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Re: New Rig Feedback.

PostPosted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 2:15 am
by Gary
Okay, putting a computer together for a friend. All it needs to do, is:
  • Browse the web(Email, Youtube, etc.)
  • Stream Hulu or w/e video service ( movies, TV shows, etc. probably in 720p)
  • Do paper work (taxes, accounting and such)

So, it doesn't need to be very powerful. But good enough so it feels like a modern computer. She plans on hooking it up to the TV to stream movies and stuff(which is why it needs an HDMI port). So I hope that this would work well:

Mother board combo( on board GPU, included CPU) ~ $120:
  • CPU: AMD E-350 APU (1.6GHz, Dual-Core)
  • GPU: AMD Radeon HD 6310 graphics

RAM:G.SKILL DDR3 4GB 1066 ~ $22

Total ~ $142


My main questions are:
1. Is this CPU going to feel sluggish if she has the stupid anti-virus, AOL crap, etc. running?
2. Is this CPU 64 bit? And if so, can I install a 32 bit OS and not have any of the 64bit compatibility problems?
3. Should I get 2GB($12) or 4GB($22)? Only 3 out of the 4GB will be usable in 32bit.

Re: New Rig Feedback.

PostPosted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 7:36 am
by zombie@computer
Gary wrote:Okay, putting a computer together for a friend. All it needs to do, is:
  • Browse the web(Email, Youtube, etc.)
  • Stream Hulu or w/e video service ( movies, TV shows, etc. probably in 720p)
  • Do paper work (taxes, accounting and such)

So, it doesn't need to be very powerful. But good enough so it feels like a modern computer. She plans on hooking it up to the TV to stream movies and stuff(which is why it needs an HDMI port). So I hope that this would work well:

Mother board combo( on board GPU, included CPU) ~ $120:
  • CPU: AMD E-350 APU (1.6GHz, Dual-Core)
  • GPU: AMD Radeon HD 6310 graphics

RAM:G.SKILL DDR3 4GB 1066 ~ $22

Total ~ $142


My main questions are:
1. Is this CPU going to feel sluggish if she has the stupid anti-virus, AOL crap, etc. running?
2. Is this CPU 64 bit? And if so, can I install a 32 bit OS and not have any of the 64bit compatibility problems?
3. Should I get 2GB($12) or 4GB($22)? Only 3 out of the 4GB will be usable in 32bit.

1) Sluggishness is relative. Ever since im using an ssd every computer i've used feels sluggish. It all depends on what you are used to. Since the E-350 can run farcry at med-low settings i'd assume it won't have any problems in the tasks you described, but more than any other cpu, you will notice when, after a few months-years, more and more crap is running in the background. How much crap is running greatly depends on the user. Some people tend to install every program they can download...

2) Almost every new processor is, just as this one. You can install a 32 bit OS no problem, but compatibility problems? Never heard of 64 bit compatibility problems since 2004 or so. If hardware has no 32 bit drivers its either very crappy or old. Or both. software is run in 32 bit mode anyway (Windows on Windows64 = WOW64), so it should not behave any differently.

3)if you go with vista or above, more=better. Besides, you are forgetting one minor thing: the video is ondie. The CPU does the gpu-work, and thus ram=gpu ram. More is better. Even if you go 32bits, youll use like 80-90% anyway because the vram uses a lot (when pcs can only use 3gb of 4 in 32 bits, its usually because of the vram thats taking a bit out of the memory addressing space.)

Please consider other options as well. The zacato is an Intell Atom-killer, but 'normal' cpu's blow it away. Take the cheapest AMD cpu and motherboard currently available and it's performance will probably blow the zacato away, at similar costs. Only go for the zacato when power consumption/heat are an issue. Personally, i'd go for a micro-atx/itx board if you really want those things. You can build everything in much smaller cases (like the Antec ISK 300, loving that one :P) which are exceptionally bonus when placing the pc near the television.

Ofcourse laptops (or notebooks) offer even more bonusses, at a slightly higher prices that is.

Re: New Rig Feedback.

PostPosted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 1:19 pm
by Jangalomph
Out of curiosity would an SSD make my PC and games run faster? If so any recommendations?

Re: New Rig Feedback.

PostPosted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 1:37 pm
by srredfire
Everything will load a ton faster, yes, but you pay the price for it. SSDs are still quite expensive, but you will see the difference for sure.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820227796

Here is what I ordered the other day for my new rig. Can't wait to try it out.

