Computer Advice

[Jaaassseeee]

Hey guys,

Have had major cases of technology problem, within a month my work laptop died,monitor died, wireless mouse and keyboard died and desktop PC died.

So I has the need to purchase a new computer (tower only). Already forked out to get a new monitor so I need a new tower since the PC i have is now over 6 years old.

The list I have at the moment.

ATI Radeon HD 4870 or 4890 (Any recommendation guys? Also I found a version of 4870 512mb sapphire but a 1gig version with another engine running it but was $10 cheaper? I didn't understand it....but if you're curious check the www.netplus.com.au website for graphics card)

intel quad core 8 or 9 series (any recommndations which one?)

a motherboard recommendation? atm looking at asus P5Q3 but if theres anything better please do tell! :P

RAM 4gig doesn't matter which brand so no biggie just 2 x 2gig sticks

and a 500gig WD HDD

my budget is set around $1k but I don't mind couple another couple hundred over or even $1.5k as long as I can justify why I'm paying that. I need such a reasonbly good gfx card due to my work, i spend a lot of time running various programs (design) video/picture for editing.

and yes, i admit i do pla the occasional games :)

please let me know

cheers,

jase

[Evo7]

Hey Jase,

good luck putting your new computer together man :D but just for your info, my computer is a desktop computer that i have had since 2001.... :o i have it set-up so it runs faster then vista lol ;) haha and still running the way it should :D

Evo

[69.NIX]

not 100% culed up on intel gear, i'm an AMD person, but one suggestion is goto msy.com.au, great prices

[Speedz]

Ok this is my take on the computer box you might want to follow... (taken from a IT website i always use...)

$1600 Intel i7 Box: updated: 29/05/09

CPU: Intel Core i7 920 $398

Motherboard: ASUS P6T $338

RAM: Kingston 6G Kit(3x2G) DDR3 1333 $126

HDD1: Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB WD6401AALS $115

HDD2: Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB WD6401AALS $115

Case: Antec 300 $104

PSU: Seasonic PSR550+ 550w $125

GPU: Geforce GTX 260 $256

Optical Drive: Sony AD7200 $28

Total: $1602

_______________________________________________

$1200 AMD Box: updated 29/05/09

CPU: AMD AM3 PHENOM II X3 720 BE $189

Motherboard: ASUS M4N78 Pro $156

RAM: 4GB DDR2 1066 Kingston $91

HDD1: Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB WD6401AALS $115

HDD2: Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB WD6401AALS $115

GPU: 896M GTX 260 (core 216) $256

Case: Antec 300 $104

PSU: Seasonic PSR550+ 550w $125

Optical Drive: Sony AD7200 $28

Total: $1179

or a AMD gaming rig...

$1300 High end AMD/ATI AM3 DDR3 Gaming build: updated 19/6/09

(Suitable for up to 1920x1080 resolution gaming)

CPU: AMD AM3 PHENOM II X4 955 BE $355

Motherboard:GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P $135

RAM: 4GB Kit(2x2G)DDR3 1333 G. Skill $99

HDD: Western Digital 640GB 16MB SATAII $91

GPU: 1GB ATi 4890 Gigabyte $269

Case: Antec 300 $107

PSU: Seasonic PSR550+ $125

Optical Drive: Pioneer 216 SATA $28

Total: $1206

_______________________________________________

obviously if your job requires alot of cpu powered applications the i7 setup would be more suited to your budget than the AMD rig...

[LEGEND888]

if u start looking at netplus, then u r at the right pathway :) GL jase :)

[Kenneth]

http://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/?tag=rmp_sg_w...poolpcs_systems

Forgot to show you this link yesterday plus MSY has great prices but you can bet half the time they dont have stock.. I never bother with them but you could score some savings there if you are lucky.. sometimes not worth the trouble thats all..

[Speedz]

yeah it depends where you get ur parts from...

i usually source it from 2 - 3 shops, seeing you in Perth i dnt even know if they have good PC shops there thats not ripping you off lol...

[Kenneth]

yeah it depends where you get ur parts from...

i usually source it from 2 - 3 shops, seeing you in Perth i dnt even know if they have good PC shops there thats not ripping you off lol...

netplus been doing good prices.. hrm i am not sure how much eastern people are paying but i think it wont be much less then what netplus is selling them for..

