[Solved] Recommended Builds by Usage - Page 3

Thanks for reviewing my thread and getting ideas... That is what it is for.

I do think an upgrade to the i7 860 & ATI 5870 is worth it & will work just fine with my other components listed. If you are getting from Newegg, I would check for combos to save yourself some additional money.

If you want more feedback, I would start your own thread with the parts you are looking to buy & others will provide feedback.
Good luck!!

Some recommendations on the AMD Gamer build to save money or have better specs:

Case - Antec 900 (free shipping HELPS a lot)
RAM - Mushkin DDR3 1600mhz 7-7-7-20 (faster timings, less $$)
HSF - Mugen Scythe 2 (more silent for same airflow)
Mobo - MSI 790FX-GD70 (best AM3 board, less $$, performs better than Asus Crosshair III Formula and M4A79T)

Also, I would recommend the Razer Lachesis mouse for Gamer budgets, but it really isn't for everyone, although great for lefties.

Great link smithereen... I have added a link to my thread.

hey tecmo i have some suggestions on the htpc build ,do you really need sucha powerful mobo for a htpc? maybe something basic but not skimpy like a 770 or 785

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131603

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131397

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131398

with the new athlon x3's out i would think something like the athlon 425 x3 would extend the longivity of a good htpc in a multicore age

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103726

possibly a new budget mouse has bout all the features the enthusiast razer has take a look

http://www.directron.com/sgm6000kllw1gp.html?pgrab=1 dunno when newegg will list it

Hurray! Finally!
Congratz Techmo.

Congratulations "Tecmo"!

Hey tecmo34

I am building a build similar to your i5 budget build. I just think you should upgrade the psu to the 650W antec earthwatts, its $10 dollars more and would allow for the GPU HD 5770 to be CF later down the line instead of a person having to buy another PSU for more performance. Thats the route I am taking at least. I think it warrants the $10 dollar change on your build. But great stuff

Thank You and glad to see you back around here.

Your thread still lives on with references in jbakerlent's, Proixmon's and my stickies! If you ever get back on THG more, you have outlets to update your original index threads.

Great guide! For the higher end speakers, you might want to add studio monitors.

M-Audio BX5a's are good for computer speakers. So are KRK RP5's.

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en [...] eluxe.html

and...

http://www.krksys.com/product_rokit.php

Excellent work! A little sad not seeing a Logitech mouse in the list there I'm a huge fan of the G9 but IMO what mouse you use is entirely personal preference.

Again, excellent work--very well done.

This was great for me, I am looking to buy the budget intel build, but these two items are sold out on newegg:

# HSF: COOLER MASTER Intel Core i5 & Intel Core i7 compatible RR-B10-212P-GP 120mm "heatpipe direct contact" Long life sleeve CPU ... - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835103065
# HDD: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822152181

Any recommendation as to a part to get in their place or should I wait? How long does newegg usually take to re-stock?

The xigmatec bracket kit seems to be a problem right now. Xigmatec said the shipment they were supposed to get last week is stuck in customs or something.

Xigmatec also has the S1283 Rifle cooler (which is the Dark knight without the black nickel finish). It needs the same bracket for an 1156.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835233003


You could always run on the stock cooler until the hyper212 or xiggy brackets get restocked.

The Xigmatek Dark Knight (S1283V), Red Scorpion (RS1283) and Balder (SD1283) are all S1283 Rifle cooler models with different fans or coatings. I really like the looks of the Balder with the silver nickel coating and white LED fan but they dont seem to sell it in the US.

I read the review on that a while back on Guru3D. Looks like a cool mouse--but I am hooked on the G9.

Thank you for your comments. This thread is not design to replace or go against the "How to Ask for Build Advice" sticky. It is to be used in conjunction with the sticky. A OP can review my thread get an idea of what they can build based on their budget, use one of my "pre-build" options, and use it to ask how does it fit their needs in accordance to The Animal's sticky. A reader has the option to build start up one of my recommendations, since they have done research up front an it meets their needs. I could not develope builds to address all possible resolutions, budgets, or usages of a possible OP.

The title comes from the definitions of "Bargain, Budget, Gamer, & Enthusiast". Based on information & thoughts between sKora and me, I developed builds I felt met those definitions / usages. I seperated them by cost in my mind because I'm not going to build a bargain PC and spend $1,000 or build an enthusiast PC for less than $600.

I hope that helps you understand a little more on the purpose, thoughts behind it & how to use this sticky.

While many visitors to Tom's have above average knowledge of PC parts few have in-depth expert level knowledge. Sometimes you need a reference point to even get to the point where you can ask the right question. Also with the millions of posts here at Tom's it is often impossible to find an answer to your question because you don't know which search terms to use. Furthermore with a myriad of variations for every part used in a PC (Newegg list 79 CPUs) that have very subtle differences, having someone "tell" you what to buy is a useful starting point.

I recently read in an graphics card article that while two card SLI is great, a VERY small percentage of people actually use it. I just bought a MoBo for a build that can do NVIDIA Hybrid SLI but I'm having trouble finding any information on what cards I can use to do it. Probably because, while the feature is there, no one is using it.

I still contend that MacWrite, which had the operating system AND the application on a 720Kb floppy, is more word processor than 90% of users will ever need. That said, most systems are way overbuilt for what they will actually be used for. Sure there are many serious gamers and games are designed for those users, but recommending a build based on generalities is a useful starting point for most people.

