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1k Build
So after many days of looking through sites trying to compair price/proformance I have settled on these parts, but being such a heafty investment and my first build in years, I would like to get some input as to if you all think there are any better options within the price range. Doesn't have to be 1k, but around.
Either
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=41125&sku=E145-0550
or
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=555358&sku=E145-1566
Can't decide, leaning towards the first.
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http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2373004&sku=I69-3570K
or
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7073159&Sku=I69-2600K
Same debate
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http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7162756&sku=K24-9918
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http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1415969&sku=A455-3144
Maybe not worth it if im going to use an I5, but i don't know what else would be worthwhile.
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http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3276567&sku=ULT-LSP750
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http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7281716&sku=TSD-500AAKX
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http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6430030&sku=C283-3122
Any suggestions in any catagory for money/profomance improvments would be appreciated, plan to buy friday 5/4/12
Build needs to include windows and case for ~1k. Does not need to come from Tiger Direct.
Mine with windows is 961.91 with 70 in rebates.
Comments
For the video card, how about neither? They're both way overpriced for what you get. This is only $5 more than the GeForce GTX 550 Ti, but will tend to perform closer to the GTX 560 than the GTX 550 Ti:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2042277&CatId=7387
For the processor, a Core i5 3570K is the right choice. For gaming purposes, it's both faster and cheaper than the Core i7 2600K.
For memory, you could try this, skip the rebate, and still save money:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226219
For a motherboard, you probably want Z77. Something like this should work, so long as you're not planning on overclocking very far:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2332609&sku=M452-8420
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2276159&sku=G452-2365
And if you're planning on overclocking at all, then you need an aftermarket heatsink.
For a power supply, no. Just no. You need something of good quality, not some Ultra piece of junk. Try this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207013
For the case, try this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129066
That's much nicer than what you got. Including shipping, it's probably cheaper than what you picked, too. And that's before rebate, even; it also has a $10 rebate.
You might also want to consider whether to make room in your budget for a good SSD. Installing the OS and your main programs on something like this will make everything a lot faster and more responsive:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=365475&CatId=5300
Nvidia is rarely competitive on price/performance under $200 at the moment. Basically, the problem right now is that they're a generation behind (AMD's new generation is out and Nvidia's isn't), and the Fermi architecture of Nvidia's previous two generations wasn't very good, either.
I'm skeptical of any claimed compatibility issues. Both AMD and Nvidia cards support both DirectX (used for most games) and OpenGL (used for essentially all of the games that don't use DirectX). If you need some particular program that uses CUDA, then maybe you need an Nvidia card for compatibility, but that would be extremely rare for consumer use and never happens at all for gaming use.
Which game is the one in question?
Darkfall uses DirectX 9, and a Radeon HD 7000 series card supports DirectX 11.1 and earlier. Radeon HD 5000 and 6000 series cards support DirectX 11 and earlier. If Aventurine somehow managed to make the game not run on AMD cards, they'd surely be in the running for the most spectacular MMORPG failure of all time. Even if they run into some driver glitch in AMD drivers, then AMD will fix it.
If a DirectX game somehow manages to not run on AMD cards, then the most likely reason is that it won't run, period. In which case, having an Nvidia card wouldn't help.
Some particular games will favor one particular architecture over another. Some games will have Nvidia cards perform about 10% better than an "average" game than AMD cards, or vice versa. Favoring one architecture over another by 20% is enough to make a game quite an outlier. And if you're going to play several games, then it will probably roughly balance out.
So looking through you suggested the powersupply however if i went with the gpu you also suggested i'd need a stronger psu. Any of the xfx i looked at in the proper wattage range were significantly more money. Are there any brands that i should look for in particular and any such as ultra that you already mentioned that i should stay clear of? What are things to look for in general?
Edit: potentially found another xfx 650w for around the same price, still what is good to look for when determining a proper psu?
Reviews are actually what lead me to the ultra i originally linked, had like 750+ reviews maintaining @ 5 stars.
In order to have a meaningful power supply review, the absolute minimum is that you have to pull the rated load from it (e.g., 750 W from a 750 W power supply) and measure voltages and ripple while doing so. That means you need to spend about $5000 on a load tester to be able to pull arbitrary loads from power supplies.
How many of the people who posted a review of the Ultra 750 W power supply do you think have a proper load tester? And how many of the reviews are basically, I pulled 200 W from a "750 W" power supply, and it didn't spontaneously combust, so I'm giving it 5/5?
What you really want is a power supply that has been reviewed by a reputable tech site that found that it was pretty good. Companies that have a pretty good product to sell know which review sites are the good ones and know how to send in a review sample. They also know that if they don't do so, enthusiasts will assume that the product is garbage. Some companies can live off of past reputation for a bit (e.g., if Corsair launched a new series of power supplies, I wouldn't assume it's garbage until proven otherwise--but I also wouldn't recommend buying one until I see a good review), or get just one power supply in a line reviewed rather than all of them.
It's important to understand that the nominal wattage on a power supply doesn't have any physical meaning. It's not possible to take an arbitrary power supply without a label on it, run it through some testing, and say, this is a 473 W power supply. Rather, the wattage is the company's promise that you can pull that much wattage from it and it will be safe. But some companies flatly lie, and will call a power supply "750 W" while knowing full well that it will fail if you try to pull 550 W from it. Speaking of which, Ultra is such a company.
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2008/02/06/ultra_x2_extreme_edition_750w_power_supply/4
You'll probably never pull 300 W from the power supply, unless you insist on getting an older Fermi video card that is something of a power hog. A good quality 550 W power supply is plenty for that. But "good quality" is essential. If a bad quality 550 W unit wouldn't be able to handle the system, then getting a bad quality 1000 W unit instead doesn't fix the problem.