Buying desktop computer

whats the best for a purely poker setup and just plain everyday needs? i need a reco for the specs for that , i just need teh cheapest i could spend for it
i mean like no lag on pokerstars/ hem/ tableninja having 2 monitors and a movie running plus a download and if i had like a 2 million hand database?

Hello computer donks, I work at Kisildalur.is, a computer shop here in Iceland.
And what we would do when someone would walk in to our shop with 1500USD(200kISK) and wants to play poker and SC2/Diablo, is to tell him he doesn't need 1500USD for that, especially if he only needs the computer not the screens, mouse or keyboard etc.
What you need is 4GB CL5-9 RAM, any C2D, C2Q, I5 or core I7, 9600GT or better(we need to know what size your screen is, for your resolution), any motherboard that fits the following from a trusted manufacturer and a 7200RPM 16/32MB buffer 3.5" hard drive.
Looking at newegg.com, this should not cost more than around 8-900 dollars at all..

I can't answer all these because I'm tired, but whamm!, I have been running a C2D e6750 with some basic shit that cost me 550$ 2 years ago and I can still do that, well I have no idea about the 2Mhand database but, I play COD4 1680x1050 easily with the movie 300 in 1080p running on the other monitor on a 8800GT512MB card..

thanks taco! its not that i wanted to spend 1500USD, i wanted the cheapest and 1500 was max. I have two 20' monitors1600x1200. You see, if i go to shop and tell something like you told me they will surely screw me, but if i come with very specific order, there won't be any corners to cut

Unfortunately some computer stores are douchebags, ask anyone in Iceland where the best service is and they would tell you Kísildal.
I obviously don't have a 2 million hand hand history or anything, and I don't know if your computers are getting slow because of that or anything, but I wouldn't even consider buying a SSD for my computer right now, the technology is just really really infant like at the moment, 85% of them score 100-500% worse than the last 15%, and the one that are really made to last the decades cost thousands of dollars, and I am then talking about single cell disks. A man from spjall.vaktin.is told me he spent around 100 hours configuring his OS to work properly with his high end SSD, and he is a GEEK. And to you people using both SSD's please, in the name of god DO NOT DEFRAGMENT THEM.
And anon if you can somehow dig up a technology forum in your country and tell me where they shop I could build you a computer there, I can't find the good stores because I don't speak the language obviously.

Nowadays the hard drive is definitely a very nasty bottleneck in many many scenarios and it is great to have a fast one, for my uses I'd always sacrifice some processor $$ for good HD/SSD instead of buying cheap HD + top cpu... for video cards it obviously depends if you are playing 3d games or not

i will head to shop with this list and mind open for suggestions

Mother board: ASUS M4A79T Deluxe AM3 DDR3 AMD 790FX ATX AMD
CPU henom II X4 965BE, 3.40 GHz, DDR3-1333, AMD 790 FX.
Graphic card: 2x Nvidia GeForce GTX 275 (2slot)
RAM: 4GB DDR-2 RAM (e.g.RAM- GSKILL DDR2 x2 2GB sticks (4gb) 1066mhz ram)
HD: 7200RPM 16/32MB buffer 3.5" hard drive (e.g. Western Digital VelociRaptor WD1500HLFS 150GB 10000 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive)
Power Supply- (e.g. Corsair 850 W)

I will buy from father's friend, he owns a small computer shop, if the price will be too big i will probobly buy everything online and give them 100$ for putting everything together

Got one more good response, which probobly should influence my choice:



Well for your poker playing any of them will do, but since you might want to play SC2 and or Diablo III when they come out, you might want to get the best GPU in the system that you can afford.

Where are you buying your parts from?? If you going to buy them online, than I'd recommend Newegg.com, but if your going locally, than that can pose a problem (unless they have website to do your selections from).

Generally this is how I'd look at this situation:
* If you want similiar performance for less $, than an AMD system would be cheaper than an Intel i5 system.

Here's the break down:
Use these same parts for both systems.

GPU - $155 shipped
SAPPHIRE 100283-2L Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102864

HD - $55 shipped!
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

RAM - $100 shipped!! One of the fastest sets out that runs on stock voltages (1.5v)!!
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL7D-4GBRH - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231276

Case/PSU combo - $100 shipped! PSU has plenty fo power for any of your needs!
Antec Sonata III 500 Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 500W Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811129024

DVD Burner - $39 shipped!! Comes with the software to read/burn DVD's!!
LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R 24X DVD-R SATA Black 24X DVD Writer - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827106334

OS - $105 shipped!!
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6832116754

Now add these items for whatever build you go with

Intel rig:
CPU - $195 shipped!
Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Product

Mobo - $105 shipped! Has plenty of ports and options!!
GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD3L LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128406


AMD rig:
CPU - $165 shipped!
AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103674

Mobo - $88 - $10 MIRc = $78!! Has plenty of options and ports for you use!!
GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128392

Totals for both systems:
Intel's = ~$859 shipped!!
AMD's = ~$802 - $10 MIRc = $792!!

