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Possibly buying a new computer - new question


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So, currently the only computer I have is my school laptop...which works pretty well but is starting to slow down, and suffers from major lack of video card so gaming is near impossible. TF2 and WOW on low graphics is about its limit.

 

 

So, I need a new computer - I know practically nothing about hardware, so I need some help.

 

I'm not against the idea of building my own, if it will actually be cheaper but I'm just not sure what parts are good etc.

 

I want to skimp as much as possible on DVD Drive, hard drtive, and motherboard... I want to get a good processor, video card and at least 4g of RAM. The motherboard would ideally have 4 slots rather than 2.

Does motherboard quality matter all that much? I'd like to skimp as much as possible if it won't matter too much, my budget is $750 tops, I need to buy a monitor as well and I'd like a good one..

 

I don't want to know specific parts per se, more just wondering if getting a decent computer for my price range is feasible, what I can skimp on, any brand reccomendations, etc.

 

Ps. I also thought about buying something prebuilt, is this any good? http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5631349&CatId=4928

 

Thanks in advance for the help :)

 

EDIT: To clarify - monitor, speakers, mouse and keyboard will be taken care of separately from the tower - I can spend up to $750 on the tower itself.

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"It's not a rest for me, it's a rest for the weights." - Dom Mazzetti

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So does the $750 include the monitor or not, since the link you gave is for around 750 but without a monitor, yet it seems like your post states the $750 is supposed to include the monitor.

 

If it's $750 without a monitor there will be no problem with getting a good gaming PC. Do you have any parts you can reuse such as mouse/keyboard, case, ect...? Or do you have to start completely from scratch?

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So does the $750 include the monitor or not, since the link you gave is for around 750 but without a monitor, yet it seems like your post states the $750 is supposed to include the monitor.

 

If it's $750 without a monitor there will be no problem with getting a good gaming PC. Do you have any parts you can reuse such as mouse/keyboard, case, ect...? Or do you have to start completely from scratch?

Edited, see above.

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Great, thanks!

 

I now wish to know...how big of a tower will I need to hold that stuff?

 

 

And I don't have a clue about video cards, I have this preconceived notion that anything GeForce or Radeon is good but obviously that's not necessarily true..

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I don't know much about buying computer cases, I never bought one before. I just re-use older cases. If it were me I'd go as cheap as possible, but others would probably suggest something else. Probably should get advice about that from someone else, along with the video cards. I haven't checked those in forever either.

 

I just remembered you'll have to work in the cost of an operating system too, unless you have access to one. If you are in college you can usually get them through the university for $5-$15. Otherwise the cheapest you'll get is $100 for Win7 from newegg. Make sure to get the 64bit version. My computer build was $417+$100 for OS means you have $233 for case and video card, which will buy you a good video card and cheap case.

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I don't know much about buying computer cases, I never bought one before. I just re-use older cases. If it were me I'd go as cheap as possible, but others would probably suggest something else. Probably should get advice about that from someone else, along with the video cards. I haven't checked those in forever either.

 

I just remembered you'll have to work in the cost of an operating system too, unless you have access to one. If you are in college you can usually get them through the university for $5-$15. Otherwise the cheapest you'll get is $100 for Win7 from newegg. Make sure to get the 64bit version. My computer build was $417+$100 for OS means you have $233 for case and video card, which will buy you a good video card and cheap case.

Heh OS won't be a problem, I can get free copies of all MS software.

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Well then you might want to wait and see what others will say, it might be a good idea to go with my computer build and a $300 video card since you want this for gaming, but it also might be better to get better parts than what are in my build and go for a ~$200 or so video card.

 

EDIT: Damn, forgot something else. It's hard to remember all these things that I never buy since I just re-use. You'll need to add a DVD drive to the build, from what I know you can just get a cheap $25-30 one.

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Well then you might want to wait and see what others will say, it might be a good idea to go with my computer build and a $300 video card since you want this for gaming, but it also might be better to get better parts than what are in my build and go for a ~$200 or so video card.

 

EDIT: Damn, forgot something else. It's hard to remember all these things that I never buy since I just re-use. You'll need to add a DVD drive to the build, from what I know you can just get a cheap $25-30 one.

I may forgo that until I need it - I buy almost all of my games online so it may not be necessary.

 

And if it is, there's a computer store 2 mins from my house.

