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New build help

Joined
Feb 19, 2007
Messages
587 (0.09/day)
Location
Georgia
Processor AMD Athlon 64 X2 5400 (2.8ghz stock)
Motherboard GIGABYTE GA-M55SLI-S4
Cooling AC Freezer 64, fan cooled
Memory 2X1gb Crucial Ballistix Tracer DDR2-800, 2X2gb OCZ Fatal1ty
Video Card(s) MSI Radeon X300SE
Storage 1 Seagate 320gb sata hdd
Display(s) SCEPTRE 20.1" LCD
Case Cheap enermax case
Audio Device(s) Integrated
Power Supply PC POWER and COOLING Silencer 610
Software Windows XP Pro
Well, I don't normally ask for much help on what I want to buy but im building a new computer shortly. I have a few pieces of criteria it must meet.

1. Budget = $1500.00
2. Must have 2 hdmi outs for the 2 24" samsung hdtv lcds going with it
( new monitors don't effect the budget)
3. Must have 12-16gb ram as a min. 24+ is kinda where I want to be
4. I don't play games often but I do play.
5. Atleast 2tb storage capacity
6. Im not a ati/nvidia fanboy or a amd/intel fanboy ill take either.

Thanks for any help or suggestions
 
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Two questions:

What will you primarily be doing with it if not gaming then?

Do the HDMI's need to be native or will dvi-->hdmi adapters count?
 
I second Jasper1605.

Assuming that you don't game, what is it that this rig is designed for (primarily)? Media coding can forgoe most of the investment into a high end graphics card. Simply playing media, you could get one awesome raid array for storage. Coding and office applications would require nearly nothing in the graphics department, but would benefit from excessive ram and a high end processor.

Assuming that you want to order immediately, do you have a preferential source (Georgia in the US could get either tigerdirect or newegg)? If you don't need a rig immediately, are you willing to wait two months for bulldozer; specifically, are you willing to wait for price drops on current hardware and a whole new level of performance from AMD?

Once these questions are answered, I have a few more:
1) Do you have an OS, or should that be included in the build cost?
2) How long do you want to keep the rig. 4 years means you'll need upgradeability, 2 years means balls to the wall now without regard for future changes.
3) Are there any peripherals you want? A video capture card, sound card, or raid controller can be expensive and significantly influence build decisions.

I am sure I'm missing some stuff. Anyone else willing to chime in?
The reason I ask these questions is you don't want to go into a build with a budget but no definite goals. Sometimes you actually only need a cheap components, and the extra budget can be spent to much better effect elsewhere. I would not want to tell you how to burn your money, and not be sure that you will get your fair value.
 
Thanks for your concerns. I have very specific uses for this computer and could likely assemble a list of ny own with confidence in past product knowledge but im not "with the times" as you might say. All profits must be available from newegg.com.

My desktop as a current state is am2. Athlon x2 2.8ghz, 6gb ddr2 800 ram, cheap vid card, and apprx 1tb of hdd space. This machine is apprx 5 yrs old and will seek retirement as a vmware serve hosting various virtual machines.

With that being said my goal is to achieve a computer with an adaquit ability to process vast amounts of information easily. (Vast being as far as I can get for $1500) I play games on a frequent occasion but I don exactly live for the next biggest baddest game. Hdmi is not a requiremen although the monitors are capable of this feature so I wish to exploit it. I intend to keep this computer for 3-5 yrs. And lastly an operating system and various "extras" have been accounted for and not related to the budget.

Did I miss anything?
 
Thanks for your concerns. I have very specific uses for this computer and could likely assemble a list of ny own with confidence in past product knowledge but im not "with the times" as you might say. All profits must be available from newegg.com.

My desktop as a current state is am2. Athlon x2 2.8ghz, 6gb ddr2 800 ram, cheap vid card, and apprx 1tb of hdd space. This machine is apprx 5 yrs old and will seek retirement as a vmware serve hosting various virtual machines.

With that being said my goal is to achieve a computer with an adaquit ability to process vast amounts of information easily. (Vast being as far as I can get for $1500) I play games on a frequent occasion but I don exactly live for the next biggest baddest game. Hdmi is not a requiremen although the monitors are capable of this feature so I wish to exploit it. I intend to keep this computer for 3-5 yrs. And lastly an operating system and various "extras" have been accounted for and not related to the budget.

Did I miss anything?

You will have to be more specific on the new PCs uses? why 24GB of ram?
 
You will have to be more specific on the new PCs uses? why 24GB of ram?



What information did I miss? Anything thy I gave a specific range for the specs of the item was done so because it has a purpose. The items I left open should be catered aroub what I asked for and the remainder of the budget after accounting for th specific items I stated
 
What information did I miss? Anything thy I gave a specific range for the specs of the item was done so because it has a purpose. The items I left open should be catered aroub what I asked for and the remainder of the budget after accounting for th specific items I stated

no where near enough info for us guys, you said raw data processing so i guessed - how would you like 2 cpu's?

asdfg.jpg


THIS FITS ALL OF YOUR SPECS but i can't help thinking its not what your looking for
 
Ok, there are two viable options. Patience, or compromise.

Patience (until Q4 2011) will allow you to get one of the socket 2011 intel sandy bridge enthusiast processors. Quad channel memory, massive amounts of input (pci-e and sata), and a price that will likely be crazy.