Now you can see that the AMD system is ~$67 less for almost the same performance. Obviously you can change to different parts, but these are very good parts to start with.

CONCLUSION: I will head to shop with these two configurations and ask for the price, and ask them to suggest a third one of their own. Then i will compare the prices online and decide where to buy:
1#
Mother board: ASUS M4A79T Deluxe AM3 DDR3 AMD 790FX ATX AMD
CPU henom II X4 965BE, 3.40 GHz, DDR3-1333, AMD 790 FX.
Graphic card: 2x Nvidia GeForce GTX 275 (2slot)
RAM: 4GB DDR-2 RAM (e.g.RAM- GSKILL DDR2 x2 2GB sticks (4gb) 1066mhz ram)
HD: 7200RPM 16/32MB buffer 3.5" hard drive (e.g. Western Digital VelociRaptor WD1500HLFS 150GB 10000 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive)
Power Supply- (e.g. Corsair 850 W)

2#
MOBO: GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor

GPU: SAPPHIRE 100283-2L Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

HD :SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
RAM : G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL7D-4GBRH

CASE$SUPPLY:Antec Sonata III 500 Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 500W Power Supply


Thank you everyone, i deeply appreciate your help.

In the first set up, definitely get a 5770 there too instead of 2xGTX275.
The rest is fine I guess.

hm, i am not sure what they mean by 2x, 2 craphic cards, or a graphic card with two slots?
5770 isn't in the list so i don't know...

yea 5770 is better, thanks again

You can actually buy 2 very low budget cards and put them in crossfire(ati) or SLi(nvidia) and they would be better or comparable to 5770 or GTX275, take this benchmark for example. 8800GT512MB SLI'd is doing very fine.
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/ga...2009-high-quality/Left4Dead,1618.html
It would suffice to play SC2 and diablo in your 1600x1200 resolution.

Getting a HD5770 is really just to prepare you for DX11, which by the time any games make real use of there will be faster cards for cheaper. Although I suppose you could also futureproof yourself to be able to buy 2 5770's when the prices drop to keep your performance on par. I have a 5770 and just bought it because I was building a new system from scratch so it made sense to go ahead and put newer tech in it, it ran most games fast enough, the price was good, and I wanted to enjoy the 2 titles I have which use DX11 right now, even though it's totally unnoticeable when I play.

Anyway you've done a good job researching potential system builds anon, honestly you will be happy with ANY of the systems you have listed.

Mobo:MB P43/ICH10 S775 ATX/GA-EP43T-UD3L GIGA-BYTE 251
CPU:CPUC2Q 2660/1333/6M S775 BX/Q9400 BX80580Q9400 S LB6B IN 587

RAM:MEMORY DIMM 2GB PC6400 DDRII/AM1 73.G21E9.000 APACER 138
RAM:MEMORY DIMM 2GB PC6400 DDRII/AM1 73.G21E9.000 APACER 138

GPU: VGA 1GB GDDR5 PCIE16 HD5770/128B R5770-PMD1G MSI 554

HD: HDD SATA 500GB 3GB/S 32MB/GREEN P. WD5000AADS WDC 166

supply:Codegen ATX-6232-A1-USB/Audio (silver/black) 120
case: CASE PSU ATX2.2 580W/SPS-XP580.(12)R XILENCE 157

Price:2111 litas /880USD~

Mobo:MB P43/ICH10 S775 ATX/GA-EP43T-UD3L GIGA-BYTE 251
CPU:CPUC2Q 2660/1333/6M S775 BX/Q9400 BX80580Q9400 S LB6B IN 587

RAM:MEMORY DIMM 2GB PC6400 DDRII/AM1 73.G21E9.000 APACER 138
RAM:MEMORY DIMM 2GB PC6400 DDRII/AM1 73.G21E9.000 APACER 138

VGA 1GB GDDR3 PCIE16 9800GT/256B SX98GT1024D3G-VP SPARKLE 312

HD: HDD SATA 500GB 3GB/S 32MB/GREEN P. WD5000AADS WDC 166

supply:Codegen ATX-6232-A1-USB/Audio (silver/black) 120
case: CASE PSU ATX2.2 580W/SPS-XP580.(12)R XILENCE 157

