The Ultimate 'Build-A-PC' Thread. Complete With Pricings & Recommendations (06/06/10)

Anybody know if standard monitors (not a TV/Monitor) accept signals from a remote? I'm curious because in the room I game, my PC is in the same room. Both my TV/Monitor and my TV are Samsung and this causes issues when flipping through inputs and turning on/off the television. The same thing happens with my harmony remote too and it's been driving me nuts for the past two to three years. So I'm caving in and selling my monitor to family or just use it at work and get a new monitor for my home computer.

I'm also wondering if the new Samsung LED TV's have the same signal as a Samsung LCD TV. I would assume so, but I'm trying to flesh out all my options before I purchase some kind of monitor for my computer.
 
Thoughts on my build? Gonna wait a few weeks on the sandy bridge obviously.

3.3Ghz Intel Core i5-2500 6MB Cache Quad-Core
Stock Intel LGA1155 Heatsink and Fan
Intel BOXDH67BL (Intel H67, HDMI, DVI, PCI-E, 5xSATA, 4xDDR3)
4GB (2GBx2) PC3 10666 DDR3 1333Mhz Memory Lifetime Warranty
1.5TB 7200RPM 32MB Cache Serial ATA300 (Major Brand)
22X LG SATA Dual Layer DVD+/-RW/CDRW w/Nero
1GB GeForce GTX 460 GDDR5 PCI-E Dual-DVI (Major Brand)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
Thermaltake V9 Black Edition (5 5.25, 6 3.5) 4 Fans, Audio/USB
650watt Corsair CMPSU-650TX
Onboard LAN included
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio 7.1 PCI-Ex
 
So I've finally decided on the Radeon 6870 for my next card. But I'm starting to worry a little as I think my motherboard/CPU is going to bottleneck the crap out of it.

I've got a Asus P5W DH Deluxe and a Q6600 (2.4ghz stock). The motherboard only has a PCI Express x16 1.0 slot. The 6870 is a PCI Express x16 2.1 card. Now I've read that this shouldn't be a big deal, that PCI Express x16 is backwards compatible and whatnot. But it can be hit or miss depending on the motherboard. My motherboard is pretty old and the latest BIOS update for it was October 2009 so I really doubt it has official support for PCI Express x16 2.1 cards.

I'm going to be overclocking the CPU today though to at least 3.0ghz (hopefully more), so that should definitely reduce the bottleneck, but would it be enough?

What do you guys think? Do you think the card will work in my motherboard? If it does, how much will the motherboard/CPU bottleneck it?

Other specs:
Windows 7 64-bit
BIOS version 2901
Antec 900 Case
Thermaltake 850w PSU
EVGA nVidia 8800GTS 512MB
Corsair 4GB RAM (DDR2 800)

EDIT:
[quote name='MSI Magus']Thoughts on my build? Gonna wait a few weeks on the sandy bridge obviously.

3.3Ghz Intel Core i5-2500 6MB Cache Quad-Core
Stock Intel LGA1155 Heatsink and Fan
Intel BOXDH67BL (Intel H67, HDMI, DVI, PCI-E, 5xSATA, 4xDDR3)
4GB (2GBx2) PC3 10666 DDR3 1333Mhz Memory Lifetime Warranty
1.5TB 7200RPM 32MB Cache Serial ATA300 (Major Brand)
22X LG SATA Dual Layer DVD+/-RW/CDRW w/Nero
1GB GeForce GTX 460 GDDR5 PCI-E Dual-DVI (Major Brand)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
Thermaltake V9 Black Edition (5 5.25, 6 3.5) 4 Fans, Audio/USB
650watt Corsair CMPSU-650TX
Onboard LAN included
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio 7.1 PCI-Ex[/QUOTE]

I would say that looks pretty decent. Couple of things:
-Have you thought about getting a CPU cooler? The stock ones do the job for stock clocks, but if you plan on getting more life out of your CPU and overclocking it, you'll need a third-party cooler.
-This may not be required, but maybe get a higher power PSU? I'm sure a 650w is fine and will do the job, but your card requires a minimum of 450w and you might running at the max your PSU can handle. Maybe get an 850w? Again, probably not required.
 
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[quote name='DukeEdwardI']So I've finally decided on the Radeon 6870 for my next card. But I'm starting to worry a little as I think my motherboard/CPU is going to bottleneck the crap out of it.

