Buying a new computer, noticing my knowledge is severely outdated

[kailtas]

What country are you from btw? I know EU, but it may differ.

EDIT: Nvm, found it in hidden in the comments :S.

---------- Post added 2011-05-04 at 06:00 PM ----------

About your question on RAM and why some 2x2GB is cheaper than others.

There are 4 main contributing factors.

1. The amount of MB on the ram chip(s).
2. How many chips the ram is spread on. This one not so much.
3. The speed (In MHZ).
4. The CAS latency. I completey forgot what it was short for. But it determines how fast your RAM starts to work.

I suggest : 2x2GB - 1333 MHZ - CL8 (8-8-8-24).

You should get that for about 50-60€.

[Biernot]

I have a phenom II x4 955, I was thinking of overclocking it a bit so I ran prime95 to stress test it to find out how high the temps are hitting at stock condition, long story short with stock cooler I hit 64 degrees, while the amd specified max allowed is 62 degrees.... Installed an (old) after market cooler and the temps dropped by over 10 degrees, iddle and under load.

So what I'm saying is stay away from reference coolers if you can avoid it, especially with amd.

The Phenom 955 has a given TDP of 125W, which is way over the 100W mark i said you can trust on the stock heatsinks. And bear in mind, that Prime95 puts more stress on the cpu than any normal activity would. (With Prime95, the actual heat dissipation was probably a bit over 125W)

P.S.
Good heatsinks in the affordable price range would be e.g. Scythe Katana3 or CoolerMaster Hyper 212

[Cantii]

Since you are in the netherlands I made a small list for you on tweakers.net that perfectly fits your budget: http://tweakers.net/gallery/184325?w...#tab:wenslijst
The total price is €499.88 without shipping costs at the cheapest stores. The cheapest store with all products is Afuture for €526.65 including shipping costs. But you can get it all for €516.40 including shipping if you buy stuff from multiple stores.

For those that's can't read dutch:
CPU: Intel i5 2500k
GPU: Gigabyte GV-N470OC-13I (GTX470) (not available anymore on newegg so don't try looking for it)
Motherboard: MSI P67A-GD55
RAM: Corsair XMS3 TW3X4G1333C9 (2x2GB)

This right here. It's a little over your budget, but it's still the absolute best for your money, honestly. The only thing I might change is the video card and go for something a little less expensive to put you back under 500 euros, though a GTX470 at that price is a steal.

If you don't mind, what kind of case do you have? It could be large, but that doesn't mean it has good airflow, could be something else to consider.

[Deleted]

Ok so i've been away for a couple of hours, and here i am back to read the posts of all the helpful people out there, i do greatly appreciate it!

So @ the CPU cooler: i'm probably gonna end up with the i5-2500k, TDP of that is listed as a max of 95w - given you've said anything under 100 wouldnt be much of a problem, and the cooler of intel is actually pretty decent i'm gonna run it without a cooler first. If i need to OC it later, i can probably bring up the money to add one without too much of an issue

@the ram - i'm still quite confused, but given i'm on a somewhat strict budget i'll just get some of the cheaper stuff :P

@The case i have - i dont honostly have a clue of what brand, or series it might be - but its BIG and has one fan on the side, 2 on the back, and 1 on the front.
front+side = in, back=out, should be fine

@the HDD - thanks for clearing that up - it's always been a storage unit and has seen little use, and no transportation so that, also should be fine

Remaining question that i do have:
the build: CPU: Intel i5 2500k
GPU: Gigabyte GV-N470OC-13I (GTX470) (not available anymore on newegg so don't try looking for it)
Motherboard: MSI P67A-GD55
RAM: Corsair XMS3 TW3X4G1333C9 (2x2GB)
Which was also cited as "best bang for buck" differs from a "best buy" on tweakers also linked in this topic mostly in that the motherboard is about 20 euros cheaper: Asrock P67 Pro3 (B3), and then they put in the 20 euros more expensive GPU: MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II
I reckon the gpu would benefit performance more then the mobo - theres probably a reason for the choice though - but i'm confused.

Once again, thanks so much for the help so far - its greatly appreciated

[tibben]

thanks for raising the point but... The one i have has a "normal" hdd inside, its:
http://www.afterdawn.com/products/pr...360#selitykset
That one.
I don't see any reason why this would break down any quicker then whatever hdd you would buy for your pc :x

Mine was just a USB connected external hard drive, not a SATA drive. You should be fine.

[Cantii]

Ok so i've been away for a couple of hours, and here i am back to read the posts of all the helpful people out there, i do greatly appreciate it!

