The info you have provided is well received locgaw. think i might just go the same route you did as I begin my pc building adventure with a part here and there over time. Its probably the best idea for me. And use the time in between to really research my parts and look for deals.
I know buying a part here and there is a slow way to do it. It took me 4 months to save the money here and there. Try out Newegg and register for their email blast promotions. Sometimes there is some smoking deals. Also, check out Tom's Hardware. They do constant reviews on stuff but you may need to go into the archives.
Rebates suck on this stuff. I still have yet to recieve one.
Honestly, go check out that link at the top of the list. The one that opposer gave us; build gaming computers.com. Check out the mid-range build on that site. If you shop smart, you can may be able to cut a couple corners for a tad less. Even as it sits, it is still cheaper than the tiger direct kit. It has a better graphics card and a better power supply! It costs less than the kit you were looking at.
So i been looking at cpu's and their relationship to motherboards....
First off how can you tell if the cpu is 32 or 64 bit. I've noticed only a couple say 64 bit. and none of the others said which ones they were.
Also do we as gamers need 64 bit? I know what the difference is between them but I do not know if it makes any difference for playing awesome games at max settings.
I have figured out what processor interface is all about, But what is form factor, ie; ATX, XL_ATX, CEB
How important are the cpu generations to my gaming experience? Other then i know that the motherboard must be able to use it.
How easy is it to stick a cpu fan on?
this is what keeps me up at night currently. I did read the guide opposer provided. it was nice but very basic. haven't looked at their builds yet though. It did give me more confidence.
So i been looking at cpu's and their relationship to motherboards....
First off how can you tell if the cpu is 32 or 64 bit. I've noticed only a couple say 64 bit. and none of the others said which ones they were.
Also do we as gamers need 64 bit? I know what the difference is between them but I do not know if it makes any difference for playing awesome games at max settings.
I have figured out what processor interface is all about, But what is form factor, ie; ATX, XL_ATX, CEB
How important are the cpu generations to my gaming experience? Other then i know that the motherboard must be able to use it.
How easy is it to stick a cpu fan on?
this is what keeps me up at night currently. I did read the guide opposer provided. it was nice but very basic. haven't looked at their builds yet though. It did give me more confidence.
I prefer Intel to AMD. I went with the newest generation stuff because it was new. Computer stuff seems to become outdated quickly. Here is a list, look at the third generation I5 and I7:
See how this lists it at 64bit. I don't think that Intel makes a 3rd gen 32bit desktop CPU. If you do manage to find one, pass on it. Think 64bit for your OS too.
Hey, Tom's just posted their new Gaming CPU article:
See how this lists it at 64bit. I don't think that Intel makes a 3rd gen 32bit desktop CPU. If you do manage to find one, pass on it. Think 64bit for your OS too.
Dude no offense but I think your over thinking this a lot. Get the I5-3570k processor if it's in your budget. It's the best overall price/performance gaming cpu right now. Drop the water cooling for one big reason. Even though it may be rare all it takes is one of those hoses to leak nad you could fry some expensive parts. Plus those coolers from a lot of tests only marginally outperform air coolers. The best cooler for the money is the coolermaster hyper 212 evo. It's what I saw on tons of builds because for it's price it performs like a champ. I use it on my overclocked 3570k and it keeps it nice and cool with a 24 hour overclock at 4.3ghz on all 4 cores. Drop your ram down to 8gigs instead of 16. For gaming 8gigs is plenty and you will not see any benefit from having 16 gigs unless you find the ram for a awesome price. Form factor is a choice you only have to worry about based on what size case you are planning on buying. Want a htpc which can fit in your entertainment center? Mini-itx is the board you should look for. Keep in mind that most video cards are anywhere from 11 to 13 inches so your case will still need room to accomadate those. Plus small form factor cases are harder to keep cool which for gaming is a must to keep your parts running well. My recommendation is to look for a standard ATX motherboard and a good case with good air flow full tower or mini-tower. Coolermaster has a great line of cases in the Haf series ranging from price of 60 bucks all the way up there to 200 bucks. I went some where in the middle at 100 dollars for a Haf 922. Has room for three big 2o0mm fans plus five 120 or 140mm case fans. Lots of room to work inside and also room