[cloudstrife3733]

Ok, I am building my girl a new machine problem is I havent kept up much to date with the new equipment so this is why I am asking for everyones help if possible. I am looking to spend roughly about 8 to 900 on everything,I have a few preferences if possible Id like to stick to ati graphics and intel processors please.So the purpose of this machine is for her to do whatever she needs to do on it which doesnt take much at all considering shes gonna use it for school and for what I want it to do,which is run pcsx2 at full speeds so bascially I want the minimum machine that can run pcsx2 at full throttle.I am most likely going to purchase everything on newegg.com considering thats where Ive seen the best prices myself not sure if theres anything better out, if there is please share,anyways I need to know everything what I should get for graphics,processor,motherboard,ram,dvd rom burner or maybe blu ray havent decided on that yet and finally the cooling system I should use and anything else that I should know or have also.Please if anyone can help it would be greatly appreciated my girl will kick my a** if I spend this much money and not get something up to standards lol.

 

[Cid Highwind]

I'm not very wellknown about motherboard types, I suppose having a basic P45 model (PCI-e 2.0) of Gigabyte would work well, seeing how there's no need for stuff like Raid.

Processor: E8400? At least a dual core of the Wolfdale family, just OC the heck out of it. A quad would be overkill given it's for her and with Masta.G reporting that the ATi offloading has been fixed.

Videocard: ATi Radeon HD4770. Fast enough for all the modern PC games while giving a heck of a value, more power than the 4670 while still not taxing the PSU a lot.

RAM: Stick with 2GB of DDR2, preferably CAS4 stuff, Corsair, Kingston, GSkill, Mushkin. DDR800 will allow up to 400MHz FSB certified, DDR1066 a tad higher. Again, I don't know too much on the details. Since it's for your GF, I doubt the latency is even an issue so if you just want to play it safe go for some CAS5 1066 memory so that it certainly won't be an issue.

DVD Burner: Sony, Samsung, NEC, LG, BenQ, they all produce decent burners, as long as they support both DVD+ and DVD- you should be fine. I always forget which is the cheaper standard, that's the tricky part.

Bluray: If you stick with an OC'd Wolfdale and relatively cheap P45 board you may have some spare money on your budget for one of these.

HDD: Don't know if you need it, but Samsung's F1 series are fast, cheap and quiet. Just don't put them into RAID.

 

[Princess Garnet]

Cid Highwind has good advice, but I think the RAM recommendation is backwards. RAM amount over RAM speed any day.

I see DDR2 prices have started their climb upwards again, and this affected 4GB sets more than 2GB sets (as that's likely where more of the sets sold), but that's only more reason to get 4GB now.

Even if her uses aren't demanding, with the OSes and programs out now, things are starting to show difference, so if you get her 4GB now, it should last the life of the PC.

If you get 2GB now, you're saving $15-$20, but you'll be spending alot more to get that other 2GB later, plus the worries of the two sets working together right.

 

[Phil]

Hey the i7 920 is 199.99 at Microcenter

 

[Cid Highwind]

Yeah, that's a good idea Phil, get her an i7 and install [email protected] on it and let her join our team. :evil:

And Zedeck makes a good point. Guess I'm in the 2GB mindset still. And while I think it should be more than enough for anyone, especially a girlfriend who just wants to do her schoolstuff, some future friendliness might not be a bad idea no.

 

[Phil]

Cid, we all know your beer bill per month is enough for 3 gaming systems

 

[Hatorijr]

let me warn you now as an owner of a lg dvd burner. i barely had it for a year and a half and the drive now has severe issues playing dvd movies not to mention burning slow as hell(using same blanks i used when i first got it mind you too so not the blanks i use causing it) regardless of the firmware or the movie being played so i would be careful of lg drives, though thats just my preference. plus be careful of western digital hard drives, almost every one i have owned died an early death except maybe the one i use now since my others died after i bought it and i am being careful now as i would like it to last a bit until i build a new system or fully upgrade this one.

just my 2 cents.