So @ the CPU cooler: i'm probably gonna end up with the i5-2500k, TDP of that is listed as a max of 95w - given you've said anything under 100 wouldnt be much of a problem, and the cooler of intel is actually pretty decent i'm gonna run it without a cooler first. If i need to OC it later, i can probably bring up the money to add one without too much of an issue

@the ram - i'm still quite confused, but given i'm on a somewhat strict budget i'll just get some of the cheaper stuff :P

@The case i have - i dont honostly have a clue of what brand, or series it might be - but its BIG and has one fan on the side, 2 on the back, and 1 on the front.
front+side = in, back=out, should be fine

@the HDD - thanks for clearing that up - it's always been a storage unit and has seen little use, and no transportation so that, also should be fine

Remaining question that i do have:
the build: CPU: Intel i5 2500k
GPU: Gigabyte GV-N470OC-13I (GTX470) (not available anymore on newegg so don't try looking for it)
Motherboard: MSI P67A-GD55
RAM: Corsair XMS3 TW3X4G1333C9 (2x2GB)
Which was also cited as "best bang for buck" differs from a "best buy" on tweakers also linked in this topic mostly in that the motherboard is about 20 euros cheaper: Asrock P67 Pro3 (B3), and then they put in the 20 euros more expensive GPU: MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II
I reckon the gpu would benefit performance more then the mobo - theres probably a reason for the choice though - but i'm confused.

Once again, thanks so much for the help so far - its greatly appreciated

In reverse:

The ASRock P67 Pro3 isn't as good as the MSI P67A-GD55, but it's still a good board. The MSI GTX560 Twin Frozr II is one of the best video cards around, and if it comes out be around the same price, I'd say go for that instead, would be a little bit better deal.

On the issue of RAM, what's the issue? DDR3 is win, and all you need 4GB of 1333MHz for gaming. Problem solved :P Corsair or G.SKILL are my top picks for RAM.

[Deleted]

Quite a lot of people have helped me out and all my previous questions have been answered (once more, thanks!), however i have 2 new ones:
Based on a number of "best buy list" 2 different mobo's came up:
1) MSI P67A-GD55
2) Asrock P67 Pro3 (B3)
The second one is ~20 euro cheaper, and has been given a comment of "less good" - What are the differences between mobo's in general (i always thought: if you can plug all the components you have on, they're good), and these in specific?
I just recieved notice of an unexpected 100 euro comming in - so i do have the cash for the "upgrade", worth it?

And: My friend didn't have a spare power supply after all - so i'll have to be getting one myself.
To sum up the build im likely going for:
cpu: i5:2500k
gpu: MSI GTX560 Twin Frozr II
mobo: one of the above
Ram: 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3-1333 Corsair CL9
HDD: 7200 RPM sata
and a regular DVD drive + 2-4 case fans.

What kind of Wattage should i be getting to safely run this? Also: i might want to OC the cpu/gpu later, or add a SSD if they cheapen up a bit - i dont want the power supply to cap that too quickly. What kind of brands should i be looking it for an affordable but decent power supply?

[Dion04]

I have the graphics card you mention, its great except it idle kinda of loud. Mine idles around 1300 rpm and its annoying for some movies where its kind of quite.

[Deleted]

i dont think newegg ship to europe

[Deleted]

i dont think newegg ship to europe

I wasnt planning to order with them - it's just the common way of linking stuff, it seems

And @ the card being somewhat loud idle - i dont really care, i have the laptop aswell, it does fine at playing movies thanks for the info regardless

---------- Post added 2011-05-05 at 10:07 PM ----------

ALSO on the mobo thing still
http://www.msi.com/product/mb/P67A-C...tml#?div=Basic
How about that one? any good? - some1 is offering a set of this + the i5 2500k i was planning to get, 1 week old, tad cheaper then new obviously
so confuzzeled!

[Biernot]

About MoBos:

You can't really do much wrong this days. There are the 3 big brands, and all are good: Asus (Asrock), Gigabyte, MSI.
MSI and Asrock are a little bit cheaper than Asus or Gigabyte. But to my experience in the last years, MSI also has a bit higher failure rate (but not that bad).
A general advise: only get the features you need, because the more gimmicks a mobo has, the more parts can go bad. The high-end version mobos have the highest failure rates.

[HotSauce]

TL;DR: cyberpowerpc.com <- they build it for you

I suggest skipping the hassle. Go to cyberpowerpc.com and cosom build you're computer there. They assemble it, you just decide what you want in it. This is good if you don't know how to build it you're self. AND it comes with 3 year warrentee, so if anything is messed up, just mail it back and POOF fixed. Or call and say "hey this is fked, i need this new fkn part! mail it nao pl0x" and they do I have nothing but good comments from using this site. And upon doing my research, it only costed me 50$ more to build it online and have them assemble it, then if i were to buy everything seperate and build it myself. And the 50$ extra, is pretty good because buying it from cyberpowerpc, you get the warentee. Im a big fanboy i know But you have nothing to lose and everything to gain! At the very least give it a try!

[Radak]

As for the mobo's
Here is a comparison of the 3 boards mentioned: http://tweakers.net/pricewatch/compa...;279667;282178
As you can see there are really much alike. The reason I suggested the MSI-P67A-GD55 (B3) is because it has a additional PCI-e 16x slot. Which can be helpful if you later plan to but a second grafix card (for SLI/Crossfire) or any kind of 4-16x card (raid/sound/anything else) as the other 2 boards only have 1 16x slot and the rest 1x slots. Another thing the GD55 has is firewire if you have anything that uses it.
(don't mind the raid difference all have 0, 1, 5, 10, JBOD if you even plan to use it)

As for the GTX470 vs the GTX560. As far as I know the preformace of these cards are near identical (with the 560 slightly higher) but I could be wrong.