I am trying to build a PC because my laptop was outdated and just died. I relize now that I know JACK but hardware I really like software.
My needs are slight gaming (Skyrim, Just Cause, Fallouts) AND IT needs to run the adobe Master Collection very well. I need it to render video in a timely fashion unlike what I have been doing. AND support 3 screens using the windows projector on extend ;-)
I need it this computer to work fast have usb 3.0 and 2.0 ports as many as possible
And cost bout 800 out the door
I would rather it be AMD opposed to intel as i can get more bang for my buck
ANY help would be really great
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You should get a higher budget. If you want a high performance PC, I suggest investing around 1500 to 2000 dollars, to get something that is decent. But if you want to see what can be made in your budget, try PC Part Picker.
I'm not clear that AMD provides faster performance/price.
I've tended to use PC forums for component advice. There might be something better out there, but Tom's Hardware has a very active New Build forum, with stickies at the top for concensus good builds and instructions for assembly.
Just so you know, you have to expect the processor to be around 200 to 300 $. Then the motherboard can go from 50 to 300$, depending on what you want. For the video card, count at least 200$ for something basic. The case can range from 50 to 200$, the disk drive from 20 to 100$, the hard drives from 20 to 500$ (depends on the company, the shop, the size and the type), extra fans are all under 10$ each, good processor cooling goes from 50 to 250$ and so on.
Just so you know, my PC, built this year, has a core I7 3rd gen on a motherboard that runs 8 3.0 USB and 3 2.0 USB with a good graphic card that runs a PC screen of 27 inch and a 32 inch TV, both HD and widescreen, 2 drives, one SSD and one HDD, for a total of around 620 go inside, 3 120 cm fans with blue leds, a soundblaster ZXR sound card, water cooling in closed loop for the processor, blu-ray drive combo with DVD burn, flash cards reader, 750 watts power supply and 5.1 sound system. In total, this PC has a value of around 2500$ to 3000$, is a high performance type and boots under a minute, even under 30 secs. All that under Windows 7. Data transfer... well it's really fast.
That's an example of a performance PC.
Now, if you want a good alternative, you could always purchase a clone (PCs that look alike and are not personalized) with a processor to your liking and make upgrades one at a time with the parts inside.
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Casual crazy magic player, otaku maniac, unrully cosplayer, what did you expect me to be?
Here's an indication of performance at three different price points.
You can certainly spend more money, but diminishing returns kick in well before $2500. Of course, if video editing is your job and less computing time = higher billing rate/hour, then you may want to consider a more expensive machine.
I would rather it be AMD opposed to intel as i can get more bang for my buck
I giggled a little.
Intel Core i5 3350P: It's deceiving that AMD offers hex and octacore processers for under $200. The real deal for 95% of applications is per-core performance, and in terms of per-core performance...well, intel smokes AMD. The Core i3, which is a dual core processor, out-performs AMD's FX hex-cores in every gaming benchmark I've seen, and the i5 out-performs them in performance applications as well.
I recommend the 3350P because of a balance of high performance, low power requirements, and low price. It doesn't have integrated graphics - which you don't need - and it doesn't have overclocking - which I doubt you want.
$180
ASUS P8B75-M Motherboard: This is a good little motherboard for $70. I have it. It is in my system. It is good.
$70
8GB DDR3 RAM: Cheapest 8GB single DIMM I could find. You won't notice enough of a difference between slow and fast ram to really justify the extra cost. This is a great price for reasonable RAM, and 8 gigs is enough for most applications.
$65
Corsair Carbide 200R: Corsair makes great cases. They're the easiest cases to build in that I've worked with, have above average thermal performance, and above average acoustic performance as well. They also look elegant and classy...except the C70 *shudders*.
$60
Corsair 750W modular power supply: Got one of these too. It's relatively efficient, with modular cables for ease of management, and 750W is like...all the power. You could power a pair of Titans and an i7 off a 750 watt power supply.
