[Quinn]

/r/buildapc

[cosmie]

One thing: current generation Intel processors are much, much more efficient and powerful than current gen AMD. Raw speed (3.1Ghz vs 3.4Ghz) is no longer an indicator of true performance, due to underlying architectural differences.

I'm on mobile ATM, and about to drive home from vacation. Tonight or tomorrow I'll find a link that lets you compare true performance against each CPU and give you advice on the other things.

[TheEmpty]

My CPU usage remains under ten percent when I play a game. Have an I5 last gem. Games try to primarily use the gpu. Currently have one 550ti hooked up

[TheMaster]

Also note that Intel CPUs support hyperthreadimg, which means two threads can be run on a single core, as apposef to only one per core on AMD.

For instance, my laptop is a dual core i5, but the computer recognises it as a quad core, due to that fact it can run 4 threads.

------

Personally, I wouldnt be building a PC with expensive parts like this, with no experience. Start out putting together old machines, just to get a feel for what goes where, and how everything fits together.

[JustinP]

Simply googling something like "how to build a computer from scratch" pulls up tons of great resources. If you're looking to run a hackintosh, a new Guide was put up yesterday. Those rigs are designed for compatibility.

[ianonavy]

http://www.cpubenchmark.net is a great place to find CPUs with the best bang for your buck. More info later when I'm on a PC.

[TheMaster]

ianonavy, on 03 August 2012 - 10:44 PM, said:

http://www.cpubenchmark.net is a great place to find CPUs with the best bang for your buck. More info later when I'm on a PC.

Thanks for the link! Awesome site!

[SapporoGuy]

+1 guides
Read a bunch of them and then find out what the heavy gamers are using and spec down from there.

Great that you're heads up with the parents. However, why don't you go a little further? Get the family involved by assessing their needs along with your own, account in connectivity, usage times and solve the issue of you monopolizing the machine for your own gaming too!

1 crazy idea is if your room has a shared wall with the living room you might be to pass lines for a monitor through the wall so that you could have your own system too!

Get creative, purpose a total money figured that is reasonable and get your dad in on it too.

[AwesomezGuy]

My family's computer needs involve my mum browsing Marks & Spencer's and checking her emails 2-3 times a week. It's unlikely there'll be any disputes over time spent on it. My younger brothers just want to play Minecraft.

[Ruku]

TheMaster, on 03 August 2012 - 06:41 PM, said:

Also note that Intel CPUs support hyperthreadimg, which means two threads can be run on a single core, as apposef to only one per core on AMD.

For instance, my laptop is a dual core i5, but the computer recognises it as a quad core, due to that fact it can run 4 threads.

Technically this isn't true; a CPU capable of hyperthreading has had specific registers duplicated such that the CPU can rapidly switch from executing one thread to another much more rapidly when the CPU becomes stalled. The CPU is still limited by the workload limit of the CPU core, just that if a thread blocks waiting for IO the CPU can continue with more pressing concerns.

[SapporoGuy]

Hmmmm, maybe intel is just a bunch of dicks!
This information may/not be a bit dated but intel desktop chips "used" code that "was" specifically designed to slow / waste / inhibit the hardware's actual potential! While the opposite is true for mission critical devices.

Makes you wonder why a company would spend R&D money and effort like that !

[AwesomezGuy]

SapporoGuy, on 04 August 2012 - 04:29 PM, said:

Hmmmm, maybe intel is just a bunch of dicks!
This information may/not be a bit dated but intel desktop chips "used" code that "was" specifically designed to slow / waste / inhibit the hardware's actual potential! While the opposite is true for mission critical devices.

Makes you wonder why a company would spend R&D money and effort like that !

What on earth are you talking about. I'm beginning to pay less attention to your posts and considering you a conspiracy theorist Sapporo. Intel definitely doesn't limit their chips' ability. There's a war going on between them and AMD and they're supposedly winning.

[TheMaster]

AwesomezGuy, on 05 August 2012 - 05:15 AM, said:

What on earth are you talking about. I'm beginning to pay less attention to your posts and considering you a conspiracy theorist Sapporo. Intel definitely doesn't limit their chips' ability. There's a war going on between them and AMD and they're supposedly winning.

LOL. Well. I'm a conspiracy theorist But, Intel have absolutely no benefit in limiting their CPU's abilities. They're competing with AMD. Why make their CPUs slower?

[Erackron]

I personally think that when you get a 3.1 GHz quad core it doesn't really matter whether you get an AMD or Intel one, it'll be sufficient.
I have at least some experience on this point, since I basically recently did what you're about to do: assemble your own computer.
A few points of advice:

• Start with searching for a case
  
• Make sure that all the components you buy actually fit inside the case. (graphics card for instance)
  
• Make sure that everything is compatible with each other. For instance: the two processors you listed both fit on a different type of socket, so you should make sure the motherboard you purchase has the correct socket.
  
