Alright! Gimme suggestions! Tax season is coming.

[o_broodingdude]

My budget is $550.

Current specs:

AMD64 4000+ (San Diego) Socket 939
1GB OCZ Platinum RAM (Dual Channel, PC3200)
MSI Neo4-F Mobo (using on board sound)
WD 20GB (PATA), WD 40GB 10k (SATA) HDD's
Asus DVD drive
MSI Dragonwriter 42x Burner
XFX Geforce 6600GT 128mb
Crappy KDS analog monitor
PSU needs to be replaced (dying on intensive graphic apps [HL2, WoW])


Specifics: I want a bit more out of my system. I know I'm gonna snag another half gig of RAM, and a new PSU. My neighbor's spotting me a new tower as I crushed the front of my current with my fist. (Enraged at the damn thing blowing a raspberry at me when I start a game and giving the BsoD, then rebooting... or just freezing...). Can I fit a good gaming monitor in that budget? How about a new vid card? I really don't give a crap about storage atm. It's been enough for me. I have over 30gb empty. I don't do digital editing or any of that weird stuff.


Your thoughts.

[o_duffmanhb]

yeah i just ordered a new graphics card for my old computer off of newegg.

195 - shipping got me a clock speed of 500, 512 ram and DX10 capable.

you should buy all your crap there... sooo cheap

[o_broodingdude]

yeah i just ordered a new graphics card for my old computer off of newegg.

195 - shipping got me a clock speed of 500, 512 ram and DX10 capable.

you should buy all your crap there... sooo cheap
I plan on it. I've always followed reccomendations from other members of this forum...

[o_theres *nothing* here]

Hm.. someone said something about rich kids and their rich toys..

Hmm..

[o_broodingdude]

Hm.. someone said something about rich kids and their rich toys..

Hmm..

Tax return = rich kid with rich toys? Join the workforce, son. This is once a year.

[Circuitous]

He's thinking of the thread with that spoiled bitch, probably.

[o_broodingdude]

Still no suggestions from anyone? What, you all butthurt that I put a few people on ignore?

[Circuitous]

It's entirely possible they haven't been to this thread yet.

[o_zsilver_fox]

It's entirely possible they haven't been to this thread yet.
LIES!

postCount++;

[o_unknownfigure]

So, those are your current specs, and you want to upgrade with $550? That's good. At first I thought that was your budget for a new computer. The only thing that would be holding you back in terms of upgrading would be your motherboard, it being Socket 939 if I'm correct. Still, that socket does provide the majority of the upgrading options, just not the best ones (C2D)



You have one PCI-Express x16 slot, so you cannot get either of the Nvidia GeForce 8800 series cards (as they use two slots, if memory serves) so let me suggest some good cards for you and your budget.

GeForce 7600GT - About $130, eVGA brand, off newegg. This is perhaps one of the best bang-for-your-buck cards. It offers excellent performance with eyecandy in nearly all games, with a smooth framerate (Even the power-hungry Oblivion) It's not the best out there, and for about $50-$150 more, you can get better performance. Marginally better, so it's worth considering to go higher.


ATi Radeon X1950Pro - About $200, generally the budget card of choice amongst enthusiast gamers. Like the 7600GT, it can handle the latest graphics applications, with HDR, AA, etc. But, this card will pump out higher framerates, with higher settings, at, usually, higher resolutions.

For the sake of conserving the budget, I will not list anything more expensive than that. Not like you'll need any more graphics power for awhile, atleast in my opinion. (Note: Others you may consider are cards like the 7900GT and the X1900XT, if you are willing to spend more on a graphics card.)




Given your current CPU, and your options, I don't believe you'll have any big benefit from upgrading your CPU. If you do want to upgrade it, however, you'll find the AMD Athlon X2 4400+ 2.2 GHz to be within your budget. How it will compare to your current card, however, I'm uncertain. But I suggest you don't upgrade your CPU.


I couldn't find OCZ Platinum RAM in PC 3200, but you can snag a gig of OCZ Value for $99.




Power supply (If you want) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817189008 (I HATE talking about power, though... I don't know why.)



But it seems you really, really need a new monitor. I've never gone the way of LCD, preferring to stick it out with my old CRT til the very end, but I do have experience with LCD's. So, due to the scarcity of CRT's these days, I'll only list possible LCD's you may take into consideration. (I will not go above $300 for a monitor, so you can have atleast $200 left over for your other most needed upgrade: the video card.)