to tuck and hide cables under motherboard tray for good cable management. There are a ton of case options so mainly look for good price and looks that appeal to you. As to your OS question you really have two options so don't sweat it you can buy either Windows 8 64bit or windows 7 64 bit. Worrying about 32 bit legacy programs when it comes to gaming is needless unless your really wanting to play something really old school. In that case there are plenty of emulators like Dos-box or windows xp compatibily mode which is built into both OS's to help you with that. Harddrive can be whatever. Just stay away from green or power saving drives cause they tend to be slow. Look for a 7200 or better yet a 10,000 rpm standard harddrive at whatever size you want. Or if you have the budget think about a solid state drive. If you want to have a pc that boots in seconds and loads games and programs in the blink of a eye a SSD harddrive will amaze you at how fast they perform. Only issue with SSD is that you pay a premium for that speed and of course the bigger they are the price can jump significantly. Honestly your toughest choice in a confif is what video card to purchase. That bundle had a Nvidia 660. MIght as well get a 660ti which is only a tad more expensive and use's the same gpu chip as the more expensive 670, 680. Where as the vanilla 660 uses the same as the lesser 650. Not trying to fry your noodle but consider AMD for your video card and I'll give a reason for that. the equivalent performing card to the 660ti is the AMD HD7950 the reason I am recommending AMD is because both the next playstation and xbox are rumored to be using AMD gpus. This could potentially mean that multiplatform games will be written to perform better on AMD hardware. Plus AMD runs a nice promotion with there cards called Never Settle. Which usually gives away 3 current AAA games for free with purchase. I've seen Bioshock Infinite, Crysis 3 and the new Tomb Raider free with purchase of select cards. That's a hell of a deal if you think about it. That's all I have to type here and I'm sorry for wall of text but for some reason my phone is not letting me margin out this post. Regardless keep the questions coming and mainly concentrate on what budget you want to keep within. As it stands with those changes above you already have shaved off some dough if you opt out of water cooling. Once again sorry about wall of text.
reason I am recommending AMD is because both the next playstation and xbox are rumored to be using AMD gpus. This could potentially mean that multiplatform games will be written to perform better on AMD hardware. Plus AMD runs a nice promotion with there cards called Never Settle. Which usually gives away 3 current AAA games for free with purchase. I've seen Bioshock Infinite, Crysis 3 and the new Tomb Raider free with purchase of select cards. That's a hell of a deal if you think about it.
I, like loc, prefer nvidia, as in the past I have had much better luck getting them to perform the way I want. But sir you make some very interesting points. I think I may be sold on the graphics card suggestion.
I do share loc's feelings towards that cpu though. I have read some things around the net that make me think that integrated graphics thing is not all that due to lack of support. Also the overclocking feature, concerns me for heat, and for my own lack of experience. but i did take your earlier post to heart when thinking about where I should go. Who knows I wont be buying anything for probably over a month so as I learn more maybe overclocking will seem less dubious to me.
Thanx for your suggestions. And the helpful answers.
man oh man. my laptop died.... then three weeks l;ater it came back to life.... ummmm so. first thing I will probably do is buy a new gaming laptop. then build a new gaming desktop later at leisure.... Imma commin imma commin.... just real slow at the moment.
Well if all things stay as they currently are... 2grand. But I could be overshooting a bit. Perhaps around 1500. Thats a decent benchmark. And it probably wont be for another month or 2.
well i am most likely not getting any consoles this go around... at least till major price drops. So gotta make sure the pc does the trick. No use screwing round with a underpowered laptop.
The info you have provided is well received locgaw. think i might just go the same route you did as I begin my pc building adventure with a part here and there over time. Its probably the best idea for me. And use the time in between to really research my parts and look for deals.
Please feel free to ask!
I know buying a part here and there is a slow way to do it. It took me 4 months to save the money here and there. Try out Newegg and register for their email blast promotions. Sometimes there is some smoking deals. Also, check out Tom's Hardware. They do constant reviews on stuff but you may need to go into the archives.
Rebates suck on this stuff. I still have yet to recieve one.
