New Computer Idea Spec list - thoughts/suggestions?

[pacode79]

Not sure if this is where I should post this (first post)... so if it is not, kindly just let me know and it will not happen again.

I have been updating/upgrading my computer for the past 3 plus years and am ready to build me a machine that I will not have to do so for 2, hopefully 3 years.

With hours of looking and whatnot, this is what I have come up with as far as an upgrade. The total comes out to around $900 and is a little more than what I wanted to spend but is tolerable... do not really want to go any higher but will if it is a must. I have thought about an Intel setup but have always used AMD. I don't even know if I need to upgrade.... just wanted some honest opinions from fellow forum peeps. I appreciate it!



New Computer Idea Spec list

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=11559371


EDIT: I did list what I currently have and am only seeming to get comments on those items when I really wanted comments on what I wanted to get which is linked above.


(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371007&cm_re=antec_500w_earthwatts_psu-_-17-371-007-_-Product)

[I'mheretohelp]

What's your budget?

Do you prefer sticking with AMD for cpu and Nvidia for gfx?

What games do you play? And what monitor resolution do you play on?

[pacode79]

My budget is $900 - $950... more towards the $900 range.

I prefer AMD for cpu only as it is all I personally know. I thought about Intel, but seem to high in price. As far as graphics, it doesn't matter which. Until two years ago, I was strictly ATI. Nvidia caught my eye around the 8800gtx days. I love my current card (evga 9800gtx) but wanted to upgrade to bigger and better things. I listed dual HD5770's as they get a little more as far as potential than a single HD5850 for the same cost. I also liked the DDR5 and DirectX 11 to keep up with newly released games.

I play Battlefield BC2, Bioshock 2, Call of Duty MW2, Resident Evil 5 and Left for Dead. Thought about picking up the new Mass Effect 2 and am bounds to get some of the newer games when they come out. I own a Samsung 24" widescreen and typically run at max resolution.... weird as I don't recall really choosing this option. Maybe the latest games I have played auto picked this? I need to look into that... lol.

[Naturphoenix]

With the price u have listed that's a mid range pc, you should save up and get an i7 platform. Prices now I think you would be looking a little over 1000, or more u would have 2 look. My rig cost me about 2500 when i7 first came out, and now u can get a rockstar i7 rig for 1000 cheaper, i would recommend an evga board and corsair ram, prices do vary

I went from amds awsome 6400 3.0 to an intel e8400 3.0 and since then I consider amd trash because I saw the difference first hand

[I'mheretohelp]

If you live near a Microcenter, they sell Intel q9550 for $180. It's a good deal because Newegg and anywhere else have them for $275 and they OC very well. Grab that with a p55 motherboard and you'll have a solid platform for years to come. Other then that, I don't know much about AMD cpu's anymore. And you really should know what your native resolution is. Most games set the resolution in-game to your native. So just open up a recent game and see what resolution it is set on. That way we have a better idea of what type of graphics card you need to get.

[hen555]

go for xfx products they come with a free game and are just as good!

[psx2p]

honestly for that price id get a phenom II quad, your getting an Nvidia based Chipset which is good since your also getting an Nvidia GPU, so many people get an Nvidia chipset with an ATI card............. they work but not like it would with coinciding instruction sets. i haven't checked the prices but when i built my rig i wanted size not speed so for the price i went with DDR2 and i couldnt be happier, an 8gig ddr3 kit was triple the price of my 2 4gig ddr2 kits. power supply. either an Antec or Corsair, ive herd awesome things about the XFX PSU also but have never owned one so i cant personally recommend them. if you dont want to wait for intel and AMD to launch there 6core CPUs to hopefully drive the other prices down then id say definitely go with a quad core AMD but remember AMD still doesn't have Threading in there CPUs. ive never owned a MSI board but have heard good things, i personally use and recommend ASUS boards. had one go through hurricane Katrina and with a little bit of connection cleaner and dry time it ran like a champ. back on the CPU ive owned a Athlon X2 6000+ and can tell you there is nothing in the world special about it, its not anything worth bragging about lol.

