If I were to build a Computer

[FAPTurbo]

http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=c...21&Itemid=1

recent "hack" found it's not really a hack though.

turn the phenom II x3's into x4's just by changing one thing in the bios... YES!!!

[loki]

yeah, sweet huh? hopefully amd doesn't mind.. or is doing this on purpose. aka, stealing the chips market of ~$150 price point... easily

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819103649 turning into an x4 oc'ing it easily to ~3.3ghz or so

VS.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819115055

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819115037

for about $15 more

for note... quick search on OCing intels... the q8200 can hit 3.3ghz or so

the duo has been seen to hit 4.2ghz on air.

Edited March 5, 2009 by loki

[capriceman]

well the e8600 has been seen hitting 5 ghz

my i7 hits 4.0 easily i had 4.4 unstable but it just needs 1.5 voltsd and another fan on the rad. loads at 75C on water. HOT Chip almost as hot as the Prescott pentium 4's

my q9450 hit 4.2

my amd 6000 could only go to 3.4

I believe intels oc better than amd's now

the phenoms have been good and the x3 to x4 is hit or miss. Normally X3's are quad cores that had a dud core in the process but the demand forced amd to ship quads as tri's. It only works with AMI bios and amd 780?? chipsets. that I know of.

However Intel is sueing nvidia...

Intel want to make there own video cards.

Ati is dropping prices on the 4000 chipset.

I7 revision D0 relases the base I7 on air hit 4.6 ghz stable stock speed is 2.66

Intresting times in the computer world

[G. David Felt]

Personally I would still go for the outlet store from DELL and get a nice XPS unit with an ATI 512mb or 1gb video card. They will run what you want to play very well and do it with a warranty that only requires 1 phone call and then they will come out and repair / replace the broken parts if that happens.

[G. David Felt]

Latest Deal from DELL, Very Nice Setup:

Inspiron 518

Core 2 Quad Technology & 4GB Memory

Starting Price $924

Instant Savings $225

Total $699

----------------------

Inspiron 518Intel® Core™ 2 Quad processor Q8200 (4MB, 2.33GHz, 1333FSB)

Specifications - Inspiron 518

Operating SystemGenuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Service Pack 1

Specifications - Operating System

Display20 inch S2009WFP Widescreen Digital Flat Panel Monitor

Specifications - Display

Optical Drives16X DVD+/-RW Drive

Specifications - Optical Drives

Memory4GB3 Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz (4 DIMM)

Specifications - Memory

Hard Drives640GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™

Video CardATI Radeon HD 3450 256MB supporting HDMI

Specifications - Video Card

Sound CardIntegrated 7.1 Channel Audio

Specifications - Sound Card

Service1Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty,5 InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis6

Specifications - Service - Available 2,3 & 4 years warranty programs for additional fee.

[FAPTurbo]

The new AM3 Phenom X4's are out, and it looks like the AM3 platform is almost the bargain of the century.

With a combo like this, http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDet...st=Combo.186293 , and a good video card, plus an HD, case and PSU, you'll have a very high end system for around a grand.

[Justin Bimmer]

The new AM3 Phenom X4's are out, and it looks like the AM3 platform is almost the bargain of the century.

With a combo like this, http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDet...st=Combo.186293 , and a good video card, plus an HD, case and PSU, you'll have a very high end system for around a grand.

That's a nice processor.

So Update:

My mom's dell laptop, the left mouse button on the touchpad no longer works and she cannot use the computer anymore apparently. (I am using it right now to type this, but apparently, it makes pokerstars and bookworm hard to play.)

So I think we need to find a cheap laptop. I think we are going to head to costco tomorrow to look and I am going to cruise the ads.

I just want to make sure I can get her a system that can handle vista.

[capriceman]

um that's not really impressive for the price the i7 sells for 230 all day at places you can get 6 gigs for $100 bucks too, I will bet you that the intel destroys the amd am3 pII's in everything even virtualization now.

[Drew Dowdell]

Work sold me a brand new in the box P4 with PCIe for $50. I threw in 4 gig of PC5300 ram. It runs XP and Ubuntu 9.04 64bit really well. It has an integrated Intel graphics card... so my friend gave me his crappy old NVidia GeForce 8800 GTS OC 640mb video card.

Think that'll run Civ IV? :D :D :D

[FAPTurbo]

I wish my friends gave me free 8800 GTS'.

