Comparing Hardware

[Unoriginal]

Is there an easy way to figure out the difference between hardware?
all these graphics cards have the [name] -####

I have no idea how to compare cards or other hardware. the best thing i can do is judge by price.

My computer is shit. It is 7 years old, has a GPU and CPU, When i mean crap i mean crap.

Would replacing my old GPU and CPU make my computer run faster. I used to play wow but quit because i would raid with 2 FPS during fights.
and all my settings would be on low. Not to mention some games i want to play require pixel shader 2.0.
would Building one from scratch be better?

Lastly could someone be so kind as to list things i would need to build a strong computer.
Not actual products but the names of the hardware, eventually when i get a job im going to pour alot of money on one.

All i know of is:
Casing
Ram
GPU/CPU Can we use two good Graphics cards?
Power Supply
Motherboard
Windows.


Thank you.

[Dexiefy]

You are basically forced to build from scratch pretty much.
Your pc is very old and therefore you wont be able to easily upgrade to good cpu or ram w/o exchanging motherboard.

Relative GPU (graphics) power is easily determined atm. You have 2 players on the market, nvidia and AMD. Nvidia runs with Geforce and AMD with radeon.
GTX 4xx series= Radeon HD 5xxx series
GTX 5xx series= radeon HD 6xxx series
(not mentioning older series as they arent worth buying)

You basically follow numbers here.
gtx 460=hd 5850 in relative power while gtx 470= hd 5870 in relative power. In 500 series its pretty similar, GTX 560ti=6950 and gtx 570=hd 6970, gtx 580 is the best single GPU card out there and then you ahve RAdeon hd6990 and GTX 590 which are basically a SLI on 1 board and are absolute beasts. However such SLI isnt the best solution as there are always issues with drivers and alike.

As for the CPU (processor) things get a little more complicated than with graphic cards.
Again you have only 2 players on the market, Intel and AMD but its harder to follow relative power of the two.
Im not intel fanboy by any stretch of imagination but to be frankly honest there is no point to buy AMD processors other than Phenom II x6 1090t/1100t and this one is pretty much only if you do alot of video rendering and alike.
If gaming is your main concern, go with Intel processor. LGA1155 motherboard with p67 or z68 chipset and one of those processors:
i3-2100 : This one will handle wow just fine but might strugle in some time with some newer games as they start to require quad core processors. However this processor is cheap and will do the job atm. (by newer i mean the ones that are going to come out etc. Games currently on the market shouldnt be a problem, maybe bf3 or something. However thats just speculation.)
i5-2500(k): K stands for unlocked multiplier, which basically allows you to overclock your CPU and is definately worth few extra bucks just to have the option. i5-2500k in my opinion is best CPU out there for gaming
i7-2600k/2700k: ok firstly the difference between 2600k and 2700k. 100 mhz, nothing else. If you can get 2700k at the price of 2600k, go for it, if not then go for 2600k cause in games we are talking about like 0.5-1 fps difference. now the difference between i7-2600k and i5-2500k. 2600k is slightly faster (100mhz) and has bigger cache if i remember corectly and the only thing that makes the difference between those 2 processors really is Hyperthreading. Hyperthreading illuminates cores for applications that require alot of threads. So basically your i7-2600k becomes 8 core processor when needed. Obviopusly illuminated cores arent as powerfull as real cores on the processor would be, but it gets the job done. In gaming however you wont see any difference at all between i5-2500k and i7-2600k so unless you do alot of video rendering and alike go with i5-2500k


Also there is another option, go with i3-2100 and wait for intels new processors that come out next year (ivy bridge). They will use exactly the same socket as sandy bridge does (LGA 1155) and will probably be much stronger than current sandy bridge processors.


What you need to build a pc is:
Motherboard
CPU (processor)
RAM (memory)
GPU (graphics card)
PSU (power supply)
HDD/SSD (hard drive disk/Solid state drive)
Case
dvd (i would go with external dvd writer or jsut take windows from a friend on usb stick and instal from that :P)
Operating system (aka windows in your case :P)
Also aftermarket cooling wouldn't hurt as stock coolers are pretty shit if you ask me ;o

If i can recommend anything i would say
CPU- i5-2500k
Motherboard- anything from ASUS that has p67/z68 chipset and has PCI lanes that fit your other expansion cards
RAM- G.skill ripjaw x 1600 mhz, basically the best ram for the money for sandy bridge processor. (note: 2x4 gb kit will suit your needs unless you have some apps that require tons of memory. Otherwise dont let any1 push 16 gb of ram or w/e into your rig cause games have problems to consume even 4 gigs atm. 8 gb will be just fine)
GPU- GTX 560ti or radeon HD 6950 will do the job just fine currently, if you want something stronger then i would say go with GTX 570. NOTE: Gigabyte has 1 gtx 560ti superoverclocked edition which basically pushes the card to the limits and that gtx560ti costs almost the same as stock gtx 560ti (last time i checked) while providing performance of stock gtx 570
PSU- for my GPU and CPU recommendations 600watt psu will handle everything. Note: dont go with brands like coolermaster or ocz, go with Corsair. Corsair quality is top notch and they have awesome warranty and one of the best (if not the best) customer support out there.
HDD/SSD- ssd is much faster (MUCH faster) but its much mroe expensive than HDD. Overall i would buy everything i need for pc and then look at the budget i have left and decide w/e or not i can afford ssd. As for HDD 1tb samsung spinpoint f1would be great choice. Samsung has some reallygood hdd's and spinpoint f1 grabs alot of rewards atm mostly because its fast, reliable and quiet. If you decide to go with SSD, make sure your motherboard has sata 6gb/s connection and go wit Corsair force series 3 or ocz vertex 3 or ocz agility 3 ssd.They all have similar speeds and are hovering around 500mb/s read/write , but you wont be able to reach such speeds w/o sata 6gb/s connection.
CAse- personal preference, just make sure it can fit your motherboard
OS (operating system): Windows 7 64 bit