 

[Cid Highwind]

It's not so much the beer but rather the whisky that prevents me from going Crossfire

 

[Squall-Leonhart]

let me warn you now as an owner of a lg dvd burner. i barely had it for a year and a half and the drive now has severe issues playing dvd movies not to mention burning slow as hell(using same blanks i used when i first got it mind you too so not the blanks i use causing it) regardless of the firmware or the movie being played so i would be careful of lg drives, though thats just my preference. plus be careful of western digital hard drives, almost every one i have owned died an early death except maybe the one i use now since my others died after i bought it and i am being careful now as i would like it to last a bit until i build a new system or fully upgrade this one.

just my 2 cents.

yeah, using low quality dvd's kills lg drives.

 

[cloudstrife3733]

I'm not very wellknown about motherboard types, I suppose having a basic P45 model (PCI-e 2.0) of Gigabyte would work well, seeing how there's no need for stuff like Raid.

Processor: E8400? At least a dual core of the Wolfdale family, just OC the heck out of it. A quad would be overkill given it's for her and with Masta.G reporting that the ATi offloading has been fixed.

Videocard: ATi Radeon HD4770. Fast enough for all the modern PC games while giving a heck of a value, more power than the 4670 while still not taxing the PSU a lot.

RAM: Stick with 2GB of DDR2, preferably CAS4 stuff, Corsair, Kingston, GSkill, Mushkin. DDR800 will allow up to 400MHz FSB certified, DDR1066 a tad higher. Again, I don't know too much on the details. Since it's for your GF, I doubt the latency is even an issue so if you just want to play it safe go for some CAS5 1066 memory so that it certainly won't be an issue.

DVD Burner: Sony, Samsung, NEC, LG, BenQ, they all produce decent burners, as long as they support both DVD+ and DVD- you should be fine. I always forget which is the cheaper standard, that's the tricky part.

Bluray: If you stick with an OC'd Wolfdale and relatively cheap P45 board you may have some spare money on your budget for one of these.

HDD: Don't know if you need it, but Samsung's F1 series are fast, cheap and quiet. Just don't put them into RAID.

Thanks for the input cid, Im definetly going to look into all the above it seems pretty reasonable alot of ppl I have spoke with have said the same about the E8400 and said as well it overclocks well.Ive been keeping my eye on it at newegg for any price change but havent caught much yet, I was hoping they would have it with the processor+mobo combo but I havent seen one yet. Another thing I was thinking of how much more you think it would be if I attempted to go ddr3? memory wise anyways?

Cid Highwind has good advice, but I think the RAM recommendation is backwards. RAM amount over RAM speed any day.

I see DDR2 prices have started their climb upwards again, and this affected 4GB sets more than 2GB sets (as that's likely where more of the sets sold), but that's only more reason to get 4GB now.

Even if her uses aren't demanding, with the OSes and programs out now, things are starting to show difference, so if you get her 4GB now, it should last the life of the PC.

If you get 2GB now, you're saving $15-$20, but you'll be spending alot more to get that other 2GB later, plus the worries of the two sets working together right.

ok cool, thanx for the input.Now say if I wanted to go ddr3, what am I looking at price-wise?

 

[cloudstrife3733]

Yeah, that's a good idea Phil, get her an i7 and install [email protected] on it and let her join our team. :evil:

And Zedeck makes a good point. Guess I'm in the 2GB mindset still. And while I think it should be more than enough for anyone, especially a girlfriend who just wants to do her schoolstuff, some future friendliness might not be a bad idea no.

I agree a little bit over budget doesnt bother me so if it helps for future use Im all for it.

 

[cloudstrife3733]

I'm not very wellknown about motherboard types, I suppose having a basic P45 model (PCI-e 2.0) of Gigabyte would work well, seeing how there's no need for stuff like Raid.

Processor: E8400? At least a dual core of the Wolfdale family, just OC the heck out of it. A quad would be overkill given it's for her and with Masta.G reporting that the ATi offloading has been fixed.

Videocard: ATi Radeon HD4770. Fast enough for all the modern PC games while giving a heck of a value, more power than the 4670 while still not taxing the PSU a lot.

RAM: Stick with 2GB of DDR2, preferably CAS4 stuff, Corsair, Kingston, GSkill, Mushkin. DDR800 will allow up to 400MHz FSB certified, DDR1066 a tad higher. Again, I don't know too much on the details. Since it's for your GF, I doubt the latency is even an issue so if you just want to play it safe go for some CAS5 1066 memory so that it certainly won't be an issue.

DVD Burner: Sony, Samsung, NEC, LG, BenQ, they all produce decent burners, as long as they support both DVD+ and DVD- you should be fine. I always forget which is the cheaper standard, that's the tricky part.

