Building a New Computer

Technology and Gaming Help and Support
#21

Ok, so switch to an i5 Intel processor and cut back on the Tower, graphics card, and Hard-Drive and no need for a new Power Supply.

Edit: Ah, so wait, which processor and do I want to double up on cards? I already own a CrossFireX so really it’s just a matter of buying 2 cards and making sure I have all the cables and power supply.

Double Edit: Wait, if a 4-pin is a cube, then what are all these 4 in a line that are on here? I can’t seem to find any with that configuration on my Power Supply.

Triple Edit: Also, I’ve updated my original post with some of the suggestions and a 4th question I thought of. I haven’t altered the price, though. I’ll keep the highest price estimate up.

#22

I really can’t tell at what you’re talking about already owning a “CrossFireX”…

But the 4-pin “cube” I think you’re referring to is commonly called the P4 connection. It connects to the motherboard and is used to supply power to the processor. Newer processors might require the 8-pin version. Make sure you don’t get this one confused with the 8-pin (6+2) PCI-e connector required (in addition to another 6-pin connection) for high end graphics cards. There’s also a 24-pin (or 20-pin, depending on power needs) connection that powers the motherboard. And I think the “4 in a line” you’re talking about is the standard 4pin Molex connector. These normally power peripherals, like older hard drives (newer ones use SATA), case fans, and disc drives.

And to answer your fourth question, if you aren’t going to do any overclocking, then stock air cooling should be sufficient.

And I noticed that you mentioned something about needing a particular PCI configuration for a network card. Most motherboards have ethernet networking built right into the chipset, so don’t limit your options over something like that.

#23

I think to do a CrossFireX configuration you need a special piece of hardware that connects the two cards together. Due to a mix up with customer support with my last computer when they sent us a replacement graphics card to replace the junk they initially sent us, they also sent one of these CrossFireX strips that can be used to connect the two cards.

In this picture you can see what I mean. I’m talking about that orange strip between the cards that says “CrossFireX” on it:
https://forums.legitreviews.com/images/random/amd_crossfirex.jpg

And speaking of overclocking, that was another thing I was wondering. Should I be doing research on that or just not be worrying about it. I couldn’t care-less as long as everything runs well and I don’t have to do anything fancy.

#24

Ah, okay. It was worded a little strange. I didn’t realize you were talking about the bridge.

You shouldn’t worry about anything like that now. Focus on researching compatibility of the parts you actually want to use.

#25

Every CF compatible card comes with the bridge, I know a guy who has 7 of them.

#26

Oh, they come with? I didn’t realize since I’ve only ever dealt with pre-made computers and I’ve never had one before. I assumed they came separately.

… That seems a bit redundant since then you’ll always have 1 more than you’ll actually need.

#27

O_oD::FFFUUU::what:

How fucking rich are you?!

#28

Are there any glaring compatibility issues with what I do have? Everyone has been suggesting “better” or “cheaper” parts that I’m still not totally sure if everything will work together.

And thanks for that extremely worthless post JohnKiller, not only did I mention the price was not important as long as it didn’t go above that, but using suggestions from the page of comments before yours the price has dropped dramatically. <_<

#29

Dino, you’re definitely doing something wrong here. I just got a Dell from Dell.com with better specs than what you’re posting, for less than half the price. If you know what you’re doing, a DIY computer should cost ~$250 less than an off-the-shelf one. You obviously have no idea what you’re doing*, so what exactly is the point?

*actually, strike that. What I mean to say is I have no idea what you’re doing here.

#30

You shouldn’t worry about overclocking. This is of course just my opinion. I’m going to over clock mine when I come across a game that maybe doesn’t run all that smooth at first. It’s pretty much the last thing I would do before upgrading my rig.

As far as your Power Supply goes. I would go ahead and spend the money on something that will last you a long time. I dropped little 300 on mine. I don’t know what manufactures have the best product anymore it’s been so long since I’ve had to worry about mine.

#31

I’m trying to build a computer. What part of “it’s my first time” are you not understanding. You could try giving some helpful advice on what WOULD make a good computer, since I don’t really feel like going and buying an over-priced thing from Alienware or some other place since the last time I did that it ended up very badly.

#32

I have a feeling that four thousand dollars from now you’re going to become very familiar with that phrase.