Compromise leads to either a socket 1366 or a socket 1155. The former leads to an older processor which has limited upgrade potential, and the latter is limited to 16 GB ram.

1366:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128423&cm_re=1366_motherboard-_-13-128-423-_-Product
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115224
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220542
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131393
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139016
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835106150&cm_re=cpu_cooler-_-35-106-150-_-Product
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145473

$1438.92 - remaining funds for sata cables, thermal paste, and fans. No consideration for case, OS, or expansion beyond video card. Potentially unlockable 6950 (6950->6970), potential for crossfire, and plenty of processing horsepower for the budget.


1155:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115070
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128480
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231442
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139016
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127562
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118003
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145473

$1462.93 - remaining funds for sata cables, thermal paste, and fans. No consideration for case, OS, or expansion beyond video card. Potentially unlockable 6950 (6950->6970), potential for crossfire, and plenty of processing horsepower for the budget. I went slightly crazier on the processor and video card to compensate for less ram and less other expansion options.


*There are copious rebates on most of these components. I haven't included them because they aren't reasonable if it takes 10 weeks to process them, and the credit card company won't accept a rebate in process as payment.


In your position, I would wait 4 months. Bulldozer is coming soon, 2011 socket debuts at the end of this month at Computex, and I don't see lack of Japanese components as a good thing for costs relating to demand. A little patience may let you get these components much cheaper, or get better components for the same price.

If I had to buy, I'd go 1366. It gets beaten in gaming performance, but the extra ram and extra cores are excellent for heavy processing. Additionally, the recommended video cards could be traded out for twin 6870s; lower price but very similar performance is crossfire.
 
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How about this. Y'all build me a gaming rig for $1100 (no ram or case) with 2tb of storage. Will that resolved any issues


Can someone please explain how y'all dare claim to be a technology forum and don't even support tapatalk?
 
How about this. Y'all build me a gaming rig for $1100 (no ram or case) with 2tb of storage. Will that resolved any issues


Can someone please explain how y'all dare claim to be a technology forum and don't even support tapatalk?

This tapatalk is a website dedicated to mobile phones no?? If so the reason Techpowerup doesn't support it because it focus mainly on computer specific hardware and nothing else,of course thats its primary purpose. Others of course will be games,software,other hardware discussion such as mobile phones,TVs etc etc.
Tapatalk and Techpowerup both have different purposes on what information they provide.
 
Can someone please explain how y'all dare claim to be a technology forum and don't even support tapatalk?

we are all gadget users, we have no need for it, we either spend most of our time around full sized Pc's or we have phones powerfull enough to run our website, remember we have no gifs or nothing on here, which means even my old samsung could run this site fastly
 
Im running a droid x..I have plenty capabilities to run the site in ful mode but its just annoying
 
Im running a droid x..I have plenty capabilitsite run the site in ful mode but its just annoying

just put it in your Favourites, i don't know what a droid x is but it runs really well on my wildfire (the website that is)
 
Can someone please explain how y'all dare claim to be a technology forum and don't even support tapatalk?

Perhaps I am missing something, but you've been registered here for 3+ years.

If you really wanted to add more features you should be asking one of the admins. Of course, you'd have to que up behind a thick wall of idiots asking for new segments of the forum and nerd flame wars (though far less than other forums I frequent).

If you really want us to build a computer, and can't tell us what you actually want, there's going to be more than a few snide angry responses. If you're up for that can of worms, continue on. Otherwise, give us a clear goal other than:

With that being said my goal is to achieve a computer with an adaquit ability to process vast amounts of information easily. (Vast being as far as I can get for $1500) I play games on a frequent occasion but I don exactly live for the next biggest baddest game.

What you have specified is the most basic of definitions for a computer.


Maybe you could comment on what other people have specified (entropy13, cheesy999, and myself). Otherwise, I haven't got the slightest clue on where to begin with such a broad request.
 
Im not very good at making noob threads asking for people to spend my money. I likely will not continue entertaining this thread. Also I've been on my phone and trying to visit a forum in full site mode and make decisions about computer parts is pretty difficult. When I get home around 11 tonight ill take a close look at all the suggestions.
 
Technically were not spending your money,we are only offering our own opinion and advice on how you should approach to spending your money on a computer,TV,phone etc etc. You come on this forum to be able to seek advice and opinion and thats what you will be getting. Obviously nobody want to blow huge money on stuff they don't need,which is where the advice come from other people,being more specific of what you want do will indeed help others to give you better opinion and advice.
 
Technically were not spending your money,we are only offering our own opinion and advice on how you should approach to spending your money on a computer,TV,phone etc etc. You come on this forum to be able to seek advice and opinion and thats what you will be getting. Obviously nobody want to blow huge money on stuff they don't need,which is where the advice come from other people,being more specific of what you want do will indeed help others to give you better opinion and advice.

How about this. Y'all build me a gaming rig for $1100 (no ram or case) with 2tb of storage. Will that resolve any issues



Alright.
 
A gaming machine we build u for $1100 might not be the best machine for things like autocad and other programs.

Tell us what you intend to use the computer for, no vague comments, or build your own.

Not telling us is fishy... That amount of ram and a decent cpu.. what are you trying to brute force your way thru sony's encryption on the CC bank you just bought.
 
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