I've got a Asus P5W DH Deluxe and a Q6600 (2.4ghz stock). The motherboard only has a PCI Express x16 1.0 slot. The 6870 is a PCI Express x16 2.1 card. Now I've read that this shouldn't be a big deal, that PCI Express x16 is backwards compatible and whatnot. But it can be hit or miss depending on the motherboard. My motherboard is pretty old and the latest BIOS update for it was October 2009 so I really doubt it has official support for PCI Express x16 2.1 cards.

I'm going to be overclocking the CPU today though to at least 3.0ghz (hopefully more), so that should definitely reduce the bottleneck, but would it be enough?

What do you guys think? Do you think the card will work in my motherboard? If it does, how much will the motherboard/CPU bottleneck it?

Other specs:
Windows 7 64-bit
BIOS version 2901
Antec 900 Case
Thermaltake 850w PSU
EVGA nVidia 8800GTS 512MB
Corsair 4GB RAM (DDR2 800)

EDIT:


I would say that looks pretty decent. Couple of things:
-Have you thought about getting a CPU cooler? The stock ones do the job for stock clocks, but if you plan on getting more life out of your CPU and overclocking it, you'll need a third-party cooler.
-This may not be required, but maybe get a higher power PSU? I'm sure a 650w is fine and will do the job, but your card requires a minimum of 450w and you might running at the max your PSU can handle. Maybe get an 850w? Again, probably not required.[/QUOTE]

I will look in to pricing for both. For the Cooler though since I do not plan to overclock its not something to worry about right?
 
[quote name='MSI Magus']I will look in to pricing for both. For the Cooler though since I do not plan to overclock its not something to worry about right?[/QUOTE]

Probably not, then. If I were you, I'd just get one anyway, but I tend to overdo things. People thought I was MAD when I bought an 850w PSU when I built my PC in early 2008. And now I'd totally prepared for my next upgrades!
 
[quote name='DukeEdwardI']Probably not, then. If I were you, I'd just get one anyway, but I tend to overdo things. People thought I was MAD when I bought an 850w PSU when I built my PC in early 2008. And now I'd totally prepared for my next upgrades![/QUOTE]

Since I am not the most PC savy person id rather go slightly overboard then underboard. I mean id rather pay an extra $200 up front and go overboard then have something burn out later from not having enough fans or have a headache thanks to a weak PSU.
 
[quote name='MSI Magus']Since I am not the most PC savy person id rather go slightly overboard then underboard. I mean id rather pay an extra $200 up front and go overboard then have something burn out later from not having enough fans or have a headache thanks to a weak PSU.[/QUOTE]

Don't worry about the PSU. The one you picked out is going to be more than enough for the build you have planned out. The motherboard you have picked out is only going to support a single graphics card and unless you're running a Crossfire or SLI setup, 650W is plenty.
 
Anybody have any experience with waiting for Amazon to get a video card back in stock? Days, weeks, months?

I know it's probably dependent on the manufacturer, but all the other parts for my new box are sitting here and I'm worried that by the time the vidcard comes, I'll find out some other piece is DOA and I'll be SOL on the RMA. ...tia lol
 
[quote name='dfg']Anybody have any experience with waiting for Amazon to get a video card back in stock? Days, weeks, months?

I know it's probably dependent on the manufacturer, but all the other parts for my new box are sitting here and I'm worried that by the time the vidcard comes, I'll find out some other piece is DOA and I'll be SOL on the RMA. ...tia lol[/QUOTE]The GTX 560 I ordered from them was listed as "back in stock in 1 to 3 months" (I wasn't in a rush for it), though it shipped a little less than two weeks after I ordered it.
 
[quote name='dfg']Anybody have any experience with waiting for Amazon to get a video card back in stock? Days, weeks, months?

I know it's probably dependent on the manufacturer, but all the other parts for my new box are sitting here and I'm worried that by the time the vidcard comes, I'll find out some other piece is DOA and I'll be SOL on the RMA. ...tia lol[/QUOTE]

call them, they may be able to give you a more definitive period.
 
Thanks both of youse for the input. I went ahead and pulled the trigger on a similar card because if I leave these boxes lying around my apartment much longer, the wife is gonna toss them and me out together.
 
