Trying to make a computer

[JS Lemming]

I don't know much so maybe someone can help.

I think I want the intel core i5 but apparently there are different ones? This one seems to have the most customers but this one is cheaper and has more ghz?

I found this example of parts to buy but that video card seems really expensive. Same with the case! I just don't know.

[avansc]

well the more expensive one has twice the amount level 3 cache, and twice the number of cores. thats why.

If you can say what the computer will be used for i might be able to help?

[GroundUpEngine]

I'd go with the Intel Core i5-750 and if you overclock it you can get more Ghz then the 650, also I've always used Gigabyte motherboards so I'd reccomend them too.

[JS Lemming]

Yeah guess I'll go with the 750. I'll be using this computer for whatever and probably won't buy another for a long long time. So I'm trying to get it half way decent.

[hurstshifter]

If I were you I would do a bunch of research on sites such as http://www.tomshardware.com. They have articles about pretty much every piece of hardware you can think of and a lot of great comparisons with similar models.

[Arce]

i5? Nice, you're going all snazzy on us. ;p

What's your price range?

[adikid89]

When I read the topic title I thought you were trying build a computer.. from basically scratch. That would have been awesome. I saw someone make one one day on some website. He also wrote his own assembler instruction set, then made himself a little os for it. That was amazing . Anyway good luck on making your configuration.

[JS Lemming]

Haha... when I was a youngin' I used to dream of making a computer out of clothespins.

Arce, the sad thing is I didn't even know i5 was considered snazzy. I live under a rock. I'll spend less than $1000.

EDIT: Does anyone have a graphics card that didn't cost $300 that they would recommend for a JSLemming?

[Live-Dimension]

Why Intel?

Thier problem is that they change sockets on you very often. If you want to upgrade the cpu, you have to upgrade the mobo. AMD have gone down another route. I can still fit AM2 and AM2+ cpu's into AM3 sockets for christ sakes. And it works.

Lmao. I have that same exact case in that link. Now, I'll give you my AMD recomendations and why.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819103808
$159.99 AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz

You can get all those really really powerful CPU's, but what for? Unless your doing lots of encoding or something else CPU intensive, you'll find that you just wont use that much CPU power. Intel have the performance, AMD have cheaper but more upgradeable parts. Yes, I realise a "3.2GHZ quad core" is powerful, but its power for its price. "Black editions" cost a little bit more, but have unlocked multipliers, which means you can achieve some crazy clock speeds! There is a 3GHZ non-black edition for about $20/30 cheaper but it doesn't seem worth it. You'll probably want an aftermarket CPU cooler though, as stock fans tend to be noisy.

Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813128444
$104 GIGABYTE GA-880GA-UD3H AM3 AMD 880G HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

It's the cheapest USB 3 + 6GB/s Sata AM3 mobo, has inbuilt video for bonus should you ever need it. I have a similar board (lacks the USB3/Sata 6gbit) but it's the same for the most part. The onboard audio will do you fine, as I had an XFI in that recently kicked the bucket, so I went to onboard audio. After messing with the EQ, the sound quality is *close* to the XFI, close enough for me and I consider myself a low-end audiophile . In other words, there seems to be no point buying a dedicated sound card, especially when you consider all the issues creative cards bring with their drivers.

Video cards. Well, they are all pretty much the same in a series, some have extra this or a little extra that. A 5770 series (NOT a 5750) will be able to run most games on very high-maximum settings @ 1920x1200, and can have certain levels of AA/AF applied. Just don't expect to max out the AA/AF. For $150 it's a snip. You could get a 5850, but your paying twice as much just to get AA/AF. It may be important to you it may not be. Just make sure the card has 1GB of memory and is not Asus, as their products seem to fail so easily these days. *sigh.

Just stay away from crossfire/SLI. Why? Well, both of them DO give you extra FPS. However, not all games support them, and they do cause compatibility issues. They add power draw and can cause stability issues, and ontop of that, it's performance is usually close to just getting a single card for the same money as 2x weaker cards. No matter what you say, you wont notice 10fps difference above 60fps. Hell, most LCD's can't refresh faster then 60fps anyway.

http://www.hardware-revolution.com/hard ... rsion-2-0/
The rest of the build seems pretty alright. I'd look into getting a more powerful power supply however, like that Corsair one listed underneath.. Sure, you might not need it yet, but when you do you'll be thankful. 4GB or 6GB of memory? If your looking to overclock, in the past you used to need more expensive memory that can handle the load. If that is true or not these days I don't really know, hunt around.

The items I listed will save you about $200, and is nearly identical to my current rig. Really, It's only $200 cheaper mostly because of the cheaper video card. It's not as fast, but it'll do the job for gaming upto 1920x1200. If you want to future proof/game at higher resolutions, you'll probably want a 5850.

Don't forget you'll need a monitor, keyboard + mouse, etc. It's tempting to go cheap on the monitor, because believe me, you will get a degraded quality picture. I got this 26" very, very cheap. It's almost too big, and frankly I'd rather get a decent 24" for the same price. 22" tends to max out at 1680x1050, and 24" maxes at out 1920x1200, which fit the video card I listed earlier.

Get a list made up and put it up and I'll suggest any changes I think are needed.

edit: Apparently, black-edition CPU's don't come with fan/heatsinks. I don't know, I thought mine did. In either case, check this out. I'd recommend throwing in a $40 aftermarket fan anyway, as they usually are far better then stock fans.Anything from Zalman would do fine, but double check that it fits the AM3 socket first.

[JS Lemming]

Ah very informative sir! But I bought the i5 last night . I was eager.

I should also mention I'll be running linux on this. Ubuntu. Some googling leans me believe Nvidea will work better than ATI here. Just not sure which one.

List...

• 21" Dell Monitor with HDMI at Staples - $180 (anything bigger looks too big to me)
  Wireless mouse and keyboard at OfficeDepot - $28
  Ugly ass but cheap case - $45
  i5 - $200 (bought)
  USB wifi adapter - $22 (I won't be near a wire connection)

And I guess the rest will be exactly what that site suggests? (Aside from the wideo card)

Am I missing anything?

That's like $880. I might have to go over 1000 to get the graphics card. Also, I'm not looking to overclock. Honestly I'm not even that big a gamer... I'd like to play half-life 2 though...

[Live-Dimension]

Lmao. Ah well.

I don't know enough about linux to say what hardware will work best, your best off going to xyz linux forum for that. However, most/all of your hardware will work fine with linux, it's almost a guarantee these days. If you had brought the AMD motherboard I listed, it comes with an integrated video ATI HD4200. It won't make pixies fly, but it'd be ok for (somewhat) casual gaming on medium/low settings. Ah well.

If your not doing gaming that much, then a 5770 is probably overrated. Do you want to have high quality settings? or does it not bother you if you use medium/low for occasional gaming? If so, you can probably shave off $70-100 and still get respectable performance from a dedicated card. Anything you can plug in these days should run HL2 without issues :P

The rest of the setup seems good.

[RyanPridgeon]

I think the general rule is to stay away from ATi if you're a GNU/Linux user. At least for now.

However I have a Radeon 4890 and it works damn nicely on Windows.

[avansc]

Dear Lord, that case looks like it was in a fender bender.

[JaxDragon]

I think that case is dead sexy. It got good reviews, so hopefully it'll last you a while.

[JS Lemming]

I'm just glad the sexy wreck doesn't have LEDs all on it. I think it makes computers look tacky and cheap.