For a monitor, one of the best choices would be the one that follows. At a nice 19" screen, a response time of 2ms, a contrast ratio of 2000:1, and the pixel pitch of which I already forgot, you might be totally digging the Samsung 931C (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824001085) Not way over budget, either.

Another alright one is : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824005075 . Specs are good looking, and the reviews aren't terrible.



Stopping here, as I forgot that I was playing Gears before I got on to check mail...

[o_skanky butterpuss]

^ what he said ^

[o_theres *nothing* here]

Ah, I'm sorry mister..

I just forgot how silly it was to make baseless accusations. My apologies if I had burst your pompous bubble. ;)

Of course, you probably weren't saying that about anyone in particular. But, just to let you know, I'm in no way rich at all. I was just a bit irked that you would include me in there, and I wanted to annoy/point that out to ya. You didn't like that either huh? But other than that, no harm done!

[o_speed-king]

Buy a 1 gb ram Gfx card :p Probably aint the best you can get compared too 2 sli cards ... but still .. could kick ass :)

[o_broodingdude]

Ah, I'm sorry mister..

I just forgot how silly it was to make baseless accusations. My apologies if I had burst your pompous bubble. ;)

Of course, you probably weren't saying that about anyone in particular. But, just to let you know, I'm in no way rich at all. I was just a bit irked that you would include me in there, and I wanted to annoy/point that out to ya. You didn't like that either huh? But other than that, no harm done!
Any other implausible defamatory crapola? I'd think that we've both been around long enough to know that I'm never a pompous ass like quite a few people here on this board. Usually I'm seen as a "lightning rod of hate" around here because people seem to think I'm an easy target. I've given pretty much nothing but respect and I've gotten a lot of grief for it. Some of us here only live to grief others. As there are no real consequences to how a person uses the internet, people can be just as vindictive and assinine as they wish.

My only defense is that if you can:
1. Afford to have a 'gaming computer'
2. Afford to go snowboarding (equipment + passes = pretty expensive)
3. Afford to go other places to snowboard

All those in conjunction I consider you rich. I'd never be able to afford all those at once. I'd have to have one or the other. I can afford skeet shooting because I have social connections to do so (father owns a sporting goods store).

[o_broodingdude]

I'm going with these:
Vid: http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814143070
PSU: http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817182027
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820141413
Monitor: http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16824001090

Criticize, advise, suggest please. I'm inviting opinions on these!

[o_sta_sirtiger]

I dunno, but I wouldn't trust a Rosewill power supply! Remember, you should spent some basic amount of money on the PSU because if it fails, say good bye to your entire system. That card should be good, hope you enjoy. As for the LCD, I guess that's good, though I would get something bigger and with more ms / contrast ration (but this is your budget, so it ain't bad at all either!). My close friend maintains an awesome page dedicated to great PSU's check it out
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=427508
rotNdude 4 life - check out the passing PSU list! Pick any that you need according to the WATTS and you're ready to go.

[o_psycnet]

Monitor: 2 ms GTG is pretty awesome for gaming, can't ask for better really. High brightness (300 cd/m^2) but with a lower contrast ratio, though all rating for contrast vary. Your color just won't be as vivid and will have slightly lower sharpness. Good deal though.

RAM: Kingston Value RAM is pretty lousy (bad latency timings, no heatsinks) but does the trick for cheap, as long as you don't try to overvolt them. I would recommend something at the same price like http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146846 which is only one stick, but leaves more room for upgrades, because you can buy a second stick (which will run in DC with the first) at a later date.

PSU: I like it, despite what SirTiger thinks. It's a great deal on a moderate brand for a 550v with all the modern features (4/8 pin CPU power heads, PCI-e head, 20+4 Main power) you need to run everything from the older 989 style boards to todays 965 quadcore boards. Lots of headroom for the future, good deal. PSUs rarely fail, contrary to what the chicken littles might say.

Vid: 7900GS is a great card at a great price. 256mb of VRAM and you could find yourself reaching to have texture room later on. Cough up another 80 bucks and you could have a snazzy 512mb 7950GT which is a better card still at a reasonable price (that will last you longer as well)

[o_theres *nothing* here]

Any other implausible defamatory crapola? I'd think that we've both been around long enough to know that I'm never a pompous ass like quite a few people here on this board. Usually I'm seen as a "lightning rod of hate" around here because people seem to think I'm an easy target. I've given pretty much nothing but respect and I've gotten a lot of grief for it. Some of us here only live to grief others. As there are no real consequences to how a person uses the internet, people can be just as vindictive and assinine as they wish.

