Posts by Kimberly Gomez34

Jack Alvarez said:I'm not looking for a new desktop; I was actually thinking about switching to a notebook. Right now, I'm playing Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 and Assassin's Creed 3 at 1920x1080 on max settings without any issues whatsoever. Also, could the admins please move this to the correct PDF section? Thanks!!

Fair enough.
Just as a heads-up—you're going to have to shell out a significant amount of cash for a notebook to match the gaming performance of that PC (assuming that's a priority for you). That said, there are certainly some perks to going mobile...

Jack Alvarez said:Greetings, I am looking to sell my PC and was wondering what a realistic asking price would be. I'm not really up to speed with current used hardware prices, so if anyone could give me a quick ballpark estimate, the specs are as follows:
Case: CoolerMaster HAF-RC 932
Processor: Intel I5 750 graphics card
Graphics: ATI Radeon HD 5850
Motherboard: Asus P7P55D
Power Supply: Cooler master silent pro 700W
RAM: 8 GB DDR3
Cooler: ELK Alpenföhn "Brocken"
HDD: 1xSSD 128 GB, 1x500GB, 2x1TB
Monitor: Asus 242 h (24in, FullHD)
Optical Drives: 1x Sony BD RW, Philips DVD RW
Sharkoon Media Cardreader

Check out top-tema: Used PC Valuation Thread

I don't quite dare to give you a rough estimate like this...
Unless you are desperate for the cash, in my opinion, it isn't worth selling as-is. Just slap a better graphics card in there and you've got an absolute beast (assuming gaming performance is your concern)—depending on your budget, look at a 7850, GTX 660, 7870, or a GTX 660Ti...

Paul Brown152 said:BUMP!!!
Can someone please give me an assessment here? 🙂

Posts #72 and #73 refer to you—they were moved over here, so the formatting got a bit messy.

I've got a dedicated thread for evaluations if you want to post there...

You didn't mention which power supply you're using (brand and specific model)
Look, until someone with more technical expertise weighs in—if that power supply is just some generic, unbranded unit that came bundled with the case or the box, then--$467
The monitor is-- $100 MAX

crimsonstag84 said:That power supply is way too expensive—total overkill for your setup. By the way, why are you running an APU (with integrated graphics) alongside a dedicated GPU? 😬 You really could have just gone with an AMD Athlon x4 750k + HD 7850 combo 😉 instead.



It’s much more cost-effective, and you'll still have plenty of room to upgrade later since your current build barely pulls ~200W at peak load, if that...

What’s actually the difference between that ST50F-230 and the ST50F-ES besides the color? 😬

this one

Ryan Allen32 said:I don't have a motherboard yet; I just got these components for free, so I'm building the configuration based on what I have. I don't really have a strict budget—I just want the best possible setup considering which processor can be paired with this.
Maybe this is a silly question, but isn't it better when a motherboard has four RAM slots? Look, I don't know much about hardware, so sorry if I sound a bit clueless here. 🤷

Look, it is better, but the real question is whether you'll actually need it. These boards support up to 16GB (2x8GB). You can pick up memory very cheaply right now (and it might get even cheaper down the road).
Trust me, once 16GB becomes insufficient—and honestly, once 8GB becomes a total bottleneck—it won't matter much to you anyway. 😁
You can easily add another 4GB to your current 4GB soon or later on, and you should be set for a while... Or, you can just sell those 4GB sticks later when they're outdated and grab 8GB modules instead.

By the way, regarding the 4 slots, this one is the cheapest option at Best Buy.

And that GPU is the optimal choice given the rest of your build.
this one
Best Buy

Alternatively, look at MSI products, since they offer a longer warranty than most others (3 years).

If you have the cash, go for a GTX 660 or a 7870. I wouldn't recommend anything higher than that, not because an i3 couldn't handle it, but because the price-to-performance ratio just isn't worth it.
Just don't settle for anything weaker than an ATI 7770 or a 650Ti; that's basically the baseline standard.

Ryan Allen32 said:Intel Core i3-3220 processor
4GB DDR3 RAM at 1333 MHz
Chieftec power supply: CTG-500-80P

Alright, here’s my current setup.
I’m looking for some recommendations on which GPU to pair with this, along with a suitable motherboard. I want this build to be for gaming. Specifically, what graphics card would get the most out of this processor without being wasted? Also, I’m guessing this power supply won't cut it for anything high-end? Thanks.

What motherboard are you currently using?
this one or this one
It supports SATA III and USB 3.0...

That power supply is perfectly fine and can actually handle a decent graphics card. What's your budget look like?

Brian Campbell36 said:EVGA recommended Power Supply: EVGA 650W PSU, but I'm using an EVGA 600 w CX

If I want to pick this up, I'll need a new power supply too; honestly, the best move is to just grab a CF unit and solve the whole problem at once.

It would actually work fine even on much weaker, high-quality power supplies.

Paul Garcia42 said:I was being sarcastic... nobody actually cares about those few bucks, haha.
Honestly, I'm pretty happy with the current prices when I think back to how expensive things used to be. Five years ago, when I bought my rig, that same amount of money got me an AMD 3200 2.0, 512MB of DDR RAM, and a Radeon 9550... plus I could even throw Windows 7 on there. We really are living in a new era.😁

I honestly don't get what people are doing with these Intel Core i7 processors and these beastly graphics cards😁 paired with 1000W power supplies... that's like 1.5 horsepower, haha!
Thanks again, guys!!

Most people grab an i7 for heavy-duty professional work, or they just buy it because they have extra cash to burn.

