Posts by Grace Peterson17

cosmicseal98 said:Just so I don't end up feeling like I've been bothering you all for a month for absolutely nothing—here are the receipt photos to prove I wasn't kidding 🙂. Man, I'll be waiting on this junk pile until Friday, but seriously, thanks everyone for the suggestions; you guys were great, and honestly, if it weren't for your help, I would've really messed this one up.
Merry Christmas to everyone and have a great New Year
Best,

That’s awesome, you couldn't have played it any better... good luck with the new case, and hey, it wouldn't hurt to drop a few pics once you've got everything assembled! 🙂

If you want my honest take—and I really mean this—you might want to consider stretching your budget just a little bit further. It’s worth it to invest in a more robust processor, like an Intel Core i7-4770K, which is definitely going to give you a much longer lifespan before you feel the need to upgrade again. As for the graphics card, if you're looking for the absolute best bang for your buck, I'd say the GTX 960 is the way to go; you can often find it priced even lower than $467
.

David Sanders4 said:I honestly don't think you'll see any real gains from overclocking an HD 7770—if anything, I have a feeling you might actually end up losing performance...

I'm right there with you—there just isn't much overclocking headroom to play with compared to something like a 7850 or a 7870.

Larry Ortiz5 said:Regarding Game Debate, honestly, don't let those numbers trip you up. That site is pretty much useless—just total nonsense. I originally thought the GTX 760 was more expensive, and to be fair, it is slightly more powerful than the R9 270X, but still, those $167 small gains don't justify the price-to-performance ratio.

In my experience, most of those tech sites are pretty useless—some are more biased than others, and you've got plenty of Nvidia fanboys over here and AMD loyalists over there. It’s really not something you can rely on 100% if you want the truth.

Ryan Allen32 said:I’ll take your word for it—I'm going to follow your lead on this one. Honestly, I was just curious about the actual performance gap between those two processors. Anyway, thanks so much for the advice!

They are actually quite a bit cheaper, almost $67 but the listing says the processor is totally out of stock! 😁

Well, if that's the case, good luck with the AMD build then... 🙂

Quote: The New Guy

Robert Adams9 said:Could you actually guarantee 😂 that Nvidia is the "king" of the high end? You clearly haven't been following recent developments with ATI; even without that, it’s been a toss-up lately. To be fair, Nvidia hasn't really moved the needle much since the older generations, and sometimes it feels like the competition is catching up fast enough to close the gap.🙂

Look, it’s true that AMD has rolled out this new Mantle technology—which, let's be honest, is probably going to dominate the scene and eventually push DirectX aside—but if we're being realistic here, we aren't quite there yet. I wasn't claiming the difference was massive enough to write home about, so please, don't go judging me too harshly just yet! Personally, I’m leaning more toward the GTX 770 right now—mostly because it pulls a bit less power, runs cooler, and stays much quieter. Of course, all of that is subject to change once they release the R9 280X with those MSI coolers... and don't even get me started on when the R9 290 and R9 290X hit the market with custom, non-reference coolers; then we'll be talking about a whole different ballgame. At the end of the day, Mantle is really what makes these new AMD cards so impressive and powerful, but—as I mentioned—it's going to take some time before game developers actually learn how to fully leverage that tech. Until then? DirectX is still king.☕

And just to get ahead of any potential fanboy wars—because we all know how that goes—I’ll say this right up front: I actually have an HD 7770 sitting in my rig at home, so I’m more than happy to admit that I’ll always side with whichever company happens to be leading the pack at any given moment.

David Sanders4 said:Choosing between a GTX 760 and an R9 270X feels like a solid value play right now if you can snag one for around $15 to $667. Honestly, it won't make much of a difference regardless of which CPU you pair it with. Personally, I tend to lean toward Nvidia
.

If you ask me, looking at things realistically, the GTX 760 isn't actually worth $167 much more than the R9 270X since their performance levels are pretty much neck-and-neck—but, I’d definitely suggest picking up a GTX 770 over an R9 280X. The prices are basically identical, and the GTX 770 just feels a bit punchier and faster overall...

P.S. It's just a fact of life: AMD tends to dominate the low-to-mid range GPU market, whereas Nvidia is the undisputed king when it comes to high-end cards

Larry Ortiz5 said:I honestly don't get why the GTX 760 is priced so high when its rival, the R9 270X, is actually $500. In any case, I still feel like the GTX 760 is the better card... though at this point $167 it probably isn't even worth dropping the cash
.