Bluray: If you stick with an OC'd Wolfdale and relatively cheap P45 board you may have some spare money on your budget for one of these.

HDD: Don't know if you need it, but Samsung's F1 series are fast, cheap and quiet. Just don't put them into RAID.

I was checking on the prices and wow the 8400 has dropped considerably from what I remember it being,but I cant help but wonder the quad core Q9550 is only 220 and the 8400 is 190,shouldnt I just spend the extra 30 dollars or so to buy the quad?? or will it cost me alot more in the long run trying to find a decent mobo to put it in?

 

[Master_DX]

U probably were looking at the E8500 which cost 190 USD, the E8400 is only 168 USD.

C2D E8400: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037

C2Q Q9550: Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83GHz 12MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

The processor is pretty much ur choice I would say, if pcsx2 is a big priority like u mentioned above, then the E8xxx would be a better choice for the OC capabilities it has compared to the Q9550.

 

[Master_DX]

someone delete this post, bah stupid internet.

 

[cloudstrife3733]

U probably were looking at the E8500 which cost 190 USD, the E8400 is only 168 USD.

C2D E8400: Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

C2Q Q9550: Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83GHz 12MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

The processor is pretty much ur choice I would say, if pcsx2 is a big priority like u mentioned above, then the E8xxx would be a better choice for the OC capabilities it has compared to the Q9550.

ooo hey your right thanks for the correction on the prices,I didnt notice that.But as far as the processors, its funny cause I thought some time ago someone told me you absolutley wont get full speeds unless you have a quad core, but I guess thats not the case.But as far as overclocking this processor Im guessing if I wanna crank the hell out of it like everyone is telling me I should, Im guessing a standard cooling system wont do any good so what would I be looking at price-wise to get a cooling system that would work well with this system being overclocked?

 

[cloudstrife3733]

I took a look at the hd4770 doesnt like to shabby,the price is pretty good and its not bad on speed only thing that kind of turned me away a bit is the 128-bit and 512 mb.So for that reason I know this is like 50 dollars more or so but Im really up on buying the best possible video card I can without breaking the bank so I was looking at the SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5. DDR5 and 256-bit with a gig sounds awesome to me for 160 not to mention the pretty nice look it has to it which is just a small plus,and as far as comments Ive seen alot of good the only real con ppl could think of was the heat it gives off and thats only after its really been cranked oc-wise.So Im really leaning to purchasing this one,if anyone has any info to share maybe why or why not I should buy this card please do so.

 

[Phil]

Stick to Microcenter for Cpus

 

[Squall-Leonhart]

Phil gets you great deals xD

 

[Phil]

indeed

 

[bkwegoharder]

I'm not very wellknown about motherboard types, I suppose having a basic P45 model (PCI-e 2.0) of Gigabyte would work well, seeing how there's no need for stuff like Raid.

Processor: E8400? At least a dual core of the Wolfdale family, just OC the heck out of it. A quad would be overkill given it's for her and with Masta.G reporting that the ATi offloading has been fixed.

Videocard: ATi Radeon HD4770. Fast enough for all the modern PC games while giving a heck of a value, more power than the 4670 while still not taxing the PSU a lot.

RAM: Stick with 2GB of DDR2, preferably CAS4 stuff, Corsair, Kingston, GSkill, Mushkin. DDR800 will allow up to 400MHz FSB certified, DDR1066 a tad higher. Again, I don't know too much on the details. Since it's for your GF, I doubt the latency is even an issue so if you just want to play it safe go for some CAS5 1066 memory so that it certainly won't be an issue.

DVD Burner: Sony, Samsung, NEC, LG, BenQ, they all produce decent burners, as long as they support both DVD+ and DVD- you should be fine. I always forget which is the cheaper standard, that's the tricky part.

Bluray: If you stick with an OC'd Wolfdale and relatively cheap P45 board you may have some spare money on your budget for one of these.

HDD: Don't know if you need it, but Samsung's F1 series are fast, cheap and quiet. Just don't put them into RAID.

Everything seemed onpoint, but there is a problem with the Radeon 4770. They a super rare, and the prices for them are marked up. the 4850 which is stronger than it goes for 99 dollars on newegg while the cheapest 4770 I've seen is 110.