Another "I'd like input on my new PC" thread

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  • Knottscott
    Veteran Member
    • Dec 2004
    • 3815
    • Rochester, NY.
    • 2008 Shop Fox W1677

    Another "I'd like input on my new PC" thread

    Since we've been on the topic of PC's, and so many of you guys are very knowledgeable, I thought I'd ask for opinions of the build I'm thinking of putting together. Total cost should be in the range of $220 to my door when all rebates are in, which is essentially the whole budget. Bang for the buck is the theme. It'll be mated to our 24" Asus monitor, and I'm hoping to run our current Windows 7 Ultimate on it.

    I'm basically looking to replace one of our two home PC's that are mainly used for web surfing, MS Office, pic editing, some games, some movies, music, videos, etc. Essentially I'm looking for opinions, pro and con of this system. Any input is greatly appreciated.

    Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3 AM3+ AMD 760G + SB710 Motherboard

    AMD HDZ965FBK4DGM Phenom II X4 965 Processor

    Seagate ST500DM002 Barracuda 500 GB 3.5" Internal Hard Drive

    Gelid Siberian CC-Siberian-01 CPU Cooler - Silent 80mm Fan

    8 GB of PC1333 10600 RAM

    Ultra ULT40278 XT MicroATX Tower Computer Case

    Corsair CX500 PSU

    Click image for larger version

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    Last edited by Knottscott; 11-23-2012, 07:21 PM.
    Happiness is sort of like wetting your pants....everyone can see it, but only you can feel the warmth.
  • Cochese
    Veteran Member
    • Jun 2010
    • 1988

    #2
    First observation is that there's no memory in your budget.

    The other observation is that the budget is the budget. However if you can negotiate on that, you can probably get better components that would in turn make your system 'last' and can therefore decrease the long-term cost.

    The board doesn't allow much in higher memory speeds, but it looks like it has most everything else. The onboard video will serve you at least for awhile, but you'll most likely want to add a discrete card at some point.

    The other thing is that CPU heatsink isn't that great. Go with this one instead for the same price after rebate - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835118128

    Grab some Arctic Silver compound while you're at it.
    Last edited by Cochese; 11-23-2012, 06:45 PM.
    I have a little blog about my shop

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    • Knottscott
      Veteran Member
      • Dec 2004
      • 3815
      • Rochester, NY.
      • 2008 Shop Fox W1677

      #3
      Thanks. To get started, I was planning to source about 8 GB of PC1333 10600 from a different supplier, then add more later, but forgot to list it. I wanted that mobo for the HDMI input....do you think the memory it supports will slow the whole system down much?

      Thanks for the fan suggestion.....
      Happiness is sort of like wetting your pants....everyone can see it, but only you can feel the warmth.

      Comment

      • Cochese
        Veteran Member
        • Jun 2010
        • 1988

        #4
        Originally posted by Knottscott
        Thanks. To get started, I was planning to source about 8 GB of PC1333 10600 from a different supplier, then add more later, but forgot to list it. I wanted that mobo for the HDMI input....do you think the memory it supports will slow the whole system down much?

        Thanks for the fan suggestion.....
        It's been a long time since I tried to match up speeds between the board (FSB), processor and memory, but I think with that setup your CPU will be slowed down by the board and memory. More so the board, because you won't be able to put any faster memory on it.
        I have a little blog about my shop

        Comment

        • durango dude
          Senior Member
          • Mar 2011
          • 934
          • a thousand or so feet above insanity
          • 50s vintage Craftsman Contractor Saw

          #5
          what kind of porter cable product surfs?????

          I've never heard of a porter cable with such short lifespan - sure yours didn't
          come from a grey market provider?

          (okay - sorry - really bad joke)

          Comment

          • Knottscott
            Veteran Member
            • Dec 2004
            • 3815
            • Rochester, NY.
            • 2008 Shop Fox W1677

            #6
            Originally posted by durango dude
            what kind of porter cable product surfs?????

            I've never heard of a porter cable with such short lifespan - sure yours didn't
            come from a grey market provider?

            (okay - sorry - really bad joke)
            LOL...for a minute I thought you had posted an answer in the wrong thread!

            Question to all....how important is the HDMI input? Without spending more, is it better to buy faster basics, and skipping the HDMI?
            Happiness is sort of like wetting your pants....everyone can see it, but only you can feel the warmth.

            Comment

            • jseklund
              Established Member
              • Aug 2006
              • 428

              #7
              For $220 - I am not sure you're going to do much better than that. If you can spend another $20-30 on the board, it will help.

              Having said that, I have a Phenom II 955 that I run on a Gigabyte MB with the 680G chipset (hope I remember this all correctly) with 4GB of 1333. Off the bat, half a gig is taken up for the onboard graphics - so I really have 3.5 GB.

              I use my computer for non-graphic intensive "stuff". I do A LOT of web surfing, a lot of office work, a lot of data input (long story but I work for a bunch of companies which require me to input data into websites), some very minor graphics editing (cropping photos, resizing, etc), music, and whatever else comes to mind. I don't play many games on this thing - or I'd need more memory and a discreet GPU.

              Having said that, my setup has NEVER left me wanting. It's about the fastest computer I've ever used and when I want something it comes right up - very little if any waiting, even for relatively large programs. I often have 20-30 websites open at the same time, open office, gimp, whatever - and don't have lag.

              If I open 2-3 videos at the same time, I hear the fans kick up and the hard drive start to work. Most people won't be playing 3 videos at once though and I rarely need to.