Anyhow CK3, checking newegg, if you want to stick with DDR2, you can net yourself a nice box for about 730, before taxes and shipping. After those, it should be only a couple dollars higher than 800 bucks.

The first image doesn't have any combos,but the second and third do!

Throw in your current hard drive, and you'll have a very nice PC. Makes me wish I lived in the States so I could buy it.

Edited April 29, 2009 by Captainbooyah

[Justin Bimmer]

Civ IV System requirements

Windows 2000/XP/Vista

1.2 GHz Processor

256 MB RAM

1.7 GB free space

4x DVD Drive

DirectX 9.0c –compatible 64 MB video card with hardware T&L & pixel shader

DirectX 9.0c-compatible sound card

[Drew Dowdell]

That was a joke

[Drew Dowdell]

I wish my friends gave me free 8800 GTS'.

He's such a hardcore gamer that this card is worthless to him now.

[Justin Bimmer]

That was a joke

Every joke needs a deadpan reply.

[Justin Bimmer]

Ok, so new developments on my tower that started this whole thread.

I have a dell with a 3.4Ghz P4 and 1gb DDR2 SDRAM and 128 ATI Card.

I think one of my ram sticks died as it only is registering 512 now.

Where can I pick up some more ram. Also, is my processor good enough to where I should get a GPU card too?

[FAPTurbo]

Depends on what your plans are. Are you looking to stick with what you got for a while? Do you want to play the newest games with decent settings? If your needs are modest, you can probably stick with what you have for now, and see how the upcoming Core i5 processors from Intel turn out.

Newegg.com should sell the RAM cheap.

As for your graphics, I'm going assume your P4 motherboard has an AGP slot, which is usually dark gray. I don't think many new cards support AGP, and you might be limited to the nVidia 7-series, or ATI 3850's.

All in all, what you have is not really worth upgrading at all if you are looking to play newer games. The P4 will be a dog when it comes to running them, and the AGP slot and low-end graphics will only lead to more compromises.

Edited May 3, 2009 by Captainbooyah

[FAPTurbo]

CadillacKing gave me an idea yesterday of what he wanted in a computer. Since he has a 17" monitor, and wants to keep it, I figured that this setup should be ideal for playing games like GTA4, Bioshock, and Fallout 3 at the monitor's resolutions.

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819103649

MoBo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16813128387

RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820227289

GFX: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814161279

PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16817139004

Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16811119137

He has his own Hard Drive, and copy of Win XP, 32bit. The subtotal on newegg is $585.95, but Amazon had some better prices too.

DF and loki are good with AMD stuff, so have you guys got any input?

[loki]

CadillacKing gave me an idea yesterday of what he wanted in a computer. Since he has a 17" monitor, and wants to keep it, I figured that this setup should be ideal for playing games like

DF and loki are good with AMD stuff, so have you guys got any input?

I'd say that's pretty good.

I think the main advantages AMD have are that it's typically cheaper for roughly the same performance and their Am2/+/3 setup will be around for atleast another year...Intel's 775 processors are at the end of thier life cycles, the i5 isn't out yet to take it's place, even though i'm sure the i5 will still kick amd's 2 and 3 core processors easily.

The 4770 is a great value, typically beats the 4830 and about the same price, comes close to the 4850 while being cheaper and using less power.

[loki]

just a comparison of xfired 4770 vs a 4890.

http://en.expreview.com/2009/04/28/first-l...enchmark.html/4

beats the 4890 in all their tests, might not at higher resolutions though, >1900x1200. the 4770s only have higher power consumption under low to idle loads.

[Z-06]

Ok, so new developments on my tower that started this whole thread.

I have a dell with a 3.4Ghz P4 and 1gb DDR2 SDRAM and 128 ATI Card.

I think one of my ram sticks died as it only is registering 512 now.

Where can I pick up some more ram. Also, is my processor good enough to where I should get a GPU card too?

4-allmemory.com is a good website too. Located in Mo, they have served me excellently.

[capriceman]

sometimes i find this AMD love sickening..

[FAPTurbo]

What AMD love? We've suggested builds using all the major brands, but the AMD's look more attractive because of their aggressive pricing.

[loki]

sometimes i find this AMD love sickening..

would you rather us suggest the only other player of chip makers.... VIA?!!! lol is it really disgusting to even mention there's only 2 real chip players... Intel and AMD.. and AMD also makes video cards... Intel is going to try their hand at it in the next year... we'll wait and see how well they pull it off though.

would this be comparable if only T and H made cars and ~80% of everyone drove a T, would you also ridicule H drivers? LOL

[loki]

sometimes i find this AMD love sickening..