Price: 1869litas/ 778$~

I went with my requirements and suggestions and they offered these two set-ups, basically they said it is not worth getting 5770 because there won't be use of it right now, and offered me a GT9800 instead, which is 100$ cheaper. The guy also said that i should buy 5770 at least after 1 year or so it will be much cheaper and bug free(modified).
So which video card would you suggest?

got reply from tomshardware and they def suggested to go for 5770 also told me to change PSU and mobo... now the last answer i need to find which mobo should i go for T_T

hey guys, which of the 3 set-ups would you choose if you were in my shoes? I have like 12hours to make final decision:

1#


MOBO: MB AMD 770/SB710 SAM3 ATX/GA-MA770T-UD3P GIGA-BYTE 248
CPU: CPU ATH II X4 630 SAM3 BOX/95W 2800 ADX630WFGIBOX AMD 338
RAM:MEMORY DIMM 2GB PC8500 DDR3/APA DL.02GAH.F7M APACER 145
RAM:MEMORY DIMM 2GB PC8500 DDR3/APA DL.02GAH.F7M APACER 145

vid: VGA 1GB GDDR5 PCIE16 HD5770/128B R5770-PMD1G MSI 554

hd: HDD SATA 500GB 3GB/S 32MB/GREEN P. WD5000AADS WDC 166
case: Codegen ATX-6232-A1-USB/Audio (silver/black) 120
supply:ASE PSU ATX2.2 580W/SPS-XP580.(12)R XILENCE 157

price: 1873 litas/ 780USD.

2#


Mobo:MB P55 S1156 ATX/GA-P55-US3L GIGA-BYTE 337
CPu Intel Core i5 750/ 4 Cores/ 4 Threads/ 2.6 Ghz/ Turbo / 8 MB Cache / 45 nm/ 95 W /DDR3-800/1066/1333/ Lynnfield/ BX80605I5750 BOX 636

ram: MEMORY DIMM 2GB PC8500 DDR3/APA DL.02GAH.F7M APACER 145
ram: MEMORY DIMM 2GB PC8500 DDR3/APA DL.02GAH.F7M APACER 145

vid: VGA 1GB GDDR5 PCIE16 HD5770/128B R5770-PMD1G MSI 554

hd: HDD SATA 500GB 3GB/S 32MB/GREEN P. WD5000AADS WDC 166

case: Codegen ATX-6232-A1-USB/Audio (silver/black) 120
supply: CASE PSU ATX2.2 580W/SPS-XP580.(12)R XILENCE 157
Price: 2260/ 942usd
3#

Mobo: MB P43/ICH10 S775 ATX/GA-EP43T-UD3L GIGA-BYTE 251
cpu: CPUC2Q 2660/1333/6M S775 BX/Q9400 BX80580Q9400 S LB6B IN 587

ram: MEMORY DIMM 2GB PC6400 DDRII/AM1 73.G21E9.000 APACER 138
ram: MEMORY DIMM 2GB PC6400 DDRII/AM1 73.G21E9.000 APACER 138

vid: VGA 1GB GDDR5 PCIE16 HD5770/GV-R577D5-1GD-B GIGA-BYTE 567

hd: HDD SATA 500GB 3GB/S 32MB/GREEN P. WD5000AADS WDC 166

case: Codegen ATX-6232-A1-USB/Audio (silver/black) 120
supply: CASE PSU ATX2.2 580W/SPS-XP580.(12)R XILENCE 157
price 2124/885usd
Thanks in advance!

Oh god...Sorry for bringing this topic up but...
My video card just burnt out and now i've to buy another graphic card. But rather than buying it i'd be better of buying some new cheap cpu with the lowest video card because sc2 hasn't come out yet. What i'm looking for is some cpu which i can then replace the old devices (ie video card until sc2).
My old cpu was basically a very good one which could be overclocked easily without any risks really. The only things i needed to replace was the Hard Drive (HD in this case ? I don't know what you were talking about with HDD or SDD T_T), graphic card and ram.
But now my comp is old (10 years. Yeah right 10 fucking year and it still works perfectly fine !) so i'm looking for a decent one. Preferably cheap but easy to upgrade within 2 or 4 years. I think it's pretty clear that i don't need quad core or whatever. Max 3 for the sake of it. Cauz i'm pretty sure most games won't be running at 100% efficiency for a while, plus i'm not a video game whore.

tl;dr : Looking for new cheap cpu that can handles 2 monitor with the cheapest but decent video card available on the market. 350-500euros is my budget. Probably 500 more when sc2 comes out, or whatever i'll be needing in the future for replacing old devices. Which one would you recommend ?
Built-up or building up myself are either perfectly fine (i guess we should look for the lastest one since it's cheaper maybe ? It was so 10 years ago)

wtf, 350-500 around 800 usd?
you can buy pretty much any video card/cpu