#33

If you aren’t going to be helpful and just comment on something about how terrible I’m doing than just go away. <_<

#34

it just seems like you’re throwing the most expensive components you can find together with no understanding of why you’d need them. how do you have this much money to waste? You apparently already have one $4k computer; If there’s a specific game you want to run that you can’t, why not just upgrade whatever components aren’t good enough in the system you already have?

#35

Let’s stop and think for a second about why I would make a help thread in the help & support section asking for help and advice.

I wasn’t worrying about price too much because I wasn’t given a price range by my dad who will probably being most if not all the price and I knew while attempting to learn how everything goes together trying to limit myself to a low price range would just confuse me.

Also, I was unaware before a couple posts ago how much different pieces of hardware and bottle neck each other and more or less figured more powerful stuff would let me use it longer and with more stuff.

I’m not just replacing 1 or 2 things in my current computer because I’m not 100% sure what’s broken (although my money is on the Graphics Card) and because everything in the system is 2+ years old so I figure an upgrade would be a good idea. I am trying to save the Hard-Drive, DVD-RW, and possibly the Power Supply so it’s not like I’m just tossing everything.

The alternative is to just buy a pre-made computer which would cost a fortune without any way to reduce costs and after my last pathetic experience with a pre-made computer I would rather try and avoid that.

I just know that my computer is broken to such a point I couldn’t figure out how to fix it and I’ve heard building your own computer was a good way to go so I figured I’d give it a try. It sounded interesting and I like working with computers.

#36

what are the specs on your current computer? And what do you need to use it for that it isn’t working with?

A pre-made computer, like I said, is only going to be a couple $hundred more expensive, which is peanuts compared to what you’re spending. Unless you get an Alienware which are notorious for being ridiculously overpriced.

#37

Motherboard - GIGABYTE GA-P55M-UD4 LGA 1156 https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128404
CPU - i7 860 https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115214
Video - Power Color ATI Radeon 5970 https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131324&cm_re=ati_radeon_5970--14-131-324--Product
RAM -Two CORSAIR XMS3 4GB https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145251
Hard Drive - Boot Drive Intel X25-V SSDSA2MP040G2R5 https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167025
Hard Drive - Data Drive - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284

The case I would recommend is the Antec Twelve Hundred https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129043&cm_re=antec_1200--11-129-043--Product

If you really want to go Crossfire with the beast of a card that is the 5970, you’ll want a better motherboard.

#38

Motherboard: NVIDIA NFORCE 790i Ultra SLi Motherboard
Graphics Card: ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2
Processor: Intel Duo Core 3.16 Processor
Hard-Drive: Seagate 250gb 7200RPM Drive
Memory: (2) Patriot 1gb DDR3 Intel Memory [Oh, I thought they were each 2GB]
OS: Windows Vista x32 Home Premium
Sound Card: None (Built into Mobo)
DVD : 20x Dual Layer DVD-RW with LI Optical Drives

This coming off the paperwork since the computer is dead and I can’t get it there.

Also, looking at that “estimated price”: That was when I was trying and pretty much failing. If you take into account all the suggestions to reduce price that’s actually down $1000+. 1500-2000 if there isn’t any CrossFireX involved and I can keep the power supply.

#39

i’d say take it to a shop to figure out which component is dead (it’s usually the RAM or the mobo). Then use the rest of the components to make a similar system. Were you happy with the performance before it died? Those specs can probably run any game released in 2009/10 so far.

#40

Not really. I got numerous blue-screens on this computer and crashed games with a little pop-up that said “video driver has failed and recovered”. Actually, games being released today don’t run at full capacity anymore. I had to start cutting back on L4D2 and a couple other games that have been released recently released to avoid terrible FPS.
I also got the impression that this computer would run DX10 software, and my dxdiag kept saying I had it installed, but my computer crashed and froze up if I tried to run anything in DX10.

Also, when I first got this computer there were 3 things that didn’t work and had to be replaced in some manner. I figure just start from scratch and upgrade some parts.

I definitely want to replace the Graphics Card, I think a larger Hard-Drive would be nice, I’m not sure of the condition of the Mother-Board so a new one of those and since I’m upgrading to an x64 more memory is needed.

Really, I just do not trust the hardware on my computer because it didn’t come in good shape and I don’t think it’s been doing what it’s suppose to. I’ve also heard mixed things about combining the NVIDIA Motherboard with an ATI Graphics Card, so just to be safe I want to replace a lot of it.

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