My only defense is that if you can:
1. Afford to have a 'gaming computer'
2. Afford to go snowboarding (equipment + passes = pretty expensive)
3. Afford to go other places to snowboard

All those in conjunction I consider you rich. I'd never be able to afford all those at once. I'd have to have one or the other. I can afford skeet shooting because I have social connections to do so (father owns a sporting goods store).
*cough*

Well, good sir, I know what rich means. Lemme see if I qualify.

1. I can't actually afford a gaming computer, nor do I have one. Wanna know what I have?
2. The gear I've been looking for, was all secondhand. Secondly, if I wanted to buy half decent stuff, furthest I would've gone into was $160. And why would I even bother to buy secondhand? Because I'm BROKE okay?
3. I live close to the mountains. A day pass costs $25. I stay from morning till night, and squeeze every last drop out of it. That being said, I only go at least once a year.

$75 once a year is kind of pricey even by me. The gear saves me the rent already. But I still try to do it, because it's something I love to do. I save up. Gee, how did you think I do it?

[o_broodingdude]

RAM: Kingston Value RAM is pretty lousy (bad latency timings, no heatsinks) but does the trick for cheap, as long as you don't try to overvolt them. I would recommend something at the same price like http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146846 which is only one stick, but leaves more room for upgrades, because you can buy a second stick (which will run in DC with the first) at a later date.

I have to go with 2 sticks of RAM because my mobo only supports 1, 2 or 4 sticks of RAM. I already have 2. Maybe I can find this in 2x256mb?

[o_unknownfigure]

Stop argueing about who you THINK has more money. It's stupid. And why do either of you give a shit?




I approve of the chosen GPU, PSU, and RAM above. However, the only thing I would push on is getting a monitor with a better contrast ratio, but that monitor is also decent. You just aren't going to have a crisper picture.

[o_broodingdude]

Stop argueing about who you THINK has more money. It's stupid. And why do either of you give a shit?
I'm not going to reply to him... it became moot when I realized that I was being childish with my first reply to him.




I approve of the chosen GPU, PSU, and RAM above. However, the only thing I would push on is getting a monitor with a better contrast ratio, but that monitor is also decent. You just aren't going to have a crisper picture.

You are very much more than welcome to make a suggestion. With the current list, the grand total (including shipping) comes to ~$522. That means there is another $28 to work with. I'm not sure I understand the contrast ratio stuff... I was just told to get the best response time I can, and 2ms seems to be really good.

[o_duffmanhb]

Any other implausible defamatory crapola? I'd think that we've both been around long enough to know that I'm never a pompous ass like quite a few people here on this board. Usually I'm seen as a "lightning rod of hate" around here because people seem to think I'm an easy target. I've given pretty much nothing but respect and I've gotten a lot of grief for it. Some of us here only live to grief others. As there are no real consequences to how a person uses the internet, people can be just as vindictive and assinine as they wish.

My only defense is that if you can:
1. Afford to have a 'gaming computer'
2. Afford to go snowboarding (equipment + passes = pretty expensive)
3. Afford to go other places to snowboard

All those in conjunction I consider you rich. I'd never be able to afford all those at once. I'd have to have one or the other. I can afford skeet shooting because I have social connections to do so (father owns a sporting goods store).

I dont think thats a good criteria for rich.
I Have tons of high end electronics, including a decent computer with a large monitor. I go surfing, skiing, boarding ect. all the time. I live near the beach and am going to school full time. Yet, look at my pay check of 200 a week, and i sure that disqualifies me from being rich as i only make presumably only 12,000 a year.

Then again, California rich and the rest of the world Rich is a little different i guess.

[o_theres *nothing* here]

Thats right, don't reply, because it was never meant to be an argument.

Unknown, I wasn't arguing about who had more money. I just don't like it when people make things personal like that. Why would I even care to prove him wrong? It was childish on my part also.

I really couldn't care less, I'm sorry if you mis-interpreted my second post.

[o_the russian]

so far I like the suggestions... I only worry about you mixing your ram modules of different quality / model ... they might not work or bring all of them down to the fastest speed of the slowest stick. Dual channel in particular is exteremely sensitive to ram that does not match....

also, check out Opterons for CPUs if you know how to OC, the best quality socket 939 chips out there! you may also consider some dual core stuff... I have the same mobo as you, but I run a single core Opteron 148 on it. I dont think you can future-proof that PC for games that will use dual core tech, so I'd stick to single core processors till new amd tech comes out to rival c2ds.

everyone knows I love them server chips :)

[o_vertical]

In my opinion i'd just get a better something of one of the items you listed out and drop the ram for the meantime (or save the cash you where going to use for the RAM and add to it until you get enough for Dual Channel 2x512, that way you'll have 2GB of ram (Which is recommended for Vista) and would only cost you about $50 more for a hellova lot better performance.

