PC Not Booting OS from DVD

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Sach

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I have always been a Mac user, and I currently have a very nice Macbook Pro that does everything I need it to do... except play PC games. :sly:


I have absolutely zero knowledge of anything related to PC parts and/or what is good and bad. Reading the cryptic names of individual parts only confuses me further. However, I recently received a very nice unexpected amount of scholarship money, and well, it's also my birthday.



If you will, I would like some help in considering a PC gaming setup. Here's what I'm looking for:

- setup to be used strictly for gaming purposes and nothing else
- ability to play games like F1 2011 and iRacing in high resolution/graphics
- ability to play modded games (given)


What kind of budget am I looking at? And are there safe online options for buying used PC gaming setups that would also meet my needs?


thank you! :)
 
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What kind of budget do you have? I just built one in june and spent 1800$. It's looking like battlefield 3 is already going to make me buy another video card. If you want to play everything with maxed out graphics it will be expensive, but if you can handle medium to low settings, you could do it under 1000$. My setup will let me almost max out iracing on all tracks, and in all actuality it will. There is one setting that I don't think anyone runs for the mirrors.

Really it just comes down to how much you are willing to spend. If you want a really nice gaming pc you are looking at close to 2000$ give or take a couple hundred.
 
I was hoping there would be options in the $500-700 range. :scared: Even for strictly gaming purposes they cost that much? I know my budget is a lot less, but is there no way to play in very good (maybe not the highest possible) graphics in that price range?
 
Gaming requires resources and resources cost money. Assuming you build it yourself (and hopefully have an experienced friend help—you called yourself a noob after all), you're still looking at around $1000 for a good 1080p gaming PC.

I did some quick pricing based around a few of my favorite parts:

$220: Intel Core i5 2500K CPU
$130: Motherboard (don't have a specific model in mind)
$225: MSI GTX 560ti Twin Frozr II O/C GPU
$140: Silverstone Raven RV03 case
$160: Seasonic X-750 power supply
$60: 8GB dual channel RAM kit
$60: 1TB OEM hard drive
$30: DVD-RW drive

If you'll never bother overclocking, you could save $20 and get the standard i5 2500. I haven't done much motherboard research lately, so someone may chime in with a good cheaper option. I'm sure some people can recommend cheaper cases too. I wouldn't go with too cheap a power supply though. After some of the "interesting" stories I've heard from friends managing production workstations for large companies, I've decided that I'll always buy the best power supplies I can afford.
 
12thgear
$220: Intel Core i5 2500K CPU
$130: Motherboard (don't have a specific model in mind)
$225: MSI GTX 560ti Twin Frozr II O/C GPU
$140: Silverstone Raven RV03 case
$160: Seasonic X-750 power supply
$60: 8GB dual channel RAM kit
$60: 1TB OEM hard drive
$30: DVD-RW drive

If you'll never bother overclocking, you could save $20 and get the standard i5 2500.
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Yep you could do that.
CPU: -20
Graphics: HD6850 for $150
Case: Antec 100 or 300 for $50
Power Supply: Good one can be had for $60-90
RAM: 4GB would be enough for now



Is this for a setup with a monitor, keyboard, etc?
 
I thought about using my 26" 1080p HDTV as a monitor, but I've read that it can be grainy. Keyboard would probably be nice to have.

Monitor over HDTV?
 
ROAD_DOGG33J
Yep you could do that.
CPU: -20
Graphics: HD6850 for $150
Case: Antec 100 or 300 for $50
Power Supply: Good one can be had for $60-90
RAM: 4GB would be enough for now
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Good call on the GPU and cases. Corsair TX series power supplies are nice and a bit cheaper than the Seasonics I love so much. I say stick with 8GB of RAM. It's not that expensive.
 
ROAD_DOGG33J
Pretty good setup. Ditch the case and upgrade the graphics to a 6850 if you can.

I would say to go for Intel, but a quad-core is probably more future-proof.
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Some more questions then:

- Confirmation that the PC in the link would produce graphics/resolution quality better than console games can?

- What about monitors? I have a 26" HDTV right now that I could probably use as a monitor, but would a legitimate one be better? What's the price range like for a similar sized (26") computer monitor that's good quality?
 
I use a 34" HD Ready CRT TV and it works fine(other than the weird resolution but that may be due to my graphics card or TV being one of the early HDTV sets). You can hook up your computer through HDMI to output HD video and surround sound.
 
Zilla
Some more questions then:

- Confirmation that the PC in the link would produce graphics/resolution quality better than console games can?
Click to expand...

It depends on the game and how well optimised they are. I don't have any personal experience of any graphics cards yet, but I know that the extra memory and graphics processing that an i5 based system or AMD hex core based system with decent GPU $150 or above should be able to easily beat most console games.

