, but dont have to run games in the highest settings so what graphics card? All this SLI,RAID,..is it something I care to have? Will I care??

Looking for help please...getting tired of looking and looking...

Bump for any help on the subject please..

SLI, you don't need. Two video cards are a headache, compared to a single high end card. RAID you don't need.

Best way to narrow down, is to look at the processor prices and then match up everything else to the processor; while still keeping price in mind. AMD's Phenom II is what you should look at, for price. AMD Athlon II if you want to save a few bucks from the Phenom II's. As for motherboards, I prefer Asus boards, myself. As for AMD sockets/motherboards... AM2+ generally is an AM3 processor with DDR2 Ram. AM3 is an AM3 processor with DDR3 Ram.

For better performance with no care about cost, go with Intel.

Video cards... ATI 5770 or 4870 should satisfy you. 4870 can be found for around 100 (with mail in rebates) thru $150, 5770 generally run between $120(mail in rebate) thru $160. 4870 is a DX10 card, 5770 is a DX11 card, Gaming performance is about the same between the two cards; 4870 is about 1-7 frames per second faster. Current moderate high end gaming cards generally start at 200 bucks, and high ends generally start at $350 bucks.

Powersupply size... 750 watt should be enough for just about anything. Generally, can find 750's for around 100 bucks. And stay away from generic brands.... Also make note of the amount of 12Volt rails. More rails means that you have to use more cables to balance the power. Single rails, you can use any cable combination you want, because it's all coming from a single rail.

SLI, you don't need. Two video cards are a headache, compared to a single high end card. RAID you don't need.

Best way to narrow down, is to look at the processor prices and then match up everything else to the processor; while still keeping price in mind. AMD's Phenom II is what you should look at, for price. AMD Athlon II if you want to save a few bucks from the Phenom II's. As for motherboards, I prefer Asus boards, myself. As for AMD sockets/motherboards... AM2+ generally is an AM3 processor with DDR2 Ram. AM3 is an AM3 processor with DDR3 Ram.

For better performance with no care about cost, go with Intel.

Video cards... ATI 5770 or 4870 should satisfy you. 4870 can be found for around 100 (with mail in rebates) thru $150, 5770 generally run between $120(mail in rebate) thru $160. 4870 is a DX10 card, 5770 is a DX11 card, Gaming performance is about the same between the two cards; 4870 is about 1-7 frames per second faster. Current moderate high end gaming cards generally start at 200 bucks, and high ends generally start at $350 bucks.

Powersupply size... 750 watt should be enough for just about anything. Generally, can find 750's for around 100 bucks. And stay away from generic brands.... Also make note of the amount of 12Volt rails. More rails means that you have to use more cables to balance the power. Single rails, you can use any cable combination you want, because it's all coming from a single rail.

Threesixtyci

Thank you very much...VERY MUCH...now if anyone else has anything to add that would be geat as well...I will start checking things out asap dude..tks again.

As stated SLI isn't really that great of an option, neither is Crossfire as that doubles the price of your graphics card requirements (that your already confused about. ~grin~ Join the club.). Plus, not every game uses either and those that don't may cause problems. Still, a technology that needs work in my opinion.

RAID can get expensive. RAID 0 just turns multiple HD's into one big one, but if you lose one HD you lose it all. RAID 1 starts getting expensive as you need two hard drives to start it and you are basically only getting half the available space, as the second HD is used to protect your data. All the other RAID choices are out of my price point as far as I'm concerned. If I need back up, thats why I built my WHS system.

Motherboards/Processors: Comes down to your budget. For gaming on a budget, AMD is the way to go. I prefer Gigabyte, Asus, and MSI (in that order) when it comes to my motherboards for AMD, Intel usually adds EVGA. You will be looking at the current AM3 chipset more then likely with a good G.SKill, or Corsair DDR3 RAM. My best recommendation is look at your budget, if you can afford it then Intel is a good choice. If you on a budget then AMD is a great choice and has served me well over the years. Anandtech and Tomshardware have a lot of good choices in charts and bench tests for you to compare various processors.

Video Cards: These are a bit more tricky. I'm a huge fan of EVGA and XFX with their customer service and their lifetime warranty's. Still, I have been pleased with what I have gotten out of nVidia cards over the years and I typically stick with them. Although, that may change with ATI's newest 6000 series. I don't typically buy high end cards. I am currently running the EVGA GTX 470 which was about $280 dollars when I picked it up. Rather then going the 480 at close to $500 dollars. I think the only games i have that tax my GTX 470 are GTA4 and maybe Crysis. Most of my games don't need anything higher to run at max. Borderlands is completely maxed out with my current settings. Which is fine with me as I spend a lot of time playing it. Check the various benchmarks, price, and what games you play and then decide. You may not necessarily need the fastest and most expensive card money can buy to get what you want out of it.

