Buying a new Computer - Q&A

[Dantski]

Just remember if a part (such as power supply) is simply listed as 750W without a brand name attached its likely a very cheap mass made one. Sometimes its better to buy a recognized name even if it costs a little extra.

Also I recently got a new PC with equal or worse settings than what you listed in the 1st post, 6770 HD will be enough for mostly everything nowadays (maybe not at highest settings) and the price steeply rises when buying much better in this department.

[antisocialmunky]

I dunno, it depends on if you are putting it together or not. Are you buying parts or brandname?

[sunrise089]

There was a time where power supplies got a little out of control with over-optimistic ratings. $20 700 watt power supply from ValueCompInc? Sounds like a deal!

However, the market has swung back the other way hard. Ruff, you do not need a 900 watt power supply in a midrange gaming build. Like OMG HELL NO YOU DO NOT. Most midrange desktops, with a dual or quad core processor, 1-2 hard drives, and a solid discrete GPU will draw under 300 watts at load. A quad core processor, overclocked, running a brand new nVidia 680 GPU can draw under 350 watts (link) running a stress test.

If you're going to go the road of dual- or tri- video card systems, or if you need serious hard drive capacity (we're talking 10+ conventional drives), we can talk high end power supplies. If you want to run any single video card that will ever fit the PCIe standard, buy a 600 watt quality unit and you'll still be massively overbuilt.
_____________________________________

Re: your specific questions...

1) Almost certainly Pro over Ultimate. If you need the specific enterprise features of Ultimate you probably already know it.

2) Probably 6870. It's up to twice as fast depending on your resolution and the game.

3) I'd not buy a soundcard (audiophiles excepted) on a full build under $2,000 or a tower-only build under $1,500. And, you shouldn't be spending that much
___________________________________

The most valuable lessons I've learned from building PCs for myself and others for six years:

1) Mist is right, a SSD makes all the difference. Nothing comes close for bang-for-the-buck every day performance.

2) The best "future-proof" components are monitors and speakers/headphones. Ironically they're also perhaps the most under-invested-in.

3) Beyond those items there is very little reason to even try to "future proof." Selling/giving away a PC every 2-3 years and buying something new gives you more performance for less money. Migrating files in 2012 is not enough of a hassle to avoid this path.
_____________________________________

Re: ASM's point on Llano - Honestly he's right. If all you really want to do is play Civ4 and be on the internet a cheap Llano build will be more than fine. That said, the 2500k, particularly if you have a retail MicroCenter accessible to you, is IMHO one of the all-time processor price/performance bargains.

[Ruff_Hi]

Guys - thanks for your comments, you have given me lots of things to think about. The only one option that hasn't been changing is the case (which strikes me as funny).

[waterbat]

can't go wrong with a big corsair case I bought a mid-tower from them and it was great for a build:

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/reviews...00t_review

[antisocialmunky]

I usually build mATX and uITX cases so I can't recommend an ATX tower in particular. However, I think mATX is probably a better format because its smaller with all the same features for a similar price but I hate towers so...

[Krill]

Get a good tower case and you can keep it forever.

On a related note, does anyone here know how to set up a RAID array? I'm considering setting up a RAID 5 Array, potentially with either SSD or magnetic HDD as boot drive.

[antisocialmunky]

You need a mobo with a raid controller, instructions are with the Mobo. There's probably slower hardware methods as well.

[Ruff_Hi]

Further research and I have narrowed down a bunch of things ... however, I still have four items outstanding ... some of which I think I have an idea on and some of which I have no clue ...

1) Processor


I think for me the sweet spot is the i5-2550k but please chip in and tell me that I am smoking crack if you think that I am.

2) Memory


Here I am split ... it is either 8Gb for $40 (what is the difference between 4x 2Gb and 2x 4Gb? - is one better for upgrade-ability or ...) ... or ... do I just go for the 16Gb ($126) because more memory is always better.

Anyone got any views on the type of memory?

3) Video Card


Here I have no idea. Part of me says I don't need a high end card ... mainly for 2 reasons [1] I don't play high end video games and [2] I am a cheap ass bastard.

GTX 550 Ti 2Gb??? Or is the 560 worth the $20? Or can I save $70 by going with the 550 Ti 1Gb?

Which is better here, more memory or a bigger number (not that I know what the number represents - it was always easier back in the day when I only had to compare 286 v 386 v 486).

4) Motherboard


Absolutely no comments here ... because I have negative idea (less than nil) about what is a good board and what isn't.

[waterbat]

Krill - as ASM said - the easiest way is with the RAID controller built into the mobo. Its all setup in the BIOS.

The second option is to obtain a RAID controller card for your comp. I have no clue about the availability of these any more.

I think he meant to say that there are slower software options available. These aren't really recommended (by me anyway) - but it is possible to run RAID in software on your boot drive.