test content
Logo
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc
Need some ideas for a new computer.
captainchaos66
Member Posts: 409 Arc User
in Ten Forward
When buying a new computer I usually just pick one that seems CLOSE to what I need, and worry about upgrading later. However, the last few generations of computers, even fullish towers, are difficult to fit GOOD parts into. I've had good luck with Dells over the years, I'm on my 3rd and its 8 years old. However, looking around Dells site I've come to realize the customization is just not there anymore. I can choose between AMD and INTEL, but BOTH have built in GFX cards, and BOTH have CRAPPY PSU's which means BOTH those parts will need to be upgraded right out of the box. All this is a longwinded way of me asking this question:
Does anyone have any suggestions on a good Gaming computer that's around $1000.00 ( that's MAX end, would prefer $750-$800) that can either A) be easily upgraded or
be customized so that I don't NEED to upgrade it?Also CPU is a bit of a conundrum also. My current PC runs an AMD Athlon II Quadcore and I have to say I've been pretty damn happy with it. But I also been reading that the Intel I7 blows the newest AMD chips oughta the water. The I7 is also significantly more $.
So I'm back to square one: Dell, Lenovo, Asus, or somebody else. I'd rather not build my own because I don't have the patience.
Any advice would be great.
***************************
Fleet Admiral In charge of Bacon
Fighting 5th Attack Squadron
The Devils Henchman
Fleet Admiral In charge of Bacon
Fighting 5th Attack Squadron
The Devils Henchman
0
Comments
http://www.pcgamer.com/pc-gamer-buying-guides/
I paid about $2000 for my current rig, which is loosely based on their high-end specs, but the box is deliberately meant to be a beast that will last me into the next console generation.
And yes, Nvidia and Intel generally work better for performance than AMD, and are more expensive. I use an i7-6700k paired with a GTX 980 Ti, but again, this is a high-end rig. AMD will work on a budget, though I would recommend adding a Corsair Hydro water-cooler for the CPU because AMD tends to run hotter (they have several models; pick the one that fits the biggest fan ports on your case). Not fiddly to install (I've installed two of them at this point) and no risk of spilling or leaking any liquid since it's a one-piece factory-sealed system.
— Sabaton, "Great War"
Check out https://unitedfederationofpla.net/s/
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
when i get some money i want to get a 980 ti, however the card costs a a bit of money to get, but it should eat the 970 for lunch from what i read. but thats closer to £450-£500.
gfx card - 280 pounds
mobo - 170 pounds
cpu - 280 pounds
psu - 80 pounds
HDD - 80 pounds
SSD - 70 pounds
game case - 50 pounds
monitor - 70 pounds
mouse and keyb - 20 pounds
£1100 pounds total.
Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
i7-5820k
Dual gtx 980s in sli
16 ddr 4 ripjaws 4 2400mhz
msi x99s gaming 7
random 240gb corsair ssd
4tb seagate hdd for mass storage
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
Fleet Admiral In charge of Bacon
Fighting 5th Attack Squadron
The Devils Henchman
Prebuilt is pricier than building your own (you're mostly paying for a name on a label IMHO), but building your own takes a little more skill. But if you're willing to spend an evening or two sitting on the floor with a screwdriver (I rebuilt an ATX tower in an afternoon recently), you can find plenty of tutorials on Youtube.
Biggest things to be careful of are, never touch the top of the CPU (grip it on the sides with your fingertips if you absolutely have to), and if you're not wearing an anti-static lanyard, always touch your screwdriver to the case before using it on anything. It's not likely that static electricity from the floor will damage anything but it does happen.
As for the operating system, I found a site where you can get a Windows 10 Home license for $35, Play-asia.com (they seem to specialize in selling unexported video games overseas, e.g. Japanese versions of Dead or Alive and so forth). I swear it's legit, I've bought two keys from them and they both checked out, though I'd still pay with Paypal rather than using a credit card.
— Sabaton, "Great War"
Check out https://unitedfederationofpla.net/s/
One further tip, Newegg.com has a power supply calculator you can use to gauge how high a wattage rating you need for your proposed machine.
— Sabaton, "Great War"
Check out https://unitedfederationofpla.net/s/
i spend 3 hours and half messing about getting a tower cooler on my cpu with this new nobo cpu and cooler, the previous cooler wouldnt install because it was meant for a different socket type. i have no need to run a watercooled system. with the new game case i got with 4 fans on the case and 3 from inside 1 from the cpu tower cooler fan and 2 from the gfx card, my computer remains at a constant 23ºc/73ºf even under heavy load.
Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
from reading this im guessing your big problem is knowing what part works with what other parts and so fourth.
Theres a handy website called pcpartpicker, http://pcpartpicker.com/ It allows you to pick some parts and see what other parts go with it.
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
Fleet Admiral In charge of Bacon
Fighting 5th Attack Squadron
The Devils Henchman
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
STO does not use more than 2 cores, but if you do video editing, then buying a quad core CPU like a Core i5 is a better option. If you are heavily into video editing, then a Core i7 CPU is generally recommended, but not an absolute requirement. The primary difference between the Core i3 and Core i5 is that the Core i3 only has two cores, but it has Hyper Threading (HT). The Core i5 is strictly a quad core CPU. The difference between the Core i5 and Core i7 is that the Core i7 also has HT.
HT (Hyper Threading) basically doubles the number of threads a CPU process at a single time. It's basically like doubling the number of physical cores, however, these virtual cores does not provide the same performance of physical cores. Each core can process one thread. The Core i3 can process up to 4 threads similar to the Core i5, but since two of the cores in the Core i3 CPU are virtual, the performance of programs is lower compared to a Core i5... assuming the programs have been designed to take advantage of HT. The Core i7 can process up to 8 threads which is why it is rather expensive. Certain video codecs can make use of up to 8 threads.
