Building new PC - need advice

[starkey817]

Someone told me about the DCS series and upon looking at the game I am eager to start playing! My problem is that my computer is severely outdated and I must build a new one if I'm going to play this. I have about $700 and want to get the most for my money, but its been so incredibly long since I've messed with computers that I pretty much have no idea what to get. If anyone can help me out I'd greatly appreciate it. There are a few other games coming out in the future, such as Star Wars: The Old Republic, so I would like to have one built that can accommodate modern PC titles. I used to be a private pilot and was well on my way to receiving a commercial license when I had a major eye injury and have not been able to continue my piloting career. This game is the most realistic sim I've seen and it seems extremely fun due to the fact its a combat sim. My hopes are that once I get this PC built and begin learning how to play A-10C that I can get my flying fix, since I can't do it in real life anymore. Once again, anyone that can help me build a new rig will be greatly appreciated.

 

Oh and I forgot to mention, I was wanting to build a computer that can run DCS A-10C on mostly high settings, it doesn't have to be maxed out though. I also plan on purchasing TrackIR once I get this rig built, but that isn't going to cut into my budget just yet - whats the best hardware I can get with my 700 dollars?

Edited April 25, 2011 by starkey817

[ttaylor0024]

I would get a AMD phenom II x4 955, and a 6850 mainly. The motherboards and other stuff is a little less important, just make sure the HDD is at least 7200 RPM, or if you have extra, get an SSD, as it will speed up load times.

[Virtualwombat]

Can anyone say whether DCS-A10c is limited by CPU power, like FSX and FS9, or by GPU power, like most shooters? That might help starkey817 decide where the money needs to go...

 

Cheers,

 

Noel.

[Kuky]

all HDD are at least 7200rpm, only some laptop HDD are 5400rpm, you either get a 10000rpm Raptor or SSD... and you need both good CPU and GPU, crank the in game options to high and high resolution and AA/AF and you'll need a good GPU, in missions with few units and lot of trigger coding and it'll choke the CPU so you really need both.

[Cibit]

Dcs a10 is CPU intensive on two cores . Go for fastest processor you can afford. A bundle may be the most cost effective way to go if the case and psu are ok then get a decent gpu to go with it . In case your wondering a bundle is mobo CPU and RAM check out some online pc sellers

[EtherealN]

all HDD are at least 7200rpm, only some laptop HDD are 5400rpm, you either get a 10000rpm Raptor or SSD...

 

Not strictly true - some of the energy-savings storage disks like GreenPower and so on are also fairly slow in spin. However, more important today than spin rate is platter density, in my opinion. That's where the gains are. (Though unfortunately, if you get a low-quality but dense drive, you damage the seek times severely.) Performance differences between different 7200rpm drives is massive, and some 5400rpm drives are faster than some 7200rpm ones. (My 1TB WD GreenPower 5400rpm is faster than my old 640GB WD Caviar Black 7200rpm, as an example.)

 

This article is pretty good at explaining alternatives for different price points: http://techreport.com/articles.x/20722

[macedk]

intel , plenty of ram , at least an ati 5850 or nvidia same, well known mortherboard, ssd or normal hd not as important.

 

why not amd...you will need to go into over-clocking(not game friendly)

 

safe intel yes..more money..yes but less hassle and less things to go wrong.

 

money issue..safe up and wait...it will benefit you in the long run.

 

if you spend 700$ and it doesn't work..ouch not a happy camper...spend 850$ and be happy..then its the best 150$ you have ever spend :)

 

just my opinion and my xp on this stuff

take it or leave it you choice :)

[RSharpe]

all HDD are at least 7200rpm, only some laptop HDD are 5400rpm, you either get a 10000rpm Raptor or SSD... and you need both good CPU and GPU, crank the in game options to high and high resolution and AA/AF and you'll need a good GPU, in missions with few units and lot of trigger coding and it'll choke the CPU so you really need both.

 

That's not true. A lot of drives are 5400rpm, especially high density HDDs these days that are geared for storing lots of data, rather than running OSes and applications. At least half of HDDs that I have a 5400rpm, and the other half 7200rpm.

