Opinions on building a computer?

Hey guys. I don't know if this is the right place to post this or not but I'm going to anyways haha. So I am losing my current laptop in about a month because I need to give it back to my school, so I decided to get a new one. I like the idea of portable gaming and such, so I decided to buy a Dell Studio XPS 16. BIG mistake, let me tell ya haha. Had some severe network connectivity issues with my home wireless network when none of my other computers did, so I called them and am getting my $1400 refunded.

With all that said, I've been thinking about it more, and have considered more and more that I might build myself a desktop for about a grand or so, and then get an ultra cheap laptop when my second course resumes in the fall again. Either that, or spend all $1400 on a desktop.

I have a friend who has built computers for himself before, so thats not a problem. I'm just curious as to what stuff I should put into it? I'm pretty much only going to buy Intel, as AMD has clearly dropped the ball just based on looking at benchmarkings of various processors. I've looked at the i7 pretty heavily, and it sure looks a hell of a lot faster than even the Quad Cores, but it is kind of costly right now. And I know that the place where your going to lose graphics in games is the GPU rather than the processor, but I think I'd rather have a better, more upgradable processor, and skimp on the GPU right now, because as is my understanding, its a lot easier to just plug a new GPU in instead of upgrading the CPU and Mobo and such.

Any opinions?

I know someone who has a sager np5793 and is extremely happy with it. http://www.sagernotebook.com/product_customed.php?pid=51114

Its a core 2 duo, but there is also the next generation that runs a core 2 quad.... http://www.sagernotebook.com/product_customed.php?pid=129131

These are both notebooks so you know...

i would say get an EVGA card that says GT on it. those are one of the cheapest, fastest, reliable cards available:D

for my rig(which is posted on my sig), costed me about 1k at the most and its running crysis at full specs with my gfx card(good thing it's superclocked lol)

Hey guys. I don't know if this is the right place to post this or not but I'm going to anyways haha. So I am losing my current laptop in about a month because I need to give it back to my school, so I decided to get a new one. I like the idea of portable gaming and such, so I decided to buy a Dell Studio XPS 16. BIG mistake, let me tell ya haha. Had some severe network connectivity issues with my home wireless network when none of my other computers did, so I called them and am getting my $1400 refunded.

With all that said, I've been thinking about it more, and have considered more and more that I might build myself a desktop for about a grand or so, and then get an ultra cheap laptop when my second course resumes in the fall again. Either that, or spend all $1400 on a desktop.

I have a friend who has built computers for himself before, so thats not a problem. I'm just curious as to what stuff I should put into it? I'm pretty much only going to buy Intel, as AMD has clearly dropped the ball just based on looking at benchmarkings of various processors. I've looked at the i7 pretty heavily, and it sure looks a hell of a lot faster than even the Quad Cores, but it is kind of costly right now. And I know that the place where your going to lose graphics in games is the GPU rather than the processor, but I think I'd rather have a better, more upgradable processor, and skimp on the GPU right now, because as is my understanding, its a lot easier to just plug a new GPU in instead of upgrading the CPU and Mobo and such.

Any opinions?

remlap

You should look into the Phenom II X4 from AMD/ATI which are some very good preocessors and overclock very well. That's their newer line. If not I would look into the Q9550/Q9650. With that budget you can also go a minimum of GTX260 core 216 / HD48701gb upwards. $1000 budget is pretty good, and if you do go $1400 then that's even better.

You should look into the Phenom II X4 from AMD/ATI which are some very good preocessors and overclock very well. That's their newer line. If not I would look into the Q9550/Q9650. With that budget you can also go a minimum of GTX260 core 216 / HD48701gb upwards. $1000 budget is pretty good, and if you do go $1400 then that's even better.

lundy86_4

Thanks for all the replies guys. I will definately look into all of these options. I had another question though. Do you think it's better to spend more on a CPU now, rather than a GPU? Like say, shell out the extra money for the i7 + mobo, and then just throw a cheaper card in for now? My train of thought is that it will be a lot easier to upgrade 2-3 years from now when all I have to do is throw in a new GPU, rather than replace the whole mobo and such.

