Need some urgent help.

[FrenchAffair]

Need some urgent help.

So after like 5 years my computer finally died. I need to replace it quickly so I don’t have much time to research parts and such so I’m turning to those more knowledgeable than me for a little guidance.
This is what I had:
AMD Athlon 64 3000+
Gigabyte motherboard (not exactly sure exactly which one, but it’s 4+ years old)
Nvidia 7600GS AGP
2gb pc3200 ram
And the rest, hardrives..ect..ect... but thats the stuff that really makes the difference.

So the CPU is what died, but I figured instead of just replacing it with one that works in that motherboard I might as well just step into the 21st century and replace the motherboard/cpu/ram to something better.
I’m not looking for top of the line, I use my desktop mainly to watch TV/Movies (my screen is a 32in LCD), play a few odd games (CS:S, command & conquer) nothing too intense, but with an upgrade in hardware I might venture into a few games that were previously unplayable and do browse the internet/do school work.
My brother has a computer built around the quad core 6600 and that performance i find amazing compared to what I got, but given he got that system a year ago I figure that today there are better out there.
For the Motherboard/Processor/Ram I would say my budget is about 400-500$, Whatever I can get the best for my money with out spending crazy amounts is what is perfect for me.
In terms of graphics card I think I’ll get a 4850 or 4870, just doing a little reading to see if the upgrade to the 4870 is worth the money + it will allow me to upgrade down the road for crossfire.
Appreciate any suggestions, thanks.

 

[AdioKIP]

Since you're going with ATI video cards I would recommend an AMD system. Plus you get more for your money going that way. With the budget you suggested you can get a phenom II 940 for $225 (Quad Core 3.0ghz per core beats the Q6600), and pair it with a nice AM2+ motherboard with crossfire capability. Personally I like Asus boards, I am running the M4A79 as of last week (Upgraded from Asus M3A32, great board) and so far its been great. Cost of the board is $199. Add to that 4 gigs of DDR2 1066 Memory for around $50 and you are right at $475...or you can go a little over budget and get 8 gigs of ram (but this usually means going back to 800mhz ram speed for AMD builds)...

Right now I'm running the above mentioned system (Phenom II 940, M4A79 Motherboard, 8 gigs of ram) with 2 4850's. As far as if the 4870 is worth it over the 4850 with the recent price drops you can get a 4870 for around $150 after mail in rebate so I would look for deals on them. Performance wise either card is great but the 4870 does have the advantage of being a dual slot design so it vents the hot air outside the case. Either card is capable of crossfire as long as your motherboard supports it.

 

[ravenware]

Seems odd to that a processor would just die.

What kind of power do you have?

Intel Quadcore setup q9400 @ $US 349.98
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.173015

AMD Quadcore setup Phenom II 940 $US 313.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.165047

4GB DDR2800 4-4-4-12 RAM: $US 49.99 (you can shave about $15 from this if you pick up lower end ram)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148212

 

[usamare]

On the cheap it's hard to beat a q6600 even today. I'd first suggest focusing on just one video card. That will save you about a $100 on the motherboard. I'm thinkin Asus P5Q ($125 at mwave). CPU, maybe a q6700 for $240??. That won't be much better than the 6600, but at this point in time it's pretty acceptable to look at a 64 bit OS, so you can just overload on ram. The cheapest ram right now probably isn't the best performance for the q6700, but 8 GB of 667 mhz ram will do the job, and only cost about $80. Then hit up Tigerdirect for one of their Vista ultimate x64 + hard drive "bundles" (you'll need a sata hard drive anyway, and getting a nearly free 500Gigger will take the ache out of buying the OS).

A little over budget, but on the plus side, you won't need a very good video card to get decent fps from that system. When you do go for hi end video card, just one really good one will do.

Whatever you decide, good luck!

 

[PaulR08]

Given the fact that you have a 32" LCD monitor, I would get the more powerful ATI 4870 video card. For the board I would chose a P45 chipset (Intel based) paired with a Q9300 or E8600 processor. And, add in 4 GB of DDR2 RAM that keeps this system in your budget range.

 

[JaredAudiophileGamer]

Gigabyte UD4H 790GX + AMD Phenom II X3 720 $240.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.165024

OCZ Reaper 2X2 Gigs $43.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227284

Sapphire 4870 1 GB $189.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102801

total $474.97 and the gig of memory on the graphics card will handle really well on that 32"

 

[AdioKIP]

Be careful about some of the cheap package deals. The motherboards listed in several of them are not listed as being crossfire compatible. You will want a crossfire capable motherboard to give yourself flexibility to upgrade in the future.

 

[aford10]

Ok, here's my suggestions:

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P/Sapphire 4870 combo - $280
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.173192
E8500 - $190
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115036
RAM - $27
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227267

The total comes to $497 and it includes the video card. The problem is, with the upgraded hardware (specially the video card), you need to upgrade your psu as well. This psu would be a good choice:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005

 

[JaredAudiophileGamer]

here are some benchmarks of left 4 dead from anandtech.com

the 720 triple core competes quite fiercely with the quads and is a great overclocker. most people get it to 3.17 ghz on air with no voltage increases on the stock cooler by changing the multiplier from 14 to 16
and gigabyte is a well known top tier trusted motherboard brand so for a $45 savings by getting that motherboard and cpu in combo id say that is an excellent deal and would more then suit your needs. and with the new radeon cards coming next month and the new phenom II quads prices will be dropping more then likely, and the price of a second 4870 would go down a pretty good amount.