As for the cooling
Coolermaste hyper 212+ : go for it if you dont plan to overclock. It will be quiet and keep your temperatures at good levels (and its cheap)
Coolermaster hyper 612 pwm : go for that one if you plan some small overclock or you value sound levels above anything else. Its EXTREMLY quiet and not too expensive either.
Noctua nh-d14 : the best air cooler on the market, dont need to say more ;o Cant go wrong with it. However its big and ugly due to fan colors but imo its small price to pay for its performance.

Hope my post was of any help to you.

[Unoriginal]

Thank you im going to save this for future reference.

Not sure what this means:
dvd (i would go with external dvd writer or jsut take windows from a friend on usb stick and instal from that :P)

[Deleted]

Thank you im going to save this for future reference.

Not sure what this means:
dvd (i would go with external dvd writer or jsut take windows from a friend on usb stick and instal from that :P)

DVD drives aren't used that much now a days tbh. When you install OS/new games (steam has done some good stuff here) and occasionally watching a DVD. But IMO it's a good idea, they aren't expensive anyways.

[BicycleMafioso]

GTX 4xx series= Radeon HD 5xxx series
GTX 5xx series= radeon HD 6xxx series
(not mentioning older series as they arent worth buying)

You basically follow numbers here.
gtx 460=hd 5850 in relative power while gtx 470= hd 5870 in relative power. In 500 series its pretty similar, GTX 560ti=6950 and gtx 570=hd 6970, gtx 580 is the best single GPU card out there and then you ahve RAdeon hd6990 and GTX 590 which are basically a SLI on 1 board and are absolute beasts. However such SLI isnt the best solution as there are always issues with drivers and alike.

Not true. The 5850 is more powerful than the GTX460 with a not insignificant margin.
The HD5850 > H6850 = GTX460 > HD5830 > HD5770, for example

The HD5870 is also stronger than the HD6870.
HD5870 was the reigning performance king for over six months before nVIDIA released their GTX 480, which was rather poor in comparison, in regards to performance per watt (horrible in fact) and had a much higher heat-generation.
(EDIT: The 5870 was even stronger than the GTX480 in a few titles)
(Edit2: A rig with a single GTX480 drew more power than a rig with crossfired HD5870. Two GTX480 drew ~11% more than two HD5970)

I will go through the rest of your post when I've got more time. ;o

[aisatsana]

The 5750 is the 5xxx series equivalent to the 6850 by the way. 5770=6870 / 5830=6950 / 5850 = 6970 / 5870 = 6990

[BicycleMafioso]

The 5750 is the 5xxx series equivalent to the 6850 by the way. 5770=6870 / 5830=6950 / 5850 = 6970 / 5870 = 6990

No.
5970 = 6990
5870 = 6970
5850 = 6950
5830 = 6790
5770 = 6770

Sorta. The 6850 lands between the 5850 and 5830 in performance, and the 6870 between the 5850 and the 5870. But they aren't true successors to 5830 and 5850 in spirit, imo, as they were launched to complement them, but with better dx11 tesselation.

[Unoriginal]

My brain exploded from lack of knowledge in this area of computers.

Am i to guess higher # in any given series =better?
Probably need to put these in even more lamens terms,because all these numbers and the lack of sleep are just burning a hole through my
brains CPU

[Redsage]

Please go to http://www.hwcompare.com

It completely solves the graphics card mystery of which is better.

[BicycleMafioso]

My brain exploded from lack of knowledge in this area of computers.

Am i to guess higher # in any given series =better?
Probably need to put these in even more lamens terms,because all these numbers and the lack of sleep are just burning a hole through my
brains CPU

Yes and no. The second number is far more important for both nVIDIA and AMD Graphics.
For AMD, the 8 and now 9 series are indicative of high-end or gaming, where 7 and 6 series will work but with expected results. (lower is HTPC)
For nVIDIA x5x or higher usually means it's suitable for gaming, x7x and higher mean higher end. (lower is HTPC)

The first number indicates how new it is. A newer card is almost always comparable to the previous generation with a number higher. Like GTX480 and the GTX570 as examples.
AMD recently swapped their high-end single GPU from x8xx to x9xx so it's a bit more confusing, but they realised they didn't need their entire 9-series as double-GPU as they are unlikely to launch more than one per family.

AMD also has an indicative of how strong they are inbetween the same family, where the xx7x is the higher, xx9x is the highest you can get and xx5x is usually a very good value.

Hope it helped at least a little.