It feels like they're just trying to pull the wool over our eyes—if we're talking about a budget in the $100-$$567 range, I'm definitely casting my vote for AMD, but once you move up into a higher bracket like $200-$$867, then I'll happily give my vote to Nvidia graphics cards

Scott Roberts4 said:Unfortunately, here in Cleveland, they’re really the only ones I can rely on if I want to pay by card—specifically through Bank of America—but that's a bit of a sticking point. If I try to place an order online, everything seems to default to cash payments, and it feels like nobody is actually offering any installment plans or financing options at all. Please, feel free to correct me if I've got that wrong!

You’re absolutely right—I shouldn't have doubted you there. Honestly, if I were playing it smart, I'd just save myself the headache and the cash by heading straight into Washington, D.C. to pick up the components in person. It’s definitely the better move for the wallet. 🤣

Ryan Allen32 said:I'll pay cash—though I might use a credit card if I run short on funds😁
But let me ask you this—if I really don't want to deal with overclocking, is there much of a difference between this onehttp://www.adm.hr/product_info.php?c...ducts_id=11985 and the other option, or is the gap between them actually noticeable?

Alright, let's try laying it out like this then:

Intel Core i5 3570
Kingston SSD 120 GB V300

Best Buy$729 cash

And here is a case you could pick up with your card

Zalman mid Tower case Black Zalman Z1

Best Buy$102

Total: $831

Scott Roberts4 said:I ended up tweaking the build a little bit since a few parts were out of stock—so I swapped in a different processor that’s currently on sale. Honestly, it seems just a tiny bit better, and with the discount, it's actually cheaper! I also went with a slightly more budget-friendly monitor to balance things out, so here is how the updated list looks... I'm planning to head out and grab everything tomorrow. If you spot any mistakes, please, please let me know—don't hold back! Also, sorry if the Link doesn't work perfectly; I'm posting this from my phone...

Are you seriously shopping at Links? They basically act as a middleman for everyone else and will absolutely fleece you like a naive kid—do yourself a favor and check out Future.com or ADM instead.☕

Ryan Allen32 said:My current setup is as follows: an ASUS ROCKZ Z77 Pro3, a SAPPHIRE HD 7850 2 GB OC, an XFX 450 PRO power supply, and 4 gigs of KINGSTON HYPERX 1600C9 RAM—so those are the components I’m currently happy with.
The rest of the build consists of an Intel Pentium G 620 processor, a basic office-style case, and just a standard 500 GB hard drive. My plan is to upgrade everything to match the quality of those main parts—meaning I specifically need a new processor, a case, and a solid SSD, since I feel like the other components are actually doing a decent job for now.
The PC handles pretty much anything; primarily gaming, really, and despite that lackluster processor, it has managed to run most games on High or Ultra settings so far. 😕
So, I’m looking for some recommendations! Since we’re heading into the holiday season, I’m hoping to snag some extra discounts on parts. Just a quick heads-up: the height for the case can't exceed 46 cm, otherwise I’ll have to start making structural changes to my desk setup. 😁

What kind of budget are we looking at, and will you be paying cash or using a credit card?

Patrick Miller8 said:In this day and age, if you're running an Intel processor, is it actually more cost-effective to go with an AMD Radeon card or stick with Nvidia?

😂😂🤣

Maybe try asking that one more time—but, you know, in a way that actually makes sense to the rest of us. 🤷 ☕

redpilot14 said:I think that’s exactly how it’ll turn out.

But honestly, why settle for 120 GB? That feels way too small for a desktop setup—for me, my desktop storage usually hovers somewhere between 250 and 320 GB.

Generally speaking, when you pair an SSD with an HDD, the SSD handles all the heavy lifting regarding speed—meaning you set it up to boot Windows, while the HDD takes care of everything else (like bulk storage and so on). Some folks even try to cram their programs onto the SSD (though how many will fit really depends on the drive's capacity), but most people end up frustrated because they run out of space so quickly. Looking at the trends, about 70% of users grab those 60-120 GB SSDs, and hardly anyone touches the 250 GB+ models because the price jump can be pretty steep. So, if you want that lightning-fast SSD experience where you can actually keep your OS and your software together, you really ought to aim for at least a 250 GB drive—which is basically the absolute baseline—or ideally a 500 GB SSD. You can usually find a 250 GB SSD for around $400, whereas a 500 GB one goes for roughly $833... and, of course, it’s always a smart move to grab an HDD, whether internal or external, for your long-term storage; the Western Digital Caviar Green series is a fantastic choice for that.

