City of Heroes: Live Forum Archive

Zen_Watcher

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  1. Zen_Watcher
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Blaze View Post
    Power supplies are something I generally don't understand, at least with their general usage on a computer. For future reference, what is the best way to go about determining the proper power supply for your system?
    [Power Supplies]
    After I get my parts list together I check out the manufacturers websites to find what the power requirements are for each component. I then check power supply review sites like hardocp to see which power supplies survive their torture tests and show good efficiency.
    The most power hungry parts on a computer tend to be the gpu and the cpu.

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Blaze View Post
    Was this in reference to the other poster? I didn't mention anything about looking to purchase new hard drives (well, yet...#.
    The only reason I mentioned solid state hard drives is because going from a mechanical drive to even one of the low end ssd's makes a massively noticable difference. With the Intel drives I loaded up win 7 in like 10 minutes. Plus coh level load times went way down :#. SATA 6 is by no means a necessity. There is currently only one ssd on the market that can actually make use of it that I know of #crucial c300). I also don't mind the smaller size on the ssd since I barely filled my 74gb raptor up half way on my old computer. I guess if you have a massive movie/music collection or are storing the library of congress then mechanical drives would be the way to go... or you could do both

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Blaze View Post
    Thanks again FatherXmas! This gives me a great place to start and some pieces to watch. Knowing my luck, I probably won't be able to buy these for a few months still, but I can keep my mind on the pieces and hopefully they'll go on sale. If I was willing to put down a bit more money, where would you recommend going up from your current suggestions?
    [CPU]
    with just a push of a button on that msi motherboard I had my i5 lynnfield overclocked to 3.6Ghz on just air. That is more than enough power for most high end games and computer tasks. If you wanted to go up from here I would go with one of the i7 lynnfield chips. Turbo boost and hyper threading FTW!

    [Video Card]
    I highly recommend the gtx 460 1gb. With the help of msi afterburner I was able to pull off a monster overclock on that card and still have it run fairly cool under load. #around 56c). I could almost run city of heroes at 1900x1200 with max graphics... almost. I wouldn't go any higher that the gtx 460 on the nvidia side at the moment because the 470 and 480 are extreme power hogs and they generate a lot of heat. If you want to go higher with nvidia I would wait till they release there next gf104 cards that will be the big brothers to the 460 or I would get a second 460 and go sli. I don't know much about ati since I have never used them.

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Blaze View Post
    Also... I can't tell the difference between the two motherboards that justifies the cost difference. Can you elaborate? A lot of the specific tech specs are foreign to me.
    Personally I went with the gd-85 because it got slightly better reviews. From what I can tell it seems the price difference comes from the sata 6gb controller.

    p.s. I can't believe I am posting in the same thread as Father Xmas! How exciting! Go forum Cartel and such.
  2. Zen_Watcher
    It depends on what you budget is. I just finished building two new pc's recently
    and after all my exhaustive research this would be a list of the parts I would recommend.

    1. Core I5 750 lynnfield processor. ~$195.00 from newegg.
    2. MSI P55 GD-85 motherboard. ~$229.00 from newegg. Note: You could probably find a cheaper buget budget board instead of this. I chose this due to build quality, one button overclocking, usb3, SATA 6gbs. It also is sli capable.
    3. Nvidia 460 gtx. ~$229.00 from newegg. It runs cool and fast.
    4. G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 ~$99.99 from newegg.
    5. Intel x-25 mainstream 80gb solid state hard drive. ~$219.00 from newegg. Note: I went with a solid state drive because it is one of the single greatest noticable upgrades that you can get for a pc nowadays.
    6. XFX Black Edition 750W MODULAR 80+ SILVER ~$119.99 from newegg.
    7. Spire TherMax Eclipse II Five D.T. Heatpipe [cpu heatsink] ~$60.00 from newegg.
    8. Case, monitor, and other peripherals depend on your preferences.

    This build will allow the following upgrade paths:
    cpu = i5 --> i7 lynnfield
    video = 460gtx --> 460gtx sli or faster single card like the gtx 480.
    harddrives = intel x-25 --> next gen intel solid state drives with SATA 6gbs.

    In compiling this list I tried to find the best quality parts that would provide the most bang for the buck. Hope this helps...