How are these?

H

Huan

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Nov 3, 2001
Messages
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I'm upgrading the wifes computer and I have looked at peoples suggestions from my wow upgrade thread. So far i'm looking at the following:

EVGA 012-P3-1470-AR GeForce GTX 470 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130550

AMD Phenom II X4 965
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727


ASRock 870 EXTREME3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157198

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) X2 for total 8gig
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277

Western Digital Caviar Blue WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136218

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Mostly world of warcraft, but many windows tend to be open. Video editing with home videos etc at times to boot..

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
800 roughly, tax and shipping not included

3) Where do you live?
Dickson,TN
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
Cpu,ram, video card, motherboard, and hard drive

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Using keyboard, mouse (usb for both), Corsair 620 modular powersupply, large ATX case ( server size actually)

6) Will you be overclocking?
No
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
19" lcd wide screen DVI and VGA inputs
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
This week
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? etc.
SLI and crossfire okay, not mandated for not purchasing two cards atm, don't think I need them. Just want stability

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?
No, I will be purchasing window 7 home prem installer edition


I think the HD price is pretty average for the size.. But if there are better for the price feel free to mention! A big reason I keep asking for opinions on parts is that I'm still stranded on dialup and I'm hoping to hell that verizons LTE service rolling out this year will actually be worth a hoot.. In theory i'm covered.. But atm, my surfing/shopping for parts and research is severely hampered by old bits!! ((updated HD to a 3.5 thanks for E4g1e for pointing that out!)
 
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First off, the 965 is still a bit too pricey considering that you can get the slightly slower 955 for $20 to $30 less.

Second, that Scorpio hard drive is not a desktop hard drive at all - but a laptop hard drive. Don't expect it to perform as fast as the usual desktop 3.5" hard drives that we normally recommend.
 
Crap! Thanks for pointing that out! (( can you tell its been a while sense i've built a rig?)
 
It would help if you answered the stickied "ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS FIRST" so that we can help you better.
 
You could actually get a faster 640gb caviar black (performance drive compared to the caviar blue which is more of a mainstream drive) for $5 less.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...6319&cm_re=640gb_black-_-22-136-319-_-Product

Or if you're buying a Mobo that supports Sata3, you could get the Sata3 version of the 640gb caviar black at no price difference.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...6544&cm_re=640gb_black-_-22-136-544-_-Product

Both drives are Caviar blacks, so they're faster and have longer 5yr warranties compared to the blue.
 
bbs lm-r said:
You could actually get a faster 640gb caviar black (performance drive compared to the caviar blue which is more of a mainstream drive) for $5 less.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...6319&cm_re=640gb_black-_-22-136-319-_-Product

Or if you're buying a Mobo that supports Sata3, you could get the Sata3 version of the 640gb caviar black at no price difference.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...6544&cm_re=640gb_black-_-22-136-544-_-Product

Both drives are Caviar blacks, so they're faster and have longer 5yr warranties compared to the blue.
Click to expand...

The problem there is that the 640GB Blacks are still relatively slow in sequential performance by current standards. While the current shipping versions of the 500GB Blue use a single 500GB platter, the two 640GB Blacks still use two 320GB platters. (However, judging by the specced sustained transfer speed of 126 MB/s, it's likely that the 640GB WD6402AAEX uses two 500GB platters with one side of one of the platters left blank and the other three sides short-stoked slightly to about 214GB per side. That would have made the sequential performance of the WD6402AAEX no faster than the 500GB WD Blue.) The only WD Black that's faster than the newer revisions of the 500GB WD Blue is the rather humongous 2TB WD2001FASS. All of the other Blacks (this includes both of the SATA III versions) are equal to or slower than the 500GB Blue in sequential performance.

EDIT: I re-checked the OP's option for the 640GB Caviar Blue. Well, skip that particular drive then since it still uses two 320GB platters, and it offers slower access speed than either of the 640GB Blacks. As a matter of fact, I would skip 640GB drives altogether until Samsung introduces a 640GB version of its 7200 rpm F4. But until that happens, you should concentrate on the 500GB, 1TB and 2TB capacity points.
 
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bbs lm-r is dead on about the hard drive.. I would get the SATA III one to pair up.. Also geting a 470 in an AMD setup means you CAN NOT SLI since amd boards dont support it.. I would reccomend instead get a Raedon HD 6870 since performance wise there very close to each other, but that leaves you open to CF later if you so desire.. Not to mention its much more power friendly..

I Would recommended though if you go this route don't drag your feet ordering as the 68x0 series just went on sale yesterday & they have already sold out of 4 of the 11 68x0 models..

Dropping to the 955 is also not a bad move for the cost savings.. & since there both black editions if you feel so inclined they will OC to roughly the same limits. Either way though I would get an aftermarket cooler for it just cause the stocker is loud & you appear to be well under budget.

Edit: while I was wrighting this E4g1e posted about the blacks.. Another good alternative is the Samsung f3's
 
Excellent, excellent information/opinions.. I'm tweaking the shopping cart as we do this lol! I have to go to work so, sleep is a must for now. Feel free to post anything else...

Oh and to whomever it was that asked, the board does support sata3. And i'm thinking i'll switch to the raedon HD 6870. Similar performance, and less power is always a good thing
 
+1 for the samsung f3, things have been completely awesome to me so far.

I wouldn't bother worrying about planning ahead for dual video cards. considering the monitor size you're on, by the time you'd decide you wanted a second it would be more than likely a more powerful card be released that showed performance similar to dual cards. that's unless you're planning to upgrade to larger than 24" very soon.
 
Skull_Angel said:
+1 for the samsung f3, things have been completely awesome to me so far.

I wouldn't bother worrying about planning ahead for dual video cards. considering the monitor size you're on, by the time you'd decide you wanted a second it would be more than likely a more powerful card be released that showed performance similar to dual cards. that's unless you're planning to upgrade to larger than 24" very soon.
Click to expand...

So, are you for the nvidia 470, or the ATI 6870?
 
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