[quote name='fishphoenix']I bought my PC last year from cyberpowerpc.com; I would recommend the site.[/QUOTE]

Always tempting, but I have heard a lot of horror stories about them and to boot their prices is often $100-$200 more then anything at ecollege. I will look further in to it though, thanks.
 
[quote name='basilofbkrst']If your not going to build it yourself but want custom why not dell?[/QUOTE]

I thought dell used cheap parts and tended to overcharge to boot?
 
[quote name='MSI Magus']I thought dell used cheap parts and tended to overcharge to boot?[/QUOTE]

all things considered Dell is actually pretty good on their prices. however, there can be some downsides. first is the flexibility on building the machine. they generally only give you a few choices as far as video cards, processors, etc depending on which model you are "customizing". second is the problem with upgrading. now its not always a problem, but depending on the computer you may have limited bays for drives, limited room for a new video card, etc. plus, Dell isn't very upfront with their motherboards, so in a couple years you may find that your mobo cant handle an upgraded CPU and/or RAM. but in the end, i've had a Dell before and was very happy with the quality of the machine, so you could certainly do worse. just try and do as much research as possible, especially since you already had a build more or less picked out.
 
I know that when I bought my Dell laptops back in college, there were coupons ALL over the Internet that knocked off a couple hundred bucks. I don't know if they still have those kind of coupons floating around though.
 
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The one main issue with a pre-built machine like a Dell is that the PSU isn't beefy enough to handle an upgraded video card, unless you go with one of their XPS mini-tower systems.

CPU and RAM upgrades aren't as much of an issue, since the system boards they use these days are more than OK to handle those issues.
 
[quote name='shrike4242']The one main issue with a pre-built machine like a Dell is that the PSU isn't beefy enough to handle an upgraded video card, unless you go with one of their XPS mini-tower systems.

CPU and RAM upgrades aren't as much of an issue, since the system boards they use these days are more than OK to handle those issues.[/QUOTE]

Another issue with some Dell systems is that the PSU isn't always going to be upgradeable. On some Dell systems they use a proprietary design for the main power connector making it next to impossible to upgrade the PSU.
 
Hello everyone,
I posted earlier about my system and the graphics card, but I decided to just go ahead and upgrade the whole thing. While I hold back and look around for a good price on the 1GB GTX 460, I've already purchased a new 530w psu. I am looking to buy these following parts:
CPU
MOBO
RAM
Now I'm fairly sure that these parts are all compatible but I'd just like to make sure if anybody would like to check. Also I'd like to note that I'll primarily be using this to play games and record video via FRAPS so would upping the CPU to a Deneb make any significant difference? The only thing I saw was the presence of an L3 cache in the details.
Thanks for any help!
 
Sandy Bridge (LGA 1155) motherboards with B3 revision fixes the SATA 3Gb/s port. Newly fix motherboard will have the B3 stepping logo on the packaging, or have xxxx-B3 in the model/ product name to help identifying the new motherboards. ASUS, Gigabyte, and MSI has begun to shipping these B3 boards, expect the new motherboards in a week or two.
 
Hello All, I just registered particularly for this thread and I appreciate everyone's insight on building a great gamer while being a CHEAPASS. So here's what I'm going for and maybe you could tell me where I'm going wrong.

AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition (screw intel)
ASUS M4A88T-V
A-DATA 4GB PC3-10600 DDR3 Kit
Sapphire Radeon HD 5770 1GB
Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB SATA
ASUS 24x DVD+/-RW DL SATA
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit
Logitech Internet 350
Raidmax Smilodon

Now, this is the system I found on a DIY and I can't find the faults, though I'm certain something is wrong. I went through Amazon and PSU included it comes out to $680. I like the price but please don't let me get stuck with a fail.
 
[quote name='ScupperJoe']
AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition (screw intel)[/QUOTE]
For about the same price I think you'd be better off with an Athlon II X3 450. It's not a BE but has another core. I guess it also kind of depends on how much you plan to (or think you can) overclock.
If you're lucky you might also find a Phenom II X3 740 BE for around the same price.

It would be good to know what model PSU you were thinking about. There are some pretty terrible brands (and just to make sure it provides enough power, if you haven't calculated that already).

[quote name='fishphoenix']I bought my PC last year from cyberpowerpc.com; I would recommend the site.[/QUOTE]
I ordered from them a few years ago. It shipped fine and everything worked (minus them plugging the multi-card reader into the motherboard wrong which led to BSODs), but I can't comment on shipping speed because two of the components were actually "paper launch" and never actually arrived to them (for assembly) until a couple months later.