Since you're working with a tighter budget, your best bet is probably sticking to that first option: a 120 GB SSD paired with a 500 GB or 1 TB HDD. It’ll serve you well, and I promise you'll feel like you've got a massive wind at your back the moment you hit that power button on your PC...

Best regards,

There’s honestly nothing quite as painful as when someone agrees to a setup with just 6 buckets of RAM—only to realize, about 15 posts later, that they actually intend to run heavy-duty software that eats memory for breakfast. 🙂

Look, whenever you drop into this thread on the forum, please—just follow the drill: state what you need the PC for—whether it's gaming and video editing, strictly gaming, just browsing, or a little bit of everything—then mention your monitor resolution and your budget, whether you're paying via credit card or cash, where you're located, and of course, if you're planning to run any specialized pro software, let us know, because you might not be able to push those demanding programs through a basic rig made of $1500...

This goes for all the newbies out there, not just feralangler3.

feralangler3 said:I suppose jumping from 5GB to 8GB of RAM makes sense, since it isn't particularly expensive. I was thinking about securing that upgrade just to be safe, but there's plenty of time; it’s certainly not a major hurdle. It is possible there are some unnecessary processes running, though I don't see them consuming much in terms of resources. As for spyware, I'm using an original version of AVG, so I find it hard to believe things are left that vulnerable.

So, the configuration would look something like this, though I am still deciding on the exact RAM setup.

Intel Core i5-3350P
AS ROCK B75 PRO3
Kingmax 8GB, DDRIII 1600, CL9.0, FLGG
Kingmax 1x4GB DDR3 1600 FLGF
Toshiba DT01ACA050 500GB 3.5"
MSI R9 270 2GB TF IV GAMING OC
LG GH24NS95 SATA
XFX 450W 80+ BRONZE
ZALMAN Z3 PLUS

Windows 8.1 64 BIT

If anyone happens to have any smart advice, please feel free to reach out.

By the way, I sent a private message to the user taipan but haven't heard back. Does anyone happen to know what's going on with him? He's been a regular customer during my previous purchases.

If I were you, I'd take Windows 8.1 64 bit right out of the shopping cart. ☕

feralangler3 said:It isn't so much about being afraid of using a cracked version for me, but rather just speaking from my own experience. I never ran into any issues when I was using an original version of Windows 7, whereas I had all sorts of trouble back when I was using a cracked version of Windows XP. As for using a cracked version of Windows 7 or Windows 8, I haven't actually tried that, so I don't really have any personal insight there.

Honestly, I think 7 and 8 are much better optimized when it comes to cracks, and they don't seem to cause any headaches at all. Personally, I've been running a pirated version for two years now, and I use five different Adobe programs—which everyone knows are notoriously finicky about every little thing—and my PC handles them perfectly fine without a single hiccup.

feralangler3 said:My laptop came with an original version of Windows 7 pre-installed when I first bought it, though all I really have on hand is a DVD backup of the OS. I’ve never run into a single issue with it. It's a bit of a contrast to my old desktops, where I used to rely on cracked versions of Windows downloaded from various sites; I always seemed to deal with constant glitches and system crashes with those.

Look, it really just depends on your luck—you might stumble upon a particularly buggy, cracked version of Windows, or you might find that people are right when they say there isn't actually any difference and the stability issues don't even exist. If the idea of using a pirated version makes you nervous, then go ahead and get the legitimate one—even if it means sacrificing a few extra bucks for components—but personally, I'm just not a huge fan of that whole approach.🤷

feralangler3 said:I should have mentioned that the budget could go up to $6,000, provided it includes Windows 7 or Windows 8.

🤣🤣😂😂

Are you actually kidding me right now? You're really going to drop that much cash just to get an original copy of Windows—and sacrifice your actual hardware components in the process? 🙂

If you do that, you better be ready to go out and swap out your graphics card in just a couple of years. ☕

best regards!

feralangler3 said:I would appreciate some feedback from the experts here regarding these builds. If possible, I’d also love some recommendations on whether I could find something of higher quality for a similar price range.

I plan on buying online, and the setup is intended primarily for gaming.

Honestly, neither of these is worth the price tag—you can definitely do much better than this...

than $2000 (it went a little over budget, but oh boy, what a headache)

Dell Inspiron Desktop
MSI B85M G45
Kingston 2X4GB 1600Mhz Grey
MSI GTX 770 2GB
WD 1TB Caviar Black
FSP 650W 80+
Logic A32

$2067 Amazon.com