Going with the E8400 or the Q9550? And even though it's only an extra $20 - $25 for the better PSU (depending on which way you look at it), unless you're gunna randomly do some crazy overclocking and add an extra card for Crossfire / SLI then it's un-needed. The PSU, whilst a vital component to get right, is a matter of, "if it's a high enough wattage, it works, if it's not, it doesn't", not "the higher the wattage, the better the computer works", unlike every other component. Anyway, the cheaper card i would suggest is the HD4650 Sam mentioned earlier; http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102838 The more expensive is still the HD4850; http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102770 They're almost neck for neck performance wise - the HD4850 is a little over twice as good as the HD4650 and a little under twice as expensive. And just FYI - "Heart Of Fire EP" by "Interpartysystem" - randomly listening to it over and over because i can't be bothered to change the track and it sounds pretty damn cool on my headphones http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkKdfn9GpcU Reasonably poor quality YouTube version but it'll do
Here's my final lineup: CASE http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042 HDD http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136073 GPU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102770 PSU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005 RAM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231166 MOBO http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128372 CPU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037 Here's my only concern, which motherboard should I buy? If the more expensive one is better than I think I'll go with that one. It's only 10 bucks more. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128372 or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128380 Also I think I'm going to go with the 650W because the 550 is the same price and it's not that much more than the 400 or 450. P.S. Like the song, and thanks again for all the help man! =P FYI - I'm not going to overclock anything. xD
To tell you the truth, i don't know the benefits of the P45 over the P43... As far as i can tell if you're not going to overclock anything, they should perform about the same, but i'd wait to see what Sam has to say on the matter
sentence: The HD4670 is a marked improvement from the HD4650 for performance, but unless you game you probably won't notice the difference from the 4650. Additionally, if you buy one, you don't need the huge HIS cooler on it, they are not hot-running cards in the slightest. All new cards have DVI-VGA adapters, and usually DVI-HDMI adapters as well. Shokz: The HD4670 is a remarkable card for the money (and power usage - no 6-pin!), it competes with the HD3870 and 8800GS/9600GSO, not quite 8800GT standard, that's the HD4830's territory. Sentence: The PC version of Guitar Hero 3 was a shocking port, it was pretty poorly done, and I wouldn't really spend lots of money on getting it running. I could run it up to about 1680x1050 with my HD3870 but it was a bit laggy, the game is really quite demanding (for no reason, it's just badly programmed) Shokz: With console ports, especially bad ones, the brand skewing for graphics requirements goes out the window, I wouldn't try and analyse that Sentence: The 9600GSO is actually a bit slower than the HD4670 in a lot of things, and it costs more, a typical nvidia trend at this end of the market. There's definitely no need to buy a Q6600, it's old, slow and very overpriced. You want a new generation 45nm quad core, the Q9550 is leaps and bounds ahead of the Q6600, which is why it costs more. The Q8200 is its comparison, the Q8400 is shaping up to be a good value chip right now, about 10-15% faster than the Q6600, uses 15% less power, and actually costs $15 less! http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115057 Going with video work, a quad core is always what I would recommend, there's simply no reason not to, the dual cores are just too expensive at this end of the market to justify it. Okay, long story short, this is your final lineup: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136073 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102770 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139008 (that's as much power as you need) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231166 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128380 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115057 No DVD drive?
