I believe in investing in the future and I have got an i7 running. Not a bad chip actually, quite cool. It is just the limitations of XP holding it back.

I would have used Nanami Madobe if not for its instability with certain games.

With his budget, I don't think that going i7 instead of i5 would be worth it. Comparing the i5-750 and i7-860, you're talking $90 for what, an extra 133 mhz and hyperthreading? Granted, being able to run eight threads at once might be useful for gaming someday, but I think that's a long way off. Also remember those eight threads are still feeding into the same four cores - all hyperthreading does is allow the CPU to execute a second thread while waiting for incoming data on the first thread. It reduces the time your cores spend idling waiting for data, but it doesn't actually allow simultaneous execution of both threads.. Given his budget I would say it's better to save the $90 for other parts.

Don't forget about the i5's much more aggressive Turbo Mode as well.

The aggressive turbo modes are common to all LGA1156 chips at present, be they i5 or i7. It's LGA1366 based i7s that have less aggressive turbo modes.

Since LGA 1366 mainboards are expensive, it's basically a case of $200 i7-750 vs. $290 (going by Newegg prices here) i7-860. Both LGA 1156. Again, I'm just not sure the extra $90 for an additional 133mhz and hyperthreading is worth it.

Someone asked me to list parts so they can recommend what type of PSU to get.

Here are the major components I'm looking at...

Asus Motherboard M4A770TD AM3 770
Athlon II X4 620 Quad Core CPU
Radeon HD 5750
500 GB SATA II hard drive 7200 RPM
4 GB DDR 3 1333 RAM
Integrated sound


I saw someone say that cyberpowerPC.com isn't all that good (from what they heard from some people), but that site offers a lot of bang for the buck and has some good ratings from big sites and publications (even G4). I was looking at ibuypower.com for PCs, but cyberpowerPC.com offers greater value. I can get a PC that costs almost $900 at ibuypowerPC.com for $650 at cyberpowerPC.com. It is close to a $200 difference (really, a $150 difference since this price is with a limited 1 day $50 mail in rebate offer). Still, that is $150 saved. Part of the reason is that one place doesn't include an OS; cyberpowerPC.com includes Windows 7 in the base price.

Should I go with this site (cyberpowerPC), or does anybody know if they are not too good and should be avoided? I expect people will just say going with them will be good, but I'd like to know if anyone would caution me away from them after seeing one poster express something negative about their reputation (said poster isn't PC savvy, so I'll let the more PC savvy people weigh in :heh:).

I'm not too familiar with how to ascertain the reliability of an online vendor, actually, since I only use a few really well known ones.

Basically, from what I can tell, CyberPower has crap ratings on epinions, good ratings on resellerratings, and there's a lot of debate over what that means, accusations of resellerratings not being neutral, Cyberpower ownders wondering what the fuss is about, etc... I don't even know what to make of it.

As to power supply... well, the big issue I think the cheapest thing I actually recognize is the Corsair 650 watt unit, which is probably a good idea if you plan to upgrade to a CPU or GPU with a high power draw later but overkill for what you're proposing (I think I have the 750 watt version of this unit in my dad's PC actually, but that's because we got a good deal). Granted, overkill is GOOD when it comes to building reliable components, but the $101 price for this upgrade sounds a bit steep.

I will say that you'll need to order at less the 500 watt Apevia to get the system running. I will warn, however, that when I worked as a computer tech for a bit cheap PSUs failing was one of our more common problems. In light of this I'd suggest that it might be prudent to move to a midrange unit. Based on the $70 price tag and Newegg reviews, the Sigma Shark 635 watt unit looks like it might fit the bill although I've never heard of the brand before and it does have a few bad reviews. I wish Cyperpower would offers some of the sub-$70 OCZ and BFG units that Newegg offers, since some of those look solid.

Edit: For reference, a similar build from Newegg with Windows 7 and a nice case/PSU combo (Antec Sonata III - comes with Antec's own 500 watt, which is solid but not overkill like the Corsair. Might be able to do better if you bought the case and PSU separate) comes to around $700, but then you need to build it yourself. And while I believe that learning how to build a PC is good, I'm always hesitant to recommend it to newbies unless they know someone who can teach them.

I've had more problems with PSUs than anything else when it comes to computer building. I'm almost certain that when I build my next desktop, I'm going to look into diying my own PSU.

Which brands did you have trouble with? I think between my friend, relatives, and myself we have like five Sonata II and III cases which shipped with 450 and 500 watt Antec PSU... not a single failure among them, and all of these machines have had pretty beefy GPUs in them with fairly high power draw.