• It would be good to make sure your power supply supports the maximum amount of power you're going to use and if I were you I'd keep it on the safe side, so that if you ever want to add a certain component, your power will be able to cope with it. (Useful tool to calculate the amount of PSU wattage you will probably need.)

I personally used a good site to search for all the components, but unfortunately it's in Dutch. (Tweakers.net)

Anyway, good luck.

P.s. Below is a list of all the components I used to assemble my computer, to (maybe) give you an idea.

Spoiler

Link to the full version: http://tweakers.net/...#tab:inventaris

• My case: Zalman Z9 Plus
  
  Spoiler

  
  
  
• My motherboard: Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3
  
  Spoiler

  
  
  
• My processor: AMD Phenom II X4 970 Black Edition 3.5 GHz Socket AM3 (From experience I can say that it's easy to clock mine at 4.2 GHz with AMD Overdrive)
  
  Spoiler

  
  Still with stock fan
  
  
• My processor fan: Scythe Mugen 3 PC Games Hardware Edition (There was a stock fan for my processor, but it was too loud for me)
  
  
• My graphics card: MSI R6950 Twin Frozr III Power Edition/OC
  
  Spoiler

  
  
  
  
• My internal memory: Kingston HyperX KHX1600C9D3K2/8G
  
  Spoiler

  
  
  
• My root drive(ssd): http://www.samsung.c...e/MZ-7PC064D/AM
  
• My PSU: OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W
  
  Spoiler

  
  
  
• My fan controller: Scythe Kaze Server Fan Controller (Not really necessary, but I wanted to be able to adjust the speed of the blue led fans that came with the case)

Those are the (most) important components that I bought.

[Ruku]

TheMaster, on 05 August 2012 - 07:24 AM, said:

LOL. Well. I'm a conspiracy theorist But, Intel have absolutely no benefit in limiting their CPU's abilities. They're competing with AMD. Why make their CPUs slower?

Intel's current chips wipe the floor with AMD's on the desktop (and server, for most workloads), but they're not so great at virtualisation because their performance isn't as predictable in an environment where many different threads require CPU time. Matthew Bloch of Bytemark offers an excellent overview of why AMD's Bulldozer architecture is best for that environment in a pretty awesome blog post; worth a read if you're interested in performance

[SapporoGuy]

Lol, conspiracy theories!
We do know now that flags exists on the moon unless those are faked images
Roswell and area 51 well, I do love the discovery channel, especially the ancient aliens show! Thank you veetle.com!

As for the above, why would a university professor that was employed by intel R&D tell me BS stories? I did say that they "did" this, just not sure if they still do. The next I meet the guy I'll ask more and if they still do the same thing.

As for why? He simply said that you need to sell chips! Do you really think that speed bumps are just being cranked out all the time? Noting like retooloing an assembly line just for an added boost!

Believe what you want about what I wrote! I believe the guy since he has no reason to show off or robe anything. Besides his body language and speaking patterns didn't flinch nor show any signs to mistrust him unless he is a pathological liar which is beyond my skills of picking up "fish stories"!

FYI, there is a lot of shit that goes on that is never brought to the public. You'd be amazed by what a few beers do to people!

Lol, conspiracy theories! They're fun but real life shit is so much more interesting!

+1 on Rat's suggestions!
Totally forgot about the PSU issue.
Don't forget about noise! Investing in a few decent fans makes that minor budget increase well worth it!

[Sephern]

As mentioned by others, Intel are better than AMD at the moment. I'd recommend an i5 - it'll be enough horsepower to run modern games. i7's are great, especially if you're doing something which is high on processing (like video editing and encoding for example), but for most stuff you'll get more than you need with a good i5. I personally have a 2500k.

You'll want to invest in a good graphics card if its a gaming rig.

Something I'd recommend is not actually building it yourself. There's a ton of websites which will let you put together a machine with your own specs, but they'll build it for you and ship it. This has a ton of advantages. Firstly, there's no chance of you blowing up a very expensive processor. Secondly, you don't have the hassle of building the machine yourself. You also tend to get warranty and stuff.

I used PC Specialist for my rig. I'm not sure if they only do UK orders but they're very good. They sanity check your components and flag up any potential cooling or power issues when you go through the online build process, and offer a very cheap warranty. About 3 months after I got the machine the harddrive broke - they replaced it with no hassle at all (I'm sure the manufacturer would have since its such as new drive, but that would have been much more hassle I imagine).

The whole process was very cheap, and they have absolutely no problem with you messing around inside the machine too.


If you do want to build your own machine for the experience, as somebody said a little further up, you may want to play with something a little cheaper first...