EDIT: Lundy.. I just looked at prices for the Q9550/9650 at my local Memory Express (easiest place to get computer parts from where I live), and they actually run for right around the same price as the i7. The 9550 saves me about 50 bucks, and the 9650 actually costs about 40 bucks more.

I just looked at prices for the Q9550/9650 at my local Memory Express (easiest place to get computer parts from where I live), and they actually run for right around the same price as the i7. The 9550 saves me about 50 bucks, and the 9650 actually costs about 40 bucks more.remlap

I would go with the i7 and a cheaper card now... say a 4830/4850. That way it's a lot cheaper and easier later to update.

i7 is not needed right now, but if you have the budget, then you may aswell go with it, it'll lengthen the life of your rig

It will lenghtend the Life of your Rig specialy if it support the 32nm Westmere 6 core + 2 Thread processor EAch Becomine Core i7 12 Core instead of 8 Core and Offering Better ghz From Base as Whell as Shrink + more core. that what i heard at last which mean higher L2 cache as well

I don't know how much will be Different From Core i7 Bloomfield 920 2.6GHZ VS like Core i7 Westmere (gulftown) 2.9GHZ in 2010 Q1 neither i don't know it price . i know it will just be better hopefully it cost around 300-400$ for Lowest Core i7 Westmere and Give better Performances then Core i7 975 once you overclock the Westmere : tough by then it possibe core i7 Bloomfield get is Core i7 995 Extreme lol

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2008/11/06/overclocking-intel-core-i7-920/6 (Cryisis)
Here What give a Core i7 920 at 4.0GHZ + 280GTX Driver Of Nvidia 6th november 2008 + 3x2GB At 1600mhz (on core i7 920 at 4.0GHZ)
They used a ThermalRight 1336 RS as Cpu Cooler Or 120 Extreme + A LGA 1336 Mount for Put it on it

While here a Review of core I7 965 at 3.6GHZ + 295GTX
It as 7 Game Test so it a pretty huge Review
http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=807&p=5 (Cryisis Warhead All Processor Comparison)
http://www.legionhardware.com/Bench/CPU_Scaling_With_The_GeForce_GTX_295/CWH.png
http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=807&p=9 (Fallout 3 All Processor Comparison)

I would go with the i7 and a cheaper card now... say a 4830/4850. That way it's a lot cheaper and easier later to update.

i7 is not needed right now, but if you have the budget, then you may aswell go with it, it'll lengthen the life of your rig

lundy86_4

This^

yea why not get the q9550 or q9650? even though the core i7 is good, you can save yourself some money by going with a phenom 2 or core 2 quad as they have just got price cuts on them. and ddr3 might not be worth it at the moment.

Penryn is great chip, but the 775 platform is in it's last days. The upgrade path is iffy.

Penryn is great chip, but the 775 platform is in it's last days. The upgrade path is iffy.

Sentinel672002

yea why not get the q9550 or q9650? even though the core i7 is good, you can save yourself some money by going with a phenom 2 or core 2 quad as they have just got price cuts on them. and ddr3 might not be worth it at the moment.

stormfuzz

that True and according benchmark half of the game a Q9650 at 4.0GHZ VS A E8600 4.0GHZ guess what ? they on pair !!
unless you get a Q9650 4.0GHZ on non Quad Optimized game + TWo 295GTx / Two 4870x2 in a Fight Of FPS TO see which win a Q9650 at 4.0GHZ Or E8600 4.0GHZ ? would it get on pair ? if it does what happen ? oh snap you just get ur E8600 to 4.5GHZ TADAH! OVERKILL!

[QUOTE="stormfuzz"]

yea why not get the q9550 or q9650? even though the core i7 is good, you can save yourself some money by going with a phenom 2 or core 2 quad as they have just got price cuts on them. and ddr3 might not be worth it at the moment.