$90
EVGA GeForce 760 2GB graphics card: This guy is awesome. I have one of these as well. With this and a Core i5 3570k (a slightly faster 3350P), I run vanilla skyrim at over 100 FPS. With 10 gigs of mods and some serious .ini tweaks (uGrids=7, serious business to shadows, threaded all the things, maximum draw distance for all the things, etc) I still get 50-60 FPS with absolutely no drops. Rome 2 gets a little laggy when there are 8,000 or more soldiers on screen. New Vegas runs at a million FPS. Far Cry 3 runs at 45 max'd out. PlanetSide 2 never dips below 45. So forth and so on.
$250
1TB hard drive: Good 'ole dub dee. I have two of their 750 drives in my machine, one of which is 4 years old and the other is 2. Good stuff for the price.
$90
Total: $755 w/o tax or shipping
Now, if you don't have a valid windows install disc floating about, you can get an OEM license for $90 or so. If you do, I encourage you to get a good aftermarket cooler for your processor (The Cooler Master Hyper212 is only $25ish and is a beast. Got one of them too, but it's not in my system anymore). And if you want to spend a little bit more, the best thing you could do for productivity apps is to get a Core i7. It's a quad core, like the i5, but it has hyperthreading, which means it can run 2 threads per core instead of 1.
Now...I want you to know that I'm not an nVidia/intel fanboy. My last machine was AMD and ATI, and before that it was AMD and nVidia. Right now, AMD only really has the low-end market for processors, and some really weird brackets for graphics cards - $100-175 and $300ish. Otherwise, it really is an intel and nVidia show.
And this is just one tech's opinion. I've heard passionate arguments either way, but I can back mine up with lots of data c: And I will emphasize: you will NOT get the best possible productivity oriented PC for $800. If it puts food on your table, spend $3k on it and get a top of the line i7 octocore with a pair of 680s and a huge power supply to feed em.
Now...I want you to know that I'm not an nVidia/intel fanboy. My last machine was AMD and ATI, and before that it was AMD and nVidia. Right now, AMD only really has the low-end market for processors, and some really weird brackets for graphics cards - $100-175 and $300ish. Otherwise, it really is an intel and nVidia show.
And this is just one tech's opinion. I've heard passionate arguments either way, but I can back mine up with lots of data c:
But he's right in that weird bracket for graphics cards, and how weird of a bracket is it? I don't think it's much of a weird one. Everything I've seen has them trading blows up and down the price brackets really.
Anyways the R290X is coming out. I'd say that ATI[... AMD]/Nvidia are about even in terms of performance per dollar right now.
In terms of gaming, totally right in terms of AMD/Intel. I really like AMD and my A6 budget laptop was pretty much the best budget laptop I ever had for gaming [it was $320. lol.], but if you're getting something besides a cheap gaming laptop[?!?] it's really really hard to recommend AMD for processors. /Especially/ for games.
Anyways, most of those recommendations are good though. I might try to get 16GB of RAM if you're running adobe 64 bit stuff on it - it's an extra $50. With that, you can drop 'down' to a 7970 given current deals. [Or something cheaper, even, a 650Ti Boost is on sale for $100 right now!] You can always downgrade the graphics card a bit/etc. to get everything running but it's probably worth it to grab a 7970 at this time or something similar as graphics cards [esp. AMD's] are dropping a bit as a new generation is just coming out for them.
But it all depends what you need. My current computer has 8GB of RAM. It's a pain.
my mouth is full of winsome lies -
and eyes are full of death besides
but luckily the soul is wise -
it sees beyond my blindness and
forced failure makes a better guise,
so as i come again alive,
it feels like life's a decent plan
the CPU will be far from the bottleneck of performance in the OPs case. he can settle with an AMD 8350 or Intel 3570 in the ~$200 range and be perfectly fine. your better off spending most of your budget on a decent graphics card. CPU technology is way ahead of the time in regards to writing software for it. the performance is minimal.
most games nowadays are V-card dependent. i invite any anyone in the gaming computer market not to get so hung up on the CPU performance when it comes to gaming.
OP I disagree with some of the advice you've been given. I built a computer 3 years ago to similar specs and for similar reasons. I was an art student using Adobe Creative Suite in a web design program. Now I'm a graduate - still using the creative suite.
