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Good price for new system??

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ChrisX

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Hi my pc is extremely outdated, as such I'm looking to upgrade to a new one. A local shop here in Cambridge Ontario quoted me the following prices for parts. Please let me know 1) if this is a good deal and 2) if this system will run the games I want it to. I was quoted prices in Canadian funds but I'll post american price as well.

System:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4Ghz - $315 CDN, $319 AMER.
Case - $110 no much details other then he recommends the case. Good cooling, space etc.
Motherboard - Asus P5B Intel 965 - $170 CDN, $172 Amer.
Ram - 2Gb 800Mhz $75 CDN, 77 Amer.
Video - Nvidia (BFG) Geforce 9600GT OC $260.00 CDN
500W True Watt Power Supply $75.00.

Total approx $1100 CDN, $1115 Amer.

The games I want to run smooth with no lags or glitches are Microsoft Flight Simulator X, Call of Duty 4, and perhaps Crysis.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated and any tips on anything I could do cheaper to achieve a good level of performance in these games would be greatly appreciated. Ideally I'd like to spend only $700.00 or so perhaps dual core instead of quad core?

Thank you,

Chris.
 
Go to Newegg.com and build it yourself. You'll find all the parts are overpriced.
 
erocker said:
Go to Newegg.com and build it yourself. You'll find all the parts are overpriced.
Click to expand...

Okay thank you, now I'm confused however they have about 8 varients of the Asus P5b board and I have no idea which is better then the other. I guess I'm gonna end up paying the price he wants as he is a honest guy and will at least choose the right parts for me. Ty for the help anyways.
 
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Pick and choose the parts, you'd be assembling it all when it ships to your home.

It's not hard to learn, and we'll all help you out :)
 
Also, get a better PSU. I recommend one of the Corsair TX PSUs.
 
Silverel said:
Pick and choose the parts, you'd be assembling it all when it ships to your home.

It's not hard to learn, and we'll all help you out :)
Click to expand...

Okay thank you I appreciate it very much :) I like asus boards as they are generally pretty stable and reliable... the store tech recommended the P5B Intel 965, when I searched on newegg there were many varients of the P5B any recommendations on the best board for gaming? or even another companies board but I'd like to stay around $150 tops for the Mobo.

Also for the processor would this be a good candidate?

Intel Core 2 quad q6600 2.4Ghz Lga 775

1066Mhz FSB
65 Nm Kentsfield
2 x 4mb L2 Cache

Price - 254.99

thanks again,

Chris.
 
Depends, what do you use your PC for?

That's the first question that needs to be answered :)

Quad-cores are overkill for MOST people. You see em talked about around here cause they're all crazy into benching and having the best stuff. Or just talking about the best stuff at least.

Surfing the net, playing games (even really good ones) listening to music, and watching movies... Dual Core is the way to go.

Rendering 3d models, massive file compression, server hosting, music editing and compiling, Benchmarking, all things that CAN be better with quads...

What are you into?
 
Silverel said:
Depends, what do you use your PC for?

That's the first question that needs to be answered :)

Quad-cores are overkill for MOST people. You see em talked about around here cause they're all crazy into benching and having the best stuff. Or just talking about the best stuff at least.

Surfing the net, playing games (even really good ones) listening to music, and watching movies... Dual Core is the way to go.

Rendering 3d models, massive file compression, server hosting, music editing and compiling, Benchmarking, all things that CAN be better with quads...

What are you into?
Click to expand...


I just want to be able to game without worries of my pc (all parts) slowing down or hindering performance for example I'd like to be able to play FSX on high settings at least and COD4 on high settings. I pay for high speed internet and in games it makes no difference because my current pc lags it down.

My current pc (don't laugh lol) is :

Asus P4P800S Motherboard
Intel 2.66Ghz processor the board supports 800fsb but I was told my chip is only using 400fsb.
2 Gig of ddr433 ram
256 Sapphire Ati Radeon x1600 Pro 8x AGP
450 watt power supply (cheap generic paid $20 for it)
120Gig Maxtor HD 7200 rpm

And to top it off the heatsink fan is a cheap coolmaster fan.

As you can see I'm in dire need for more performance... I think in games like Cod I'm at best running 15-17fps.

It sounds like a dual core would more then suit my needs. One question though are dual cores becoming old technology and in say 2 years you'll only be able to upgrade quad cores? I ran into this problem with my pc, as trying to find say a 3.4Ghz processor (single core) is almost impossible and as expensive if not more then new chips.

Thanks,

Chris.
 
Lol...

You didn't look at my specs did you ;)

I'm an AMD guy meself, had the same worries about dual core dying off, so I've got an AM2+ board with an X2 BE 5000+ in it. If everything get's optimized for quads, I can easily drop one in.

I'm sure this translates over to Intel platforms as well. However, imo, Dual should be fine for quite a few years. pci-e as well. All you'll really need is faster graphics since it sounds like you're a pretty dedicated gamer. You could try to find a 3850 in AGP if you wanted to hold onto that PC for another 2 years or so.
 