[Kuky]

well you might say not all HDD are 7200 but you look at any PC store and they will all be 7200 at least, don't know maybe the places I buy my PC parts don't sell this stuff. Also some are faster then other if they have more then 1 physical disk... if one has 1 it'll have 2 heads... if there's 2 it'll have 4 heads so naturally the one with 4 heads will be faster because of more read heads.

 

But anyway, I would never get 5400 or 7200 rpm HDD for an OS or games these days, for file storage they are ok but that's about it.

 

EDIT: alright I was wrong, the store I buy PC parts actually does sell 5400 and even 5900 rpm (this is new to me) SATA drives, so looks like they are still not extinct :doh:

Edited April 25, 2011 by Kuky

[MTFDarkEagle]

Agreed with Kuky, to some extent. If you are short on money, you could consider a 40gb ssd for OS, and a 10000rpm raptor for some games (read: simulator's) perhaps.

Though when money is not a problem go for SSD's for OS and sims ;)

[EtherealN]

Raptors are overpriced. Buy a quality 1TB 7200rpm drive and just use the first 300GB of it (limit seeker head movement either through partitioning or aggressive defragmentation handling) and you'll get pretty much the same performance for a fraction of the price. (Raptors use smaller platters to limit seeker movement, but a 7200rpm drive with a larger platter will have a faster actual movement under the seeker head. Obviously, this changes as soon as you start filling the drive, and you will need to double-check platter density before purchase.)

Edited April 26, 2011 by EtherealN

[starkey817]

so is the difference between AMD and Intel really a big deal or....? I pretty much get equal recommendations for both and really like the price of that amd phenom II 4x 955. Also if you were to guesstimate a general price range for graphics card (I was thinking nvidia), what would that be? I was looking around they can get as expensive as my entire budget, so Im just wondering how much is enough to spend on the gpu. And last question I promise heh, is it better to match an AMD with ATI gpu or maybe intel with nvidia gpu... or does it even matter? Thx for all the help so far yall!

[EtherealN]

Personally I'm an nVidia fanboy, so I can only give a good recommendation on that - I'd say go GTX560 if you are on a budget. It's what I use and it works admirably for everything I've thrown at it.

 

Regarding Intel vs AMD, depends a bit on what you plan to use for it. DCS is a CPU-intensive product, so for that purpose I would recommend Intel even though AMD are rediculously cheap.

 

 

Given that you are looking at the Phenom II 4x 975, I would instead recommend the Intel i5 2500K. Only marginally more expensive. It is faster (not in clock, but in processing power), has a much smaller thermal footprint, it is also unlocked, same L3 cache size

[macedk]

another chart to look at

 

gfxcard:http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card-radeon-hd-6990-geforce-gtx-590,2912-7.html

 

cpu's: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-gaming-cpu-core-i3-2100-recommended-processor,2895-5.html

[RSharpe]

well you might say not all HDD are 7200 but you look at any PC store and they will all be 7200 at least, don't know maybe the places I buy my PC parts don't sell this stuff. Also some are faster then other if they have more then 1 physical disk... if one has 1 it'll have 2 heads... if there's 2 it'll have 4 heads so naturally the one with 4 heads will be faster because of more read heads.

 

But anyway, I would never get 5400 or 7200 rpm HDD for an OS or games these days, for file storage they are ok but that's about it.

 

EDIT: alright I was wrong, the store I buy PC parts actually does sell 5400 and even 5900 rpm (this is new to me) SATA drives, so looks like they are still not extinct :doh:

 

Check out what EtherealN wrote about data density. A slower rpm, high density HDD can be as fast or even faster than a 7200rpm drive of lower density. I personally buy a lot of "green" 5400rpm drives for data storage for movies and music, and I have SSDs and 7200rpm drives for applications and the OS. Along with my SSD, my 2 2TB, 2 1.5TB drives are 5400, and I have a 1TB and 750GB 7200rpm drives, and some smaller backup HDDs in an external box.

