Going to be making a big upgrade soon.

  • Thread starter HE1RO
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HE1RO

HE1RO

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Like the title says, im going to be ditching the laptop thats almost 5 years old and investing into a desktop... i have been putting money back during this college year and as of now i can afford 1500k or under.

This is what i have been eying for awhile.

Is there any legitimate reason i shouldn't get this?
 
Only reasons not to get anything is if you can't afford it or if you don't need it that much. If your laptop is working perfectly fine and you need it's portability than getting this would be stupid. However if the opposite is true than get it since it does seem pretty nice.
 
HE1RO
Like the title says, im going to be ditching the laptop thats almost 5 years old and investing into a desktop... i have been putting money back during this college year and as of now i can afford 1500k or under.

This is what i have been eying for awhile.

Is there any legitimate reason i shouldn't get this?
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I'm not a fan of crossfire, I would prefer a more powerfull single card but that's me I guess. I had so many trouble with crossfire when I tried it, game didnt support it, you had to wait for patch etc..
The other big things I see is that there is no SSD on this, which slow your system down even if it's really powerfull, you might wanna invest another 100 dollars in a SSD disk where you would have windows.
 
You could probably just buy a machine that's under-budget, and use the money for more important things. It'd still be a noticeable performance boost if you're coming from a 5 year old laptop.
 
Too much money to be spent on something that doesn't do enough. Check out their barebones kits.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?Lprice=500&Hprice=999.99&CatId=31 In this price range, you get the base parts, and can pick out the graphics card you'll want. Which could be anything like a Nvidia 570/670 or an AMD Radeon 6870/6950


Basically. Any card you want really. There is no reason to drop 1500$ on a computer and have it come with dual 6770s, thats like 300$ worth of graphics, which could be spent on a single card.
 
bergauk
Too much money to be spent on something that doesn't do enough. Check out their barebones kits.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?Lprice=500&Hprice=999.99&CatId=31 In this price range, you get the base parts, and can pick out the graphics card you'll want. Which could be anything like a Nvidia 570/670 or an AMD Radeon 6870/6950


Basically. Any card you want really. There is no reason to drop 1500$ on a computer and have it come with dual 6770s, thats like 300$ worth of graphics, which could be spent on a single card.
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NissanSkylineN1
$1500 for that is a ripoff.
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These two.

$300 can get you a GTX570 which would run better than the dual 6770s. Crossfire only causes more problems than it solves, IMO. I like it, and I love the performance boost, but if you have the budget, favoring a powerful single card over two low end cards is userally better.

Like above, check out a barebones kit, or just build it yourself. You'll save a ton, and with your savings, you can get much better hardware...

...that prebuilt thing is just a ripoff (as is many pre-built systems).
 
I wouldn't get that. For 1500$, it doesn't have an SSD, and it has 2 90$ graphics cards. You could build alot better for 1500$. Don't be afraid to build your own. I just built one last year and had never replaced a computer part in my life. You could learn everything you need to know to build one on youtube, before it ever showed up to your house. Computers are pretty much idiot proof now when you build one. The only scary part is putting the CPU in the socket. You do have to be carful when you do that. When I was building mine, I had a friend help me and he did ruin my first MOBO when he put the cpu in, but it was kind of a fluke when it happened. We bent the pins back and it seems fine now.

The system I built was a good bit better then the one your looking at and it was right around the same price. Another thing to consider is buying the GPU used. MSI had a 3 year warrenty on all their cards, and it is based off the serial number so it is transferable. I have 2 570s and saved about 150$ by buying used, and they were only about 3 months old when i got them.

Another place to get cheap GPUs is newegg. They have refurbished ones up for sale sometimes. I've seen 570s on their for under 200$ and 580s for right around 300$.
 
Putting a computer together isn't quite "idiot proof"

It is somewhat easier, as installing Intel CPUs no longer have the pins on the cpu and they are on the motherboard, and other various little things that had made life easier.

You should still exercise caution when putting one together. A simple static discharge from you to a component can either fry that chip all together, or drastically shorten it's lifespan.

That computer quoted does seem a little high priced for what's inside, but that's built ready to go out of the box. No installing windows. No installing the liquid cooling which can be tricky for some.