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Antec 300 is a good cheap case, you might want to look into that. An ATI HD5770 is a good card to look at, but if you don't need DX11 you should go for a 4850. The difference is only $50 though, so it'd probably be worth it to get the 5770. But if you want a beast of a card, you could consider a 5850, since the 4850 and 5770 are pretty much on par performance wise.
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Antec 300 is a good cheap case, you might want to look into that. An ATI HD5770 is a good card to look at, but if you don't need DX11 you should go for a 4850. The difference is only $50 though, so it'd probably be worth it to get the 5770. But if you want a beast of a card, you could consider a 5850, since the 4850 and 5770 are pretty much on par performance wise.

 

Thanks, I'll look into those.

 

And you live in Australia but linked me to newegg Canada? have my babies <3:

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I'm about to order this now I think, I've just made a couple changes to save money...

 

Is this still a good video card? : http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=48965

 

Is this still a good motherboard?: http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=46944

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5770 is about 8-10 fps faster than 5750.

You could gain this with the 5750 by overclocking it. But if you wanna save 10 bucks... I guess.

And remember the mobo is AM3.

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5770 is about 8-10 fps faster than 5750.

You could gain this with the 5750 by overclocking it. But if you wanna save 10 bucks... I guess.

And remember the mobo is AM3.

The mobo being AM3 only impacts the processor I thought, and this is AM3 as well... Does that impact something else as well?

 

And the extra $10 sounds worth it, what about this video card instead?:

 

http://ncix.com/products/?sku=48038&vpn=HD577XZNFC&manufacture=XFX

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5770 is about 8-10 fps faster than 5750.

You could gain this with the 5750 by overclocking it. But if you wanna save 10 bucks... I guess.

And remember the mobo is AM3.

The mobo being AM3 only impacts the processor I thought, and this is AM3 as well... Does that impact something else as well?

 

And the extra $10 sounds worth it, what about this video card instead?:

 

http://ncix.com/products/?sku=48038&vpn=HD577XZNFC&manufacture=XFX

I just mentioned it because some people forget to change to correct cpu. (just for precaution)

Ss_J9_Goten has already linked to a 5770, 152 bucks. 1gb memory is not needed unless you're playing on some big [wagon] resolution.

J'adore aussi le sexe et les snuff movies

Je trouve que ce sont des purs moments de vie

Je ne me reconnais plus dans les gens

Je suis juste un cas désespérant

Et comme personne ne viendra me réclamer

Je terminerai comme un objet retrouvé

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I'm pretty sure I will be playing on a large resolution, so I think I'll go with the 1g.

 

Ordering now, thanks for all the help everyone :D

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ok, so I got it installed, boots up fine..I think.

 

The mobo I got doesn't have an onboard video card - so how can I install windows etc? I assume the video card I bought wouldn't work until I install the driver, which i assume I can't do until I install windows?

 

Thanks for the help in advance.

 

EDIT: The mobo does have a port that looks almost the same as a VGA, except it's green and with fewer pins. What is this?

EDIT EDIT: I think it's a serial port, I don't suppose I can connect my monitor to it?

EDIT EDIT EDIT: Included picture:

 

46944_2.jpg

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You don't have to install the drivers for the card to work, you will be able to install windows and all, then windows will use it's generic driver until you install the driver, when Windows is installed.

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You don't have to install the drivers for the card to work, you will be able to install windows and all, then windows will use it's generic driver until you install the driver, when Windows is installed.

Oh, sweet :D Thanks a lot.

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And...it's not working. Trying to troubleshoot, if anyone has any ideas let me know.
Search for your video drives on the Internet. If you can't find them, run Windows Update, which will install all your drivers for you.

 

EDIT: Hey, this is Kyle. I forgot I was still on the PKM account.

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And...it's not working. Trying to troubleshoot, if anyone has any ideas let me know.
Search for your video drives on the Internet. If you can't find them, run Windows Update, which will install all your drivers for you.

 

EDIT: Hey, this is Kyle. I forgot I was still on the PKM account.

Aha hey man, I figured it was you, who else would be on the PKM account? :P

 

I got it working now, problem was the mobo had some kind of secondary power jack that I hadn't plugged into, plugged in and it worked fine.

 

Though if the card driver had been the problem, that solution wouldn't have worked as this was a clean build and I didn't have Windows installed...and I can't install Windows without seeing the screen :P

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Ah. Thought you already had 7 running.

 

Newer motherboards have the 4+2 pin auxiliary connector. When I built my new rig, I didn't know what this extra power connection was doing on my motherboard lol

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Ah. Thought you already had 7 running.

 

Newer motherboards have the 4+2 pin auxiliary connector. When I built my new rig, I didn't know what this extra power connection was doing on my motherboard lol

Yeah it was this thing, once I plugged it in everything worked fine, and looks pretty sexy too :)

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"It's not a rest for me, it's a rest for the weights." - Dom Mazzetti

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