[starkey817]

Ok thanks so much yall that info is very helpful! Was looking at power supplies and is a 1000W pwr supply going to be enough? is the power supply a good place to really try and save money cause its looking like my budget is nearly reaching $1000 dollars so lol. Btw if you havint noticed I pretty much know nothing about computers, thats why Im having lotsa questions but everything presented in this thread has been a tremendous help so thanks again!

[EtherealN]

1000W will be overkill. However:

NEVER EVER SAVE MONEY ON THE POWER SUPPLY

 

Caps lock and stuff because this is the most common mistake people make, and it's the worst thing you can do to a computer build. No worries about being a "noob" about computers though - everyone starts there, and people who have lives (that is: not me :D ) can't go about nerding out as much as I do. :)

 

Generally speaking, when it comes to power supplies, you want roughly twice the max expected power draw. For your system I'd say this lands somewhere between 300 and 350 watt, so you want a quality 650 watt unit, roughly. The things to look for are two things: modular is usually good - it makes things cleaner inside your computer chassis - and there's sometyhing called "80+" rating. Several steps on this rating:

 

80+

80+ Bronze

80+ Silver

80+ Gold

 

Basically, at half load, an 80+ unit is certified to be 80% power efficient. Never ever buy a PSU that does not have at least this rating. Ever. You'll pay the money saved on your electricity bill later. Higher you go on the rating scale the more expensive it gets - my own unit is an 850 watt modular 80+ Gold, and at 50% load on 240V it's rated for 94% power efficiency. Expensive unit though, and I think you can satisfy yourself with an 80+ Bronze or something like that (my machines are on 24/7, so my power concerns are greater than most users).

 

The PSU's are also, incidentally, the reason why I never ever buy desktops from regular suppliers like HP, Dell etcetera, because that is precisely the unit they often save money on. Raises electricity costs, and means that I might well end up shafted if I later need to upgrade or - for that matter - is more susceptible to damage and can place the rest of the computer at risk. (The last time I bought such a "package" computer I saw my PSU explode violently when I powered up with a new GPU... :P )

 

In general, your two most important components are PSU and motherboard. Processors can be swapped, graphics cards and RAM as well. But a bad mobo or bad PSU can cost you the entire machine if you are unlucky.

Edited April 26, 2011 by EtherealN

[starkey817]

Thats some good info Ether I'll def keep that in mind. Thx!

[nomorebms]

Advice is easy to buy as expensive as the wallet will suffer

 

PC is like human not xbox

sry

[DarkGriffon]

I have about $700 and want to get the most for my money, but its been so incredibly long since I've messed with computers that I pretty much have no idea what to get.

 

IMO, save up. If you buy smart, and don't cheap lick, you can put yourself in a position where you can upgrade FRU's over the medium haul and not have to buy and entirely new rig very often.

[nomorebms]

DarkGriffon

Advice is easy to buy as expensive as the wallet will suffer

 

Sorry but it sounds lollisti

 

 

Make it and buy the most expensive when the money is

 

 

AND AND then find solution

[nomorebms]

EtherealN IRW NEVER EVER SAVE MONEY ON THE POWER SUPPLY 1000W is 1KW

 

 

 

yes ...1000 is beter ten 2000 w

 

 

**** you

 

sry put iI do not want to push you 2kW power to your ass

Edited April 29, 2011 by nomorebms

[nomorebms]

PErfect PC is not water cooled not cooled at all pikoos ,wasting all your energy fighting the virus

 

 

sry im stupid PC user from year 1993

[DarkGriffon]

DarkGriffon

Advice is easy to buy as expensive as the wallet will suffer

 

Sorry but it sounds lollisti

 

 

Make it and buy the most expensive when the money is

 

 

AND AND then find solution

 

Sorry, I don't get your meaning here.

[starkey817]

Yea I think that whats its looking like im going to do, DarkGriffon. I was originally building this comp for DCS A-10C but after thinking about and receiving advice from friendly people here on this forum, it looks like I am going to start with Black Shark. I'll most likely end up getting both but helicopters are what really amaze me and I love the way they fly so I think BS is the best place to start. I still wanna get into A-10C at some point becuase "I wanna go fast!"