I generally recommend buying a 5th generation Intel CPU (socket 1150) because it uses DDR3 RAM. The 6th generation Intel CPUs (socket 1151) use DDR4 RAM. Since it is relatively new DDR4 RAM is more expensive than DDR3 RAM and the performance difference at this point in time is negligible in real life applications unless the point is to run and compare benchmark results. DDR4 performance should improve as the RAM controller design matures, but the RAM controller is integrated inside the CPU, so the only way to get that better performance in the future is to buy a new CPU and possibly a new motherboard since the CPU will likely be using a newer socket.
Graphically, STO is not very demanding, it can even be played on a PC using integrated graphics if the dedicated GPU dies. Though you will need to lower graphic settings to get decent enough performance. Having said that, it is not necessary to spend too money on a GPU. With a budget of $850 and taking into consideration a retail copy of Windows 10 will cost about $130, it is possible to fit a nVidia GTX 960 in your PC build which typically costs $200 excluding any sales.
The GTX 960 is overkill for STO and you can drop down to a lower price GPU in the $150 price range or less like the GTX 950. However, if you like to max out graphics eye candy or you want to play more graphically demanding games in the future, then the GTX 960 is the GPU to get. But from a price / performance perspective for the generally gamer with a decent enough budget the GTX 960 is a good choice.
==========================================
If you are considering building your own PC, then you are always welcomed to to sign up at Tomshardware (THG) to ask about possible PC builds within your budget or tech questions. Our forum is very active. You can also ask for help to look for a pre-made PC, but since we are a hardware enthusiast forum, most of our members will likely nudge you in the direction of building your own PC.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/forum-28.html
Just so that you are aware, I am one of the moderators at THG.
*** EDIT ***
Minor misspelling and fixed a broken sentence.
I'll definitely checkout those forums when I get closer to making a decision on what I want to do! Thank again
Fleet Admiral In charge of Bacon
Fighting 5th Attack Squadron
The Devils Henchman
That should give you a lot of room to choose a case assuming a $850 budget. Note that some cases are sold with a power supply (PSU). In nearly all cases those PSUs are TRIBBLE. Most people make the mistake of dumping a lot of money into things like the CPU, GPU, SSD, etc and using a cheap generic PSU. That is generally a bad move. If a PSU fails there is a small possibility an electrical surge could be sent to one or more component. In the worse case scenario a failed PSU can completely fry your entire PC which means you need build a new PC.
Core i5-4590 = $200
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116991&ignorebbr=1
MSI Z97 PC Mate ATX motherboard = $90
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130779&ignorebbr=1
nVida GTX 960 = $190
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487091&ignorebbr=1
Windows 10 - Retail Version = $130
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832588528&ignorebbr=1
CORSAIR CX series CX600 600W = $56
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139028&ignorebbr=1
Seagate 1TB Hard Drive = $56
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148321&ignorebbr=1
Crucial 8GB DDR3 RAM = $31
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820156046&ignorebbr=1
The motherboard allows you to overclock the CPU. However, you need a CPU that can be overclocked like the more expensive i5-4690K for something like $240. Only Core i5 and Core i7 CPUs with the "K" designation will allow you to overclock. I selected the motherboard because it got good reviews and features; with the rebate the $10 rebate it basically costs just as much as a motherboard that does not allow you to overclock.
While overclocking (OC) a "k" model Core i5/i7 CPU will provide better performance you need research how do it first otherwise you can damage the motherboard. Also, OC'ing causes the CPU to generate more heat. The standard heatsink the CPU comes is not good enough to for OC purposes. You need to buy a heatsink that can handle the extra heat to cool the CPU; they generally start at $30.
There are ways to shave some $$ off the total cost like selecting a slightly less powerful CPU and choosing a less powerful GPU. The above list of parts merely serves as a starting point and I do recommend you signup at Tomhardware's forum to get other suggestions and perhaps a different point of view.
AMD Phenom II Quad-Core @ 3Ghz
AMD HD Radeon 7850 2GB
16GB Crucial Ballistics Sports DDR3 ram
Samsung 850evo 120GB SSD
WD Black 1TB 7200 HDD
Hitachi 1TB 7200 HDD
Gigabyte GA-880GA-UD3H motherboard
Random 500w PSU
~ $600 - 800
A PC should be as high end as you need it to be
So perfect build for STO
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
so getting what you can for not just the present, but what comes of the future could save you more money rather going for average and upgrading more often.
it may seem expensive to go up in one go, but it will save you more money to get the best and leave it a number of years before having to upgrade again.
This has always been my thinking since building my own computers at time.
Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
I don't mean to belittle your rig, but it is considered low end by modern standards. Although I agree that STO will run at 1080p with the rig, But for ~$600 - $800 you can get much better performance with modern hardware. The primary bottleneck in your rig is the CPU since it can severely limit performance in modern games that are CPU demanding. Performance varies depending on the game, but in general compared to a modern dual core Intel Core i3 CPU the performance gap in CPU demanding games would be at least 35% on average.
However, if your rig still provides with enough performance to keep you happy, then there is no need to upgrade. The rig I built back in 2008 around the Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 was still working fine for me through 2014 when I decided that it was time to upgrade for a much needed performance boost so that I can encode my movie collection more quickly. I transplanted the Q9450 CPU into my HTPC rig (replacing the Core 2 Duo E6600). I am sure the Q9450 and the old nVidia 9600 GT is still good enough to play STO.