Small (sub-80mm) fans and optical drives seem to be the other failure prone components. Video card fans are a bitch because they're proprietary, but usually by the time you go something of equivalent performance is dirt cheap anyway. Basically anything mechanical probably has higher failure rates... hard drive seem better than some other things, but that's good since they're the one that's really a bitch if they go.

I was thinking in getting the new graphic card and heard good things about 4850, there is a good price at my side so I was thinking in getting it. The only downside I heard is the heating problem which I don't quite understand. If I buy some better power supply it would satisfy it's need right? Or do I need some additional coolers?

There is also EN9800GT 1GB for the same price, but I doubt it's a better choice.
Thanks in advance.

I wouldn't think you would need additional coolers since the graphics card already comes with a heatsink and fan on it already. However, you going to need a new power supply since the 4850 would probably use more power than your current graphics card.

I have a question about RAM. A computer with DDR2 RAM (pre-built from ibuypower.com or cyberpowerPC.com) is cheaper than a DDR3 computer. I'm tempted to get a PC with DDR 2. How does it work? Does it depend on the motherboard? If so, it seems like I could get a computer that has a motherboard that supports DDR 3 and DDR 2, but the computer I would buy would come with DDR 2. That would save me some money, and I could always upgrade.

Is there a significant difference between DDR 2 and DDR 3? Or could I just go with 4 GB of DDR 2 and then just double it down the road; it's not the type that matters just the amount? Thanks to any who answer these question, I know nothing about RAM, basically.

I had something typed up but it just pales in comparison to this article I found. Link
(Sept-09) So relatively recent stat layout.

Also If I can recommend learning to build your own desktop is a fast and easy thing, (PC Mags, Google Search How To's) and you just saved yourself hundreds of dollars with some quick learning. The DDR3 systems cost more as its the new technology currently coming out if your not a die hard gamer/coder/video editor DDR2 will suffice for pretty much everything.

Well, if I buy my own PC, what do I need? I'll list what I know...

Motherboard
Graphics Card
CPU and fan
Hard drive
RAM
Optical drive
PSU
Case

Do I need a sound card? Or will onboard sound be good enough for games? Should I just get a cheap one?

Someone suggests I get at least a 700 watt PSU. Any recommendations for a quiet PSU at that watt usage that is affordable?

Also, does anyone have a recommendation for a cheap but good quality case? Something that looks good, too. Some cases look atrocious. :heh: What do I go for? ATX form factor?

Gotta spec to what you can afford, if you give me a price range I can give you a hand. I recommend http://www.newegg.com/ for parts (Many others here will also)

As for a sound card on board can suffice (Make sure the motherboard you get has this, most do) but depends on what your used too. Some user's can pinpoint lackluster audio equipment while other can't. Also ATX is the form factor you will be going for its the industry standard currently. For a case specifically look over newegg and pick what you like, review the user reviews as most will state weight, durability, strength and noise cancellation.

For a power supply I'd recommend anything 600 or higher to future proof yourself. Review newegg, all products have user posted reviews make sure to look into these.

Yeah, I check out new egg. Definitely a good site. A price...well, I find I can get the system I want at ibuypower.com for $750. I wonder if I can build my own system for $600 or less.

For my next build I think something I want that I hadn't thought of much before is a 5.1 surround sound system; combined with a good sound card.

If you have the money I'd go for a sound card that does bit-perfect digital through S/PDIF and connect it to a good 5.1-capable A/V receiver (NAD is a great brand for this) and surround sound speakers. That way you can use the setup for both the computer and other things as well.

http://nadelectronics.com/products/av-receivers

A number of pro-audio USB or Firewire interfaces will do bit-perfect output to S/PDIF, a few internal sound cards can do it also on the cheap.

Considering the cost of DDR3 ram, it's really expensive... I have 2 GB of DDR3 RAM on my Macbook Pro Laptop, but the prices of DDR3 RAM have went up and it now costs $100 for two sticks of 2GB DDR3 to make four GB, and this was cheaper several months earlier.

Don't think DDR3 make much of a difference, but it may in the future once low latency DDR3 RAM comes out. The current DDR3 RAM right now currently suffers from slightly higher latency compared to DDR2 RAM.

Generally, the on-board audio works fine for an average user and still work with your 5.1 surround sound system... so I suggest trying that before investing in a sound card...

Integrated audio is ear torture.

How so? The sound of the sound card and integrated one isn't going to make it sound any better or any different. The sound quality depends on how good your speakers or headphones are and also how your audio file is encoded (lossless vs lossy)... so If you have cheap headphones, it's obvious that it will not sound that good. I use a Bose On-Ear Headphones with Apple lossless audio format and 320 kbps MP3 and it does not sound any worse or any better if I were to use a sound card.... The only difference is that a external sound card would use less CPU usage, but even with a integrated sound card, it's not going to be a real big impact since the integrated one hardly use any CPU.