This guy might be an honest dude, but he is of course out there to make money. There's a markup on every item you listed, which is great for him, but hurts you. If you buy the parts yourself you'll save hundreds.

The prices I'm listing are American, so keep that in mind.

CPU: Q6600 - $255
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115017

Motherboards: $90-170
Abit IP35 Pro - $170
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813127030
Asus P5K-e Wifi - $150
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131196
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L - $90
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128059

RAM: Mostly anything on this list. Other people can help ya out too, this is a general idea of what you're looking at.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...Subcategory=147&description=&Ntk=&srchInDesc=

Video: The video card and CPU have the biggest impact on performance, so you don't want to skimp this one.
When hunting for an nvidia card I'm partial to evga, so this is a list of 2 9600GT's and 2 8800GT's ranging from $180-260 ($220 with rebates)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...2E16814130319,N82E16814130328,N82E16814130330


If you go with a $75 set of ram, the $180 9600GT, the quad, and either the ASUS or Abit, you're already saving 50-70 bucks. It all depends on if it's worth it to you or not.
 
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I used to manage a small custom computer shop, so I pretty much know what the mark up's are. I used to get my stuff mostly from Newegg, buy.com, tiger direct and so on. Yes, we had wholesale suppliers but the online shops were still in the most part cheaper. The "ma & pop" computer stores have to mark it up quite a bit to even stay in buisness. Now that alot of people build their own it hurts them even more. So when they get someone like you interested in one of their custom jobs they have to hit you fairly hard in the wallet. They are probably honest buisness people. I fully support the efforts of small buisness owners ( i am one myself). But shop around first... its smart as a consumer to do so.

-Hogan
 
The price list you looked trough is an old one you should look at newegg they have good prices :)...
 
lowflyer said:
Motherboard for under 100 bucks for that chipset http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128059

Its a good board,and it oc's well although ive just played around with it.
Click to expand...

That's good. The ABIT IP35-e is under $70 after rebate lots of times, too. There are many 9600GTs on newegg for $150-ish after rebate, so $260-ish is pretty rough.

As said, you can save a good bit by figuring out what you're going to use it for. If you don't need extra optional stuff, then you likely don't need a motherboard over $100. And if you're worried about quad cores in the future and don't need one now (most people don't), just make sure the motherboard says it's quadcore compatible. That way in the future you can just swap out the CPU. Not everything can take advantage of quads now anyway.

I've seen the same thing happen to my local shops as was said. One place used to be the go-to place, prices were maybe 20% higher than online which isn't bad, and sometimes they'd deal. Now I don't even bother looking at their prices anymore because they've gotten so ridiculous. My friend stopped there the other day and said they had a sata cable for $20+. You know, one of those $1.50 cables.

Before I had other computers available, I kept my ancient Pentium 100 in the closet for the express purpose of being able to get online to order parts if my main desktop PC broke. Not only due to buying local costing so much more, but because if I actually paid those prices I'd feel like a chump.

And that better be one hell of a case if it's $110.

I now see this thread started five days ago. Hmm, a little old, but oh well, already typed stuff.
 
ChrisX,

I can't comment on the price as I'm in the United Kingdom so I wouldn't no what is a good deal financially. However in terms of performance the specification is enough to run yesterday's and todays games on high without lag. COD 4 will play effortlessly and so would Microsoft Flight Simulator. Crysis will make your computer cry and you will have to be content with playing on medium.

My only gripe is that 2 GB of ram is the bare minimum for todays games, and if new games follow the same trend as Crysis and the upcoming FarCry 2 one will need 4GB. But then again ram is so cheap and if you expect this computer to last a good while why not go for 8GB of ram, it's not necessary but why not prepare yourself?

The 9600 GT graphics card coupled with Intel's Quad Q6600 processor is a respectable choice of hardware and should last you a good year and a bit playing games at Ultra/high. Mid-2009's games might force you to play at medium settings or invest another $150 on the "latest" card being offered then. I personally wouldn't let anyone build a computer for me, why let company's charge you double for something you can learn yourself, the extra profit the shops make could go towards better components or bills. Plus you get self satisfaction when you complete the project and learn the skills necessary to carry out small upgrades in the future.




ChrisX said:
It sounds like a dual core would more then suit my needs. One question though are dual cores becoming old technology and in say 2 years you'll only be able to upgrade quad cores?
Chris.
Click to expand...

There isn't many games written specifically for multiple cores, however it's becoming abundantly clear that at least dual cores is needed for future applications and games. Typically I'd say if you want to game without slowdowns for two years a high end dual core is recommended, however the Q6600 is probably the cheapest Intel quad core in the market currently, cheaper than some high end dual cores, so it makes little sense not to get a quad core especially if it's a Q6600. Upgrade-ability depends on the motherboard you choose. The Q6600 is the lowest end quad and therefore leaving plenty room for a high end quad core such as the Q9550 in a year or two.
 
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try a 500 watt rose will psu from newegg for like 50 bucks i have one my freind has the 750 watt version its good.
 
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