Sounds great, thank you sooo much!!! I'm definitely going with the quad core. So you are 100% positive the 400W will be enough? The system requirements say 450 or more for the GPU, I'd rather spend the extra 40 then have something go wrong. So I should go with this GPU? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102770 For the DVD drive, I was hoping this one would be ample since I already own it. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106278 It's USB 2.0... if I do get a different DVD drive in the future it needs to be able to burn DVD+DLs VERY WELL. I burn Xbox 360 games on a daily basis and I don't plan on getting the banhammer. About GH3, the only reason I want to play it is to have a better system of testing of custom songs I make rather than injecting them into the ark of the PS2 version, recompiling, and then burning. I'm not in it for the graphics and would most likely use this software. http://www.scorehero.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=44851 If you want to know what I mean by customs here's a guide written by yours truly. http://rockband.scorehero.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=25086 It out to be an interesting read. If you want you can take a look at this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAQh6DwnTJQ I'm actually much better at the plastic drums, but my PS2 set is broken. I play real drums too so hopefully I won't be ridiculed nearly as bad *wink* The reason I wanted to go with a farily decent GPU is in anticipation of if I decide I want to start playing PC games. Playing without the "best" settings is fine for me.
400W is ample for that PC don't worry. My PC only drew 380-390W from the PSU when it had a 3.9Ghz overclocked Q9550 and an HD4870X2 dual GPU card, which uses 3 times as much power as an HD4850. Fair enough on the DVD drive, I have to assume people have forgotten things rather than that they already have them... just in case... I don't think you'll get any issues burning 360 DL games on a regular basis with any drive if you use decent media (i.e. Verbatim DVD+R DL). They have always worked for us, but then we don't go online, just in case I'm familiar with custom songs in GH3 PC, I experimented with it for a bit myself. I tend to find people never do it properly, and I've become more accustomed to the Rock band interface, so I used FoFiX. A better product in my opinion, and free http://code.google.com/p/fofix/ Likewise on the drums, I prefer them to the guitar and like you have experienced my fair share of broken hardware, I've seen off both the original Rock Band set and the GH World Tour set (both red pad faults), so I decided to take a deep breath and buy an Ion Drum Rocker (this is all x360, it's the best console for RB/GH, no worries about compatibility issues). The only GH/RB games I don't have are the original Guitar Hero (it's rare and expensive), GH:Aerosmith (though I've borrowed it from a friend) and the new GH Greatest Hits, I can't really justify £44.99 for a best of right now!
any threads i visit ( including my own Xd) sam recommends the same graphics and psu, i ended up not listing and getting a worse card but thats what i get for being brand loyal.
Not always, but right now that's by far the best value combination. You typically see 20-25% performance gains over the 9800GT by buying an HD4850, and it's actually cheaper.
Actually, I recommended the power supply and the HD4850 this time Nearly mentioned the GTS250 too but decided not to @ Sam - How much worse is the Q8400 in comparison to the Q9550? (having a smaller L2 cache)
Well guys I ordered everything. Here's the final lineup: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128380 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102770 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139008 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115057 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231166 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136073 Total = $589.89 (without shipping) $615.52 (with shipping) A little more than I had originally wanted, but I think I'm definitely going to be happier with the better GPU. Thanks again for all your help everyone =P
Now that I think about it, I'm going to need a wireless card. Someone recommended me one earlier in the thread, but I want to be sure it's a good one. I do a lot of ftp, p2p, and things like that. I know it's important to have a good router/modem and connection in general, but I don't want a crappy wifi card. So with that being said can anyone recommend a good card while I'm here so I don't buy the wrong one. <EDIT> Will these fit in this case? CASE http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106278 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136324 It's fine if they won't, I'd just like to know before hand. Also, will they if I remove the enclosures?
Well, obviously you need to remove the external hard-drive's enclosure before you fit it, but yes, hard-drives and optical drives are made to industry standard measurements so every drive fits every case. Can't help you with your other question though, don't know good PCI WiFi cards - I've always used USB ones, but I've been thinking of getting a PCI one for a while...
The ODD will fit fine, and the HDD will fit if you remove the enclosure, but neither of them are still sold at newegg. I'm assuming you listed them since you already own them. PCI Wifi cards are in general far better than USB ones, as with heavy data and open connections (such as in P2P applications) the USB ones typically overheat and crash your system.
Can you recommend a good one? I don't want to accidentally buy a crappy one or spend more than I need to. Thanks!