I was just playing around and now you can put together an AMD athlon2 Home theatre pc together (just the basics, hhd, case, mobo, ram, proc and psu) for right around $300. w/ HDMI onboard.

I'd post a pic, but it's not taking files....?

[Justin Bimmer]

AMD just came out with the Phenom II dual core and the six core server CPU.

The PII dual core makes the Intel DC's look stoopid.

[loki]

AMD just came out with the Phenom II dual core and the six core server CPU.

The PII dual core makes the Intel DC's look stoopid.

well, certainly overpriced for the speed, but C2D are still highly revered for their great design and brute power when you compare 45nm parts to each other.

wait for AMD's magny-cores and 4 channel ram next year. haha! it's crazy.... wow

[FAPTurbo]

If wildmanjoe is still out there considering a bargain PC, a bud of mine is having me build him this:

There's 77 bucks in mail in rebates making it $440.93 after the initial subtotal of 517.93. Of course, that doesn't include shipping or taxes, or a new copy of Windows, but a copy of Win 7 beta will take care of that for the short term. Grab a DVD drive out of one of your dad's old computers or yours and you're set.

But after those costs, you're getting something that'll power through plenty of games on a good resolution, and handle a game like Team Fortress 2 no problem.

Edited July 24, 2009 by TheCaptain

[loki]

If wildmanjoe is still out there considering a bargain PC, a bud of mine is having me build him this:

There's 77 bucks in mail in rebates making it $440.93 after the initial subtotal of 517.93. Of course, that doesn't include shipping or taxes, or a new copy of Windows, but a copy of Win 7 beta will take care of that for the short term. Grab a DVD drive out of one of your dad's old computers or yours and you're set.

But after those costs, you're getting something that'll power through plenty of games on a good resolution, and handle a game like Team Fortress 2 no problem.

that's impressive.

i was playing around on newegg and got an athlon II system, barebones, down to ~$300 shipped.... micro atx am2+ board and a 300W psu.

no video card.

[Justin Bimmer]

TheCaptain can find you anything you want. He is an excellent computer guru.

[FAPTurbo]

He's dead set on getting a Q6600 quad core

AMD makes quad cores, some that are far superior to a Q6600. For example:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819103650 - one of the cheaper models.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...pk=phenom%20945 - hot

There's one or two more that are much better than the Q6600 and it's successors, but they're a bit more expensive than the Q6600. Either of the ones above should get the job done, and saving you and your dad some money, too.

As for the combo's I posted, I doubt they'll still be up, so you'd need to configure an entirely new system and look for different combos to save some change.

[capriceman]

i7 for 199 anyone!!!

http://microcenter.com/single_product_resu...duct_id=0302727

but i just upgraded the main rig for now

I7 920 @ 4.2 ghz

asus p6t deluxe V1

12gb of ddr3 ocz @1800

2 SAS 15k rpm 150gb drive raid 0

2 samsung 1tb drive raid 1

2 BFG GTX 275 in SLI

Antec 850 watt psu (need to upgrade)

I7 on water

thus leaving my backup rig in the closet

Asus P5N7A-VM

Intel q9450

8gb of mushkin 800 ddr2

MSI 8800 ultra

2 150 gb raptor hd's raid 0

1 samsung tb

And i gave my AMD server to a family in need

asus crosshair athlon 6000 x2 4gb's ddr2 800 ATI 4850 2 500 gb drives.

I got the GTX 275s over the 4890's casue they were cheaper and they support cuda which i plan on using. I heard you can program it with Python!!!!

Who wants to start an Offical C & G benchmark thread!!!! it would be fun! and i think i can be in the top 5 atleast my max res is 1920x1080. Its funny though i dont even game. but I could and thats what counts. Its like supercharging a 70' chevelle SS 454 its not necessary but it makes it that much better.

[capriceman]

depending on when i get back from DC on sunday maybe i will start a benchmark thread.

[capriceman]

Good, it will take me that long to dig the 8088 XT out of my garage.

lol, I have a i486dx2 in my closet i just need a psu.

[FAPTurbo]

So, if all goes to plan, I could be looking at my next rig.