Most people will use a standard resolution which the vast majority of graphics chips can produce. They won't overclock or use two graphics cards, they prefer the lowest priced brand they can find, etc. While there are hundreds (maybe thousands) of active users on Tom's, there are tens of millions of PC users whose biggest choice is "Mac or PC." (And since PC owns 90% of the market that isn't really much of a choice.)

I used Tom's to pick out the parts for my new HTPC. But I'm the exception in that I had the time to do that. I've been designing it for several months spending many hours reading articles and posts and checking prices, but the final decisions were made in a couple of hours during Newegg's Black Friday sale and they were based on price. Most people who will build their own system (I wonder how many do that?) will just look for recommendations from a trusted source (Tom's is the one I recommend) and buy parts as close to the recommended list as possible. They change one or two based on personal experience (I've never used AMD, I had many friends that worked for WD), friend's biases and prejudices, their budget, specific needs (I don't watch Blu-Ray movies or game) and availability. But for the most part they just want to say the built it themselves and saved some money.

These are my feelings on the topic and d@ng it, they sound harsh toward jbl91 and I didn't mean them to. jbl91 - I'm sorry but I don't have time to rewrite them. I have no ill feelings toward you. I usually write my comments offline, rewrite them for tone and then post them.

Sticky is simply the thread stays at the top of the forum's first page where is always visible when you visit the forum - Sticks to the top of the forum... sticky (I hope that helps... )

You will notice when a user responds to this post asking for guidance on a build, others or I will respond by requesting them to start their own thread with the desired questions. A user should not post in this thread asking for build advice, which should be done in separate thread. A user can post comments (such as you have) or recommended parts or changes to my builds (as other have). Those suggestions can help make the initial information on the first page more useful, current and point out options I might have missed or didn't think about. A user can feel free to take a build and start a separate thread and open it up for discussions. We wouldn't be able to have this sticky and each build broken down into it's own sticky... 1) the moderators won't allow that many stickies 2) You would lose track of intent of the original sticky, which is to give a recommended build (without taking into account combo's, MIR... etc), not specific builds that are good for a specific time frame.

Well... 4ryan6 said it was a bargain at $51191 and who am I to question a moderator??




Okay... I fixed my typo to $511.91

^ low power consumption space saver. That is about it lol.

Thanks for the great up to date info. It's very helpful.

I am considering putting together something similar to the intel gaming system. I'm just wondering about the PSU. When I go here http://www.antec.outervision.com/PSUEngine as well as another caculator they tell me that I need about 350W of power yet your builds have 750W PSUs. I don't plan on doing any over clocking. Is it possible to go with a lower wattage high quality PSU?

Thanks!

Thanks for the great build guide -- I followed the extreme enthusiast almost exclusively.

However, I believe there is a compatibility issue in the CPU and MB combo you have chosen.

I got the core i7 specified, and the Asus P6T deluxe V2. Now I learn that the new "D0" core i7 (S-spec SLBEJ) requires ASUS bios version 0302...and the P6T sold to me via Newegg last week was 0102.

The result? It won't boot at all, so you cannot flash the BIOS! ASUS is recommending I take the MB to a computer shop and have the board booted with an older C0 core i7 and have the BIOS flashed that way! Otherwise, a new BIOS chip must be purchased, or sent from ASUS (for a fee), and installed at home. Either way, I pay extra -- and get a delay -- to make the MB function with a cpu it is advertised as working with out of the box.

A real catch-22 situation, but the bottom line is that until ASUS ships its MBs with BIOS 0302 -- and none being sold are now that version -- the combo listed in your build will not boot.

Otherwise, great list of products, and I appreciated it.

(For a description of the problem on the ASUS user forum, check here at post #12: http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.asp [...] us&page=2)

Well, thats a negative point to ASUSs support. When I messed up the BIOS chip for my DFI motherboard, the email tech support guy had me mail it to DFI and they flashed it and mailed it back at no cost (other than mailing). You would think ASUS could do the same since you have no control over which BIOS revision your board will have when you order it.

I just purchased the Budget build that uses the intel i5 processor. All my parts came in and since this is my first PC put together, I messed up a few times. I took it into the shop and it worked - so all my parts came in functioning

I have something to say however - the case has a mounted fan on the side panel which does not fit with the very large cooler master heat sink. I guess I have to take off the mounted fan. Just something I thought the person who made this thread should know.

All in all, thank you for the great advice and other than that everything has worked perfectly!

Cheers!

Antec 200 might be a good option. It doesnt include front fans, but they can be added if someone has a cooling problem.

I began putting together the "Enthusiast" build. I noticed the chip did not appear to remotely even fit onto the motherboard.

This is the recommended chip: Intel Core i7-860 Lynnfield 2.8GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor - Retail
[url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115214][/url]. Note the LGA 1156 bit.

The recommended board is: GIGABYTE GA-P55M-UD4 LGA 1156 Intel P55 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail[url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128404][/url]. Also LGA 1156.

Unfortunately (for me, who didn't double/triple check everything myself) the clicking on the motherboard link sends you to this board:

ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail[url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131365][/url] ... which is LGA 1366.

Can you update the link?

The good news is that the price for the correct mobo (and the total cost shown) is $130 cheaper.

Regards,

Stephan