Just look up Solid State Drives vs. Harddrive load times on youtube.

Re: New Rig Feedback.

PostPosted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 2:03 pm
by WhiteDevil
jangalomph wrote:Out of curiosity would an SSD make my PC and games run faster? If so any recommendations?


My windows loads in 10 seconds from power on, every action is instant and every program takes only a few secs to load, SSD is the best component which was totally worth every single penny!

I don't keep much games in my ssd but it does save the load times, especially bf3 loads every map under a minute.. before it was some times up to 4 mins, but performance wise it has no difference in games.

Re: New Rig Feedback.

PostPosted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 8:22 pm
by Major Banter
Operation: Get A Damn Rig is in effect. Got a budget of about £600-£700, which is basically $1000.

Core specs:

-Intel Core i5 2500K 3.3GHz Socket 6MB
-GTX 560Ti DirectCU II 1GB GDDR5
-Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H ATX Motherboard
-8gb of Corsair RAM


This currently costs £752 inc. all the extra stuff like PSU etc., and I'd like to pull it down a fair amount without compromising too much. I can cut back on stuff like the HDD and case, but I'm not sure if I've got a good balance here to begin with.

Re: New Rig Feedback.

PostPosted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 11:06 pm
by zombie@computer
You might want to consider Ivy bridge instead of sandy bridge. It is somewhat faster but less able to overclock. Your pick. the 2500k overclocks like crazy anyway.

Other than that not much to say. If you play (very)high res the 1gb of gddr is cutting it short.

Re: New Rig Feedback.

PostPosted: Fri Jun 22, 2012 1:57 am
by Jangalomph
Really debating weather i should turn away from AMD and ATI for my next build. Im a fanboy for both and I told myself i'd never buy intel or nvidia. But i think the time has come for me to do an intel/nvidia build. But Im super stumped on what i should even get. I want to run bf3 at 60-100 fps, but I also want physx for games like mirrors edge, and Unreal engine 3/4.

I would love to find a motherboard with PCIE 3.0 and An AM3/AM3+ socket, but I Don't believe they exist. :|
So this means no AMD CPU's with the 3.0 Cards and Mobo's.


I'm deciding between an nvidia 670, 680, and 690. I mean how much better is a 690? The price is absurd. But if it was worth it in the long run, I'd save for it.

Then, I know absolutely NOTHING, about Intel processors. I'd want one that's at least 3.6+ ghz and Below the $300 mark.

I guess my max spending would be $1,500.

Can you guys recommend some things?

Re: New Rig Feedback.

PostPosted: Fri Jun 22, 2012 4:04 am
by Gary
Instead of using NV has the renderer, you could just use a lower end one as a PPU.

Re: New Rig Feedback.

PostPosted: Fri Jun 22, 2012 10:35 am
by zombie@computer
jangalomph wrote:Really debating weather i should turn away from AMD and ATI for my next build. Im a fanboy for both and I told myself i'd never buy intel or nvidia. But i think the time has come for me to do an intel/nvidia build. But Im super stumped on what i should even get. I want to run bf3 at 60-100 fps, but I also want physx for games like mirrors edge, and Unreal engine 3/4.
Fanboyism is stupid. You really would not have bought an intell if it was faster and cheaper than an AMD? Anyway, you can also pick AMD+nvidia if you want to. Though i dont see why you would do that. In the top segment intel owns AMD at the moment. nvidia and amd are a little on par i guess.

jangalomph wrote:I would love to find a motherboard with PCIE 3.0 and An AM3/AM3+ socket, but I Don't believe they exist. :| So this means no AMD CPU's with the 3.0 Cards and Mobo's.
Why PCIE 3? there isnt a videocard alive that can push 2.0 to its limits.

jangalomph wrote:I'm deciding between an nvidia 670, 680, and 690. I mean how much better is a 690? The price is absurd. But if it was worth it in the long run, I'd save for it.
Price/quality for high end cards is never good. Look up some benchmarks to see the difference, see for yourself if you are willing to pay the difference.

jangalomph wrote:Then, I know absolutely NOTHING, about Intel processors. I'd want one that's at least 3.6+ ghz and Below the $300 mark.
If your sole criteria is the number of ghz then i understand how you know nothing about intel processors :) Basically, the intel processors come in two flavours, ivy bridge and sandy bridge, each having three distict levels:
i3
i5
i7
Higher = faster & more expensive. The i5 is the perfect gaming processor, i3 is for the less enthusiastic gamers and i7 is usually better than a comparable i5, but has more cores or HT making it less useful for games but a lot more useful for threaded apps. (there are exceptions, as always, see below).

