What specs/PC would be cheap? - Current possible build in OP

[Jakethe_Snake15]

Ordered!
Got the parts/system that Crazyeyes Rec'd for me, so huge rep there!


At 10:25AM, it arrived today, but as I feared, they couldn't securely package the system so that there would be no chance of the 6870 snapping a PCI slot or something...
So now I get to swear at a machine for a good 20 minutes while I pray that I don't screw up and break something on it...

[vimy]

tech changes every few weeks, I think however that you should consider going a bity higher if you want a gaming rig.

1000$ is probably a minimum to get something with gusto, more if you want a lap top, even more if your looking for a power machine.

[The Black Reaper]

tech changes every few weeks, I think however that you should consider going a bity higher if you want a gaming rig.

1000$ is probably a minimum to get something with gusto, more if you want a lap top, even more if your looking for a power machine.

I bought a gaming rig for $800 and i could play most games at high settings... And all the parts i bought are now lowered in price... However this was in the US.. donno how much the price differs up in Canada..

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103727
PSU: The one i bought is deactivated on Newegg.... (good alternative is this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-044-_-Product)
Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811156241
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145315
Optical Drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827118039
HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152185
MOBO: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131402
GPU: I went with a 6870, but to save some money you can go with a 5770 which the 6870 succeeds.

In total, not including GPU, this comes at a total of $531.97 US. With a 5770 which is around $120 US you'll be under your $700 budget. 6870's run about $200 so if you decide to get that you'll come out just a little bit over budget but with this set up you could possibly play total war games at medium to high settings with no AA enabled due to the low VRAM for the cards. It would also be a plus to overclock your chip if you decide to go with the one listed above.

However after i built the comp I did upgrade the comp 6 months later. Not because i needed to but because i wanted to and am going to upgrade again this september. This is a hobby for me which explains me changing parts so much

EDIT: Took my time to go to the canada sites and compile all my parts into the cart.. Total is $678.42 without tax (i believe) with the 5770 and $748.22 with the 6870.

Case: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16811156241 (you can change it.. just the one i used..)
MOBO: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16813131402
GPU: (5770) http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16814102898 (6870) http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16814102924
PSU: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16817371044
CPU: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16819103727
RAM: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16820145315
HDD: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16822152185
Optical Drive: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16827118039

Oh and NEVER get a prebuilt system. They always run more expensive from companies that sell customizable computers.. Always cheaper to buy your own components and assemble it yourself.

[irishron]

Which TW games and which older games?

What monitor resoltion?

What expectations in unit deail, unit size, etc.?

[Jakethe_Snake15]

Yeah...on the assembling myself thing...
I sometimes have trouble with hooking stuff up to the TV or hooking up our desktop after taking it into the shop. 'Nuff said...

And I know for a fact that I wouldn't need to spend 1k...seeing as our current desktop (I am a high school student graduating in 2 years, so I kinda want my desktop, not just my mediocre laptop...which can still run NTW on medium settings with unit size set to high) is worth maybe (when we bought it roughly 4 or 5 years ago, I think it was roughly 1000, probably a hair under)...500 dollars, and I can run most games on fairly highish settings.

But the games I'd be looking at? All of the TW games after Rome (So Rome of course, M2, ETW, NTW, S2), Company of Heroes, Oblivion, likely the first Crysis, WoW, Starcraft 2, Warband, the new Warhammer 40k games...and some others, but none more taxing than likely S2.

Right now with the current desktop I can run Shogun 2 on mostly High settings, with Vignette off (and some of the other lighting, HDR and similar other effects off) as well as NTW on max settings at 1680x1050. I can find cheap monitors at that resolution easily, so that's not an issue.

But a huge thanks for the quick replies.

EDIT: And I generally play with 2 or 4x AA on the new TW games.

[The Black Reaper]

Yeah...on the assembling myself thing...
I sometimes have trouble with hooking stuff up to the TV or hooking up our desktop after taking it into the shop. 'Nuff said...