I've heard their customer service is terrible and that their sister site iBuyPower is marginally better. I've never actually had to deal with them so I have no personal experience.
 
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I have a Dell XPS 420 and have had no real issues putting new parts in it. Well atleast not with the stuff working. I put a LG BD/HD combo drive in it and the drive was larger than the DVD drive that I left in it. So I ended up having to put the BD/HD drive on top of the DVD drive so the front could go back on. If I didn't do that the doors on the front plate would not open correctly and the drives would just close back up.

The second issue I had was with the graphics card. They have a clip that you have to move to get the card out that is behind the card. If you don't know it is there it can be a pain getting the card out once you find out about it. Also if the card has a fan on it the fan can make it even harder to get to the clip.

The last issue was with the PSU. Everything I read said Dell does not list the correct power on their PSUs. The one I had in it said it was 375 watts. What I needed for my now graphics card was a 450. After reading online I found that the PSU was 450 but rated for less. Unless everything I read was wrong Dell does this with a lot of their PSUs. You don't have much room to put one in. The HD/BD drive I put in gives little room for the wires to be put in.

Keep in mind some of the issues were just things I didn't notice or able to be fixed. The biggest one out of the ones I had was the size of the PSU and both the drives and the PSU being so close to eachother.
 
[quote name='ScupperJoe']Hello All, I just registered particularly for this thread and I appreciate everyone's insight on building a great gamer while being a CHEAPASS. So here's what I'm going for and maybe you could tell me where I'm going wrong.

AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition (screw intel)
ASUS M4A88T-V
A-DATA 4GB PC3-10600 DDR3 Kit
Sapphire Radeon HD 5770 1GB
Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB SATA
ASUS 24x DVD+/-RW DL SATA
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit
Logitech Internet 350
Raidmax Smilodon

Now, this is the system I found on a DIY and I can't find the faults, though I'm certain something is wrong. I went through Amazon and PSU included it comes out to $680. I like the price but please don't let me get stuck with a fail.[/QUOTE]You can do much better than that if you buy via Newegg. For about the same price via Newegg I got a quad core 3.2 ghz Phenom II 955 BE with 8 GB of RAM, and a comparable graphics card.

EDIT: This weekend there's a sale on PSU's via Newegg. 600 watt Corsair one for 35 dollars after MIR (50 before). That's a good start. They also have an AMD Athlon II X4 3.1 GHz for 100 dollars.

It would help if you could get pricing on a part by part basis for us we could help you pick parts between Amazon and Newegg for the cheapest amount.

I also suggest getting a 1 TB Hitachi Deskstar Harddrive over what you've got. It's an upgrade for less (50 dollars for the Hitachi Deskstar).
 
I have been looking into building two PCs for a long time now. One being a HTPC for at the time just HD/BD media and now 3D and the other a high end gaming PC.

HTPC Build

The case stays for sure as long as it is still being sold when I go to build. I want one that will be able to play and store my HD DVDs, BD DVDs, SD DVDs, 3D BD DVDs, and record TV shows. It would be nice to be able to watch one show and record another one but I remember being told in the past that you could not do that. If you can I would like to know how so that I can do that with this build.

I did not list the drive in the build as I will use a combo drive that I bought some time ago. The drive is a LG Black 6X Blu-ray Disc Burner & HD DVD-ROM Drive SATA Model GGW-H20L - OEM and I'm glad I ordered it when I did as it is no longer sold on newegg.com.

Gaming Build

I know this one is over killl big time but I want the 3 monitors and to run tri-sli in 3D. This is everything but the desk and printer that I will need.

I'm just looking for things.

1) The builds will work.

2) The over kill on the HTPC to be cut down to lower the price, and still run the movies in 3D with no slowdown or issues due to the hardware.

3) If I can get parts for both that are better than what I have picked for less or the same price

4) If I can get parts for both that are just as good but for less money.

I will update the builds over time till I am ready to build them and then post them again when that time comes. Right now I just need to make sure I'm going in the right direction with them.

Thanks.
 
Can any of you guys tell me if AM3 processors will work on an AM2 mobo? When I got my AM2 mobo, I thought I read that AM3 processors would be compatible with AM2 mobos but now it seems that AM3 processors are only compatible with AM2+ mobos...
 
