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Dem Pyros
PostPosted: 27 Jun 2010, 05:42 
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So I've decided to piece together a new computer, and this is what I've got. For this I'm trying to aim for a quiet computer, or at least as quiet as I can get without going overboard. This is what I've got:

Code:
SAMSUNG Black 22X 2MB Cache SATA DVD Burner LightScribe Support - OEM
   http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151188
   
   Antec P183 Black Aluminum / Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 
   http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129061
   
   Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
   http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136073
   
   EVGA 012-P3-1470-AR GeForce GTX 470 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
   http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130550
   
   Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V version 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified ... 
   http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371015
   
   G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL 
   http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277
   
   EVGA P55 SLI 132-LF-E655-KR LGA1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard 
   http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188055
   
   Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor BX80605I5750 
   http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115215
   
   Prolimatech Megahalems Rev.B CPU Cooler
   http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835242001


The total, not including a keyboard and mouse (already have an OS and monitor), comes to roughly $1200. I'm a little hesitant about spending that much at the moment, but I will if it's necessary.

But to save quite a bit of money I'm considering not leaping into a full-on upgrade right now and delaying that purchase for a year or so. So here's the question:
Not including a keyboard, mouse, operating system or monitor; For under $500 USD, can I get a small (physical) footprint computer that would be as powerful or more powerful than what I currently have (stats in signature)?

Anyone have any recommendations (does not need to be TH ready)?
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Abram
PostPosted: 27 Jun 2010, 06:01 
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Why an IDE burner? The SATA Samsung burners are the best I've owned. I'm sure the IDEs are great, too, but why not have SATA?

Get silent and/or larger fans to keep the noise down.
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Dem Pyros
PostPosted: 27 Jun 2010, 06:30 
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Why an IDE burner? The SATA Samsung burners are the best I've owned. I'm sure the IDEs are great, too, but why not have SATA?
Because I was dumb and assumed it was a SATA model :doh.

Get silent and/or larger fans to keep the noise down.

The case I picked out only has two fans - combined with the PSU fan, the GPU fan, the whir of the hard drive and a fanless CPU cooler, I'm hoping that it will be pretty quiet. I don't have the money to go all out with an SSD and all that jazz.

Anyone have any opinions on this?:
Code:
Foxconn R10-G3 Supports 65W for Intel Core 2 Quad, Core 2 Duo processors Intel Socket T(LGA775) Intel G31 Intel GMA 3100 Barebone
   http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856119018
   
   SAPPHIRE 100253HDMI Radeon HD 4650 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Low Profile Ready ...
   http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102829
   
   G.SKILL 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Desktop Memory Model F2-5300CL4S-2GBPQ
   http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231119
   
   Intel Core2 Duo E7500 Wolfdale 2.93GHz 3MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor BX80571E7500
   http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115056
   
   Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
   http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136073
   
   SAMSUNG Black 22X 2MB Cache SATA DVD Burner LightScribe Support - OEM
   http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151188

Very small and comes in at around $375.
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Gilly
PostPosted: 27 Jun 2010, 19:38 
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I would get a HD5850 over a GTX470 any day.

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P8Z77-V | 3570K | Mugen 2 | HD5850 | 2x4GB Vengeance LP | 500GB | X-750 | Fractal R3 | U2212HM | G110 + G400
P8H77-I | G860 | 4650 | 2x2GB XMS | 320GB | CX500 | Prodigy | T22B350EW | MX518
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Dem Pyros
PostPosted: 27 Jun 2010, 20:07 
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I would get a HD5850 over a GTX470 any day.

Duly noted :D. I was mostly looking at the 470 for the PhysX.

But right now I'm really excited about the second build, assuming it all fits together properly.
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Gilly
PostPosted: 27 Jun 2010, 23:17 
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From here: http://www.anandtech.com/show/2977/nvidia-s-geforce-gtx-480-and-gtx-470-6-months-late-was-it-worth-the-wait-/20

"Moving on, we have the GTX 470 to discuss. It’s not NVIDIA’s headliner so it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle. With a price right between the 5850 and 5870, it delivers performance right where you’d expect it to be. At 5-10% slower than the 5870 on average, it’s actually a straightforward value proposition: you get 90-95% of the performance for around 87% of the price. It’s not a huge bargain, but it’s competitively priced against the 5870. Against the 5850 this is less true where it’s a mere 2-8% faster, but this isn’t unusual for cards above $300 – the best values are rarely found there. The 5850 is the bargain hunter’s card, otherwise if you can spend more pick a price and you’ll find your card. Just keep in mind that the GTX 470 is still going to be louder/hotter than any 5800 series card, so there are tradeoffs to make, and we imagine most people would err towards the side of the cooler Radeon cards."