If you're not comfortable with Linux then you'll need an operating system. Windows 7 is stable and good. You can get an OEM copy for 80$. The OEM copy does not include Microsoft Customer Support. If something goes wrong then you'll have to fix it yourself or reinstall.
You'll notice the performance difference if you get a cpu with more cores. Gamers figured out that more cores isn't necessarily better for them, but us creative types - well let's just say it's not uncommon for me to have 4 Adobe programs, a web browser and a few other things running in the background as well. Look for more cores. Intel is often a better performer per price point cpu than AMD right now. It used to be the other way around.
My favorite piece of hardware is the solid state hard drive. You're going to have a problem finding one that has enough space and fits in your budget and that sucks but if you can make do with 160 GBs for a while and add on an optical drive later then it'll be worth it. The speed of the hard drive is very noticeable when you turn your computer on of course but it also helps when you're publishing huge video files.
Memory (RAM) - I've got 12 gigs. I used to have 4. I barely noticed the difference. I don't do as much video as you probably would so you might actually benefit from more RAM but it wouldn't surprise me much at all if you can get away with 4 at first. You could save money here and upgrade it later. You will eventually want an upgrade though.
I will add my voice to the people who recommended that you check out Tom's Hardware. Read about their builds. Always worthwhile.
I've had ATI and Nvidia graphics cards. I have never had a bad experience with Nvidia but I have had a few ATI cards that pissed me off for one reason or another. I personally wouldn't buy ATI again but that's just my experiences talking. Everyone's got their own story. That said - if there's any area where you should splurge a little bit it would be the video card.
So here's the plan:
1. Go to Tom's. Read for a while.
2. Pick your OS. Buy (or download) it.
3. Establish budget: (approximate values)
OS - 80$
CPU - 150-200$
Mobo - 70-100$
Case and PS - 80-150
Video Card - 100-200
Memory - 50-ish
Hard Drive - at least 75
That has you at around 600 already. I would get a CPU cooler. Sound Card? DVD drive? Keyboard? Monitors? Mouse?
You can easily find yourself north of your 800 dollar budget. The good news is that this isn't going to suck. Unless your laptop was a monster I would be willing to bet that this will seem pretty speedy to you. My 3 yr-old PC has lesser specs than what you'll end up with and it can run modern games on decent settings without skipping frames. Skyrim - for example - I can't max it out but I can get pretty close. If you're the type who demands 60 fps at all times then you wouldn't be satisfied but if you're just a guy who wants to play some games every now and then you'll be fine.
One other minor point about the case, motherboard and power supply:
I don't think you need 750 watts. On the other hand you might run into fit problems if you buy cheap stuff. I got good deals on my case and my power supply but then I found out that the cables were too short to reach the far end of my motherboard and I didn't have enough connections. Having enough connections of the proper length sounds like it should be a given but it's not. Be wary.
My needs are slight gaming (Skyrim, Just Cause, Fallouts) AND IT needs to run the adobe Master Collection very well. I need it to render video in a timely fashion unlike what I have been doing. AND support 3 screens using the windows projector on extend ;-)
I need it this computer to work fast have usb 3.0 and 2.0 ports as many as possible
And cost bout 800 out the door
I would rather it be AMD opposed to intel as i can get more bang for my buck
ANY help would be really great
http://pcpartpicker.com/
I've tended to use PC forums for component advice. There might be something better out there, but Tom's Hardware has a very active New Build forum, with stickies at the top for concensus good builds and instructions for assembly.
Just so you know, my PC, built this year, has a core I7 3rd gen on a motherboard that runs 8 3.0 USB and 3 2.0 USB with a good graphic card that runs a PC screen of 27 inch and a 32 inch TV, both HD and widescreen, 2 drives, one SSD and one HDD, for a total of around 620 go inside, 3 120 cm fans with blue leds, a soundblaster ZXR sound card, water cooling in closed loop for the processor, blu-ray drive combo with DVD burn, flash cards reader, 750 watts power supply and 5.1 sound system. In total, this PC has a value of around 2500$ to 3000$, is a high performance type and boots under a minute, even under 30 secs. All that under Windows 7. Data transfer... well it's really fast.