I've had friends that have bought stuff online and put it together no sweat.

I've had friends that have bought stuff online and had nothing but trouble.

Not swaying anyone from building their own PC, but caution should be exercised when doing this.

Couple tips if building your own

1. Make sure you are grounded.
2. Make sure your case can support what you need. (ie, there is enough room for the graphics card, enough room for liquid cooling/aftermarket cpu/heatsinks.
3. Make sure you got the right equipment. Don't get a Socket 1366 motherboard, and buy a 1156 processor. Nothing sucks than getting equipment in only to find out that you've gotten something wrong.
4. Take your time.
 
Hmmm, well summer is here finally and college is over. I am going to take the advice and just try and put one together.

I want to base it around this mobo http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1497920&CatId=7381

This will be the first PC for me to put together, so any more advice would be great.

My budget is still 1500 dollars. I have been stashing it away for safe keeping, haha im surprised i havent spent it all yet XD
 
First thing first, you need to be aware of the CPU's for that motherboard, very costly if you are not careful. The models with the "K" in the model number are the ones which can be overclocked if you ever interested in doing that. But they are still great processors even if you were to get the cheapest one. You will have to buy a great aftermarket cpu cooler since they don't come with one.
 
Youy don't need that crazy of a mobo, or the CPUs that works with it. You'll see much better performace spending money on GPUs and a nice SSD then on super high end CPUs that's gonna cost you at least 600$ of your budget just for the MOBO, and CPU.

What are you wanting to primarily use this computer for would determine alot about what you need in it. If it's mostly gaming you don't need a 500$ cpu, but you do need at least 500$ of GPU if you want to run games at high resolution and high settings and not have to worry about the one game your wanting to play slow your system down.
 
Straight up gaming machine and that's it. My main concern is just getting parts that go together.

Im stupid when it comes to PC parts. So here is what i want spec wise.

Really awesome GPU
i7 CPU
8gb of RAM or More
Good case that will except more future add ons
At least be future proof for 2 years lol
 
HE1RO
Straight up gaming machine and that's it. My main concern is just getting parts that go together.

Im stupid when it comes to PC parts. So here is what i want spec wise.

Really awesome GPU
i7 CPU
8gb of RAM or More
Good case that will except more future add ons
At least be future proof for 2 years lol
Click to expand...

For straight up gaming you don't need an i7. There is literally no gaming performance gains over the 2500k/3750k. For gamers the most important part is the GPU so spend the extra money there.

3750k

ASUS z77 motherboard in the $150 range

8GB of corsair/gskill RAM

For the case you have many options. HAF 922, Corsair 300R, 400R... Something around $100 should be plenty good enough in a $1500 build.

Buy a good power supply. XFX/Corsair/Seasonic. If you plan on crossfire or sli down the road go with 800-850 watts.

Hard drive go with a 7200 rpm drive that isn't a "green" one.

SSD if you like or put some of that money into a bigger main drive.

Video card should be the rest of your budget whatever you can afford. 7870/7950/680? The 670 is supposed to come out next week I believe but finding one might be an issue.
 
So this mobo:

CPU

RAM

HDD

Power Supply

GPU


So far im up to about $1,152 and i need a case, maybe some cooling fans... and thats it?
The 7950's are freakn expensive btw... i might have to save for a bit longer if i want one of those lol
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Case?

CPU i5 or i7

Blu-Ray/DVD drive

Now its at about $1360 with the products so far, compatible i7 included.
 
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nick09
You can't use that processor. You have to look at processors that use the LGA 1155 socket.
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Would a cheaper i5 be a better deal and still work with the mobo? There is a compatible i7 for 319, then and i5 thats 219.
 
HE1RO
Would a cheaper i5 be a better deal and still work with the mobo? There is a compatible i7 for 319, then and i5 thats 219.
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http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2580499&CatId=31 Use something like this for your base. And add this in. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2262775&CatId=7387

You don't seem to know enough about components to pick them out yourself so you'd be way better with a barebones/DIY "kit". What I listed should work right off the bat as TD put the kit together and the Graphics card should work regardless of what it's being put in.
 