 

[FrenchAffair]

Some really good advice here, I appreciate it. After a little bit of research I think I'm going to go with the Phenom II 940. Right now I found it with 80$ off & free shipping, so it seems like a good deal.

What would a good motherboard with this processor be how ever? I've been looking around and most of them seem to offer the same features for around the same price. Is there any recommendations for this?

Thanks.

 

[The Third Level]

I've heard good things about Gigabyte and Asus.

 

[aford10]

I'd go with something like this Gigabyte
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128378

 

[FrenchAffair]

I'd go with something like this Gigabyte
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128378

Would that motherboard require me to use ddr3 ram?

 

[aford10]

yes. If you don't want to, this board will work
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128387

 

[FrenchAffair]

yes. If you don't want to, this board will work
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128387

Hmmm I like that one, Gigabyte is a good name as well non?

 

[aford10]

Gigabyte is the best brand IMO.

 

[FrenchAffair]

How does this set up sound to you?

GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P
SAPPHIRE 100259-1GL Radeon HD 4870 1GB
CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)
AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core

 

[The Third Level]

Looks like a sick setup.
750W may be overkill tho, but if you're planning on CFing in the future make sure the PSU is CF-able.

 

[FrenchAffair]

Looks like a sick setup.
750W may be overkill tho, but if you're planning on CFing in the future make sure the PSU is CF-able.

It is, it's also 129.99 with a 100$ instant rebate and a 20$ mail in rebate so for 100$ it seemed like a good powersupply with plenty of room for an extra video-card in the future.

 

[aford10]

If you plan to add the 2nd card, it's a good idea. However, if you don't think you will go xfire in the future, it's definitely overkill. Something like the antec 450w earthwatt psu can power that single card.

It looks like a good list though. What are your main uses?

 

[FrenchAffair]

If you plan to add the 2nd card, it's a good idea. However, if you don't think you will go xfire in the future, it's definitely overkill. Something like the antec 450w earthwatt psu can power that single card.

It looks like a good list though. What are your main uses?

Yea I'm defiantly going to be going with a 2nd video card, most likely after the summer. I have a 32in HDTV as my screen so the extra power will come in handy when playing games on that resolution.

Main uses are I use it to watch tv/movies in my room, play games, do a little video & music editing and about it. My last system has only seen one upgrade in the past 4 years (went from a Radeon 9800xt to a nividia 7600gs) so this system won't put me at the top end of current offerings, but for 1000$ will let me play all the games that are currently out that I haven't been able to play on my old system. As well as just offer a good preformance boost, after 4 years my other system got a little slugish and compared to what is out there now was pretty slow. It will be nice to actually be able to alt+tab out of programs with out everything freezing.

 

[aford10]

That's a good setup for what you are looking to do.

 

[FrenchAffair]

Yea I'm looking forward to it,

I'm also going to add

Western Digital Raptor WD740ADFD 74GB 10000 RPM SATA 1.5Gb/s - for my boot drive and apps
Western Digital Caviar GP WD7500AACS 750GB 5400 to 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s - for my data & music

and get the

COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel , SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower

as my case.

I'm not looking to overclock to start off with so I'm going to just go with the stock CPU cooler, let this all settle then in summer when the cash is flowing again look to maybe tweak with a few upgrades here and there.

 

[fazers_on_stun]

Yea I'm defiantly going to be going with a 2nd video card, most likely after the summer. I have a 32in HDTV as my screen so the extra power will come in handy when playing games on that resolution.

Main uses are I use it to watch tv/movies in my room, play games, do a little video & music editing and about it. My last system has only seen one upgrade in the past 4 years (went from a Radeon 9800xt to a nividia 7600gs) so this system won't put me at the top end of current offerings, but for 1000$ will let me play all the games that are currently out that I haven't been able to play on my old system. As well as just offer a good preformance boost, after 4 years my other system got a little slugish and compared to what is out there now was pretty slow. It will be nice to actually be able to alt+tab out of programs with out everything freezing.

What resolution does your TV support? HD can mean 720P (1366 x 768 pixels native resolution) or 1080P (1920 x 1080 pixels native). Usually for 37" and smaller TVs, 720P is the norm esp. if the price was cheap. Remember, TVs are meant to be viewed from a distance such as 8 or more feet, whereas a PC monitor is meant to be viewed within 2-3 feet.

 

[FrenchAffair]

What resolution does your TV support? HD can mean 720P (1366 x 768 pixels native resolution) or 1080P (1920 x 1080 pixels native). Usually for 37" and smaller TVs, 720P is the norm esp. if the price was cheap. Remember, TVs are meant to be viewed from a distance such as 8 or more feet, whereas a PC monitor is meant to be viewed within 2-3 feet.

It's 1080p, i run it at 1920x1080. It's a good tv that works perfectly as a computer screen, i don't notice any difference in viewing it close or far away.