PSU: Get a good Power supply, and you don't want to skimp either. A good Corsair or Silverstone will start you out at $100 dollars, but they are worth it. Modular PSU's are great for keeping cable clutter down which helps increase air flow. Too many cables everywhere can cause problems with heat. Although, I my favorite out of all the PSU's (750TX, x2 620TX) I currently have is my Corsair 750TX which is not a modular PSU but the single rail has 60A on it and can hold up to 720 max watts on it. A good reliable PSU and perfect for gaming. Although I am looking at it replacing with the 750HX which is its modular version and should help with the cable clutter in my case.

You said your getting tired of looking. ~grin~ I am looking at rebuilding my HTPC over the holiday season and I have been looking at everything since July and I am still trying to nail down my plans before Thanksgiving and Christmas. My gaming system needs some updates (motherboard, DDR3, 720BE is still fine), but I am going to wait till June to see what the newest Intel Processors are looking like. I am also, looking at either going for the HP Home Server series X495 or rebuilding my WHS (Windows Home Server) system in something small then my CM Stacker 832. So, I know how you feel. ~grin~

For gaming intel is best not amd.johnjack80

Not for the price. You can get an Athlon II X4 640 and a decent AM3 mobo with 4 DDR3 slots for $160 together. You can't even buy an Intel quad-core that will outperform that CPU for that price.. let alone a motherboard.

As stated SLI isn't really that great of an option, neither is Crossfire as that doubles the price of your graphics card requirements (that your already confused about. ~grin~ Join the club.). Plus, not every game uses either and those that don't may cause problems. Still, a technology that needs work in my opinion.

RAID can get expensive. RAID 0 just turns multiple HD's into one big one, but if you lose one HD you lose it all. RAID 1 starts getting expensive as you need two hard drives to start it and you are basically only getting half the available space, as the second HD is used to protect your data. All the other RAID choices are out of my price point as far as I'm concerned. If I need back up, thats why I built my WHS system.

Motherboards/Processors: Comes down to your budget. For gaming on a budget, AMD is the way to go. I prefer Gigabyte, Asus, and MSI (in that order) when it comes to my motherboards for AMD, Intel usually adds EVGA. You will be looking at the current AM3 chipset more then likely with a good G.SKill, or Corsair DDR3 RAM. My best recommendation is look at your budget, if you can afford it then Intel is a good choice. If you on a budget then AMD is a great choice and has served me well over the years. Anandtech and Tomshardware have a lot of good choices in charts and bench tests for you to compare various processors.

Video Cards: These are a bit more tricky. I'm a huge fan of EVGA and XFX with their customer service and their lifetime warranty's. Still, I have been pleased with what I have gotten out of nVidia cards over the years and I typically stick with them. Although, that may change with ATI's newest 6000 series. I don't typically buy high end cards. I am currently running the EVGA GTX 470 which was about $280 dollars when I picked it up. Rather then going the 480 at close to $500 dollars. I think the only games i have that tax my GTX 470 are GTA4 and maybe Crysis. Most of my games don't need anything higher to run at max. Borderlands is completely maxed out with my current settings. Which is fine with me as I spend a lot of time playing it. Check the various benchmarks, price, and what games you play and then decide. You may not necessarily need the fastest and most expensive card money can buy to get what you want out of it.

PSU: Get a good Power supply, and you don't want to skimp either. A good Corsair or Silverstone will start you out at $100 dollars, but they are worth it. Modular PSU's are great for keeping cable clutter down which helps increase air flow. Too many cables everywhere can cause problems with heat. Although, I my favorite out of all the PSU's (750TX, x2 620TX) I currently have is my Corsair 750TX which is not a modular PSU but the single rail has 60A on it and can hold up to 720 max watts on it. A good reliable PSU and perfect for gaming. Although I am looking at it replacing with the 750HX which is its modular version and should help with the cable clutter in my case.

You said your getting tired of looking. ~grin~ I am looking at rebuilding my HTPC over the holiday season and I have been looking at everything since July and I am still trying to nail down my plans before Thanksgiving and Christmas. My gaming system needs some updates (motherboard, DDR3, 720BE is still fine), but I am going to wait till June to see what the newest Intel Processors are looking like. I am also, looking at either going for the HP Home Server series X495 or rebuilding my WHS (Windows Home Server) system in something small then my CM Stacker 832. So, I know how you feel. ~grin~

vicsrealms

Thank you a lot bro. I appreciate the information...Im looking to build or buy around Feb 2011 and have been shopping for about a year now..lol..just trying to get as much info as possible so I get whats "right"...Thanks man and im looking forward to getting something soon...

