New computer - How does this look?

Burks · **Posted:** June 14th, 2012, 10:03 pm

Tower: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... =C283-7002 ($150)
CD/DVD: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... &CatId=482 ($30)
CPU: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... CatId=7341 ($170)
Mobo: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... CatId=7248 ($100)
HDD: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... CatId=2459 ($100)
RAM: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... CatId=4534 ($120)
Video Card: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... CatId=3669 ($115)
OS: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... &CatId=306 ($100)

I already have a PSU here that I'm not using. I believe it's a 750w.

Everything look ok? Am I missing anything? This will be the first time I'm building a computer. Let me know if anything doesn't jive together, or if there is an upgrade I should do. Even if it's $10-$25 per part to upgrade, I'm all ears. I do think that maybe I should upgrade the CPU cooling a bit? My room gets in the 80F+ range easily in the summer. I think that's my current comps problem. Suggestions to aid in my CPU and overall cooling? The tower looks like it has plenty by itself.

My max price is $1000 total. I'd love to buy a barebones kit but they are all mid-tower. My current comp is a mid-tower and I don't know how I'd even fit a bigger video card in this one, so I don't want to run into that problem using a mid-tower again. I want space. More space = better cooling, more space = more room to expand. Just my thoughts *shrugs*

My goal is to play most games made within the past 2-3 years at max settings, new games at medium-high settings. My current computer is just aging badly. The 9800GT can hardly play World of Tanks at low settings without having to run the fans at 100%. The computer just can't keep up.

Animal · **Posted:** June 17th, 2012, 8:40 pm

Since your current total is only $885, perhaps you might want to invest in a SSD as well. You can get smaller sized ones now for around $80-$120, which would put you right at your $1000 max.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... CatId=5300

You should be fine with the stock CPU cooler, the ones included with the FX series are much better than most typical stock coolers, plus your case should have plenty of enough airflow.

Burks · **Posted:** June 18th, 2012, 6:16 am

So why a SSD over a tradional HDD?

Everything else looks good though?

Pupsin · **Posted:** June 18th, 2012, 11:01 am

Burks wrote:

So why a SSD over a tradional HDD?

Everything else looks good though?

SSD and a traditional HDD. Best of both worlds. A SSD will give you fast boot times and you can install your games on there also for faster launch etc. and a traditional HDD can be used for all your movies, music and other data-hungry media.

Burks · **Posted:** June 18th, 2012, 11:10 am

Ah I see. I sort of gathered that would be the reasoning behind a SSD.

To show my knowledge on that.......I picked up a Tigerdirect catalog not long ago and saw SSD's. My first reaction was "wtf are they? why so much?". Now I see.

Animal · **Posted:** June 18th, 2012, 1:36 pm

Pupsin had it right, I meant for you to have both, which is why it brought you to your $1000 max.

Burks · **Posted:** June 19th, 2012, 12:03 am

Thanks guys. Appreciate the help.

I'll probably order everything at the end of the month. Working on getting supplies to redo my boat right now. Maybe there will be a good sale on parts around July 4th.

Animal · **Posted:** June 19th, 2012, 11:22 am

Yeah definitely keep an eye out for sales. Also don't just buy from Tigerdirect, search around to see which place gives you a better deal. Amazon, Newegg, NCIX, etc.

Burks · **Posted:** June 19th, 2012, 1:48 pm

Animal wrote:

Yeah definitely keep an eye out for sales. Also don't just buy from Tigerdirect, search around to see which place gives you a better deal. Amazon, Newegg, NCIX, etc.

Oh definitely. I just went to Tigerdirect since I've ordered off them numerous times in the past, and they are the easiest to navigate. :^_^:

Ventrue · **Posted:** June 24th, 2012, 4:57 pm

The specs on that computer look like they'll fit your needs.

Make sure you read up on how to properly care for SSDs... They aren't like HDDs.

A couple tips:

1. Make sure you write as little as possible to the SSDs. Repeatedly rewriting to the SSD (say, from the downloads folder) will wear it down and lower its life significantly. This shouldn't be a huge problem if you just relocate the default download folder to a HDD.
2. NEVER DEFRAG A SSD. This will probably kill it. :X

Burks · **Posted:** June 27th, 2012, 7:19 am

So basically just put whatever I want to run fast (ie games) only on the SSD? Use the HDD for Windows and all that other crap correct?

Animal · **Posted:** June 27th, 2012, 11:09 am

Put Windows (~20 sec boot times on SSDs) and games and applications you want to run fast on the SSD. Put everything else on the HDD.

Burks · **Posted:** June 30th, 2012, 2:22 pm

Changed my mind on the video card too. I'll be getting the GTX 560. The performance boost over the 550 is rather larger for only a few bucks.

killa kiaba · **Posted:** June 30th, 2012, 3:25 pm

Burks wrote:

Changed my mind on the video card too. I'll be getting the GTX 560. The performance boost over the 550 is rather larger for only a few bucks.

I use this site http://www.cpubenchmark.net/ for picking hardware when i build pc's, also still can't believe your playing world of tanks xD

but yeh for example take your gfx card = http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.p ... ce+GTX+480

Burks · **Posted:** July 1st, 2012, 2:08 am

killa kiaba wrote:

I use this site http://www.cpubenchmark.net/ for picking hardware when i build pc's, also still can't believe your playing world of tanks xD

but yeh for example take your gfx card = http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.p ... ce+GTX+480

Yeah I got back into it. Sort of bored here at home and figured I'd give it a shot again. Tons of new tanks since I quit.

And yeah, the GTX 560 has benchmarks over 3x better than my 9800GT. My card (now) sucks. But I've had it for quite a while too.

New computer - How does this look?

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