4770's there to tide me over until ATI's 58xx series drops in price and when nVidia plays its GT300 hand. No third party heatsink, because I don't intend on OC'ing for a while. Subtotal is $1,151.95 before 90 bucks of rebates. If I were to get a comparable AMD system with a 790FX chipset and a Phenom 955, I'd be about 180 bucks ahead, so I'm not discounting that option either.

Edited October 11, 2009 by FAPTurbo

[loki]

So, if all goes to plan, I could be looking at my next rig.

4770's there to tide me over until ATI's 58xx series drops in price and when nVidia plays its GT300 hand. No third party heatsink, because I don't intend on OC'ing for a while. Subtotal is $1,151.95 before 90 bucks of rebates. If I were to get a comparable AMD system with a 790FX chipset and a Phenom 955, I'd be about 180 bucks ahead, so I'm not discounting that option either.

AMD supposedly is releasing the 57x0's this week....? are you planning on gaming before getting a 58x0? the 4770 has been awesome for me, but if you're not gaming, just try to find something cheaper....?

[FAPTurbo]

AMD supposedly is releasing the 57x0's this week....? are you planning on gaming before getting a 58x0? the 4770 has been awesome for me, but if you're not gaming, just try to find something cheaper....?

Yeah, I'll be gaming with the 4770. I know that the AMD 57xx series should be out any day now, but I'd like to see how prices fare and what nVidia has coming. Also, I'm waiting for aftermarket coolers to make an appearance.

[loki]

Yeah, I'll be gaming with the 4770. I know that the AMD 57xx series should be out any day now, but I'd like to see how prices fare and what nVidia has coming. Also, I'm waiting for aftermarket coolers to make an appearance.

assuming i find a job in the next month or 2. i hope to upgrade to some next gen amd products. 800 series chipset mobo, maybe a beast 5800 series.....

looks like you got your plan together.

[2005 EquinoxLS]

I might be putting Windows 7 in mine after the problems I have had with Vista. Mainly that it locks up and will do NOTHING. The right side of the screen will have these thin red bars that flash and the coloring on the right side gets weird. I was told it may be video drivers so I downloaded some new ones with no change. It sometimes does this 3 times a day or it can sometimes go for 2 weeks without doing it. Sometimes it will even do the stop error thing but it is never the same error everytime it does it. I might try recovering it 1st though just to see.

[FAPTurbo]

I spent my money on a pair of new SelectTech's that were a sweet deal, so no new PC after all.

[loki]

I spent my money on a pair of new SelectTech's that were a sweet deal, so no new PC after all.

oh well.. just means what you get later will be better or cheaper.

[FAPTurbo]

oh well.. just means what you get later will be better or cheaper.

Yeah, but this means I can't play TF2 with CaddyKing or DF.

Not to worry though, because I think I'll be able to use my media center for gaming purposes by attaching my monitor somehow to the side of the home theater shelving.

Like this:

[loki]

ah. the joy of your paint skills.

[Blake Noble]

I'm just a few hundred short of buying a Macbook.

Oh, this thread is about PCs, right? Sorry.

[FAPTurbo]

Why on Earth do you want a MacBook when there's a free alternative called Linux that runs on your existing hardware?

[Blake Noble]

Why on Earth do you want a MacBook when there's a free alternative called Linux that runs on your existing hardware?

I've done a little research and found what seems to be the Mac's one true strong suit: they're great for recording.

I've used my current PC for recording, and it's ok, but I've spent the past year finding a suitable DAW without ponying up big bucks to upgrade my PC to run ProTools and then buy ProTools itself (I've made a point not to use PT anyway; I'm not a pro, I'm just a guy who wants to record some damn music; plus PT is turning out to be what's screwing up newer music).

Audacity sucks as a DAW. Yeah it's free, and yeah it's good if you want to record yourself doing a VH impression only on guitar, but again it sucks ass as a DAW. It doesn't recognize MIDI files, it doesn't recognize most .dll effects and plug-ins, you can't use it as a slave program, it crashes on my PC after you have 10 different tracks in the project even though I exceed the RAM requirements ... I could bitch about Audacity all night if I wanted to. I still use it to record one or two raw tracks at a time but I avoid it if I can.

Reaper is basically free and just about the only decent DAW I've found, but it's interface really can make me scream WTF at the top of my lungs sometimes. Effects are buried in folders on top of folders. Using it as a slave for a MIDI sequencer is a bitch. Fading different tracks in and out can get a bit aggravating because Reaper uses a fading tool instead of highlighting and applying an effect. On PC, it's as good as it's going to get, though.