[quote name='Vinny']Can any of you guys tell me if AM3 processors will work on an AM2 mobo?[/QUOTE]
It depends on the motherboard and CPU models, and you'd need a BIOS update. Your motherboard's manufacturer site probably has "supported CPU" section.
My 5-year-old Asus supports up to a Phenom II x4 945 or Athlon II x4 640, if that gives you an idea.
 
[quote name='Firvagor']It depends on the motherboard and CPU models, and you'd need a BIOS update. Your motherboard's manufacturer site probably has "supported CPU" section.
My 5-year-old Asus supports up to a Phenom II x4 945 or Athlon II x4 640, if that gives you an idea.[/QUOTE]

Cool, thanks! I found a list and quite a few AM3 processors are supported.
 
So how long is everyone going to wait before they pull the trigger on a Sandy Bridge and LGA1155 mobo with B3? I'm getting the 2500k and am waiting to find a good mobo.
 
[quote name='MiNuN']Just so everyone can avoid hassles. Please stay away from the low-name brand "Sabrent" products.[/QUOTE]

Odd i never heard of that brand before =/ thanks for the heads up. im going to do some research on it.

And good job dfg, i am amazed how cheap it can cost to build a computer.
 
After many years out of the realm, I've more and more been heading back to PC gaming. I recently bought a new laptop, and that's holding me over, but I'm looking to get a full gaming rig later this year, probably in the fall, with a target of around $1000.
 
Looked some of the cards up on newegg.com and some list 450 some list 500 or more. I suggest looking it up on the card you want.
 
[quote name='ZForce915']So how long is everyone going to wait before they pull the trigger on a Sandy Bridge and LGA1155 mobo with B3? I'm getting the 2500k and am waiting to find a good mobo.[/QUOTE]
I'm going to wait for z68 boards to come out, and see what the difference in performance will be between the chipsets.
 
[quote name='ZForce915']So how long is everyone going to wait before they pull the trigger on a Sandy Bridge and LGA1155 mobo with B3? I'm getting the 2500k and am waiting to find a good mobo.[/QUOTE]

I wait til the deals, coupons and rebates line up. Won't pay over $80 for one. My next PC shopping window opens up in 2013.
 
[quote name='ZForce915']So how long is everyone going to wait before they pull the trigger on a Sandy Bridge and LGA1155 mobo with B3? I'm getting the 2500k and am waiting to find a good mobo.[/QUOTE]

Maybe after June 11th? I'd rather go with AMD if I can, so I've decided to wait until Bulldozer drops to decide which way to go. If it performs the same or better than Sandy Bridge(at a similar price), I'll go with AMD.
 
I REALLY only need it to run Photoshop and Illustrator, but I wouldn't mind making sure it's not TOO underpowered, and can run recent games decently. Here's what I have so far. Will all these parts work together?

Rosewill R103A Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case with 350W 20+4 pin connector Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147010

BIOSTAR TP43ECombo LGA 775 Intel P43 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138164

HIS H467QR1GH Radeon HD 4670 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161315

Intel Celeron E3400 Wolfdale 2.6GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor BX80571E3400
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116348

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) Desktop Memory Model F3-8500CL7S-4GBRL
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231307

Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136073

ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754
 
Those parts should work together, but I would seriously recommend looking at a different motherboard and processor. The ones you've chosen are a couple generations behind at this point.

I don't know what your budget is, but this combo would perform significantly better than what you currently have picked out for not much more money. Just add your video card and Windows and you'd have a reasonably powerful machine for not a lot of money.
 
[quote name='Mid Boss']Those parts should work together, but I would seriously recommend looking at a different motherboard and processor. The ones you've chosen are a couple generations behind at this point.

I don't know what your budget is, but this combo would perform significantly better than what you currently have picked out for not much more money. Just add your video card and Windows and you'd have a reasonably powerful machine for not a lot of money.[/QUOTE]

WOW! That IS a good deal! Should I just go with the video card I already have picked out?

Also, how is this motherboard's onboard video card? Could I just go with that?
 
I think you'd be fine with the video card you picked out. You could use the onboard graphics, but you would be playing newer games on low graphics settings. Since the motherboard does have onboard graphics, you could just try it out and add a video card later if you aren't happy with the performance.
 
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