6 replies to this topic

[No_Nickname]

As a gift to myself for getting hired permanently at my new job (was a temp before) at Briggs and Stratton, I decided to purchase a new computer for myself but I need some help as I am not really that good in this area. I will need a new monitor as well but I will probably not need a mouse or keyboard as I could probably use my old one.

Requirements:

1. Needs to be highly upgradeable and reliable
2. Don't really want to spend more then $1500 but will if I need too
3. Must play current and future games with ease and at a good FPS rate

[Wolf68k]

Is this a complete ground up build or are you going to salvage anything from your current system?
Do you need an OS or can you use one from your current system? If you current system is something like a Dell or HP then you'll need an OS.

Am I the only one not seeing a graphics card in Creamzor's build?

[thee_oddball]

Is this a complete ground up build or are you going to salvage anything from your current system?
Do you need an OS or can you use one from your current system? If you current system is something like a Dell or HP then you'll need an OS.

Am I the only one not seeing a graphics card in Creamzor's build?

not if there is a KEY on the HP or DELL cream forgot the vid...an oversight

[thee_oddball]

I am have always built AMD systems but at present i am hard presed to do so i will however still give you and option to go AMD here are the core components that the 2 builds will share:

PSU: FSP Group AURUM PRO 1000W (AU-1000PRO) ATX12V2.92 SLI Certified 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Single 12V Rail Modular Power Supply Compatible with Intel Core i3 i5 i7
$200

RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL10D-16GBXL
$115

INTERNAL HD:Corsair Force Series GT CSSD-F240GBGT-BK 2.5" 240GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
$190 (AFTER $40 REBATE)

EXTERNAL HD (STORAGE):BUFFALO 500GB USB 3.0 Black External Hard Drive HD-PCT500U3/B
$91

VIDEO CARD #1 NVIDEA :MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II 2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
$250 AFTER $20 REBATE

VIDEO CARD #2 AMD/ATI: XFX Double D HD-695X-CDFC Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity
$230 AFTER $30 REBATE

CASE: Fractal Design Arc Midi Black High Performance PC Computer Case w/ USB 3.0 and 3 x Fractal High Performance 140mm fans
$120

MONITOR(I use my TV so that is what I would recommend as opposed to by a actual monitor (more bang for the buck) but you may choose otherwise):Insignia™ - 32" Class / LCD / 1080p / 60Hz / HDTV
$250

$1320 for Core components

For an Intel based system we would use the following CPU/MB combo

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 BX80623I52500K
$220

MB: ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
$130

INTEL BASED SYSTEM = $1570
(MINUS OS)

AMD BASED SYSTEM:

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ965FBGMBOX
$120



MB:ASUS Sabertooth 990FX AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
$198

AMD BASED SYSTEM= $1540 (MINUS OS)

$1500 was the price point you gave...wanna go cheaper $1000? $700? let me know :0

[No_Nickname]

This will be a completely new build, I've been using a laptop the last couple years so no salvageable material there

[Wolf68k]

Is this a complete ground up build or are you going to salvage anything from your current system?
Do you need an OS or can you use one from your current system? If you current system is something like a Dell or HP then you'll need an OS.

Am I the only one not seeing a graphics card in Creamzor's build?

not if there is a KEY on the HP or DELL cream forgot the vid...an oversight

The key on the HP and Dell is for special kind of OEM. Those keys are locked to that motherboard as well once the activation code is assigned.
HP I know for a fact does not include a copy of the OS with their systems. They use a partition for factory recovery and if that gets borked then you have to order a disc from them which formats and partitions the drive to be just like it was when you first got it and that takes hours....been there, done that.
Dell, the stories vary. With XP that usually included a restore disc but it would only work on a whitelist of mobos that was supported by Dell, but then some said it would work on anything. I don't know for sure with Win7 but again it doesn't matter since the OEM that Dell and HP uses is a different OEM than what you can get from places like Newegg.
The problem with 7 OEM unlike XP OEM once it's activated on a motherboard the product key is locked to that board. If you replace the board in a short amount of time you can call and ask for it to be transferred however after that time you'll have to buy a new copy. There are some lucky people that have gotten a way with swapping boards after that grace period without having to do anything but most others aren't so lucky.

Unless Microsoft has close the Student store for the summer, you can get Win7 Pro Upgrade for around $80 which you can install just like a Full version but doing 1 of 2 tricks to get it to work. http://www.winsupers...de-media-128512 This site shows it as being 3 methods, the first one that you don't have to do anything, for the select lucky few. The other 2 methods also work, I did #2 the registry hack myself and it worked just fine. What's funny to me is that method 3 is what is approved by Microsoft themselves.


/Edit
Sorry I'm not trying to start an argument or anything. My point was just because you have an OS from a pre-built system don't rely on being able to use that for anything other than the system it came with.

[Wolf68k]

That keyboard is $70 on Amazon http://www.amazon.co...d/dp/B000YDIA78
From the reviews, both professional and users, that I've read this is the kind of keyboard I want. I just have to bring myself to justify spending that much on a keyboard. The other issue is that I had installing drivers for a mouse much less a keyboard.

You can get the Razer Arctosa for $40 at Amazon http://www.amazon.co.../dp/B001L5U17U/ (the black which means you can't hardly see the letters on the keys is $45) or $45 at Newegg http://www.newegg.co...N82E16823114010 Said to be the same as the Lycosa minus the back lighting.

My Logitech MX518 for the most part works just fine without installing the drivers and utility program. I can still control the DPI buttons but with only 3 choices which is default even with the utility installed however with it installed I can make it 5 DPI settings. I never used any of the other things. But that's just me.