No sane person needs 1000W; buying one of those is the textbook definition of overkill.

600-700W is plenty for anyone—unless you're doing something absolutely insane, like running two or three high-end graphics cards in Crossfire or some other ridiculous setup. Even then, they might not even need that much. It's strictly for the extreme outliers.

Brian Campbell36 said:But which one should I pick?

I'm not sure—if it’s up to $600, I'd probably drop that much.

Running a pair of overclocked 7770s in Crossfire is actually pretty impressive. 🙏

http://lanoc.org/review/video-cards/...ssfire-results

I've checked out some benchmarks myself, and those Crossfire results looked solid. Just borrow a rig from a buddy and test it out like they suggested. If it performs well, don't pay more than 600-$217 max.

There isn't much to debate here—if you're dead set on NVIDIA at that price point, you might as well go with the GTX 660.

That said, I think you'd actually get more bang for your buck if you picked up the ATI 7870, because from what I've seen, it performs better in games.

And don't even get me started on what people are asking for it on eBay... You’ve got folks out there demanding $17 $200 for a single-core processor that isn't even worth that much, $100
They seem to be basing their prices solely on age (where that first number indicates the generation and the following ones denote the class), forgetting that older models often pull way more power than newer cards with similar performance levels.
If you want a rough way to compare graphics cards,
http://www.hwcompare.com/12210/gefor...adeon-hd-7870/
http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php

As for how reliable that Hwcompare site actually is, I'm honestly not sure. It seems a bit suspicious to me. At the end of the day, those are just technical specs... In actual gaming, things can play out quite differently, so you might be better off checking specific game benchmarks for individual cards if that's what you're looking for.

Justin Rogers59 said:I've got an Amd athlon ii x4 740 fm2 setup, so I'm torn between those two cards. My motherboard is an AsRock socket fm2.

In that case, go with the 7750—it's significantly more powerful than the 6670 (just make sure you grab the DDR5 version, not the DDR3 one). Alternatively, you could grab an ATI 7770, which is a total best buy.$250
around $300you'll be blown away by the performance jump regardless of which one you pick.
😬

What kind of power supply are you running? If you can give me the specific model, that would help. Even if the 7750 is a bit weaker, it'll work fine since its power draw is extremely low.

Justin Rogers59 said:Looking for some GPU advice... I was running an old ATI Radeon 9550 with 256MB DDR and CoD4 was a stuttering mess, so I wanted to pick your brains. I'm looking to upgrade my card up to $267 so which one should I grab: the HD 7750 or the 6670? I'm assuming both would be massive upgrades over my current 😁.... I've got a 21" monitor running at 1900x1200, so I’m aiming to play at that resolution. Any input helps.

Hold on, is that an AGP card you're talking about? If so, you're better off hunting for something used (the best AGP cards I recall were the 4650) or just upgrading to a modern platform altogether. 🤷
What kind of CPU and motherboard are you currently rocking?

Larry Ortiz5 said:I have a question for anyone who uses a case where the power supply sits at the bottom. Generally speaking, should I mount it with the fan facing up toward the graphics card, or should I flip it? The user manual for my case shows the PSU mounted facing down, but won't that cause it to choke? Even if the bottom of the case has vents to let the PSU breathe, is it still an issue? Any advice?

I believe they design them that way for cases equipped with dust filters on the bottom and small feet to lift the unit off the surface so it can pull in air without sitting directly on the floor.

In my opinion, you should mount it facing down, but it’s probably best to check with someone who actually has that specific setup. That’s how it was intended to be used, though whether it performs better that way, I can't say for sure. 🤷

I’ve run into that exact same confusion before. For instance, you might see an EVGA unit where the +12V rail pulls 20A, yet another one from the same manufacturer rated at 350-$133 might only manage 17A or 18A. In those cases, the price point actually serves as a much more reliable indicator 😬. Generally speaking, in about 95% of scenarios, if it costs more, it's going to be the better component...

At the end of the day, you really have to vet every single model individually by digging into user experiences and professional reviews.

I’ve heard that the EVGA 600W is actually a solid deal for the price—I even toyed with picking one up myself once.

The real "budget king" pick here seems to be $86 (By the way, they have tons of stock over at Best Buy)
EVGA ECO Silent bronze 500W
or if you want something slightly beefier
EVGA ECO Silent bronze 600W

link
500w specs

600w unboxing

crimsonstag84 said:You might be overestimating things a bit here. 😬

The HD 7850 actually outperforms the GTX 460 by quite a margin, and it even edges out the GTX 560 Ti slightly... 😉

I was specifically referring to the 6850. 🤷

Brian Campbell36 said:What a bunch of clowns on this thread... let me say it one more time: it’s a total waste of money buying junk from $217, especially used. If you don't have $1,500 for a decent card, you could probably toss in another $100 and get something that won't be obsolete by next month...

Nowadays, for $333, there are cards out there that can handle pretty much anything (games and apps alike) ☕

Look, what you're calling "junk" from $217 is actually the exact same stuff sitting on the shelves at Best Buy $333. Do a little research before you start talking trash.
http://www.craigslist.org/for-sale/graphics-cards-listing-6604156
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/products/detail...xedition/46297

Obviously, buying new is better for peace of mind, but just because it's cheaper doesn't mean it's inferior—it seems like that's the only logic you're using here...

And honestly, it runs 99% of games at max settings. It's barely even slower than the 7850 models you see at Walmart $467 ☕

What a character 🤣