Zilla
- What about monitors? I have a 26" HDTV right now that I could probably use as a monitor, but would a legitimate one be better? What's the price range like for a similar sized (26") computer monitor that's good quality?
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What you need to be looking at is what ports it has, DVI/HDMI etc. DVI and HDMI are basically the same, but HDMI carries sound aswell as video. HDMI will do as long as the graphics card you select has a port for it. Response time may be important, but is usually in the range 2-5ms, and I wouldn't buy a new one for a slightly quicker response time. If you already have a TV with a HDMI connection that is convenient to use (so not high up on a tv stand or anything) I wouldn't bother buying a new one, unless it's an old fat TV (Apologies, I forgot the technical term).
 
I saw you mentioned scholarship money, just a heads up here, but having a pimped out rig will make everyone in your dorm ask you to fix their computer.

Video cards: look for current (Fall 2011) benchmark tests to see how various graphics cards rank compared to others in the price range. Also some cards offer lifetime warranty, like EVGA, BFG. Determine if you like ATI's or Nvidia's interface better. Both are good brands.

CPU: go on newegg, look for 5 star reviews that say the cpu is good for gaming, good overclocker, etc. Quad core at the minimum.

Motherboard: usually best deal is a bundle deal on newegg with the cpu of your choice from the above, make sure it has good reviews for reliability and is a "gamer" oriented product. it should be compatible with all the hardware you are buying.

Ram: more than ram speed, you want a lot of ram. Both of these are important though. Go with a reputable brand. Don't spend too much on ram though, especially if you don't overclock, get a medium priced product.


powersupply: do not overlook this. often newbie builders ignore powersupply and buy something junky or use the crap that came with the case they buy. Make sure it has more than enough power for what you are building.

hard-drive: you want something with a large cache amount and high disk speed. I recommend seagate from personal experience

case: don't waste money here. Bigger cases cool better. 120mm+ Fans are important as well. The fancier the case looks, the more people who come by will want you to fix their computers. I recommend antec brand.

I am guessing that the total cost will be about $1000. When you upgrade it in 2 years (the usual life cycle on these things) you will still have the case and powersupply at the minimum to reuse so it won't cost as much to upgrade again. I wouldn't spend more than $1000 on it, its gonna go obsolete quicker than you think.
 
His budget is 500-700 dollars. If he plans on not overclocking his CPU then he should get an i5-2500 cpu with a H67 motherboard(Can be had for $50-$80 cheap with support of two USB 3.0 on motherboard ports or motherboard header, many computer cases have a feature to route the usb 3.0 with some extension cables to the front bezel through the case or have a header to attach to the motherboard for the usb 3.0 support on the front bezel). An HD 6850 would be a good choice if the budget allows. 8GB of DDR3(2x4GB) 1600 can be had for $52(Gskill Ripjaws). Antec makes good power supplies and you can find them for a good price if you look.
 
ampire
I saw you mentioned scholarship money, just a heads up here, but having a pimped out rig will make everyone in your dorm ask you to fix their computer.
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Yeah, well I'm a bit older. This is grad. school we are talking about here, dorm days are long gone. :sly:



Thank you for the replies. Can you guys also comment on what you think of the setup posted in that Newegg link by bergauk?
 
Only if I had to. Remember that I am only getting this for gaming purposes. I have a very nice Mac setup that I use for everything else.
 
I would change the PSU to this. Plenty of power draw for a Quad core system and a HD 6850. As you can see here for a nice chart. That chart includes the system they used to measured the readings. They were using a i7-965 cpu that takes 130watts. So with a i5-2500(95watt consumption by cpu alone) you would have plenty of room to breath with the PSU I linked(384 watts can be taken from the PSU on load and the hardware will likely take less than 250watts with an i5-2500 and a HD 6850).

The AMD quad core he posted would work under the 400watt psu I posted with a HD 6850. It's a good cpu to go with if you can't get within your budget with an i5-2500. I would change the motherboard to this one. The AM3+ socket supports older AM3 CPU's and AM3+ CPU's(which are nearing release soon and a good upgrade in a few years) so you can have a better upgrade path in the future if you want to upgrade the cpu. I'd also change the hard drive, hard to beat a 5 year warranty and WD Black drives are good. Use this ram for a short price increase. The case that Bergauk has in the list is good and I would not change it.
 
You have to share the list publicly to share it with us. Just click the check box next to the wishlist and click "Make Public". Or you can just copy and paste the items here.
 
I think that 400W PSU, while technically powerful enough, could be pushing it. It doesn't provide much headroom. I'd feel more comfortable with something at least 500W. Actually, if you're willing to mess with rebates, you may want to consider this. $70 after rebate: Corsair Enthusiast Series TX650
 
It's shared, but I can't seem to get it to work anyway. So here goes...




- XCLIO Godspeed 747 Fully Black Finish 0.5 mm SECC / ABS Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - $45

- SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive - $60

- GIGABYTE GV-R695OC-1GD Radeon HD 6950 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - $240

- Rosewill HIVE Series HIVE-550 550W Continuous @40°C, 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified, Modular Design, Single +12V Rail, ATX12V v2.31/EPS12V - $70

- G.SKILL Sniper 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBSR - $40

- Kingston 4GB Micro SDHC Flash Card Model SDC4/4GB - $0

- MSI P67A-G43 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard - $125

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

- ASUS USB 2.0 Slim External DVD-ROM Model SDR-08B1-U - $30



Total cost: $830




- What do you think of the setup and the cost? Also, that may not be the kind of DVD drive I'm looking for? Would appreciate feedback.
 
