Help Me Build My New Computer!

[fastcart]

Newegg had a Shell Shocker for a Galaxy 60XMH6HS3HMW GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) GC 768MB Video Card for $90 ($50 after rebate) today. ): It’s sold out though.

[Camelpope]

Get to set up the new computer in ~28 hours! I’ll take some uncrating pictures when I get home tommorow.

[Fenatic]

I got to take some pictures and post them here as well.

[Camelpope]

Oh god I’m on the Ark now…its amazing…

[seym56]

[LEFT]I Just finished building my desktop. Got about $1000 in it so far and I still have to buy a graphics card. I’m pretty proud of it. This is the 1st PC I have ever built. As you can see I like showing it off. Here’s what I’ve got in it so far–[/LEFT] Antec DF-85 Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition Thuban CORSAIR AX850 G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ASUS M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3 I’ve got 5TB of storage as well.

[Camelpope]

I like it! I have a 4.5 gz I7 2600k, and a Radeon 6990.

[seym56]

I like it! I have a 4.5 gz I7 2600k, and a Radeon 6990.

Thats the radeon i want but I gotta save up for it. gotta pay $90 to get my garmin fixed

[Camelpope]

Thats the radeon i want but I gotta save up for it. gotta pay $90 to get my garmin fixed

It was my reenlistment gift to myself.

[hansioux]

Thats the radeon i want but I gotta save up for it. gotta pay $90 to get my garmin fixed

I recommend getting nvidia cards.

[Fenatic]

The card I ended up getting has been excellent so far.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125345&Tpk=GV-N460SO-1GI
I have been able to run just about everything on full detail without any slowdown. It is very quiet, and there is no noticeable increase in noise under load.
Drivers with Nvidia on Windows 7 has been a dream compared to what I had to do with ATI on Windows XP (Don’t know if it has changed in the last year or so). The Nvidia webiste(s) also have some excellent documentation.
http://www.geforce.com/

Edit: Do make sure it will fit in your case.

[fastcart]

I recommend getting nvidia cards.

The card I ended up getting has been excellent so far.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125345&Tpk=GV-N460SO-1GI
I have been able to run just about everything on full detail without any slowdown. It is very quiet, and there is no noticeable increase in noise under load.
Drivers with Nvidia on Windows 7 has been a dream compared to what I had to do with ATI on Windows XP (Don’t know if it has changed in the last year or so). The Nvidia webiste(s) also have some excellent documentation.
http://www.geforce.com/

Edit: Do make sure it will fit in your case.

I still say get whatever you’re comfortable with. I’ve posted the video card comparison by price awhile ago, but here’s an updated one.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card-game-performance-radeon-hd-6670,2935.html

[fastcart]

Been almost a week. How’s the replacement monitor?

Its pretty good. I had it hooked up to the old computer for a week, and just hooked it up to the new one today. For whatever reason it looks better on the new computer then the old. I experimented using the HDMI vs. the DVI plug, they don’t look much different, but the HDMI might look slightly better. Still trying to find a good balance between getting it not to be too bright and not having all the color look washed out. Also still trying to find the right angle to sit and position it so that the top parts don’t look dimmer than the bottom parts.

I’m mostly done with optimization. I installed Crysis today and played around with it a bit. I looks really good. I ran it at 1920 x 1080 and very hight details for everything, with 8x AA. Still ran smooth, at least through the first couple maps.

Are you glad we pushed you to get a bigger monitor at last?

After a year with my 24" 1920 x 1200, I can’t see myself ever going bigger or smaller. That is unless MS, etc., do something like what they did to make ppl get bigger hard drives and more ram. d:

[Fenatic]

Are you glad we pushed you to get a bigger monitor at last?

Sorta. I like the resolution, but I don’t like how expensive the good monitors get at that resolution. I also miss my adjustable stand and better viewing angle. It’s great for games though!

I think my ideal setup might be to have a small monitor for desktop tasks, then use the 1920 x 1080 monitor for games and movies. Also a bigger desk so I could push the the monitors back farther.

[fastcart]

Sorta. I like the resolution, but I don’t like how expensive the good monitors get at that resolution. I also miss my adjustable stand and better viewing angle. It’s great for games though!

I think my ideal setup might be to have a small monitor for desktop tasks, then use the 1920 x 1080 monitor for games and movies. Also a bigger desk so I could push the the monitors back farther.

The price seems comparable at 1920x1080 to CRT monitors back in the day. But I’ve only bought 3 monitors in my lifetime. 1 CRT, and 2 LCDs. 1920x1200 LCD monitors are a PITA price wise because most ppl buy 1080.

With your video card, you could use 2 monitors on the same PC. I’d suspect you’d need a bigger desk though. You could also get a no-frills PC for $400-500 (or use your old PC iff you still have it) and a second, decent, smaller LCD for desktop tasks.

I’m not one to ask about desks though. I just know they are more expensive than their relative worth.

[Fenatic]

Yeah, I’d need a bigger desk. And a bigger room to put it in. And a bigger house to put that room in.

[fastcart]

Yeah, I’d need a bigger desk. And a bigger room to put it in. And a bigger house to put that room in.

I’m sure if you get creative, a bigger desk will suffice. d:

[fastcart]

I got my PC back. Running into Windows activation problems though. I went through various steps, but Windows says it’s not Genuine. Note that the motherboard is the same make and model, but something it different enough to set it off. Have to wait until Monday to call and remedy that.

I reinstalled Windows, put in the key, and it’s not complaining. I even installed Service Patch 1.

After procrastinating all this time, I finally called and got it taken cared of. And, I got confirmation that I can install my version of Windows 7 on three computers. Was happy to hear that especially for the price I paid.

Edit: Also, if any of you are looking for free ways to benchmark your PC, try:
http://unigine.com/download/#heaven, Heaven Benchmark Youtube video
and
http://www.crysisdemo.com/ plus http://www.fileplanet.com/182784/180000/fileinfo/Crysis---Crysis-Benchmarking-Tool (The Crysis demo and Benchmarking Tool)

Heaven Benchmark is fairly new, but Anandtech uses it. Crysis came out in 2007, but the game and benchmark can still bring my PC to 9-23 FPS depending how high I put the settings. And, you only need the demo to use the Benchmarking Tool thankfully.

Unfortunately, you have to pay for 3dmark to get many useful features unlocked. Even though it’s $5 to $20, it’s not worth it imo for such limited use.

[fastcart]

After 4 months, how’s everyone’s PC doing? I got the CPU fan, but hadn’t gone to get it installed yet. Still loving my monitor. Games play like a breeze.

I pre-ordered The Old Republic and my graphics card is one model above the recommended GTX 460. ):

My only complaint is Google Chrome taking 5-12 gigs of RAM (8gb to 15.2 GB) until I exit and restart it completely.

[Default_Prophet]

I put an extra 8 gigs of ram in mine and now I’m getting bluescreen memory dumps. Gonna try it with just the two 4gig sticks but it’s kinds annoying =\

[fastcart]

I put an extra 8 gigs of ram in mine and now I’m getting bluescreen memory dumps. Gonna try it with just the two 4gig sticks but it’s kinds annoying =\

Run Memtest. Prolly one of your sticks is messed up or maybe you’re not using the proper ram settings in your bios.

http://www.memtest.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memtest86

Edit: Also, are the extra sticks the same make and model as the ram already in the machine? It matters.