And my 5000AAKS drive is still going strong, never missed a beat, it is going on 3 years old now.

_________________
P8Z68-V Pro | 2600K | HR02 | HD5850 | 2x4GB Vengeance LP | 128GB M4 + 6TB | X-Fi > HD595 | AX850 | Tai Chi | PB278Q | G110 + Deathadder 2013
P8Z77-V | 3570K | Mugen 2 | HD5850 | 2x4GB Vengeance LP | 500GB | X-750 | Fractal R3 | U2212HM | G110 + G400
P8H77-I | G860 | 4650 | 2x2GB XMS | 320GB | CX500 | Prodigy | T22B350EW | MX518
DC3217IYE | 1x4GB Vengeance | 64GB M4 | TX-42VT20E
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Dem Pyros
PostPosted: 28 Jun 2010, 02:01 
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From here: http://www.anandtech.com/show/2977/nvidia-s-geforce-gtx-480-and-gtx-470-6-months-late-was-it-worth-the-wait-/20

"Moving on, we have the GTX 470 to discuss. It’s not NVIDIA’s headliner so it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle. With a price right between the 5850 and 5870, it delivers performance right where you’d expect it to be. At 5-10% slower than the 5870 on average, it’s actually a straightforward value proposition: you get 90-95% of the performance for around 87% of the price. It’s not a huge bargain, but it’s competitively priced against the 5870. Against the 5850 this is less true where it’s a mere 2-8% faster, but this isn’t unusual for cards above $300 – the best values are rarely found there. The 5850 is the bargain hunter’s card, otherwise if you can spend more pick a price and you’ll find your card. Just keep in mind that the GTX 470 is still going to be louder/hotter than any 5800 series card, so there are tradeoffs to make, and we imagine most people would err towards the side of the cooler Radeon cards."

And my 5000AAKS drive is still going strong, never missed a beat, it is going on 3 years old now.
Gotcha. So the hard drive is great, but I need to swap out the GPU.

But to be honest I'm probably just going to go with the second build and put off the full-out upgrade for a year or two. I'm mostly going to be using this PC for 8mp and under photo editing, so ultra-powerful graphics horsepower doesn't really make much sense. And in this economy, saving ~$800 wouldn't hurt either. Of course I made this thread before I even discovered that Foxconn case and realized just how little money I could throw at this, but still.

Anyone have any last minute suggestions for the second (mini) build?
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Gilly
PostPosted: 28 Jun 2010, 11:51 
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I think you can get a HD5570 card over the 4650 card, you would get lower idle power if you were not concerned too much about performance, but no idea on how the price differs at your side of the pond :P

_________________
P8Z68-V Pro | 2600K | HR02 | HD5850 | 2x4GB Vengeance LP | 128GB M4 + 6TB | X-Fi > HD595 | AX850 | Tai Chi | PB278Q | G110 + Deathadder 2013
P8Z77-V | 3570K | Mugen 2 | HD5850 | 2x4GB Vengeance LP | 500GB | X-750 | Fractal R3 | U2212HM | G110 + G400
P8H77-I | G860 | 4650 | 2x2GB XMS | 320GB | CX500 | Prodigy | T22B350EW | MX518
DC3217IYE | 1x4GB Vengeance | 64GB M4 | TX-42VT20E
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Dem Pyros
PostPosted: 28 Jun 2010, 16:55 
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I think you can get a HD5570 card over the 4650 card, you would get lower idle power if you were not concerned too much about performance, but no idea on how the price differs at your side of the pond :P

Well the price difference is roughly ~$30 more for the HD5570, and that's a good little suggestion I hadn't thought of. The only thing is, I'm not so sure if the 250 watt power supply could take it :( :shock:.
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packerfan
PostPosted: 29 Jun 2010, 06:34 
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Dem Pyros.

I was looking at little cheapo systems after you brought up that one for 375.

It is kinda incredible what 350 can get you now.

80 for Foxconn Case
50 for 2.5ghz Wolfdale Core 2 Duo
50 for 2GB Ram
100 for a 5670 (according to the psu calculator at extreme outervision it would fit in 250 threshold)
50 bucks for hard drive
20 bucks for disc drive

Toms Hardware says the graphics card can run 1920x1200 Left 4 Dead 2 Maxed (which is what I would want) at 50fps. Not bad for 350 bucks

Or drop to a 5570 save 25 bucks.

325 for 30 fps in Mass Effect 2, 1920x1200, 8AF Max Quality, DX10

Hmm... might have to stick with PCs instead of jumping ship to console land.
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