I would suggest this case and the DVD drive you selected is a external DVD drive, here is an internal DVD Drive. You can get this power supply for $50 after MIR. It will provide plenty of power for your system and it's modular so you can remove cables that you don't use. I would also go with this motherboard. The Z68 chipset gives more features than P67 and the expansion slots are PCI-E 3, which future proof's the PC so you can utilize graphics cards that make use of the bandwidth in the future.

Also don't forget the $10 code for your 1TB hard drive!
 
I'm really new to all of the pc stuff to, but I have been hearing some people are worried about graphics cards with only 1gb of memory. The new games like battlefield 3 are pushing around 1400 in the vram department. If you want to future proof yourself you might want to get one of the 6850 cards with 2gb for 30 or 40$ more bucks. You would probably be alright now, but some more memory for a little more money might keep you going longer.

Again I may be wrong about this, but that's just what I have gathered from the forums. If anyone thinks this is not something he should worry about feel free to put me in my place.
 
He would be better off with this 2GB HD 6950 which is $270 after MIR. Will run faster and runs cooler than the other options on newegg according to the reviews(small air dam lets heat escape). Of course today's games can run off of a 1GB HD 6950 including BF3 but he can buy a 2GB HD 6950 for future proofing.
 
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Zilla
- What do you think of the setup and the cost? ...Would appreciate feedback.
Click to expand...

You can just get an i5-2500 if you're not planning to overclock, even then you can do a mild one. And like said, you most likely want an external dvd drive and can get a z68 motherboard for the same amount of money.



bevo
I'm really new to all of the pc stuff to, but I have been hearing some people are worried about graphics cards with only 1gb of memory. The new games like battlefield 3 are pushing around 1400 in the vram department. If you want to future proof yourself you might want to get one of the 6850 cards with 2gb for 30 or 40$ more bucks. You would probably be alright now, but some more memory for a little more money might keep you going longer.

Again I may be wrong about this, but that's just what I have gathered from the forums. If anyone thinks this is not something he should worry about feel free to put me in my place.
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At 1080P, it probably won't matter much. You can always turn down AA down to a more sane level or reduce textures from super-duper high to high.
 
Zilla
It's shared, but I can't seem to get it to work anyway. So here goes...




- XCLIO Godspeed 747 Fully Black Finish 0.5 mm SECC / ABS Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - $45

- SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive - $60

- GIGABYTE GV-R695OC-1GD Radeon HD 6950 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - $240

- Rosewill HIVE Series HIVE-550 550W Continuous @40°C, 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified, Modular Design, Single +12V Rail, ATX12V v2.31/EPS12V - $70

- G.SKILL Sniper 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBSR - $40

- Kingston 4GB Micro SDHC Flash Card Model SDC4/4GB - $0

- MSI P67A-G43 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard - $125

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

- ASUS USB 2.0 Slim External DVD-ROM Model SDR-08B1-U - $30



Total cost: $830




- What do you think of the setup and the cost? Also, that may not be the kind of DVD drive I'm looking for? Would appreciate feedback.
Click to expand...

Whilst others will be able to give more sound advice, I feel in my own research I have done that the newer Z68 chipsets are at the same price point as the P67s, so you will probably get more for your money (Though mine was aimed at a lower budget than yours, the higher end ones might have a larger cost difference) with better potential for upgrades in the future.

Also I think a 2GB 6870 would be better and cheaper than a 1GB 6950, though I don't know what overclocking implications that may have, i'm not sure which would be better after modifications.

EDIT: I'd recommend having at least one SATA DVD drive, rather than an external USB one (For cost as much as anything). Something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118031

USB ones are more useful for netbooks and the like that can't have one fitted. I'm not sure, but I don't think you can boot an operating system from an external USB DVD drive.
 
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If you're getting a 2500k, you might as well get a CPU cooler...

And if you're budget is $700 .... why not stick with the 6850 or a 6870?

... Remember, there are taxes and shipping costs too..
 
ROAD_DOGG33J
At 1080P, it probably won't matter much. You can always turn down AA down to a more sane level or reduce textures from super-duper high to high.
Click to expand...

I have a GTX 570 that I run at 1080p, and it's getting in the low 30's sometimes now in BF3. In caspian border it dropped into the 20's pretty often. That's why I'm wondering if the 1gig 6850 would be enough to run the full release version very well, since tesselation and a higher graphics setting will be added. The 570 is a little higher up the food chain then it, and the 570 looks like it's not going to be able to run BF3 maxed out, or maybe even at the high settings.

BF3 is just the newest game out right now, imagine a year from now what the big titles are going to be doing. If BF3 is pulling 1400 vram now at 1080p, then next years games might be a good bit higher then that.

All I'm saying is for 30 or 40 more $, he might give himself an extra year out of his GPU.
 

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