              I've never used the 760 chipset, but if it was what is available in the budget, I'd go for it unless I found some bad reviews somewhere. If you're looking to play games graphic intensive games, it really won't matter if you spend $1,000 you will still have people saying that whatever graphic card isn't good enough - so you don't stand a chance of building a $220 "gaming" pc by a "gamer's" standards - but if you are an occassional gamer it may get by.

              The benefit with this setup is that if the graphics aren't getting it done - you can always add a discreet GPU as suggested above and solve the problem - as long as the motherboard is stable and powerful enough.
              F#$@ no good piece of S#$% piece of #$@#% #@$#% #$@#$ wood! Dang. - Me woodworking

              Comment

              • jussi
                Veteran Member
                • Jan 2007
                • 2162

                #8
                The only time I've found an HDMI port useful (for me) is when I built an htpc.
                I reject your reality and substitute my own.

                Comment

                • Cochese
                  Veteran Member
                  • Jun 2010
                  • 1988

                  #9
                  HDMI input?

                  Output can be great if you're displaying on a HDTV, but I personally don't have a use for it right now. My FIL does, though.
                  I have a little blog about my shop

                  Comment

                  • Knottscott
                    Veteran Member
                    • Dec 2004
                    • 3815
                    • Rochester, NY.
                    • 2008 Shop Fox W1677

                    #10
                    Thanks to the "input" from all of you , I've heavily modified my selections.

                    MB - Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3 (w/970 chipset)
                    CPU - AMD FX4100 3.6ghz CPU
                    RAM - Patriot 8gb DDR3 1600mhz
                    Case - Ultra 40278
                    Cooler - Thermaltake CLP0600

                    Total should come to $215 to my door after rebates. I'll use my current Corsair 500W PSU and HD.
                    Happiness is sort of like wetting your pants....everyone can see it, but only you can feel the warmth.

                    Comment

                    • jseklund
                      Established Member
                      • Aug 2006
                      • 428

                      #11
                      That sounds like a good setup for $220, IMO. I'm curious to see how the FM1 format works on everday computing - I may upgrade my gf's 8-9 year old computer to that format if it works for you.

                      The Corsair you have is probably a solid power supply - which is a good reason to go with a good supply in the first place - since you have a good supply you can reuse it!
                      F#$@ no good piece of S#$% piece of #$@#% #@$#% #$@#$ wood! Dang. - Me woodworking

                      Comment

                      • Cochese
                        Veteran Member
                        • Jun 2010
                        • 1988

                        #12
                        Absolutely agree on using quality components. It means you can usually upgrade piecemeal and have them carry over. I splurged on ny last case and I still love it four years later. Might be the last case I ever buy.

                        I could have carried my Thermaltake PSU over, but I wanted a modular unit this time.

                        Got my new build up and running last night. Anyone else thinking we should have an official system builders thread where we can share our setups and have advice?

                        Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2
                        I have a little blog about my shop

                        Comment

                        • Knottscott
                          Veteran Member
                          • Dec 2004
                          • 3815
                          • Rochester, NY.
                          • 2008 Shop Fox W1677

                          #13
                          D'oh!

                          Update....I'm an idiot! (probably not news to most of you! ) Most of the PC parts showed up Thursday, at which time I realized I ordered a really nice micro ATX case for a standard ATX motherboard! D'oh! Not sure how I missed it....I stared at components for a couple of days and thought I dotted all the i's and crossed the t's! Fortunately a buddy of mine has some exta ATX cases, so I may swap with him.

                          Also, the RAM is backordered. Ordered new RAM from Newegg, which I expect to arrive today. I haven't been able to get Tiger Direct to answer the phone (gave up after a 2 hour hold) or email (3 days) to cancel the backordered part.

                          The other components all look good.
                          Last edited by Knottscott; 12-01-2012, 08:59 AM.
                          Happiness is sort of like wetting your pants....everyone can see it, but only you can feel the warmth.

                          Comment

                          • Knottscott
                            Veteran Member
                            • Dec 2004
                            • 3815
                            • Rochester, NY.
                            • 2008 Shop Fox W1677

                            #14
                            Well....I'm happy to report that this posting is coming to you from my new PC! It pretty much fired up first try and booted to Windows 7 from a clone of my old hard drive. The only glitch so far is that Microsoft Security Essentials thinks my Win 7 isn't genuine....hopefully that won't become an issue later on.

                            I ended up with the following system:

                            Gigabyte GA970A-DS3 motherboard
                            AMD FX4100 3.6ghz quad core CPU
                            Corsair 500W CX500 PSU
                            Thermaltake CPU cooler
                            8GB GSkill PC1600 DDR3 12800mhz RAM (16GB more on the way!)
                            EVGA GeForce 210 - 1gb DDR3 Graphics card
                            Blue ray player
                            Kingwin 120mm fan
                            Xion XON180 ATX mid tower case

                            The PC is fast!
                            Last edited by Knottscott; 01-03-2013, 06:59 PM.
                            Happiness is sort of like wetting your pants....everyone can see it, but only you can feel the warmth.

                            Comment

                            • BobSch
                              • Aug 2004
                              • 4385
                              • Minneapolis, MN, USA.
                              • BT3100

                              #15
                              Congratulations on the new computer. I built my last desktop machine and it's nice to be able to get exactly what you want, isn't it.
                              Bob

                              Bad decisions make good stories.

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