RayvinAzn

[QUOTE="RayvinAzn"][QUOTE="stormfuzz"]

yea why not get the q9550 or q9650? even though the core i7 is good, you can save yourself some money by going with a phenom 2 or core 2 quad as they have just got price cuts on them. and ddr3 might not be worth it at the moment.

Auraknight1

Wow I really wasn't expecting all the helpful opinions on here. Thanks a bunch guys.

As far as montiors and speakers and such goes, I have older monitors that I can steal from old computers of mine. And we've got spare sets of decent speakers, so the peripherals aren't really an issue. I may want to get a new monitor down the road, but for now these will do me.

And if I'm going to be dropping all this money into a computer, I would prefer to not be "stuck" as far as upgrading goes. If I can keep the same basic computer structure (CPU, Mobo, etc) for say, 3 years and still be able to run the newest games, I will be very pleased.

I can't remember who said it, but if I run the i7 920 with 4-6GB of RAM, and a slightly older card (maybe a 9800 GT or a 3870 or something), I'll still be able to get good performance for current games, without having to get a more advanced card?

EDIT: I guess another question I have is, what brand of RAM should I look into? Would I get better performance from say, 4GB Corsair or Kingston (the only brands I really know if lol) over 6GB of Patriot (brand I've never heard of, but there's a good deal on right now). Basically, quality over quantity? And what brands are good?

Wow I really wasn't expecting all the helpful opinions on here. Thanks a bunch guys.

As far as montiors and speakers and such goes, I have older monitors that I can steal from old computers of mine. And we've got spare sets of decent speakers, so the peripherals aren't really an issue. I may want to get a new monitor down the road, but for now these will do me.

And if I'm going to be dropping all this money into a computer, I would prefer to not be "stuck" as far as upgrading goes. If I can keep the same basic computer structure (CPU, Mobo, etc) for say, 3 years and still be able to run the newest games, I will be very pleased.

I can't remember who said it, but if I run the i7 920 with 4-6GB of RAM, and a slightly older card (maybe a 9800 GT or a 3870 or something), I'll still be able to get good performance for current games, without having to get a more advanced card?

EDIT: I guess another question I have is, what brand of RAM should I look into? Would I get better performance from say, 4GB Corsair or Kingston (the only brands I really know if lol) over 6GB of Patriot (brand I've never heard of, but there's a good deal on right now). Basically, quality over quantity? And what brands are good?

remlap

Hmm.. Well I think I'm going to go with the i7. I dont see much point in buying parts that are at the end of their life cycle.

If i were you, I would not spend too much on a laptop. The fastest graphics cards for the laptops are the gtx 200 series that were just released. And they are only as powerfull as the 9800gtx+. So they are a full generation behind anything the desktop has to offer. They might be close in ram but the processor on the desktop (corei7) just blows anything the laptops have to offer at this moment.

So basically, you can have an extreme desktop pc or mediocre laptop for the same price. and I would wait for the gtx 275 about to come out next month as it will be about $240 and is about the same performance as the gtx 280.

If i were you, I would not spend too much on a laptop. The fastest graphics cards for the laptops are the gtx 200 series that were just released. And they are only as powerfull as the 9800gtx+. So they are a full generation behind anything the desktop has to offer. They might be close in ram but the processor on the desktop (corei7) just blows anything the laptops have to offer at this moment.

So basically, you can have an extreme desktop pc or mediocre laptop for the same price. and I would wait for the gtx 275 about to come out next month as it will be about $240 and is about the same performance as the gtx 280.

stormfuzz

Ya I think that will get me the most bang for my buck for sure.

[QUOTE="Auraknight1"] So you would definitely say if your building a new rig from the ground up get an i7 setup or go phenom2 so you'll have room to upgrade in the future( I'll be building in about 3 week or so and I'm not sure if I should go Q9550 or phenom2 940(maybe even 720, is it a bad Idea?) or just get an i7 and a worse graphics card. What are your thoughts? alot of people seem to respect your opinion hereRayvinAzn