Personal computing discussed
Moderators: renee, JustAnEngineer
CampinCarl wrote:Whee!I have decided it's high time to upgrade my main machine
CampinCarl wrote:Why wait?Currently it's on a 22" 1680x1050 monitor, but I plan on trying to get a 24" 1920x1200 monitor at some point down the road.
CampinCarl wrote:Agreed. This is the strongest Ivy Bridge processor for your virtualization.Processor: Core i7-3770
CampinCarl wrote:Would Micro-ATX be sufficient? Do you need legacy PCI slots for anything, or are all of your add-in cards modern PCIe cards?Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H. $120 at Newegg
I like Gigabyte motherboards, I guess? It's also not too expensive, and standard ATX size for roominess.
CampinCarl wrote:That seems fine. The selection of 8 GiB DIMMs available at Newegg has grown dramatically in recent weeks. I just got a set of these.Memory: Nothing picked out here, but I would like to get 2x8GB for 16GB. Leaves room for expansion, but also gives me an apparent excess of RAM. Perhaps something like this?
CampinCarl wrote:I'd select the Radeon HD7950 or HD7850 over the HD7870 for that reason.Right now I'm thinking 7870, but it's a little expensive and a 7950 is only like $50 more, but a much better performer.
CampinCarl wrote:Have you considered Blu-ray?Storage: Cheap DVD+/-RW that I'll get from Microcenter. ($20ish)
CampinCarl wrote:That's a good choice.SSD: Samsung 830 series 128GB for a main drive?
CampinCarl wrote:I'll suggest the 1 TB Samsung HD103SJ SpinPoint F3 instead. It's faster than the Caviar Blue and cooler and quieter than the Caviar Black. It's recently been as low as $90 at the 'egg (with discount code). It was $50-60 last summer before the flood in Thailand.Mass Storage: I was thinking either a 750GB Caviar Black or 750GB Caviar Blue.
CampinCarl wrote:Have you looked at the Antec P183 or the NZXT H2?Case/PSU: Another one I'm not sure on. This is mostly where I'd like to pick up on quietness. I do know that I really, really want a modular PSU for this build.
JustAnEngineer wrote:CampinCarl wrote:Why wait?Currently it's on a 22" 1680x1050 monitor, but I plan on trying to get a 24" 1920x1200 monitor at some point down the road.
JustAnEngineer wrote:CampinCarl wrote:Agreed. This is the strongest Ivy Bridge processor for your virtualization.Processor: Core i7-3770
JustAnEngineer wrote:CampinCarl wrote:Would Micro-ATX be sufficient? Do you need legacy PCI slots for anything, or are all of your add-in cards modern PCIe cards?Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H. $120 at Newegg
I like Gigabyte motherboards, I guess? It's also not too expensive, and standard ATX size for roominess.
JustAnEngineer wrote:CampinCarl wrote:That seems fine. The selection of 8 GiB DIMMs available at Newegg has grown dramatically in recent weeks. I just got a set of these.Memory: Nothing picked out here, but I would like to get 2x8GB for 16GB. Leaves room for expansion, but also gives me an apparent excess of RAM. Perhaps something like this?
JustAnEngineer wrote:CampinCarl wrote:I'd select the Radeon HD7950 or HD7850 over the HD7870 for that reason.Right now I'm thinking 7870, but it's a little expensive and a 7950 is only like $50 more, but a much better performer.
JustAnEngineer wrote:CampinCarl wrote:Have you considered Blu-ray?Storage: Cheap DVD+/-RW that I'll get from Microcenter. ($20ish)
JustAnEngineer wrote:Three! lolCampinCarl wrote:That's a good choice.SSD: Samsung 830 series 128GB for a main drive?
JustAnEngineer wrote:Yeah it's one of those things where I wish I had just purchased some last year before then when they were super cheap. But I'll swap it to the Samsung as you suggest. Sounds like a good combo.CampinCarl wrote:I'll suggest the 1 TB Samsung HD103SJ SpinPoint F3 instead. It's faster than the Caviar Blue and cooler and quieter than the Caviar Black. It's recently been as low as $90 at the 'egg (with discount code). It was $50-60 last summer before the flood in Thailand.Mass Storage: I was thinking either a 750GB Caviar Black or 750GB Caviar Blue.
JustAnEngineer wrote:I looked at both of those, but I'm curious as to whether the P183 is any better than the P280. The P280 seems to be significantly cheaper (about $50!) and appears to be about the same. I also had looked at the H2, but I really like the sideways mounted drive bays that my Sonata III has and would like to keep with that style unless someone has something really compelling.CampinCarl wrote:Have you looked at the Antec P183 or the NZXT H2?Case/PSU: Another one I'm not sure on. This is mostly where I'd like to pick up on quietness. I do know that I really, really want a modular PSU for this build.
DPete27 wrote:I still think we'll see AMD bring the 78xx series GPU's down in price by at least $50 once Nvidia rounds out their lineup. We've already seen some price cuts following the GTX 680 launch to make their 7950 and 7970 more cometitive with the GTX 680. Once the GTX 670 (and 660...hopefully before the world ends) come out I expect to see AMD adjust pricing on their 78xx cards.
yogibbear wrote:I think you might want to get a GTX 670 like tomorrow
DPete27 wrote:Yes, but the GTX 670 is showing better performance than the 7950 at the same price point. Like I said, the GTX 660 should drop into 78xx territory and then you should be able to get a 7850 for $200 which is where I would shoot if I were you (or Nvidia equivalent). The $200 price point is a good place to be.
Hallucin8 wrote:Nobody has chimed in on the power supply front so I will throw in my 2c.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151099
Its modular, 80+ Gold, it's not overkill in regards to wattage and it's covered by a 5 year warranty.
http://www.newegg.com/product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151098 could also be another option.
Hallucin8 wrote:$83 -12 code "EMCNEJN33" Antec Earthwatts Green EA-650 (54A @ +12V)http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151099
Its modular, 80+ Gold, it's not overkill in regards to wattage and it's covered by a 5 year warranty.
http://www.newegg.com/product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151098 could also be another option.
CampinCarl wrote:So here's something I didn't think about: CPU Cooler. Are the stock Ivy Bridge ones better than the ones that shipped with my E8400? Because I know this one produces a bit of a racket. What are some good but not expensive (sub-$50 unless someone can do some serious convincing) CPU coolers that run quiet?
CampinCarl wrote:SSD: Samsung 830 128GB $170 Newegg
JustAnEngineer wrote:Did you check out the combination deals available on those components at Newegg?
vargis14 wrote:Since you are getting youCPU at microcenter i am pretty sure you get 50$ off on a motherboard also,so instead of a stand alone SSD get a motherboard with a tiny smart Cache 20gb ssd that lives on the motherboard.
That will save you a good bit of money and you will get a better board with the discount,and lack of purchasing a SSD.
Then you have more budget for a vid card.
good Luck
Airmantharp wrote:Your complaints for the motherboard are valid, but I think you'll find that you don't need any more.
MicroCenter tends to stick to deals that are attractive to DIY'ers, which the 3770 non-K really isn't; but that doesn't make getting stuff from them bad!
Krogoth wrote:FYI, CampinCarl. BF3 is a 32-bit application so it will only use up to 2GiB of memory by default unless it has "Large Address Space Aware" tagged enabled on the executable. The tag will allow BF use up to 3GiB of memory in 32bit OS or 4GiB in a 64bit OS.
You can grab this tool to enable Large Address Space on your games.
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showt ... p?t=112556
Otherwise, it sounds like you are enjoying your new build.