Sheridanm962 Building a new computer

IronRaven117

IronRaven117

Well-known member
I'm planning on building a new computer

Here are the spec's (the one's with green I already have).

Motherboard: MSI 760GM-p23(FX) - $88 NZD (this price includes freight). This mobo can handle an FX CPU or can overclock other AMD CPU's.

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 3.20Ghz 955 Black edition - $244 (Worth it since Intel CPU's are more expensive in New Zealnd... Or something)

RAM: A-RAM Value DDR3 PC10600/1333MHz CL9 2x4GB (8GB) - $66 although I can handle 16GB max Cool

GPU: I was thinking of getting a Sapphire Radeon HD 6750 - $157 (So far apparently with all these I can play Battlefield 3 at around 60FPS on ultra settings at 1080p)

Hard drive(s): Seagate Barracuda S-ATA ST1000DM003 64MB 1 Terabyte - $128 (Runs at 7200 RPM)

Optical drive(s): Asus DRW-24B3ST SATA DVD-RW - $36

Case: Antec One (Black) - $73

PSU: Corsair CMPSU-650HX 650W - $172 (Please give feedback on this as I may only need 500W)

OS: Windows 7 Ultimate (64bit)

Any feedback or suggestions would be appreciated

Edit: I was wondering if I should stick with one of my old CRT's or a 24" Monitor/TV

 
Looks like a pretty good starter system, though I'm amazed the CPU price is so high. I actually have that exact same CPU and got it around $120 USD at the time (with VAT). You might want to see if there's another vendor or maybe another CPU slightly slower to see if there's a substantial price dip there. If not, then I guess you're kind of screwed there, but it seems way more proportionally than your other parts in NZD. Also you're right, for Battlefield 3 in particular you won't see much if any benefit from going to an Intel CPU:

Battlefield3.png


Also as for the PSU, the two places you generally don't want to go too cheap are the PSU and RAM. Even if you only need a 500W PSU, running a PSU closer to its maximum can actually shorten its lifespan some. So if you only need 400W, then a 650W PSU should last longer running that than a 500W, particularly if you have a name brand like Corsair. Also for your RAM, you can go with a lesser known brand, but I would make sure you have some sort of warranty then.

 
I was thinking of actually running games with no AA at all and 4X-8X AF, this would actually depend on the game I'm playing though.

There is a place that sells RAM really well and it's not a "Mainstream" Electronic store (Not in a hipster way). It's a place for only Computer parts and that's where I got 2GB DDR2 Laptop RAM for only $65 NZD (Which is $90-$140 at DickSmith electronics New Zealand). I think the maximum there is 4GB of DDR3 Ram which I have to research on the price in the store.

They sell CPU's and I think cooling solutions as well as Graphics cards but I've only seen Nvidia's GT-GTX series there which go for dirt cheap $80-$220 NZD.

But I'll do some more digging if I have to. I was recommended this place here and that's where I found my Motherboard from their recommended vendors.

For a first build I might need more help, but the thing that mostly concerns me is money at this point. I don't exactly strike the Richie Rich type at all on this end, it's just going from this $100 at a time if possible.

 
Why windows 7 ultimate over professional? Unless you need to 35 language support (which you might), you'd be saving some money just going with professional. I personally don't take W7U's encryption into consideration, since there are free programs that do the same thing just as well, if not better.

Like Ross said, don't skimp on your power supply. That being said, that corsair PSU is very good. The only other thing you could do is look at other fully modular power supplies, but those would be considerably more expensive. Unless you're planning on running high-end graphics and processors, you probably won't need more than 750w.

Sapphire GPUs are good choices, however I'd also look at the MSI cards, since they're excellent coolers and are very good with overclocking.

You can definitely get away with using a CRT monitor if you wanted to, unless you already have that 24" TV. If it's a modern set, it might have a better resolution than the CRT monitor, but I can't say for sure.

All-in-all, you have a good starter build going on.

 
I would actually suggest going with a Gigabyte video card if possible... (better cooling systems in general, and usually have better gaming performance tweaks from the factory)

And don't forget to get a third-party CPU cooler and some thermal grease! (the ones that ship with AMD processors are fine, if you only plan on surfing the web)

 
Both are at pretty decent prices.

I have a choice of a Gigabyte Radeon HD 7750 - $185 NZD

or an MSI Radeon HD 7750 - $156

Links: MSI Here

And Gigabyte Here

Also I only have a CRT or I think a 14"-17" LCD Screen which isn't too bad, I'm liking the CRT more because it's black and the LCD is silver.

 
CRT's will give you considerably more eye strain over LCD's.

I've had instances where after a few hours of use, if I were to go off and do something else I'd notice colors were less saturated and severely tinted (in real life!). I can use an LCD screen for 10 hours and have little to no eye strain.

Also think about the power usage of a CRT.

 
It's not that simple, I've done a TON of research on monitors. Here's a breakdown:

CRT:

+scalable resolution (looks better than non-native resolutions on a LCD)

+NO input lag

+better response time than LCDs

-heavier

-low level radiation

-hard to find now

-picture not quite as crisp as LCDs

As for the eyestrain, that's only true if you run your monitor at the default 60Hz. If you run it at 85Hz or above, it shouldn't be an issue.

LCD TN panel (the vast majority sold in outlet stores are these kind):

+Cheap

+sharp image

+better input lag / response time than IPS panels (but not CRTs)

-poorer color reproduction

-poor angle viewing (if you shift up and down in your seat, the whole image becomes darker or brighter)

-images look worse at non-native resolutions

LCD IPS panels and in some cases VA ones (LCDs, but completely different technology than TN's, usually have to order these)

+Excellent color reproduction

+Excellent viewing angles

-input lag / response time not as good as TN panels (but some are good enough for twitch gaming anyway)

-more expensive than TN panels

There's also something in monitors you'll want to look into called standard and wide gamut, which have to do how saturated your colors are. People have different preferences, but in my opinion, I like the look of standard gamut better.

In my opinion, you may not be happy with a store bought TN LCD panel if you're coming from a CRT, you'll probably notice a lot of their flaws. I would try and find an e-IPS panel, these tend to have the best of all worlds. The color reproduction and viewing angles you can expect from a CRT, the sharpness of a LCD, and still fast enough for gaming. It's your call though, you can always see TN panels on display in a store and decide for yourself what you think of them.

 
I use LCD's all the time but whenever I turn to see a CRT my eyes feel like they are being feed candy in a 4x4 cell and that I can fly out of a hole like that.

EDIT: By all the time I mean at this Creative Technologies course at Wellington's institute of Technology Petone (pronounced pe-tone-ie) campus that has a shitty internet connection that downloads stuff at 20kb/s plus LED 1080p ViewSonic dual monitors that are hooked up to 1 Quadro FX 580 Graphics card.

They have 8GB of ram and i5 3.20Ghz processors...

The real problem with these is that EVERY program is run off of a server that over 9000 people use (Note: not actual estimate of people).

Feels bad man.

 
I highly recommend getting LCD, if only for the wide-screen capabilities... It may not seem like much, but there is significant reduction in eye strain just going from a CRT's 4:3 ratio to a wide-screen LCD at 16:9. (16:9 is much closer to the ratio that your eyes are designed to receive naturally)

 
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