So my computer's power supply is only 365, a bit short on the recommendatory 400. This should work fine for the GTX 550 Ti ?

 

With that kind of budget for a video card I'll suggest second hand. You should be able to get a decent card less than 6 months old for around $100. I know here in Aus you can get things like 6870's second hand for around that still in warranty.

 

These prices any good?

Intel i5 2400: $190

Asus P8Z68-V LE: $137

DDR3 2x4GB 1600MHz Corsair Vengeance Heatspreade: $50

Cooler Master HAF 922m: $87

Seagate Barracuda 1 TB, 7200 RPM, 32 MB cache: $60

Cooler Master GX 750w: $80

EVGA GTX 560Ti 1GB: $234

LG E2041T 20" LED: $146

What am I getting ripped off on and what could be improved? Any links to places with better deals? I'm trying to stay within $1200, but I'm okay with going about $200~ over at most.

I have three days to make up my mind about the RAM, which seems like a pretty good deal as-is. The other items are up for debate.

I'm a complete newbie to building a computer for myself, so I'm really not sure about this stuff.

 

I've bought a couple of Seagate HDDs and they've all failed on me. My friends say the same thing happened to them, and I've read similar things about it, so I don't know if you want to risk it.

 

The guys I've asked about that said Seagates are the most reliable so...

I don't know.



I'm mainly using that to run essential programs until I install a second, larger HDD as storage.

 

WD tends to be more reliable than Seagate, although it's not much of a difference. Most of the bias comes from an entire failed line by Seagate that people are still bitter over. Samsung makes excellent, reliable hard drives that are very highly recommended, and they're cheap as hell too. The F3 spinpoint hard drives are very popular amongst people who build their own computers.

 

My recommendations are:

Buy a modular PSU (this one is great) because if you're building your own pc, having a modular psu (where most cables are removable) is a necessity.

Buy a 64gb ssd (this one) for your os + most used programs (office, photoshop, some games, whatever) because it'll make your life just 10x better. If you can fit the 128gb version into your budget, you'll be set for life basically (and you can go straight to getting the 2tb storage drive if you do this)

Buy a monitor with 1920*1080 or 1920*1200 resolution, don't get that LG with a 1600*900 res

Pricewise, the stuff you've got is competitive with newegg once you factor in shipping and stuff.

 

I've had a lot of failed Western Digital drives (and of the 6 Seagate ones I have - two of them over 5 years old - none have failed yet), so I don't think anyone is entirely flawless when it comes to mechanical drives.

 

I'm going to be honest - I came to this thread just to brag about my new computer. So I'm going to brag and I'm going to fucking enjoy it.

Also, I've been told it's a bit over the top but my Dad works in a job where he can get parts dirt cheap, and I'm going to assemble it with the help of some friends. I figured I might as well.

Intel i7 990x 3.46 GHz CPU
Gigabyte G1.Sniper Motherboard
Corsair H80 Water cooling
nVidia Geforce GTX 590
128 gig Kingston SSD + 2 Terabyte Seagate SATA3 HDD
12GB RAM
Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit

You have no clue how excited I am to get the parts.

 

You going to overclock? I see no reason why not to given that you are watercooling. Also 12GB RAM?!?! O-O-O-O-VEERRRRKILLLLL.

Though that may be jealously talking

 

Upgraded things in my PC is nice.

Intel i5 2500k at 4.9ghz
Asus P8Z68-V Pro mobo
Asus nVidia GTX 480
8gb ddr3-1600 ram
120gb ssd (a 256gb sata3 ssd is in the mail!)
3tb of other storage drives
On a community subsidized version of Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit

One crappy thing is a capacitor on the gtx 480 squeals when it's under full load :facepalm

 

Anyone have any good recommendations for a headset+mic combo, around $50? More emphasis on the mic than the sound quality coming out of the headphone, as i'm currently tired of yelling into my mic and sounding quiet as a doe to other people, but I really can't hear the subtle differences between expensive headsets and $15 ones.

I've tried looking at some websites, such as newegg or amazon, but honestly, looking at the specs makes my head hurt, and I really can't distinguish between two headphones effectively.

 

The motherboard and CPU in my computer are about 4 or 5 years old at this point and I'm looking to upgrade them. I'm also looking to replace my current meager amount of DDR2 RAM with a more robust amount of DDR3 RAM. So now I'm looking for advice on what to get. AMD vs Intel? What manufacturer of motherboards is the least shady? Anyway, more specific details.

- Price point around $300-$400 for both CPU and motherboard.
- Quad-Core CPU

Not looking for the latest generation or anything like that. I'm just looking for functional for a good price.

 

i5 2300 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115076

asrock extreme3 gen3 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157271

cruical 8gb ddr3 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148463

Total for those is 345

Intel utterly smokes AMD for price/performance atm.

Asrock are a budget brand, but their 1155 motherboards are amazing

RAM is RAM and you won't tell a difference between any set of sticks.

Advise us on how much left you have in the budget so you can get a new PSU as well

 

Current Specs

Intel Pentium i3 processor @ 2.90 ghz
4MB RAM DDR3
nVidia GeForce 9800 GT 1GB
250 GB Hard Drive

 

Processor: Intel (R) Core(TM) i7 CPU x980 @ 4.00GHz 4.00GHz
Installed memory: 12.00 GB
System type: 64-bit Operating System

Dual 5900 ATI graphics things.

+circa 6TB of memory.

This is overclocked (manually) to about a third of its capability. The problem is that (even with cooling tower + fan) it hits 65+ degrees. It's a work PC, but I use it for games.

My question is, is it worth updating? This cost about 6 grand 2 years ago.

 

No, a 980x and a 5970 is very competitive compared to the most highend hardware even now.

Anyway, 65+ degress for (what, the cpu or the gfx card?) is completely safe for both graphics cards and for cpu.

Your 980x is safe up to 75 degrees, and your graphics card is safe up to 85-90, so you're very much in the clear for temps.

 

Wait...what? You mean hard drives?