And I know for a fact that I wouldn't need to spend 1k...seeing as our current desktop (I am a high school student graduating in 2 years, so I kinda want my desktop, not just my mediocre laptop...which can still run NTW on medium settings with unit size set to high) is worth maybe (when we bought it roughly 4 or 5 years ago, I think it was roughly 1000, probably a hair under)...500 dollars, and I can run most games on fairly highish settings.

But the games I'd be looking at? All of the TW games after Rome (So Rome of course, M2, ETW, NTW, S2), Company of Heroes, Oblivion, likely the first Crysis, WoW, Starcraft 2, Warband, the new Warhammer 40k games...and some others, but none more taxing than likely S2.

Right now with the current desktop I can run Shogun 2 on mostly High settings, with Vignette off (and some of the other lighting, HDR and similar other effects off) as well as NTW on max settings at 1680x1050. I can find cheap monitors at that resolution easily, so that's not an issue.

But a huge thanks for the quick replies.

EDIT: And I generally play with 2 or 4x AA on the new TW games.

If you aren't willing to build your own pc then you can browse on Newegg for computers in your price range. They could probably give you what you need albeit at a slightly more expensive price. For example i found this computer while simply browsing through newegg. Hexacore CPU with a 5770..

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16883227291

However i know nothing else about the other components in the computer. Also if there is a defective part it'll be a pain to RMA since i believe that you must send the entire computer back for replacement, but i dont know for sure.. Never had to do it before since i haven't bought a preassembled computer from newegg

[Jakethe_Snake15]

Yeah...thanks for the Help. What I think I'll do, is go to one of several computer shops (all independantly owned AFAIK) nearby, take the list of parts...and see what they can cook up for me for my price range. A huge thanks and a +rep to all who replied.

[Jakethe_Snake15]

Hi again, it appears that at the end of summer I may have (possibly) substantially more moneys than I thought I would have, thus I would be able to spend more on the rig - around 1k-1.2k(again, Canadian dollar) to spend. With that in mind what should I get?

[The Black Reaper]

do you want an intel build or an amd build? Intel is a little bit more expensive but a lot more powerful.. Except the amd bulldozers are going to be released soon so if you want AMD i would wait or just jump on to the sandy bridge bandwagon since the bulldozers are aimed to compete with those.

[Jakethe_Snake15]

From what I've been reading, SandyBridge is the way to go right now...but when is the Bulldozer line coming out? Seeing as I am holding off on buying until likely mid-September.

[Crazyeyesreaper]

no point getting a part list now,

wait till you actually plan to build the PC to get a part list prices will change new products will enter the market and some of what your looking at now will be phased out End of Lifed and no longer available.

[Jakethe_Snake15]

Well, there's no way I'll be building the PC by myself, if I do get one...What I'll be doing is going to a local computer store hand them the list of parts and say "Here, build me this." and they will. They've done it for us in the past.
Considering that when/if I do buy will only be 2 months away, it makes sense for me to be compiling a list so I have an idea of what I will be able to get, and what I find may be cheaper or indeed completely out of stock, so I find a similar option. Just sayin'.

[Crazyeyesreaper]

im just telling you its better to wait about a week before you plan to go down and have them build it, example a week before the final paycheck comes int that will give you enough,

because we can find deals some places do combo deals, like tonight i put together a 3ghz triple core AMD rig with a 6850 4gigs mushkin ram 1tb Samsung F3 HDD and corsair psu for $465 it only takes a few minutes to make a list of parts and a week ahead is plenty of time to get a concrete list of parts and choices.

[Jakethe_Snake15]

Yeah...true enough. I guess I just want a basic idea of what will be available if I were to be buying today. Thats kinda ridiculous for $465. If I can get the computer store to find deals like that....

Or I could save up for a long while and get an Alienware. But I would likely be saving up for a long while.

