New Computer Help

**pevergreen** · 07-28-2009, 05:05

Alright, excuse my ignorance, but can you tell me what Country you live in Decker?

I am very wary of prebuilt computers from HP and Dell thesedays.

Two sites which get tossed around here a lot because of how good they are: http://www.ibuypower.com/ and www.newegg.com

I like using ibuypower to see what my system will look like (for cases) and the decent choice of stuff they have.

Im saying about 650 US is the price you want?

For $670 off ibuypower you could get:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

This will probably be more expensive (not by much) than a prebuilt of the same specs, but I would go with it. Buying the individual componants and building it yourself is always cheaper, but I'm guessing thats not an option

(Don't worry, it wasnt an option for me either until 5 months ago, I did a weeks work in an IT shop, was shown how to build a computer)

I'll try and explain a bit about the computer, feel free to correct me if I get stuff wrong guys (i should be working etc)

Your CPU has a clock speed (default speed set by the manufactor) that is measured in GHz. A single core CPU does 1-2 things at a time (threads). A program says to the CPU "Do this" a thread is used to do the calculation, which the program uses the result of and so forth. So, more cores, which means more threads, is good, especially when a program uses multi/hyper threading, which (as i understand it) is doing more than one thing at once (where as others would do one thing at a time, but its so fast we wouldnt notice normally anyway).

The Random Access Memory stores pieces of data off your Hard Drive in a faster location. Like you using a book to grab info for your test the next day. If you keep putting the book away, its slower to get it, open it instead of leaving it open in front of you. So the more memory you have, the more data you can store to get to it faster. The speed of the memory is also important, but thats another issue. The number after it is important as well (Someone may say that they have 2 gigabytes of DDR2 RAM. That is inferior to 2 gigabytes of DDR3 ram)

Your graphics card is like another CPU, it helps out the CPU by taking all the physics and graphics work, and doing it itself. It uses its own Memory with a different number than normal RAM (GDDR5 is the best).

The two major companies that manufacture CPU's are Intel and AMD Athalon. Intel have the upper hand in the CPU area right now.

For Graphics Cards, Nvidea and AMD are the two, Nvidea have the most power card out there, but AMD seems to have the better price in the mid-low end of scale. For the most part it is just personal choice, with the added fact that most games prefer Nvidea and the drivers with it.

I'm biased, as I'm only familar with the Intel and Nvidea side of things, but I think they are much better.

And for the most part they are.

Sorry if I don't make much sense, let me know and I'll explain better.

**Husar** · 07-28-2009, 18:03

Originally Posted by pevergreen

I'm biased, as I'm only familar with the Intel and Nvidea side of things, but I think they are much better.

And for the most part they are.

They are on top, in the lower price regions you can usually find competition products that are cheaper and better and since we seem to be talking about around 650$ here, looking into AMD CPUs might actually be a very good idea, I know I saved around 100 EUR for my PC by going with a Phenom II.

Graphics cards are dirt cheap now (and you get all sorts of silly problems due to cheap materials for free) so the 9800GT you went for sounds like a good idea for someone who doesn't want a top system, yet wants to play games now and then.

The systems you posted Decker, don't look all that good to me, some of them even have first generation Phenoms, AFAIK the Phenom II is quite superior to the first ones.

**Hooahguy** · 07-28-2009, 18:05

i actually heard that the 8800 is beter than the 9 series. is that true?

**Husar** · 07-28-2009, 20:49

Originally Posted by Hooahguy

i actually heard that the 8800 is beter than the 9 series. is that true?

No, the 9800GT is just a renamed 8800GT though. The other 9x00 cards are slightly better than their 8x00 predecessors IIRC, the 9600GT being a lot faster than the 8600GT etc.
An 8800GTX would of course be faster than a 9600GT since the GTX is a top card of it's generation and the 9600GT is a mainstream (mediocre) card of it's generation. But an 8800GTX does not beat a 9800GTX (which has now been renamed to GTS 250 or 260 or something just to confuse people even more).

**Decker** · 07-28-2009, 21:27

Pevergreen- I live in the States... And thanks very much for your input

I'm still rereading your post to make sure I understand anything

I'll be look at Intel's as well... almost forgot about them

Hooahguy- Thanks for your input as well... No offenses taken, just needing help to weed out the best possible choices

Husar- I'm not exactly sure what you're getting at

Anyways, I just need something with decent enough graphics for a few games. Mainly M2TW and SotS(as examples), and maybe 1 or 2 others for rotation.

Next question... what is this DDR mean and the GDDR, not to mention GT and GTX??

**Beskar** · 07-28-2009, 21:30

Originally Posted by Decker

Next question... what is this DDR mean and the GDDR, not to mention GT and GTX??

DDR: Double Data Rate

GDDR: Graphics Double Data Rate

GT and GTX are simply model letters for the Nvidia graphics card range, the GTX are better than GT.

**Hooahguy** · 07-28-2009, 21:35

try to find an outlet that sells computers that you can customize before you buy. i would suggest dell, but now i know better.

**Husar** · 07-29-2009, 00:04

Originally Posted by Decker

Husar- I'm not exactly sure what you're getting at :inquisitive

Two things:
1. Intel has overall the faster CPUs but in your price range I'd seriously look at AMDs, they might just offer the faster ones for a lower price, but try to look at Phenom IIs, not the older Phenoms.

2. A 9800GT is not expensive and perfectly fine for M2TW.

edit: Just went to ibuypower and made the following system:

Case: Nzxt Alpha Gaming Tower Case Black
Processor: AMD Phenom™ II X2 550 Black Edition Dual-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology AM3 & AM2+ support
Memory: 4 GB [2 GB X2] DDR3-1333 Memory Module-Corsair or Major Brand
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 9800GT PCI-Express x16 - 512MB Single Card
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3P AM3 DDR3 AMD 770 Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, PCI-E MB
Power Supply: 450 Watt -- Standard Power Supply
Hard Drive: 320 GB HARD DRIVE-[Serial-ATA-II, 3Gb, 7200 RPM, 16M Cache]
Optical Drive: [** Special !!! ***] LG 22X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive-Black

All that without mouse and monitor etc. for 587$.
I used this as a base and changed some components, replaced the crossfire(two graphicscards) by a simpler, cheaper one etc. since you prolly don't want crossfire, especially not with an NVidia card.
How the Phenim II dual core performs can be seen here. Should be more than enough for your purposes.
I thought about putting in a somewhat more expensive power supply, might be worth considering as they have become relatively important over time and can cause a few problems, would cost quite a bit more but that's up to you(as everything, else, just suggesting here).