That's an example of a performance PC.
Now, if you want a good alternative, you could always purchase a clone (PCs that look alike and are not personalized) with a processor to your liking and make upgrades one at a time with the parts inside.
You can certainly spend more money, but diminishing returns kick in well before $2500. Of course, if video editing is your job and less computing time = higher billing rate/hour, then you may want to consider a more expensive machine.
I giggled a little.
Intel Core i5 3350P: It's deceiving that AMD offers hex and octacore processers for under $200. The real deal for 95% of applications is per-core performance, and in terms of per-core performance...well, intel smokes AMD. The Core i3, which is a dual core processor, out-performs AMD's FX hex-cores in every gaming benchmark I've seen, and the i5 out-performs them in performance applications as well.
I recommend the 3350P because of a balance of high performance, low power requirements, and low price. It doesn't have integrated graphics - which you don't need - and it doesn't have overclocking - which I doubt you want.
$180
ASUS P8B75-M Motherboard: This is a good little motherboard for $70. I have it. It is in my system. It is good.
$70
8GB DDR3 RAM: Cheapest 8GB single DIMM I could find. You won't notice enough of a difference between slow and fast ram to really justify the extra cost. This is a great price for reasonable RAM, and 8 gigs is enough for most applications.
$65
Corsair Carbide 200R: Corsair makes great cases. They're the easiest cases to build in that I've worked with, have above average thermal performance, and above average acoustic performance as well. They also look elegant and classy...except the C70 *shudders*.
$60
Corsair 750W modular power supply: Got one of these too. It's relatively efficient, with modular cables for ease of management, and 750W is like...all the power. You could power a pair of Titans and an i7 off a 750 watt power supply.
$90
EVGA GeForce 760 2GB graphics card: This guy is awesome. I have one of these as well. With this and a Core i5 3570k (a slightly faster 3350P), I run vanilla skyrim at over 100 FPS. With 10 gigs of mods and some serious .ini tweaks (uGrids=7, serious business to shadows, threaded all the things, maximum draw distance for all the things, etc) I still get 50-60 FPS with absolutely no drops. Rome 2 gets a little laggy when there are 8,000 or more soldiers on screen. New Vegas runs at a million FPS. Far Cry 3 runs at 45 max'd out. PlanetSide 2 never dips below 45. So forth and so on.
$250
1TB hard drive: Good 'ole dub dee. I have two of their 750 drives in my machine, one of which is 4 years old and the other is 2. Good stuff for the price.
$90
Total: $755 w/o tax or shipping
Now, if you don't have a valid windows install disc floating about, you can get an OEM license for $90 or so. If you do, I encourage you to get a good aftermarket cooler for your processor (The Cooler Master Hyper212 is only $25ish and is a beast. Got one of them too, but it's not in my system anymore). And if you want to spend a little bit more, the best thing you could do for productivity apps is to get a Core i7. It's a quad core, like the i5, but it has hyperthreading, which means it can run 2 threads per core instead of 1.
Now...I want you to know that I'm not an nVidia/intel fanboy. My last machine was AMD and ATI, and before that it was AMD and nVidia. Right now, AMD only really has the low-end market for processors, and some really weird brackets for graphics cards - $100-175 and $300ish. Otherwise, it really is an intel and nVidia show.
And this is just one tech's opinion. I've heard passionate arguments either way, but I can back mine up with lots of data c: And I will emphasize: you will NOT get the best possible productivity oriented PC for $800. If it puts food on your table, spend $3k on it and get a top of the line i7 octocore with a pair of 680s and a huge power supply to feed em.
Loam Pox
Standard:
Boros Burn
But he's right in that weird bracket for graphics cards, and how weird of a bracket is it? I don't think it's much of a weird one. Everything I've seen has them trading blows up and down the price brackets really.
Anyways the R290X is coming out. I'd say that ATI[... AMD]/Nvidia are about even in terms of performance per dollar right now.
