So I've been saving up my cash but I've had bills here and there to pay but the time where I just need to select parts for a new PC is getting ever so closer. I would say "Build me a PC Ex" but this is really more of an information thread and when I raise the amount needed it will become a "build me a PC thread".

Pretty much how much would a PC cost under these conditions:

-Can play modern games like Skyrim on High on modern/average screen resolutions
-GPU is both HDMI and VGA

Also how much CPU power does a computer that can play modern games on high?
Is it worth it to get a quad?

I thought I would have more question but that's it for now. Any other information feel free to ask before giving my estimates. You can exclude the prices of a monitor. Thinking of purchasing a 21 inch down the line but not right away which is why I ask for HDMI and VGA support. Friend is hooking me up with a heatsink fan thing if it matters.

So SEN How much money am I looking at here?

The biggest question you need to answer: do you need/want to buy a new monitor? What about keyboard/mouse?

A very rough ballpark is that you'll be able to get something like what you want for $800 US if you don't include a monitor/keyboard/mouse.

I was under the impression that it would cost 650USD not including etc's. the lists are on my phone but I already had a few builds create by other people that I know who have built their own computers and from around the internet. I'll post them later to see what people think though I'm sure if Ex is still around he'll say it's shit and that I should feel like shit for considering such shit

._.

So you didn't actually answer the questions I asked. Also do you need a new case?

I did also say "very rough ballpark". I'm not an expert on the US market or on recent parts: when I want to buy a new computer I research it all myself and when I'm not buying one I don't pay much more than cursory attention. Just going by the previous threads in this forum, $800 is about what you want to aim for: you can certainly do it for less, but you'll have to buy everything on sale (which restricts choice/time) and/or go with lower quality parts.

I also question the point of this thread if you already knew the answer.

I don't know the answer. I just assumed because it's what I've been told but I think I should know better then to do things based on what only one person has told me.

Yea I'll need a new case. Sorry I thought it was a part of everything else but you wouldn't know how old my computer is. No mouse or keyboard or monitor needed assuming the GPU would be able to do VGA and HDMI. If you really can't do that for me and the card is HDMI only then yea I'll need a new monitor.

You didn't post a budget, so I'm just going to copypaste the last build recommendation I made.


Now, if you wanted the absolute bare minimum that would satisfy your demands in the OP, it's closer to $500-$700 depending on component quality and whether or not you want a SSD.

Yea that build isnt for me. Is an ssd necceaary? I mean its really a matter of patience right? I can add one later down the road for the os. I would definitly take that cpu though. The gpu not so sure
Isnt the 7950 like flagship tier? I hear the 6850 is great for a budget build, I think its at 140 right now.

For a budget you can use a number between 630- 670 usd. Though my friend is trying to convince me to only spend 500 as he will hook me up with a case and show me his 500 build. Though i really want a 21 inch monitor. Im sure that will cost me 140~

Computers are so expensive. To be honest even a 300 dollar build would be better than what i currently have. Doesnt feel good at all.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Feb 25 2012, 3:34 am by MadZombie.

Highly flexible for future upgrades:


Cheaper, if you just want this PC and don't want to upgrade in the future.

Is that really necessary? There are VGA/HDMI adapters.

---

As for the whole SSD thing. Is it worth it? Yes, yes it is. We're talking virtually instant load times. You hardly have to wait, for anything. And with the high price of HDDs lately, SSD is a really appealing option. Unless you have to store mass amounts of data, even then I recommend getting one for a main drive.

Sort of. Any dumb adapter converting HDMI to VGA requires your video card to be able to send a VGA signal over an HDMI cable - that's not necessarily a standard feature. Otherwise you need a powered adapter that you plug the HDMI into and it gets converted into VGA.

Note that although you can just use an adaptor for VGA <-> DVI and DVI <-> HDMI, you can't do VGA <-> HDMI without some additional signal processing, either from the outputting video card or from a powered converter as mentioned.

That's strictly not true. It only speeds up things that are hard-drive bound; it doesn't help much for things that are CPU or GPU bound. For example windows bootup is greatly increased, but it's not instant. Lots of games are faster, but still not instant.

The experienced increase in responsiveness is extremely large, however.

Noted.



Here's what's going to happen:
Your GPU will probably have DVI and VGA with a DVI to HDMI cable. This is what mine does. However, for a gaming monitor, you want a DVI-D port on both ends. HDMI is not the end all of video interfaces and I prefer DVI-D over it at this time for gaming.

Not very much. A high clocked dual core will still do just as well in 99.9% of games. No matter what anyone tells you, game makers are having a hard time properly optimizing for multi-core systems. A quad is a good long term investment but if you don't want to spend the money now for a nice one, a dual with a good clock will do just fine.

We'd need to know what model his heatsink is and see if its compatible with the socket of your build. And you should make sure he still has all the mounting hardware.

This is entirely up to you.

I can design gaming builds on 500$ budgets, or on 5000$ budgets. In between we cross lines of performance and component quality. A SilverStone case can run you 600$ alone. And there isn't much difference between that SilverStone and a 150$ Lian Li in terms of quality. And even less between it and a 100$ Fractal R3 in terms of features. Budget dictates a lot of variables in a build. Which is why it is so important that you and you alone define how much money you are comfortable with spending. The more room you have the better but in actuality you have to make sure that you can afford to spend that amount just on a PC. I could save up a good 800$ pretty quickly if I wanted to get real stingy with my food and fun budget. But all those cutbacks I'd do would make me pretty miserable in the interim whilst I save. So get an idea of a budget you can afford and can be happy with, and then ask us what to get. Until then, just keep saving those pennies kiddo.

