Computer parts suggestions?

[MikaMeow]

So after all that talk in the meet n greet area about video cards and power supplies I ended up doing some more research on vid cards, and then found a post that talked about what kinda parts wouldn't work in FFXIV, and my CPU was on that list. So thats basically half my computer. I'm really starting to think screw it, its been 6+ years since I actually pieced together a decent machine. I'm pretty out of touch on whats what with computer parts these days, so I'd love a little assistance from the fine tech kitties here if your willing
I'm thinking if I almost completely cut out eating out and buying alcohol, I can save a lil bit each month to end up not going too far into debt to get something nice. (Sounds like Mac & Cheese will be becoming my new best friend, and possibly also new worst enemy

So after some browsing of what I do somewhat know, this is what I've come up with.
HD http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.as ... 6822136534
PSU http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.as ... 6817154026
PSU 20$ more expensive 550w option http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.as ... 6817341022
Vid http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.as ... -_-Product
Vid cheaper option by 20$ http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.as ... -_-Product

I looked through CPUs and cases for a bit, but didn't really find anything that stuck out to me. One thing I would like on the Case, that I didn't see any of where I was browsing, is the little card reader slot where you can plug your digital cameras memory chip in.
So I guess its mostly down to CPU(do most CPU's still come with a CPU fan, or are those extra these days?), Motherboard, Ram, Case. (I have an old IDE DVD writer I'll probably toss in) Anything else missing? Any suggestions from newegg.ca?

(Anyone whos good with this stuff have MSN Messenger? Would love to chat in real time and ask more questions bout stuff, mostly PSUs and motherboards at this time. My MSN = Neflyte at hotmail dot com.)

[Shirai]

What is your budget?
It's easier to make suggestions if we know what you can and are willing to spend.

And do you have components which you can use from your old computer or are you starting from scratch completely?

[MikaMeow]

Well I was hoping to end up with it being around $600, but that doesn't seem too possible from what I was looking at. Especially with that video card. Mostly I want it to be able to play FFXIV on mediumish settings without troubles. So pretty much as low price as possible to still be able to handle FFXIV decently.
I'll probably use an old dvd writer, but aside from that, brand new comp. Ever since my old main comp up and completely died, I've really missed having 2 computers. Its nice to be able to LAN older games, and browse web pages or use vent on another machine while in full screen on some game.

[Shirai]

Aight, I'll go look for some nice parts later.
$600 should build a decent machine able to run FF14 on mediumish settings.

My rig runs it on highish settings just fine except for the really crowded places like the adventurer's guild.
And even though I have a good set of pretty strong components, my machine is far from the top of the line.

[Tivia]

Depending on what you already have, here is what I am running max settings on smoothly.

Amd 1055t 6 Core AM3
4GB ddr 3 Corsair XMS
Asus M4A79XTD EVO motherboard

The above three cost me right at $400 off newegg here a couple of weeks ago.
The rest I already had

Ati 4850 Vid card
Enermax Liberty 620w PSU (Btw on that note, don't but the apex you have listed. Try for an Enermax, Corsair or Thermaltake. The OCZ will work but you can likely do better in the same price range)

Then of course hdd and such are all unimportant.

[Kennocha]

Personally, I try to steer people away from AMD. Core i5/7 are just so much faster for the money and with their socket systems changing as rarely as they do versus AMD, you are left with more upgrade opportunity I find.

[Shirai]

Those facts aside, even though a computer in my hands has a "Lifespan" of 18 months usually around that age you are looking at buying the whole new shizzle anyway.
Mobo, Ram, CPU, etc.

I'm thinking Mika's looking for a computer that'll last them for a good few years.

In that case the whole upgrade part is moot anyway.
Also since they're speaking about a broken down computer and a limited budget I'd say AMD is as good as any.

I agree while that performance wise Intel may have the upper hand, AMD sure isn't a bad thing to go for.
Especially of you have a budget to consider which may be better spent on for example a good VGA card.
Intel may still be the top of the market, but so are their prices.

@Mika,
What Tivia's writing down is a solid starter set.
You might want to expand the budget a bit further for the rest of the parts though because with a decent VGA you'll be at 600.
I think ~$750 would get you a tad closer.

A few money savers to consider:
Unless you're planning on downloading HD movies 1TB is overkill, my main system has 200GB.
40GB SSD as main and 160GB I run my apps and games off. (Although my file server has 3TB storage )
(SSD at this point is still a very expensive sollution though.)
PSU: 500 watts should be sufficient unless you're planning to go SLi/Crossfire build.

Last word of advise:
While the internet's always a good thing to look around I always found it easier to walk into a computerstore that sells components and custom built PC's and tell them what I want my computer to do along with the budget I have.
Let them make you an offer and ask some geeks like us if you're getting a good deal.

[Tivia]

Personally, I try to steer people away from AMD. Core i5/7 are just so much faster for the money and with their socket systems changing as rarely as they do versus AMD, you are left with more upgrade opportunity I find.

Generally I agree, excepting a few things.

This is more about XIV then anything and XIV gets the biggest benefit out of multicore then anything else right now. Also in the sub $200 cpu range right now, there is simply nothing that touches the 6 core AMD I listed in pure performance. The big saver here was the simple fact that to match performance with an intel setup, I was spending $150 more just due to the cost of the motherboard. the i7 boards are extremely expensive. Which annoyed me slightly as my last cpu was intel and I preferred to go with an i7. It was just out of my budget as this upgrade was unplanned for me. The end result is for $400 you are going to be hard pressed to find anything that will outperform that setup without heavy overclocking.

Also i7 yes..i5 no..just no.

Also if you need to buy a vid card, I "believe" the biggest bang for the buck sub $200 is the Gtx 460? I think that is the one.