Honestly, go check out that link at the top of the list. The one that opposer gave us; build gaming computers.com. Check out the mid-range build on that site. If you shop smart, you can may be able to cut a couple corners for a tad less. Even as it sits, it is still cheaper than the tiger direct kit. It has a better graphics card and a better power supply! It costs less than the kit you were looking at.
So i been looking at cpu's and their relationship to motherboards....
First off how can you tell if the cpu is 32 or 64 bit. I've noticed only a couple say 64 bit. and none of the others said which ones they were.
Also do we as gamers need 64 bit? I know what the difference is between them but I do not know if it makes any difference for playing awesome games at max settings.
I have figured out what processor interface is all about, But what is form factor, ie; ATX, XL_ATX, CEB
How important are the cpu generations to my gaming experience? Other then i know that the motherboard must be able to use it.
How easy is it to stick a cpu fan on?
this is what keeps me up at night currently. I did read the guide opposer provided. it was nice but very basic. haven't looked at their builds yet though. It did give me more confidence.
I prefer Intel to AMD. I went with the newest generation stuff because it was new. Computer stuff seems to become outdated quickly. Here is a list, look at the third generation I5 and I7:
http://ark.intel.com/
Form factor is the size of the motherboard. When shopping for your case, it will have a list of motherboard sizes you can mount:
http://www.nzxt.com/new/products/crafted_series/phantom_410
Go over to the specs tab. Look around and you should see something like this:
If you are nervous about selecting parts, post up what you are looking at and we can let you know if it will work together.
i found out its easy to stick the cpu heatsink fan on... nevermind that one
Oh, yea... That site... It seems basic because it is supprisingly easier than you think.
I plan on posting my parts before I buy. guaranteed lol
So what about 32 vs 64? Does it matter? How can you tell which the cpu supports?
You need to look at the instruction set.
http://ark.intel.com/products/69114/Intel-Core-i5-3350P-Processor-6M-Cache-up-to-3_30-GHz
See how this lists it at 64bit. I don't think that Intel makes a 3rd gen 32bit desktop CPU. If you do manage to find one, pass on it. Think 64bit for your OS too.
Hey, Tom's just posted their new Gaming CPU article:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106.html
Again, I prefer Intel to AMD. Not knocking AMD and there is nothing wrong with them.
thanx
Dude no offense but I think your over thinking this a lot. Get the I5-3570k processor if it's in your budget. It's the best overall price/performance gaming cpu right now. Drop the water cooling for one big reason. Even though it may be rare all it takes is one of those hoses to leak nad you could fry some expensive parts. Plus those coolers from a lot of tests only marginally outperform air coolers. The best cooler for the money is the coolermaster hyper 212 evo. It's what I saw on tons of builds because for it's price it performs like a champ. I use it on my overclocked 3570k and it keeps it nice and cool with a 24 hour overclock at 4.3ghz on all 4 cores. Drop your ram down to 8gigs instead of 16. For gaming 8gigs is plenty and you will not see any benefit from having 16 gigs unless you find the ram for a awesome price. Form factor is a choice you only have to worry about based on what size case you are planning on buying. Want a htpc which can fit in your entertainment center? Mini-itx is the board you should look for. Keep in mind that most video cards are anywhere from 11 to 13 inches so your case will still need room to accomadate those. Plus small form factor cases are harder to keep cool which for gaming is a must to keep your parts running well. My recommendation is to look for a standard ATX motherboard and a good case with good air flow full tower or mini-tower. Coolermaster has a great line of cases in the Haf series ranging from price of 60 bucks all the way up there to 200 bucks. I went some where in the middle at 100 dollars for a Haf 922. Has room for three big 2o0mm fans plus five 120 or 140mm case fans. Lots of room to work inside and also room to tuck and hide cables under motherboard tray for good cable management. There are a ton of case options so mainly look for good price and looks that appeal to you. As to your OS question you really have two options so don't sweat it you can buy either Windows 8 64bit or windows 7 64 bit. Worrying about 32 bit legacy programs when it comes to gaming is needless unless your really wanting to play something really old school. In that case there are plenty of emulators like Dos-box or windows xp compatibily mode which is built into both OS's to help you with that. Harddrive can be whatever. Just stay away from