In terms of gaming, totally right in terms of AMD/Intel. I really like AMD and my A6 budget laptop was pretty much the best budget laptop I ever had for gaming [it was $320. lol.], but if you're getting something besides a cheap gaming laptop[?!?] it's really really hard to recommend AMD for processors. /Especially/ for games.
Anyways, most of those recommendations are good though. I might try to get 16GB of RAM if you're running adobe 64 bit stuff on it - it's an extra $50. With that, you can drop 'down' to a 7970 given current deals. [Or something cheaper, even, a 650Ti Boost is on sale for $100 right now!] You can always downgrade the graphics card a bit/etc. to get everything running but it's probably worth it to grab a 7970 at this time or something similar as graphics cards [esp. AMD's] are dropping a bit as a new generation is just coming out for them.
But it all depends what you need. My current computer has 8GB of RAM. It's a pain.
and eyes are full of death besides
but luckily the soul is wise -
it sees beyond my blindness and
forced failure makes a better guise,
so as i come again alive,
it feels like life's a decent plan
most games nowadays are V-card dependent. i invite any anyone in the gaming computer market not to get so hung up on the CPU performance when it comes to gaming.
If you're not comfortable with Linux then you'll need an operating system. Windows 7 is stable and good. You can get an OEM copy for 80$. The OEM copy does not include Microsoft Customer Support. If something goes wrong then you'll have to fix it yourself or reinstall.
You'll notice the performance difference if you get a cpu with more cores. Gamers figured out that more cores isn't necessarily better for them, but us creative types - well let's just say it's not uncommon for me to have 4 Adobe programs, a web browser and a few other things running in the background as well. Look for more cores. Intel is often a better performer per price point cpu than AMD right now. It used to be the other way around.
My favorite piece of hardware is the solid state hard drive. You're going to have a problem finding one that has enough space and fits in your budget and that sucks but if you can make do with 160 GBs for a while and add on an optical drive later then it'll be worth it. The speed of the hard drive is very noticeable when you turn your computer on of course but it also helps when you're publishing huge video files.
Memory (RAM) - I've got 12 gigs. I used to have 4. I barely noticed the difference. I don't do as much video as you probably would so you might actually benefit from more RAM but it wouldn't surprise me much at all if you can get away with 4 at first. You could save money here and upgrade it later. You will eventually want an upgrade though.
I will add my voice to the people who recommended that you check out Tom's Hardware. Read about their builds. Always worthwhile.
I've had ATI and Nvidia graphics cards. I have never had a bad experience with Nvidia but I have had a few ATI cards that pissed me off for one reason or another. I personally wouldn't buy ATI again but that's just my experiences talking. Everyone's got their own story. That said - if there's any area where you should splurge a little bit it would be the video card.
So here's the plan:
1. Go to Tom's. Read for a while.
2. Pick your OS. Buy (or download) it.
3. Establish budget: (approximate values)
OS - 80$
CPU - 150-200$
Mobo - 70-100$
Case and PS - 80-150
Video Card - 100-200
Memory - 50-ish
Hard Drive - at least 75
That has you at around 600 already. I would get a CPU cooler. Sound Card? DVD drive? Keyboard? Monitors? Mouse?
You can easily find yourself north of your 800 dollar budget. The good news is that this isn't going to suck. Unless your laptop was a monster I would be willing to bet that this will seem pretty speedy to you. My 3 yr-old PC has lesser specs than what you'll end up with and it can run modern games on decent settings without skipping frames. Skyrim - for example - I can't max it out but I can get pretty close. If you're the type who demands 60 fps at all times then you wouldn't be satisfied but if you're just a guy who wants to play some games every now and then you'll be fine.
One other minor point about the case, motherboard and power supply:
I don't think you need 750 watts. On the other hand you might run into fit problems if you buy cheap stuff. I got good deals on my case and my power supply but then I found out that the cables were too short to reach the far end of my motherboard and I didn't have enough connections. Having enough connections of the proper length sounds like it should be a given but it's not. Be wary.