[Shirai]

The VGA pretty much is the biggest buck suck yea.

[MikaMeow]

Need more links so I can see what your talking about and the prices of those various items. x_x (Can someone link some of the CPUs, motherboards and power supplies you were talking about? from Newegg.ca)

I have usually gone into a computer store and bought my older gaming machines there, but I do know for sure doing that this time would add at least $100 to the pricetag.

I'm definately a download-a-holic, so big hard drive is definately a must I looked over the smaller ones, and it just seemed to make more sense to add $20 to double the size of it.

My computers usually last me a pretty long time, and I rarely end up actually upgrading anything in them. By the time I need a few upgrades, it usually seems more logical to just get a brand new computer. I definately don't want something thats going to up and die after 18 months.

[Karou Ariyen]

Save some money and pick up the Corsair Modular 850W power supply, you won't be disappointed in it's performance.

[MikaMeow]

Save some money? Its $201! :p
How many watts do I need for a computer like this anyways?

[Karou Ariyen]

Save some money? Its $201! :p
How many watts do I need for a computer like this anyways?

Sorry that's not how I wanted to word it, I meant, save some money to purchase it, 850W is enough for any decent gaming rig, and you have the corsair promise. But overall my advice to you is check with microcenter, newegg, fry's, and tigerdirect. Make sure that when you buy your parts you get the best deal for your money. I paid 178 for my PSU because microcenter had it on sale at the time, they don't now. Also remember to send your mail in rebates in. I got over 1k back in mail in rebates on my rig.

[MikaMeow]

So.. So far its looking like this..

HD 76$ http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.as ... 6822136534 (Fairly set on a 1TB, I'm a DLaholic)
Vid $229 http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.as ... -_-Product (This card sounds like one of the better ones I've researched)
CPU & Asus Motherboard combo deal $185 http://www.newegg.ca/Product/ComboDealD ... mbo.500566 (CPU sounds good, but not so sure on the motherboard...)
Ram 95$ http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.as ... 6820231277
Ninja 2 Case $25 http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.as ... 6811164094 (Sweet look to it, dunno if its really a good case or not)
PSU $70 550w http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.as ... 6817341022

DVD (will use my old IDE dvd drive)

Does this look like everything will work properly together? Right ram for the motherboard, right power supply for everything, should fit in case, etc etc. Should play FFXIV on mediumish settings just fine?

Anyone got any better CHEAPER suggestions, or significantly better for not too much more suggestions?

[Karou Ariyen]

I cannot help you with ram for the athalon since I'm not an AMD Girl, but if you choose to go Intel core i7 at some point, be aware that the Intel sockets are changing from 1366 next year, and will support corsair's new Quad Memory, that'ds DDR-3 with a quad channel. Intel's i7 benefits from the corsair's dominator kit, right now I'm on 12GB's and running just fine, other then the windows 7 headaches.

I'd do a google search on your processor choice and search "Athalon II Ram" and see what overclock forums say. Make sure you have the right ram, because A) Not all ram is built equal, and B) you need to have enough for a quad core.

[Shirai]

I can tell you from personal experience that that combination will work.
I was with him(?) on IRC earlier when we picked the components
Although a second opinion is never a bad idea.
I recomended a Phenom myself but due to budget constraints we ended up with the Athlon.
If the budget allowed, of course I would have recommended an i7 as well.
But we're looking at building a PC capable of playing FF14 on normal settings without breaking the poor lad into a debt he(?) can't get out of.
And honestly Intel doesn't fit into that picture unless we offer him(?) a Celeron.

[Karou Ariyen]

Celeron is pure garbage. It's about as crappy as the core i3. Core i5 is good but not for gaming. I had a core i5 installed on my panasonic toughbook. It's okay, but Phenom would be better. Athalon II is a good processor, it will hold you over until you can get a decent processor, but just make sure your video card can handle the FFXIV Load. Mine are starting to fade, but that's really due to windows 7 attacking my display drivers >.<

[Kennocha]

A core i5 desktop processor is a lot different than the laptop counterparts. Twice the cache etc etc. They should not be compared to each other.

A dull and boring read can be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_In ... processors

Really I would say it comes down to preferences, I loved AMD until we hit core 2 line, since then Intel has just been smashing AMD down at every opportunity. AMD was almost up to Core 2 speed when the i7 line launched. I am hoping to see them rebound so we can get competition again, as you mentioned intel is more expencive, because well. When you are on top, you can charge what you want

The beautiful thing you would find about the i5, is that you can step up to an i7 down the road if you wish as both are LGA1156.

I try to avoid thinking of upgrading AMD's because they change sockets faster than anyone I have ever seen. It seemed like once they settled on a nice socket, they moved on pretty fast.

Take a look at(focusing on consumer desktop lines):

1998 Super Socket 7
1999 Slot A
2000 Socket A
2003 Socket 754
2004 Socket 939
2006 Socket AM2
2007 Socket AM2+ (Believe it was backwards compatible with regular AM2)
2009 Socket AM3

In some cases we are looking at a socket replacement in a year, I got a 754 as my last AMD, and after it being dropped in a single year is when I went to intel. Socket 775 from Intel lasted until just recently, and can still be bought now. Intel is looking at replacing 1136 towards the end of this year or next, but that is for high performance machines, and replacing the 1136's.

[Karou Ariyen]

Some laptops do benefit from a desktop processor. I guess it depends on the application. And the mobo. But I'm really interested in the quad ram from Corsair.

[MikaMeow]

So everything sounds pretty good and I should go ahead and order it? :p

[MikaMeow]

Well its been ordered. I'm now $400 in debt, yay!
And I still need to go reserve a copy of FFXIV :p