The only decision you need to make is whether you want to overclock or not. The i2500k (2500=version, k=unlocked) is probably the best overclocking cpu at the time, it overclocks like crazy. If you care less for overclocking get an ivy bridge cpu (newer version of the sandy bridge architecture), they are a little faster and about as expensive.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Bridge
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_Bridge ... tecture%29

though i dont know how far 1500 wil take you or what you want to do with your pc, get a i2500k, 8gb of ram, and the best videocard you can afford. And, if budget allows, get an ssd.

Re: New Rig Feedback.

PostPosted: Fri Jun 22, 2012 4:53 pm
by Jangalomph
Yeah, Fanboyism is stupid when I realized it doesn't matter who is better at this moment, I just want a good computer now. So you're saying 3.0 and 2.0 almost don't even matter now? I know that you can use a 3.0 card in a 2.0 slot easily. If so, I could inturn reuse my motherboard, ram, and processor as it's already 3.6 ghz, 9mb total cache and 6 cores, and I feel like it's already better than an i5 2500k. But I also feel like I'm wrong saying mine is better.


Edit: I think I'm better off just buying a new PSU, 8-16 gb of ddr3 ram, and a 670 or 680.

Re: New Rig Feedback.

PostPosted: Sat Jun 23, 2012 8:03 am
by trcc
GTX680 isn't worth it, overclocked GTX670 match performance of 680, and it might even surpass the stock GTX680 a little (from what i've read as i'm really interested in getting 670 but i'm waiting until official 660 pricing and specs.)

Re: New Rig Feedback.

PostPosted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 8:39 pm
by joe_rogers_11155
From what I can tell, I never got an answer to my question from the last page.

joe_rogers_11155 wrote:thanks for that info, i will surely be coming back to check it out when i get all the parts in.

me and janga are looking at 2 cards that are very similar. these two.

Card 1. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150563
Card 2. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150521

They are both Radeon HD 6870 cards. But Card 1 has 2GB of onboard memory and a single fan. And Card 2 has 1GB of onboard memory and two fans. They are cloes to the same price point, the 1GB is somewhat cheaper. So the big question is...which card do you think will be better for the kind of work we interlopers do?


If you can help me decide between these two, or suggest an alternative (that is, something for around $200) then please do. Thanks!!

PS: As soon as I get a video card picked out, I will be making my Newegg purchase. No more holding back. Around $1000 going down the drain, but it will be for the best.

Re: New Rig Feedback.

PostPosted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 9:06 pm
by zombie@computer
joe_rogers_11155 wrote:From what I can tell, I never got an answer to my question from the last page.

joe_rogers_11155 wrote:thanks for that info, i will surely be coming back to check it out when i get all the parts in.

me and janga are looking at 2 cards that are very similar. these two.

Card 1. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150563
Card 2. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150521

They are both Radeon HD 6870 cards. But Card 1 has 2GB of onboard memory and a single fan. And Card 2 has 1GB of onboard memory and two fans. They are cloes to the same price point, the 1GB is somewhat cheaper. So the big question is...which card do you think will be better for the kind of work we interlopers do?


If you can help me decide between these two, or suggest an alternative (that is, something for around $200) then please do. Thanks!!

PS: As soon as I get a video card picked out, I will be making my Newegg purchase. No more holding back. Around $1000 going down the drain, but it will be for the best.

For the same price as the expensive one (after rebates) you can get this one

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102987

I think that's the best you can get without going over the $200.

Anyway, as far as the other two cards: the general consensus on the internet is that 2gb for a 6870 is only really useful for screens >1080p.

Re: New Rig Feedback.

PostPosted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 9:21 pm
by joe_rogers_11155
That's a pretty nice card. Do you think the 1GB is enough power for running today's games at a respectable rate (ie, decent frame rate, not ULTRA settings)? If that was the case, I would definitely go for the 1GB 6870 card that I linked because after rebates, it would only cost $160.

I am asking here because my govt computer blocks most of the benchmarking sites and stuff so I can't really explore on my own until much later in the day (at home).