Above is the new rig I'm going to get for my PC. I already have a case, cd drive, and the other stuff taken care of.
What do you guys think? See any problems? Know of better things that are cheap?
Any critique/advice would be awesome! Thanks
EDIT: Changed the HD to a HITACHI 0A38016 1TB and changed the PSU: OCZ StealthXStream OCZ700SXS 700W
EDIT: Updated PIC
Total Cost: $491.40 $492.44
P.S It's not meant to be top of the line. It's meant to be under 500 bucks =]
Nice choices although I always go with a Nvidia based vid card. Perhaps a bigger hard drive? 1.5 TB are getting cheaper...
Yah I'm getting a deal on the 4850 and it should get the job done. Also, I was thinking of getting 1TB but to be honest, I don't use that much space and I already have a 1TB external. Know where they have cheap ones though?
Newegg, Fry's.
I would altleast get 500 GB I have a 320 for my gaming rig and within in just 2 weeks of reformatting it and installing all the games I play I only have 35 GBs left of space. It goes fast man..very fast.
Yes, HDs are cheap....probably a waste of time to grab anything under 500. [OK, so I bought 2 250s for my new machione....they are specifically for OSs [2]....but I also bought 2x 1TB drives...so capacity is 2.5 TB]...
if you can afford it, get the gigabyte board that features the 790 chipset. with that board, you should be able to unlock the other 2 cores of the 550 BE. i did that for my daughter. for 100 bucks, that 550 BE kicks butt.
IAmPas, you totally read my mind with that unlocking. I think I'll do that, which board did you use?
Nice choices but I would at least get a bigger hard drive, the cost per gig get cheaper and cheaper as you get bigger, I say at least 500GB but aim for 1TB.
Also do a double check with that power supply... 550W for a gaming rig is a little low... power is too important to scrape by with especially with gaming
The motherboard you chose has 2 PCI slots; I would look for something with only 1 PCI slot since PCI is on its way out... so it will be wasted space on the board… I would get a board with at least 2 PCI-2.0x16 slots so that you can plan on expanding for the future. No sense on paying money for 2 boards, the one today and the other one tomorrow.
And in regards to your video card... nice choice but you’re better off getting nVIDIA cards from eVGA, BFG or XFX... they are the only card manufactures that provide lifetime warranties on the video cards…
The card you chose is
Manufacturer Limited Warranty period (parts): 3 years
Manufacturer Limited Warranty period (labor): 2 years
The card manufactures I mentioned above have lifetime limited warranty
Besides ATI blows... no sense in buys 2 cards, the card today and the one you have to buy to replace it.
The__Goo ...you've done it again....used a word processor format that has broken this thread for 90% of its readers....namely in IE7/8.
Please simply type into the text box at the bottom of the page....where it says 'Quick Reply' and avoid copy/paste from Word Documents, etc. ...
BTW...and FYI...the html for that post scrolled down for MILES....probably a dozen pages long at 1680x1050 ...
lol, I curently have a radion 4850 and AMD phenon to although it is not the black edition. When you get that thing running i can garantie that it will fly. also btw the 4850 is a brick and is a good inch and a half thick and boy is it long.
Thanks Goo, I'll take that into consideration! Really appreciate the help(to everyone)
I'm thinking about changing the Mobo to a 790, any other ideas on that? Is it really neccessary to go from 770 to 790? What do you really gain?
.you've done it again
lol, my bad... bad habits
are you serious... my bad...
Very.
Next time I edit one to strip the html....I'll post it as text....in a separate thread so as to not 'stretch' out an existing thread to a silly level...
motherboard w/DDR2:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128391
motherboard with DDR3:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128378
my kid has the second one.
HA! some ppl never learn, eh?
hehe
There is some bad advice in this thread.
Let's talk about your power supply. 700W is insane. You're running a computer, not the last line of defense between earth and the alien hoards. You should be buying a 400W-500W unit. But I don't expect you to take my word for it. Check out this review of the Radeon 4850. The page I linked to lists power consumption. At load, the test system with a Radeon 4850 used 236 watts. Note that this is not the video card - it is the entire test system. You would be fine with a 350W PSU, to be honest, but its always nice to have some overhead for upgrading.
Your motherboard selection is 100% awesome. It would be dumb to buy one with two PCI-E slots unless you plan to purchase two cards right now. The reason for this is that in a year, a Radeon 4850 will be slow compared to the new ones and you'd be better off buying a new single card rather than adding another one to it. Plus Crossfire scaling is not that hot - adding another Radeon 4850 won't double your performance.
ATI currently dominates most price points that are relevant to consumers and certainly to you. Lifetime warranties are nice, but the thing is you're going to be replacing this card in a few years anyway. This means having a warranty of more than a few years isn't a big deal.
As far as the hard drive goes, I would recommend a Western Digital Caviar Black model. Western Digital is the firm performance leader right now, and Hitachi really has nothing on them.
Depending on the screen resolution, spending extra money on an ATi 4870 or a Nvidia 260 (216core) might be worth it. I currently play games on a Sapphire Toxic 4850 512mb. It has left me wanting on a few occasions while playing at a screen resolution of 1600x1050.
I personally plan on waiting until the Evergreen(DirectX 11) generation of ATi cards comes out later this year. Then I'll pick up a 4890 for cheap, unless the new cards are priced reasonably at release.
I like it, it's very pretty for a good price I don't see what you could do with 1 terabyte unless you did alot of music or pictures, I went with 128gb ssd, i don't know which is cheaper but other than that it's a pretty piece of machinery...mmmmmm machinery
@Facelessclock: Thanks mate! I'm going to stick with the 700W just because I've had some bad experiences in the past with a 500W PSU that wasn't getting the job done. I know it's overkill, but like you said, it's one less thing I'll need to upgrade later. Thanks for those reviews of the 4850! Awesome link +1. I was actually going to go with a Western Digital but I got a deal on this OCZ, so I'll stick with that. I feel so good about the 100% awesome mobo!
@Granolans2021: Yah I forgot that I already use an external 1TB HD, and my 320GB HD which have a substantial amount of pictures, music, games, web stuff, programs, and just a bunch of crap. (I'm a cyber pack rat!) So it'd be nice to have it all on that internet 1TB and then back it all on the external!
@LostWild: so are you saying I won't get a res of 1600x1050 with the 4850? I don't understand
Typically the rating claimed fora PSU is 'theoretical max' and not sustainable or reliable. A 700w could be nothing better than 550 sustained and it is far more important to not be loading one near its peak.
I'm sure you'll 'scoff' at my adoption of a 1000w PSU then. That's fine....but it's nice to know I'm fairly unlikely to overstress it anytime soon. Also, large power ratings can just be coincidental to getting a PSU of better quality and/or features.
It's certainly not 'insane' to consider 700w, not when considering any prospect of future expansion...
I agree 100%. Besides,if the alien hordes DO show up,at least you'll be ready for them.
i guess my using a corsair hx850 with a radeon 4870 is overkill then. that's sarcasm, folks. i'd put a 700 watt psu in that rig over a 500 watt unit any day. regarding the motherboards, he wants to unlock the 3rd and 4th cores of the 550. that can't be done with the amd 770 based mobo.
@IAmPas How not? I have read reviews of people that did just that.
i've yet to see anyone who unlocked the 550 using a 770 based motherboard. a friend of mine who works for amd (he's a regional sales rep and has organized some lan parties for amd in the past) has told me that an amd 790 based board must be used to unlock the 550.
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