[Speedz]

Yeah well link you provided and my post are done by East siders and MSY has been good to me in Brisbane... (way better than GAME DUDE...)

If you know what you want to get, netplus/ MSY etc have the best no frills prices...

[Jaaassseeee]

Hey guys,

Thanks for the reply, much appreciated.

In terms of brands, I really doubt there would be much difference. If anything I'd say Intel would be superior, considering AMD are suing Intel for marketing domination 'apparently'.

Anyway, in terms of GPU. I'm tossing up between the HD 4890 or HD 4870. Apparently the former has a really loud fan (you have no idea how much I appreciate quietness) and the latter apparently runs really hot. Say later down the line if I run two GPU's in crossfire mode, I'm afraid the 4870 will catch on fire In all seriousness though, I'm really confused.

http://www.netplus.com.au/products-listing...20Video%20Cards Click into the link here, why is the (ATI Radeon HD 4870 512Mb VGA DDR5 PCI-E 2.0 16X DVI-HDMI Sapphire Inno3D Galaxy HD4870) more expensive than (ATI Radeon HD 4870 1Gb VGA DDR5 PCI-E 2.0 16X DVI-HDMI CrossfireX DirectX 10.1 HD4870) when the latter is a 1Gig memory card? Also apparently the GTX 260 is slightly better than the HD 4870, and both also offer 1Gig versions.

As for motherboards, I'm just left dumbfounded.

Pretty sure I'm going for a quadcore, just trying to figure out which one.

This is mine so far...

Thermaltake M9 Black Midi CATTVI1430BWS 1 $124.00

Sony 20X PATA Black Dual Layer OPSODWD25 1 $49.90

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 CPU CPINPC4D-Q9400 1 $295.00

ATI Radeon HD 4890 1Gb OC VGA VDAT4890-E9 1 $314.00

640Gb WD SATA2 AVVS HDDHDWE72RSATB640VS 1 $94.00

2Gb DDR3 1333 Kingston Memory MYD313-2048K 2 $88.00

Asus P5Q3 P45 MB MBASP5Q3 1 $197.00

Total $1,161.90

If you think I've chosen the wrong Mainboard, GPU, CPU, or RAM let me know. If you also reckon the price is ridiculous, let me know too! I got it all from Netplus. I'm also keenly anticipating the arrival of Starcraft II :P

Cheers!

Jase

P.S. I rushed the list, I'm at work ;)

[Kenneth]

get 4gb worth of ram @ least if you are going to run 64bit windows (as you suggested) plus according to ruimond geforce generally runs cooler then ati so you might wanna look into that...

check on the case, make sure its not a miniATX case or smething because you have a full atx mobo there (correct me if im wrong) but the guys @ netplus will be able to advise you on that

[Jaaassseeee]

That quote is for 4Gig RAM :P hence the 2 on the end hahahaha

[Speedz]

I would suggest you to get 8gig stick of ram, you cant have enough ram given Vista is quiet ram intensive (as I found out...)

as for video card reference cooler is pretty loud, i think other brand might have a non reference cooler (mine 4850 came with a Zalman fan, much cooler and quieter...) (i have to read up on the memory bits coz i stop reading the latest and greatest from both Intel & AMD for a good few months already lol...)

if you gonna crossfire/sli path, i would suggest you get a better case to fit in the video card and at least a decent 600 watt PSU...

2 x 4870 will give you alot of BANG for the bucks atm, performance wise it beats nVidia in some games...

[Jaaassseeee]

I've changed my mind a little...

Still getting a Q9400 processor

GPU will probably be the ATI HD4870. As I thought I might end up having 2 of those babies running in xfire mode later on down the track.

DDR 3 Ram 1333? 1066? I don't know anything about that stuff...

In terms of case, you're right Speedz. I'm settling on getting the Antec 900. Seems to have good reviews, mostly.

PSU I'm still to decide, but probably one of the Antec True or Neo series should be enough. Around 600W.

Motherboard wise I'm also pretty set on the Asus P5Q3. It supports xfire + DDR3.

Other than that....YEAH!

I'm gonna go into Netplus probably Friday or Saturday to have a chat with them.

Cheers for the advice guys, the more the better!!