Sum it up, i recommend the following changes
CPU-AMD Phenom II X4 (955 if possible (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808&cm_re=phenom_955-_-19-103-808-_-Product))
650W PSU either Antec or Corsair (possibly XFX)
if you get the Phenom II you will need an AM3 mother board i recommend this
ASUS M4N72-E AM3/AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA nForce 750a SLI ATX AMD Motherboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131367)



if you want a powerfull CPU than by all means spend the premium for a Core I7, i wont lie my 955 cant compete with everything the I7 does but i didn't pay the price neither.

[pacode79]

honestly for that price id get a phenom II quad, your getting an Nvidia based Chipset which is good since your also getting an Nvidia GPU, so many people get an Nvidia chipset with an ATI card............. they work but not like it would with coinciding instruction sets. i haven't checked the prices but when i built my rig i wanted size not speed so for the price i went with DDR2 and i couldnt be happier, an 8gig ddr3 kit was triple the price of my 2 4gig ddr2 kits. power supply. either an Antec or Corsair, ive herd awesome things about the XFX PSU also but have never owned one so i cant personally recommend them. if you dont want to wait for intel and AMD to launch there 6core CPUs to hopefully drive the other prices down then id say definitely go with a quad core AMD but remember AMD still doesn't have Threading in there CPUs. ive never owned a MSI board but have heard good things, i personally use and recommend ASUS boards. had one go through hurricane Katrina and with a little bit of connection cleaner and dry time it ran like a champ. back on the CPU ive owned a Athlon X2 6000+ and can tell you there is nothing in the world special about it, its not anything worth bragging about lol.

Sum it up, i recommend the following changes
CPU-AMD Phenom II X4 (955 if possible (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808&cm_re=phenom_955-_-19-103-808-_-Product))
650W PSU either Antec or Corsair (possibly XFX)
if you get the Phenom II you will need an AM3 mother board i recommend this
ASUS M4N72-E AM3/AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA nForce 750a SLI ATX AMD Motherboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131367)



if you want a powerfull CPU than by all means spend the premium for a Core I7, i wont lie my 955 cant compete with everything the I7 does but i didn't pay the price neither.



Thanks for the comments psx2p but think you were looking at what I currently have in my machine now... not what I wanted to upgrade to. My newegg wishlist is pasted below... which is what I want to get. We were pretty close other than I suggested getting dual HD5750s. Should I just get another EVGA9800GTX, run in SLI and save $150 instead of getting the 5750's? The only reason I considered upgrading my GPU was that they are all GDDR5 Direct X11 now. Just wanted to make sure and keep up with the gaming industry as far as GPUs go.

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=11559371

[pacode79]

Never heard of a Microcenter... lol. My native resolution is 1920 x 1080.

[Blacksmith1]

STAY AWAY FROM THE 750a!!!! go with the 780a a or 980a. the 750 a is a "single chipset solution". I have one and if I had realized before I bought it I would have spent a little more and gotten the 780a. not that it's a bad mcp, but the 780 use 2 chipsets, one of which is the 750. this allows it to run SLI at 16x, the 750 backs your pcie down to 8x. bottleneck one. the 780 has better north bridge connection so you get stuff to and the memory faster than the 750. bottleneck two. and better communication with the SB ( the 16x pcie) third bottleneck for the 750a. that said, I love my board. But if I had understood a year ago what all those benchmarks really meant, I have gone with the better chipset for the higher cost.
one other thing. most of the 750a boards will only support 95 watt cpus. this limits your upgrade choices later on.
I tried to find anywhere that states what wattage cpus the msi will handle. the only thing i found was on the MSI site. a list tha says cpu support, since it list all of the 939 cpus as well as the x2's and am2, am2+. I don't think it's a list of the cpus that board handles., MAKE sure it will handle the 125 watt chip before ypou spend for them.
and the MSI claims to be AM3 ready.