[AlfonsoVIII]

alienware is over priced....stuff. With bulldozer coming out before you build your computer, we need to wait and see how it performs cost/performance ratio and see what Nvidia/AMD does with new cards/price cuts. Also we need to read reviews about performance as well as overclocking potential. I think 1 week before you walk in the store with your list is plenty of time to allow us to decide and fight over the exact parts you need.

[The Black Reaper]

yes alienware is overpriced and usually the systems that they build that costs $1500 you can build yourself for $1000. I blatant estimation but you get my point. You're basically just paying for the brand name.

Ok i went on their site and tried to build a computer on there as close as i could get to what i want in september and it came out to almost $3000..... they asked me to add $500 for 2x4 8gb of ram at 1600 MHz...... I can find great if not better ram for just $80... what a rip off...

[Kawee]

I don't know which part of Canada you live in but as a Vancouver resident, I can give you some "logistics" advice.

Go to NCIX.com They're like the newegg of Canada. What's so great is they price-match so if you can give them evidence of other shops offering lower prices for parts, then they will match that price. They have an assembly option for $50. There are also lots of combination deals, some including free assembly if you look around. It's the cheapest way for a Canadian resident to buy an assembled computer without having to assemble it yourself. You'll likely save more far than $50 if you take the time to look around.

Cheers.

[Jakethe_Snake15]

Ok, yeah was just using Alienware as an example - not really serious about that plan.
Thanks for the NCIX tip Kawee. I think I will check them out come september and see what I can find.

[Jakethe_Snake15]

Ok, well it's earlier than I thought, but this is kinda the system I am leaning towards...

Please, tell me where I've screwed up for this system, but 750-800 is what I am going to be prepared to spend, if there is a pressing need, I am prepared to spend some more (no more than 50 bucks)...

1 x Intel Core i5 2400 Quad Core Processor LGA1155 3.1GHZ Sandy Bridge 6MB
1 x Please Use The Heatsink Included With My CPU -NOT Available With OEM Processors
1 x Gigabyte 970A-D3 AMD970 ATX AM3+ DDR3 2PCI-E16 3PCI-E1 2PCI RAID SATA3 USB3.0 Motherboard
2 x Kingston ValueRAM KVR1333D3N9K2/4G PC3-10666 4GB 2X2GB DDR3-1333 CL9 240PIN DIMM Memory Kit
1 x Gigabyte Radeon HD 5670 775MHZ 1GB 1.6GHZ DDR3 PCI-E HDMI DVI VGA Video Card *IR-$5.00*
1 x Coolermaster Haf 912 Black Mid Tower ATX Case 4X5.25 1X3.5 6X3.5INT No PS Front USB Sound
1 x Seasonic S12II 520W EPS12V 20/24PIN ATX Power Supply Active PFC 80+ Bronze 6+8PIN PCI-E W/ 120MM Fan
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64BIT DVD OEM
Please note that Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit only supports up to 16GB of RAM.
1 x Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 7200.12 1TB SATA 32MB Cache 3.5IN Internal Hard Drive OEM
1 x Samsung DVDRW 22X SATA Black OEM
1 x Please Use The Onboard Sound Card Integrated On My Motherboard
1 x Please Use The Onboard Network Ethernet Card Integrated On My Motherboard
1 x PC Assembly and Testing With 1 Year Limited NCIX System Warranty (PRE-CONFIG WIN. OS If Purchased)
PC Assembly & Testing does not include servers and requires an additional 4-5 business days to ship once all parts are in stock. NCIX will install aftermarket heatsinks or pre-filled CPU liquid coolers. 1 Year Limited Warranty on installed system parts.
1 x Standard 1 Year Limited Warranty With NCIX IN-HOUSE Tech Support
Please note that Extended Service plans with On-Site service are available for your system at check-out.


From NCIX.com that will cost me $787 Can.
I would be buying this next week, at the earliest, or the week after next..

[Nota']

Consider the Intel 2500k sandy bridge, faster, and overclockable making its competability last longer. Also, your mobo is for AMD processors not Intel processors, so they wouldn't work together.
If you're not making the computer now, the bulldozers do look promising.