New PC Built

[SquareHead]

So I was bored with my gaming laptop and its limited expandability, and decided to build a new pc myself. I was trying to keep the budget low, so heres what I came up with.

Asus MN268AM-Plus Mobo
AMD Phenom x4 9350e
4 gig pc6400 ddr2
XFX HD-575X-ZMF3 Radeon HD 5750
Gigabyte GZPH2A30 mid-tower case
Coolmax 600 watt modular psu
Your basic SATA HD and DVD burner

I know it don't mean much in the way of benchmarking, but here is my windows experience score.
http://gtyson.webhop.net/pics/wexpsc.jpg

[funkyass]

how much did that rig cost you?

[odditude]

i didn't know original phenom chips were still on the market.

if you're running vista/7: for shits and giggles, test your favorite game (or most CPU-intensive app) normally and with CnQ disabled in the BIOS. if you see any noticeable difference, you may want to consider disabling it permanently. (first gen phenoms and the corresponding opterons suffer from a power-management oops detailed here.)

i used that exact video card in my uncle's gaming rig (arguably a leaner build than this one, using a pentium e6500); he's quite pleased with it.

plus, geforce 6150/7025 motherboards (and all rebranded variants) seem to be workhorses; my gf's machine's been humming along quite happily for 5 years now (and recently got upgraded from a 1.6GHz opteron 165 to a 2.2GHz a64 4400+ (yay, lucking across an old 939 chip in my aunt's not-worth-fixing box).

you should get crazy bang-for-the-buck overall - but funkyass asked the magic question

[SquareHead]

how much did that rig cost you?

All in all I'd say including an OEM copy of Windows 7 Home Premium, around $600.00. Thats including a low end 20'' led monitor.

i didn't know original phenom chips were still on the market.

It seems the went unavailable at this retailer just after I bought it.

I checked my seetings and the MoBo had CnQ disabled by default. I think I'll leave it at that for now.

I was shocked I got the performance I did with this card. The price point I got it at was around $100, and this blows the doors of my old 8800gt. (I had originally built this rig with a 9500gt and I can tell you I'm glad I pulled the card.) The Radeon gets me 42fps on average in Crysis, compared to the 18 I got with the 9500.

[Gil_Hamilton]

... a low end 20'' led monitor...

LED-backlit != LED.
I hate the misleading advertising on that stuff.

[SquareHead]

... a low end 20'' led monitor...

LED-backlit != LED.
I hate the misleading advertising on that stuff.

Oh yeah. Do they even make actual LED monitors? If so they must be pretty small in size.

Oh what I would give to have a 32'' OLED display with sub 5ms response times...

[Gil_Hamilton]

... a low end 20'' led monitor...

LED-backlit != LED.
I hate the misleading advertising on that stuff.

Oh yeah. Do they even make actual LED monitors? If so they must be pretty small in size.

If I recall, as far as "normal" displays go, Sony put out AN OLED TV.
It was obscenely expensive, tiny, and low-res. No one could afford it, and Sony has since shut down their entire OLED display division.

Oh what I would give to have a 32'' OLED display with sub 5ms response times...

Hell yeah.

[mudlord88]

http://stashbox.org/1100006/Capture.JPG

[snkcube]

It was obscenely expensive, tiny, and low-res. No one could afford it, and Sony has since shut down their entire OLED display division.

Wait, no other company invested in their own OLED factory/research facility?

[sweener2001]

i believe it was a $20,000, 11" screen.

although the NGP will feature an OLED screen.

[Gil_Hamilton]

It was obscenely expensive, tiny, and low-res. No one could afford it, and Sony has since shut down their entire OLED display division.

Wait, no other company invested in their own OLED factory/research facility?

I'm sure they have, but Sony's the only people that got any TV/monitors out.
And apparently they weren't happy that no one wanted to pay through the nose.

[paulguy]

I believe Samsung or LG put out a couple OLED displays to the European market. They were also obscenely expensive, small and low res.

I think the market anywhere just can't support it and companies don't want to take the risk of putting money in to creating production lines for them. So, we probably won't see OLED monitors that are usefully large and high res until the world economy comes back up, whenever that'll happen.

[odditude]

If I recall, as far as "normal" displays go, Sony put out AN OLED TV.
It was obscenely expensive, tiny, and low-res. No one could afford it, and Sony has since shut down their entire OLED display division.

indeed.

it was absolutely gorgeous, though. (there was one on display in the sonystyle store in center city at the comcast center.)

there are several phones out now with OLED displays, such as the nexus one and nexus S - although the RBGB pentile display mucks with color reproduction a little bit.

[grinvader]

>> although the NGP will feature an OLED screen.
>> the NGP
>> NGP

why the fuck did they choose something that close to neo geo pocket

[Gil_Hamilton]

>> although the NGP will feature an OLED screen.
>> the NGP
>> NGP

why the fuck did they choose something that close to neo geo pocket

Because they hate me.

[Johan_H]

Next Gen Portable Console.
It's not actually the final name though is it?

[snkcube]

Next Gen Portable Console.
It's not actually the final name though is it?

Probably not. Just a code name...hopefully.

[kode54]

Ugh, AMD CPU and video card. AMD CPUs win the award for sucking up more power and being less efficient overall. AMD video cards win the award for having worse drivers than NVidia and also having that shitty abomination, the Catalust Control Center. The only thing worse than having to use the CCC is having to use ATI Tray Tools, which doesn't even support configuring all of the features that CCC does. Fuck that noise, Intel and NVidia for lyfe, bros before hoes, etc.

Yes, I did bring brand warz into your new PC bragging topic.

[Gil_Hamilton]

Counterpoint: AMD/ATi is Texas, bitch!

[kode54]

Counter-counter point: Intel and NVidia are California, dude. Duuuude.

[Gil_Hamilton]

Counter-counter point: Intel and NVidia are California, dude. Duuuude.

Duuuuuuuuuuuuuude.

Seriously, ATi's vidcards tend to be less power-whorish than nVidia's lately.
And given the vidcards have been sucking more power than the CPUs for some time now...


For what it's worth, I'm running Intel CPU, ATi graphics right now. And no one cares about audio anymore.

[SquareHead]

Meh, I used what was cheapest from the one retailer at the time of impulse buying (saved on shipping costs). I don't really have brand loyalty anymore.

[Gil_Hamilton]

Meh, I used what was cheapest from the one retailer at the time of impulse buying (saved on shipping costs). I don't really have brand loyalty anymore.

My primary goal was a quiet PC with the most power per dollar I could squeeze.

[odditude]

My primary goal was a quiet PC with the most power per dollar I could squeeze.

indeed. working on one of those right now.

rebuild-in-progress is an i5-2400s with a 6850, 4gb ram, and a 128gb c300 ssd. mobo will either be a dh67gdb3 or a p8h67-m evo, haven't decided yet. reusing case (fusion black), cooler (scythe ninja mini, need the new retention kit that newegg's out of, dammit), and storage drive (1tb caviar green). still debating whether or not i'm replacing the power supply (stock is a 430W antec). i'm ordering components as they go on sale (ssd and memory today, already have the video card). the old hardware gets to play the upgrading-family-members'-computers shuffle unless someone else wants to buy parts.

[sweener2001]

ati tends to hold midrange crown, and they go back and forth with nvidia over top of the pile.

my cpu is amd strictly because of price. unlocked multiplier, unlocked 3 now 4 cores, and a current gen chip. under a hundred bucks, if i recall. i want a core i7 real bad.

had that 2600K been around when i was buying, it'd be a different story.