I've tried Mixcraft and it was ok, but my "free" copy somehow became a trial copy and after every project ended, the developers started bitching at me and I couldn't mix the tracks down. Since I didn't have fifty bucks to spend at the time, out it went. I never attempted to use it as a slave to host other recording programs, however, so I don't know how that could've went.

I had Adobe Audition and loved it, but it's essentially everything Audacity wishes it could be. While it is great to use for recording raw single tracks, isn't a good DAW. You can't use it as a slave, for starters.

I've tried Sony Acid Xpress, but I think that's best left to someone wanting to make remixes of another artist's songs. It's limited to ten tracks only anyway, so I didn't keep it around long.

I've had an itch to finally record some ideas for well over a year now. I'm using Beatcraft for drum loops and I'm playing keyboards, guitar, and bass myself. I don't have a band because 3/4 of the dudes who actually play an instrument around here wear tight jeans and want to be like The Devil Wears Prada (buhhhh). That's not what I'm about so I'm just going to do everything myself. I've got the raw material here and ready, just sitting idle, I just have to polish it up and arrange it but I've had nothing but aggravation out of trying to do it on my PC. I can't arrange a single demo (or really polish recorded tracks) because the DAWs for Windows aren't as good as the DAW and recording programs you can get on a Mac. Logic Studio and Logic Pro are great DAWs with a buttload of plug-ins and effects and it doesn't have the sometimes bass-akward interface of Reaper. It seems to be pretty straight-forward. I'll also have Garageband to use until I grab a copy of Logic as well (all Macs have Garageband, which is esstentially a stripped down version of Logic) and I'll probably keep it afterward to serve the role Audacity has on my computer currently.

I'm not buying one because I've bought into the urban legends about Macs and so on. Since I reformatted my PC and installed decent anti-virus software, I haven't had any hiccups. I don't care about gaming; I was never really into PC games anyway. I'm buying a one used as well; screw paying a small fortune for a new one.

Edited October 18, 2009 by whiteknight

[FAPTurbo]

Well, inthat case, then Mac's are generally the better option. I'm not sure what sort you're buying used, but for the love of God, make sure it has an Intel CPU. Even if it means you have to save up for a longer time, buying a used Mac Pro with an Intel Xeon will reward you with better upgradeability, and the ability to run Windows if you need.

Heck, you're handy with fixing cars, so you might be able to build yourself a new 'hackintosh' for a comparable cost of a used Mac if you're brave enough to do the necessary research.

Edited October 18, 2009 by FAPTurbo

[Blake Noble]

Well, for that case, then Mac's are generally the better option. I'm not sure what sort you're buying used, but for the love of God, make sure it has an Intel CPU.

I'm only going for a Macbook made after 2007. Older Macbooks are cheaper, but after doing a little research, I'm not game on Mac's processors. I found one the other night for a little over $400 bucks that had an Intel processor with 2GB of RAM. The previous owner also ditched the 120GB Mac harddrive and had a SeaGate harddrive with about 500GBs installed. Bidding ended before I could get to it, sadly. It would have been a great Mac to record with due to the large amount of memory for storing instrument and sound loops.

Heck, you're handy with fixing cars, so you might be able to build yourself a new 'hackintosh' for a comparable cost of a used Mac if you're brave enough to do the necessary research.

Edited October 18, 2009 by whiteknight

[Justin Bimmer]

Hackintosh? I would be curious to just read about how to build one. Our tech guys run a dual boot dual screen macs at their office with VMware on it. One screen mac one screen windows. Pretty cool.

[FAPTurbo]

Well, after a few delays, I've begun my new PC shopping with a couple sweet deals. I'm officially on the AMD Wagon and I bet I'll regret it . Still, this should easily be more than enough for me for quite a few years.

Phenom 955

MSI 790FX-GD70 - 4 PCI-e slots for Creamy Crossfire Goodness.

Corsair 750TX

[loki]

Well, after a few delays, I've begun my new PC shopping with a couple sweet deals. I'm officially on the AMD Wagon and I bet I'll regret it . Still, this should easily be more than enough for me for quite a few years.

Phenom 955

MSI 790FX-GD70 - 4 PCI-e slots for Creamy Crossfire Goodness.

Corsair 750TX

looks that way.

i've been my-own-pc-less for almost a month... waiting on an RMA for my x3 720... should have inquired about it after my dual channel stopped working after 1-2 days. rare, rare problems. took that long to narrow it down.