Since your looking for options anyhow, my computer recently crashed (It had no display on power on) I figured the graphics card was the cause, so I tested it, and it worked fine, well the only other logical choice I could think of was the motherboard, so I ordered a new one (basically the same as the older one) and an extra GB of ram just to make it that much more enjoyable and as a reward for working on the computer :P Well the damn computer still didn't work when I got that installed, so only other explanation was the processor (I had already tried all of the other alternatives/explanations) when I replaced the processor with a working one from my other computer, everything worked, so I bought a new processor. Got that in and installed, and I'll be damned if windows fucked up as soon as I got it all working, after screwing with it, I figured a format and re-install would be best but I didn't want to lose all my my files/data so I bought a new SATA II drive. I asked the "Geek Squad" guy at Best Buy if SATA was as easy as EIDE to install and put windows on. He said "Yeah, you do just like you would with EIDE, you just stick in in there, plug it in, and install windows, piece of cake". Well I knew he was full of it because I had ONCE before tried to install SATA on my grandmothers computer and spend a few hours on it and gave up. (Having never read anything about installing SATA nor ever asking anyone how to do so) Well I bought the thing (250GB SATA II 300MB/s 16MB cache WD) and tried to install it, needless to say 8 hours later I finally got it working... (in conjunction with my other two EIDE drives) sigh.

So anyhow, I basically halfway bought a new PC O_O moral of the story, I can assure you after using my old PC and compairing to this new version of it, that two GB of ram over 1GB as well as a 600Mhz faster processor and a 3x faster SATA II HDD makes a HUGE HUGE difference. Games I was never able to play at even near highest quality; now play like a breeze. And even though I didn't want to upgrade anything (especially with all the new hardware coming out) I had to get my computer back working, and for all of this...

P4 3.0Ghz 800Mhz FSB w/HT
250GB SATA II 300MB/s 16MB cache WD
1GB Samsung DDR PC3200
ASUS P4S800D-X Motherboard

it only cost 442.59 which for just about everything but a graphics card, I'd say is pretty damn good. So I guess what I'm saying (In a very long winded bordom initiated post) is that you can make a little cash go a long way, there is no need to rush and spend it, if nothing else save up more cash and get some totally awesome stuff. At the very least though I recommend and extra GB of ram rather than just 512 (2x256) taking up the valuable RAM slots.

Ok, I'm going to absolutely shut the **** up now :)

[o_psycnet]

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contrast_ratio :

"Emissive display technologies (where all pixels emit light individually, such as OLED, FED and SED) are capable of achieving a very high contrast ratio. Plasma displays are not subject to contrast ratio because the black areas on a plasma display are truly black and do not emit light. This is also true with CRTs[1] which have a theoretically infinite contrast ratio and practically achieve such a high contrast ratio that this terminology usually does not refer to them.[2]

Poor contrast ratio manifests itself in the lack of true black, and in noticeably desaturated colors (the darker the supposed color, the stronger the desaturation)."

Basically, blacks are blacker, which leads to less color bleed, which leads to true-to-life sharpness, rather than digital sharpening.

[o_ghost]

I asked the "Geek Squad" guy at Best Buy if SATA was as easy as EIDE to install and put windows on. He said "Yeah, you do just like you would with EIDE, you just stick in in there, plug it in, and install windows, piece of cake". Well I knew he was full of it because I had ONCE before tried to install SATA on my grandmothers computer and spend a few hours on it and gave up. (Having never read anything about installing SATA nor ever asking anyone how to do so) Well I bought the thing (250GB SATA II 300MB/s 16MB cache WD) and tried to install it, needless to say 8 hours later I finally got it working... (in conjunction with my other two EIDE drives) sigh.

What was causing the problem with it? I added in a SATA drive to my computer (that had IDE drives) a little over a year ago and just plugged it in and it worked.

[o_gunslinger]

I think everyone should post scans of their wage slips and bank statements for the last 12 months so we can see who really is the richest!

[o_unknownfigure]

Another monitor you may consider would be


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824001079


Depending on what type of monitor you are moving from, you probably won't notice much ghosting, and the picture should be bright and sharp.