green or power saving drives cause they tend to be slow. Look for a 7200 or better yet a 10,000 rpm standard harddrive at whatever size you want. Or if you have the budget think about a solid state drive. If you want to have a pc that boots in seconds and loads games and programs in the blink of a eye a SSD harddrive will amaze you at how fast they perform. Only issue with SSD is that you pay a premium for that speed and of course the bigger they are the price can jump significantly. Honestly your toughest choice in a confif is what video card to purchase. That bundle had a Nvidia 660. MIght as well get a 660ti which is only a tad more expensive and use's the same gpu chip as the more expensive 670, 680. Where as the vanilla 660 uses the same as the lesser 650. Not trying to fry your noodle but consider AMD for your video card and I'll give a reason for that. the equivalent performing card to the 660ti is the AMD HD7950 the reason I am recommending AMD is because both the next playstation and xbox are rumored to be using AMD gpus. This could potentially mean that multiplatform games will be written to perform better on AMD hardware. Plus AMD runs a nice promotion with there cards called Never Settle. Which usually gives away 3 current AAA games for free with purchase. I've seen Bioshock Infinite, Crysis 3 and the new Tomb Raider free with purchase of select cards. That's a hell of a deal if you think about it. That's all I have to type here and I'm sorry for wall of text but for some reason my phone is not letting me margin out this post. Regardless keep the questions coming and mainly concentrate on what budget you want to keep within. As it stands with those changes above you already have shaved off some dough if you opt out of water cooling. Once again sorry about wall of text.
I, like loc, prefer nvidia, as in the past I have had much better luck getting them to perform the way I want. But sir you make some very interesting points. I think I may be sold on the graphics card suggestion.
I do share loc's feelings towards that cpu though. I have read some things around the net that make me think that integrated graphics thing is not all that due to lack of support. Also the overclocking feature, concerns me for heat, and for my own lack of experience. but i did take your earlier post to heart when thinking about where I should go. Who knows I wont be buying anything for probably over a month so as I learn more maybe overclocking will seem less dubious to me.
Thanx for your suggestions. And the helpful answers.
Acording to Tom's, nVidia just dropped the pricing on their mid range graphics cards.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107.html
Too bad the GTX-670 went up.
Head's up PC builders. Just received a email that tigerdirect is selling uh i5-3570k for 159.! For that prprice you can't go wrong.
If you are looking to build a PC any time soon, that deal must be jumped on.
i was just searching for that deal on tigerdirect and can not find it. You got a link for that puppy?
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=8005769&Sku=I69-3570KTD
Shit, it is a rebate. Still decent though!
Sorry fellas the email didn't mention after rebate. It was early in the morning and I didn't have time to research it.
Rebates suck.
April clearance from Newegg.
http://promotions.newegg.com/NEemail/Apr-0-2013/AprilClearance25/index-landing.html?nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL042513&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL042513-_-EMC-042513-Index-_-E0A-_-CORE#CORE
More reading material:
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/04/ars-technica-system-guide-gaming-...
Specials from Newegg.
http://promotions.newegg.com/NEemail/May-0-2013/CouponCraze09/index-landing.html?nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL050913&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL050913-_-EMC-050913-Index-_-E0F-_-CARDS#WINDOWS8
man oh man. my laptop died.... then three weeks l;ater it came back to life.... ummmm so. first thing I will probably do is buy a new gaming laptop. then build a new gaming desktop later at leisure.... Imma commin imma commin.... just real slow at the moment.
If I get a line on something, I will post you a link. I am always getting email blasts.
Hey Ice, how much were you looking to spend on a gaming laptop?
Well if all things stay as they currently are... 2grand. But I could be overshooting a bit. Perhaps around 1500. Thats a decent benchmark. And it probably wont be for another month or 2.
Holy nutballs. That is some scratch!
well i am most likely not getting any consoles this go around... at least till major price drops. So gotta make sure the pc does the trick. No use screwing round with a underpowered laptop.
That budget will get you a pretty damn nice one..gif "106")
Maybe one of those new MSI GT70. You would still have some extra left over to take the wife out for a nice dinner!