For gaming there is really no big difference between a i5-3750K and a i7-2600. Get the i5-3750K. With your budget you can also get an SSD, like this one. I haven't used the brand for SSD's personally but they are a great memory brand to use since I've used many products that have their memory in them. I've heard good reviews and with a SSD you can have insanely fast load speeds and it's a decent size. It's great for using it as the boot drive and keeping your favorite programs on and you can keep the 500GB HDD for your other games and media files.

You should also look here for computer case choices, there is far more selection than tigerdirect. What are you looking for in case design? Aggressive looks? Quiet? Simple design? Small and light?
 
@bergauk
I'll consider that kit, but i wouldn't mind being humored a little bit. lol

@nick
i like the aggressive cases like the one i posted, plus that particular one is huge which mill make it easier for me personally, as i am 6'6" and don't have the nimblest of hands. XD

With the i5 CPU it will put me at $1,252 and considering you and bergauk are suggesting an i5 im pretty sure i will go with the cheaper one lol
 
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The Antec and the Rosewill one are cool.

So the components i have chosen should all work just fine with each other, correct?

The SSD you suggested is pretty sweet, but pretty pricey. I do like Samsung though, i swapped my PS3 HDD with a 500gb Samsung and it works just fine :)
 
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Yes that is correct. Here is a 128GB SSD. The Antec is 19.90" x 8.40" x 23.50"(DxWxH) and the Rosewill is 9.14" x 22.84" x 21.89" (WxHxD). Make sure you have the room for either case. The Antec does look like it it has wrenches on the 5.25" bays, which look cool, but the Thor also has that sleek look to it. Both have great cable management options but what the Thor has over the Antec is the bottom power supply dust filter which you can take out once a month and clean. Another two things the Thor has better than the Antec is that the hard drive bays are turned 90 degrees(check and compare it to the Antec in the pictures) to help make cable management easier and the Thor has toolless 5.25" optical and 3.5" hard drive management features. Plus the Thor has tons of room which dwarfs a full size ATX motherboard(You can fit up to XL-AT and E-ATX but that's a larger budget board and is not recommended for you). Also have to add that the Thor comes with case fan control. I personally think the Thor is the better option for the features which the Antec does not have.

I'm also thinking since you are spending so much, you should really get a aftermarket CPU cooler like this one. Decent cooler and it's not a bad price for what you get. That's what I personally think, it would look silly to have the stock Intel cooler in a massive case like the Thor.
 
Sweet, thank you for your help. I will pick up that extra CPU fan as well because i feel the same way haha (...so much money)

The components should all come with wires and stuff included? I used to instal car stereo systems and sometimes you would order things expecting to have all the necessary wires and hook ups only to have to go back through the catalog...

Added it all up again and it came out to $1,290. In the end ill probably pay 1400ish after taxes. Might as well get 16gb of RAM since im paying so much... lol
 
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Have you included windows 7 in the parts list? Also the motherboard comes with 2xSATA 3Gb/s cables(use these two data connectors on the optical drive and the Hard drive) and 2 x SATA 6Gb/s cables(use this data connector on the SSD). So you are completely fine there. I've looked at the power supply and it has been getting bad reviews so I'd suggest changing to this one. The extra price is worth the additional efficiency(You are after all running a powerful computer). Plus it's modular. It has plenty of options for an upgrade in the future if there is a need to.
 
Depending on some certain circumstances i may be able to save money by not having to purchase windows 7, i may be able to sponge a copy off my work lol

mmk, with the case and power supply you suggested and upgrading the RAM to 16gb (its only money...) it is $1,344. If i have to buy a copy of Win7 $1,484.

So i have basically met my budget. And compared to what i thought i wanted when i started this thread, what i have here is way more bad ass. lol
 
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Well I'd keep it at 8GB of RAM. Reason is that you won't have a use for more than 8GB just for gaming use. Instead invest the money into a better GPU. It's still in budget and the money is better spent on the GPU upgrade.
 
I see, it came out basically the same price with it. Im going to wait on the SSD because i still have to get a monitor lol

Thank you again for being so helpful.
 

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