Thank you a lot bro. I appreciate the information...Im looking to build or buy around Feb 2011 and have been shopping for about a year now..lol..just trying to get as much info as possible so I get whats "right"...Thanks man and im looking forward to getting something soon...

VanDammFan

You do realise there are CPU's coming at that very time, and new sockets. There's no point waiting with computers, because there is always something new everyday.

[QUOTE="VanDammFan"]

Thank you a lot bro. I appreciate the information...Im looking to build or buy around Feb 2011 and have been shopping for about a year now..lol..just trying to get as much info as possible so I get whats "right"...Thanks man and im looking forward to getting something soon...

GTR12

You do realise there are CPU's coming at that very time, and new sockets. There's no point waiting with computers, because there is always something new everyday.

No didnt know anything about new chips,ect??..And yea Im only waiting because of income tax time is coming up and I will have some cash at that time to do something. Electronics change every flipping day so waiting would be king of worthless. ANyways...thanks all...and please keep giving suggestions as I have a while yet and need all the options I can get..tks

I think this is what im settling on. Its nothing top of the line, but if you seen what im using now you would think it was. So pretty soon I guess im going to order it and see how it does...Anyone have anything to add???tks all

I think this is what im settling on. Its nothing top of the line, but if you seen what im using now you would think it was. So pretty soon I guess im going to order it and see how it does...Anyone have anything to add???tks all

VanDammFan

Oh yea..Im going to use my dvd/cd drive and my old case..so im saving a little $$

I have a lot to add. Do you really want to know? I'm about to tear all that apart and make a whole different build.

I have a lot to add. Do you really want to know? I'm about to tear all that apart and make a whole different build.

hartsickdiscipl

As long as its in the same ball park money wise..I dont wanna go over 650$ s/h and all..

[QUOTE="hartsickdiscipl"]

I have a lot to add. Do you really want to know? I'm about to tear all that apart and make a whole different build.

VanDammFan

As long as its in the same ball park money wise..I dont wanna go over 650$ s/h and all..

Before I start- Do you definitely want to get an SLI motherboard?

[QUOTE="VanDammFan"]

[QUOTE="hartsickdiscipl"]

I have a lot to add. Do you really want to know? I'm about to tear all that apart and make a whole different build.

hartsickdiscipl

As long as its in the same ball park money wise..I dont wanna go over 650$ s/h and all..

Before I start- Do you definitely want to get an SLI motherboard?

I just want something plain and simple that will play games. I dont care about benchmarks,and all that mess...Just a nice budget PC..

Man, I would SO post a Mini-ITX build I just put together for someone else, but I think a lot of people here would bad mouth it since they probably wouldn't understand how cool it is to have something so small with a lot of processing power.

It would also sit a little out of your price range at roughly $740. Specs - Athlon II 640 3GHz, 4GB RAM, 600w PSU, HD 5770, 1TB 7,200 RPM HDD.

Ok-

Keep the same motherboard and hard drive from your previous proposed build. Replace the GPU, PSU, RAM, and CPU with these-

GIGABYTE GV-N460OC-1GI GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

COOLER MASTER GX Series RS750-ACAAE3-US 750W ATX12V v2.31 SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply

G.SKILL NS 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-4GBNS

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ955FBGMBOX

Including these parts, as well as the hard drive and motherboard, it came to $645.13 with shipping. This includes the 10% off promo code for the GPU (EMCZZYR24). This machine will last you a good long while. The beauty of it is that since we kept the SLI motherboard in the build, you can add another GTX 460 down the road for SLI if you want even more performance. I don't think you'll be feeling the need for that for awhile.

EVGA's GTX 460 starts at $170 plus free shipping and you can get $25 dollar rebate on the card if you buy before December 1st. EVGA is usually very good about their rebates. Also good choice on the hard drive, Western Digital Caviar Blacks are the best....if UPS doesn't beat the hellout of it on the trip. I would also recommend the G.Skill over the OCZ I have had much better luck with their RAM. Good ASUS motherboard as well. Should be a good little system.

Alrighty then...anyone else gonna take a stab at this build??? Thanks to those who have made the suggestions. I will be making up my mind within a week...THANKS

How about this prebuilt? I know some of the specs are a little off "powersupply" being one...BUT is it close to what you have suggested? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229173

I have a few quesitons...OR maybe just a couple..:)...Im going to be getting Windows 7 as Im wanting to move on from XP pro even though its awesome. Just wondering if W7 is good for running games like MOHAA and Stepmania,COD2, and such??? AND I wonder if I should install XP and W7??? or would that just cause more headaches?