Note on RAM: That other dude IS correct to say he'd be worried about mix-matching RAM qualities, as it is very likely that all the RAM will use the timings of the slowest stick. But, I didn't really notice any major problems, and I don't know why, but I can't find OCZ Platinum RAM anywhere. If anything bad happens Newegg will be considerate ;)

[o_ginger lord]

I can't recommend the 7900GS enough, especially the Leadtek one. Its quieter than my stock X2 CPU fan.

It also added 2000+ on my 3DMark06 score from a BFG 6800GT OC. It also overclocks insanely easy and high, managed to get another 500-1000+ on top of that.

Edit: Monitor wise you wont be able to tell the difference between 2-5ms and probably 8ms. Those contrast ratio are "faked", anything over 500:1 for 17" and 800:1 for over 19" is good enough.

I have two Acer 19" Widescreens, both same model but one is 2m/800:1 and the other 5ms/500:1 and theres barely anything in it, infact I use the latter as my primary as it does blacks better bizarrely.

[o_|404|innoc-tpf-]

Edit: Monitor wise you wont be able to tell the difference between 2-5ms and probably 8ms. Those contrast ratio are "faked", anything over 500:1 for 17" and 800:1 for over 19" is good enough.

I have two Acer 19" Widescreens, both same model but one is 2m/800:1 and the other 5ms/500:1 and theres barely anything in it, infact I use the latter as my primary as it does blacks better bizarrely.
Unless you're unlucky enough to be part of that small portion of the population that is very sensitive and for whom the next generation of LCD (LED backlit or OLED) may be your next best hope....though the topic of monitors, refresh and sensitivity has been beat up well enough on here before.

[o_psycnet]

What was causing the problem with it? I added in a SATA drive to my computer (that had IDE drives) a little over a year ago and just plugged it in and it worked.

Things that can go wrong installing SATA as your primary HD:
BIOS can't handle it, need update
Boot drive hasn't been picked out in BIOS
Needs HD-specific drivers
Power supply can't handle a 5 watt upswing :D
You have a jumper pre-installed on the disc, when primary SATAII's should have none

There's a few more, but basically I've heard of alot of people running into these barriers and having more than a few hours of frustration. Installing a SATA drive as a secondary or storage to other PATA or existing SATA is much easier for most folks. Though why you would want to run a slower communicating HD with a smaller cache as your primary I have no clue :/

[o_broodingdude]

Now going with these:

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814143070
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817182027
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16824001079

I've asked around and most people seem to agree that I have enough RAM. (1GB... although snaggin another GB in a couple months won't harm anything)

I think now my only hangup is no support for SATAII. I have SATA on my mobo... (http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=K8N_Neo4-F&class=mb)
Anyone care to suggest a good drive for that?

[o_psycnet]

Most SATAII drives will operate in SATA mode, you just need to add a jumper that makes it run at 150MB/s

[o_|404|innoc-tpf-]

Along the lines of what Psychnet said I'd strongly recommend the Seagate PMR drives. Anything Sata with a model series of 7200.10. You should find them faster and more reliable (if mfr claims can be relied upon) and 5 year warranty.

[o_broodingdude]

Along the lines of what Psychnet said I'd strongly recommend the Seagate PMR drives. Anything Sata with a model series of 7200.10. You should find them faster and more reliable (if mfr claims can be relied upon) and 5 year warranty.
Any ideas on finding a tutorial on how to install windows properly on a SATA drive? I get all kinds of errors and problems doing that. Even after a successful install it boots with craploads of errors.

[o_|404|innoc-tpf-]

Any ideas on finding a tutorial on how to install windows properly on a SATA drive? I get all kinds of errors and problems doing that. Even after a successful install it boots with craploads of errors.
You really should only have one of two conditions:

1) BIOS shows drive to Windows and appears to be a normal drive without additional drivers needed...everyone is happy and dances

2) Windows needs drivers for the SATA controller to install so you look for the "Press F6" message as the installation CD is firing up...press the F6 key and then have the drivers ready on a floppy disk. The Floppy is the pain in the butt as you typically will have to make it yourself. I know the ASUS boards include a utility (most often) on the motherboard driver CD to create that floppy driver CD.

It really should be just that easy.

One final note...make sure that Sata is turned on for your motherboard. You *might* have one other complication. Your sata connectors may ONLY support RAID operation. In which case you can get a cheap Adaptec or other card...plug it in and call it a day.

[o_broodingdude]

Oooh I gotta save this thread when buying time comes around.

[o_broodingdude]

Got 'em. Should arrive later this week.