Alright bro

I'm going to shoot for a 750 dollar build including monitor. That should take me about... 3 weeks from now. I'll post again when I'm ready.

HDMI is DVI with audio...

Stuff to re-use if possible:
DVD-Burner: $15-$20 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136236
HDD: $50-$100 find the cheapest possible price/GB. We're not going for speed here anymore. Try to avoid hitachi, but not necessary.
Case: $20-$70 Go cheap cheap or get something nice. Keep in mind the shipping. Rosewill cases do a decent job with fans. HAF-912 is up there. Fit this with your overall budget, but remember that you never have to upgrade a good case.

Stuff you're going to have to buy new:
PSU: $15-$50 Don't spend more than $50 on one. This is perhaps the hardest part to buy as the deals are hard to come by. Neo ECO and Corsair CX line are ideal.
RAM: $30-$40 Speed doesn't matter, brand doesn't matter. Get whatever is cheapest for 8 GB. If you skimp you can save an extra $10-$15, but 8 GB is the prime point for price/GB.
Motherboard: $60-$110 too many to mention, depends mostly on your cpu choice.
CPU: $125-$225 i3-2100 is awesome, but the 2500k is top tier. If you can afford it, get it.
GPU: $130-$200 6850 is awesome, GTX 560 Ti is the most I'd recommend.
Totals: $445 - $815

SSD: (optional) $100 My major problem with SSDs is that there are so many of them, and so many of the SAME THING just different speeds. What's important to remember is that A) SSDs are tons faster than HDDS in everything. B) SSDs will make the most difference in making your computer "faster" than anything else other than more RAM on a RAM limited system. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148441
The crucial m4 is highly rated, and from what I can tell so is the corsair force 3. I avoid ocz due to them being a bad company, but they have the best price/GB. The best thing about an SSD is that with it, it doesn't matter how fast your HDD is, so you can get extremely low performance drives and expect them to perform fine.

If you want to splurge just a little on a monitor that is not just good but great, I can now recommend the ViewSonic VX2336S ($183). This monitor uses a higher quality IPS LCD panel, which is rare for monitors in this price range (they almost all use the cheaper TN panels that don't look as good). Someone actually went to the trouble of buying both a VX2336S and the LED version of the VP2365wb (which is a great monitor, btw) just to compare them; they said they basically looked identical and decided to return the much more expensive VP2365wb (currently $300 - $320). The main difference is likely the more versatile stand on the VP2365wb and that it is marketed as a high-end monitor. I have the non-LED version of the VP2365wb and I'd say it is the best LCD monitor I've ever seen in-person. I've never seen the LED version, but it should be fairly similar, so to say the VX2336S is just like it means that it should be quite good. It will likely even be the next monitor I buy when I decide to get another monitor (unless something better or just as good but cheaper comes along).

The only other cheap IPS LCD monitor I currently know of on the market is the Asus VS229H-P for not quite $20 cheaper. It sounds like it is good as well, though maybe not quite as good. Still superior to other monitors you could get in the price range, though.

Just out of curiosity because it's REALLY bothering me. I see AMD selling CPUs for 109 USD for 4 cores and 3.4GHz with 3.8Ghz turbo boost while a sandy bridge quad 3.2 Ghz sells for 209USD? Is it because AMD is terrible or am I paying for the warranty? AMD's Cpus are almost half the price for nearly the same specs of an intel CPU except they don't come with 3 year warranty. Is the warranty the only catch when it comes to AMD?

Also another question. Apologies ahead of time in case it's... ridiculous. Would it be possible to use your computer monitor as a TV? I know you can use modern TV's as a monitor but does it work the other way around? I ask because my current TV is failing and it would save me a lot of trouble and money if I can just buy a really high end monitor and also use it as a TV.

Generally, Intel is considered superior in all ways except cost. (I think, but I'll probably be tortured by Ex for saying that.)
Check actual benchmarks instead of just specs, too!

I timed my boot from clicking the power button to having firefox running. 15 seconds. Most installations are instant, doing much of anything else is completely instant. SATA III really kicks ass.

As for OCZ, their vertex III isn't bad. I'd avoid their other stuff though.

TVs have huge latency and are much less accurate than monitors, thus why monitors even exist. Watching videos on a TV is fine. Trying to use an OS on a tv is just eye-cancer. Intel's architecture is designed to be more efficient per clock. It gets more data done on each core than AMD's. Why? It's a convoluted process that I couldn't begin to explain because I don't know. What's important to know is that a Phenom II x4 @ 3.4 GHz is as fast as an i3-2100 @ 3.1 GHz. In programs that utilize multi-cores better, the phenom wins by about 33%, but the i3 is just much more appealing since it's faster in games, has an upgrade path to the 2500k, and is 65W. http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/289?vs=88 . Now if you do a lot of multitasking, the phenom is likely better.

As for monitors: ShadowFlare, are you saying that the VX2336S has a good IPS LCD panel, or has a good LCD panel because it's IPS? My LG IPS226V was $150 a long while ago and is awesome IMO.

They are not the "same specs". GHz * Cores is not a valid way to assess performance except for comparing chips of the same architecture. An 8-core bulldozer CPU at 4GHz still loses to a quad-core i5-2500K at a lower clock rate in most tasks, due to its worse IPC.

The Pentium G620 I recommended will not bottleneck a Radeon 6870. If going with my initial recommendation, you will have room to swap out the processor to an i5-2500K and be able to overclock after if you ever feel the need to upgrade to a more powerful processor for some reason.