nr7

October 29, 2011 at 4:26pm

I built a pc myself for about $750 the other day and these are my specs. No matter what I do, it won't boot into POST or BIOS! No beep codes. And Suddenly the other day, my graphics card fan stopped spinning and I dont know why! HELP! Maybe my parts are incompatible?! Tell ME! PLEASE! I have done everything! Removed from case, reinserted RAM, CPU and Graphics Card, tried different monitors, cables and even called Tech Support! Nothing seems to be working! HELP!!!!!!!!!

MSI H67MA-E35 MotherboardIntel Core i5 2500k CPU4GB DDR3 RAMGigabyte GV-R685D5-1GD/GV-R685OC-1GD (AMD Radeon 6850 Graphics)Cooler Master 550 Watt Power SupplySeagate 1TB Hard DriveAsus DVD/CD Burner

sopoforic_lotus

October 14, 2011 at 11:45am

Does anyone have a prediction of how many years this rig would be able to play new games on their lowest settings? I plan to upgrade the motherboard as suggested. I have been out of PC gaming for years so I have no idea myself.

Thanks

Aphelion

September 20, 2011 at 1:56pm

My gaming rig beats yours:

Core i5-2500
8GB DDR3-1600 RAM
HD 6850

The general specifications speak for themselves.

markpouncey

September 02, 2011 at 2:30pm

Howdy-- i love this article & Max PC Mag... do ya'll know of a DVD i can buy or a youtube video or an online video somewhere that shows a start to finish assembly of a PC like this by the Max PC guys or one they would recommend ( Gordon or anyone w/ Max PC ) ? I've built a few of my own, and have an older VHS tape on how to do it-- but would like a newer, 21st century " Kick-Ass 9 " DVD if i could find one-- what do you think ??

  Kind Regards mark-p ( markpouncey-at-gmail-dot-com )

BK_NC

August 10, 2011 at 6:34pm

Where are the benchmarks?   And one question I have is why couldn't you use this same game test suite on your Dream Machine 2011? 

MAXPCreader07

August 08, 2011 at 9:19am

I'd love to see what parts you would upgrade with the $100 spent on Windows.

markstrelecki

August 01, 2011 at 4:31pm

I really LOVE articles like this - it's why I've subscribed to MaximumPC ever since it was called boot magazine.

But am I missing something here?

When I re-read the story on August 1st, the last line read:

"We then fired up Crysis 2, Left 4 Dead, Portal 2, Total War: Shogan 2, and Battlefield: Bad Company. All of the games ran with more-th  "

...and left me HANGING, wanting more but getting none of it.

WTF???

Give me satisfaction, or give me Mac!

MARK STRELECKI, Proofreader for MaxPC in Training

mightywien

July 18, 2011 at 10:04pm

 

I'll start off by saying that I have never even attempted to build a pc before.  In fact, the August issue of MPC is the first pc-oriented magazine I've ever purchased.  What drew me to it was this article.  

I have always been a mac person.  I mean, I know how to use a pc, but I've just always had a mac.  Not only is my mac 6 years old, it's a powerbook ( I know, I know).  I'm sick of the thing.  Even when I could play WoW on it (which is the main game I play), it was terrible.  Forget getting into any arena team or 25-man raid.  The lag was unbearable.

 Now I want to build this rig, but I've taken some advice from people on this thread and deviated slightly.  Instead of the Rosewill case, I took ScootieP's advice and got the Apex case (which was a friggin' steal on the egg and just looks waay better with that handle).

 Everything else I got was the same as the build save for two things I haven't ordered yet:  The optical drive and the motherboard.  First things first, I noticed on someone's post here that the magazine's article has a typo and that instead of the Samsung SH-S222A I should get the SH-S223A (Which is what is listed in this article).  The problem is that I looked for it and couldn't find it on the egg or anywhere else.

The second thing is that the magazine really recommends getting a better motherboard like the Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD3-B3.  Well, the egg has this listed, but there are none in stock. 

I’m not too worried about the optical drive.  With a 20 buck pricetag, I can just go to Fry’s and ask for help there with one (although I’m sure some of you guys are much more knowledgeable and any advice is greatly appreciated).  I want to know if getting the full-size board with four memory slots and a P-series chipset is even worth it if all I really plan on playing is WoW and maybe a few games like Witcher or Diablo III when it finally comes out?

Also, a quick question.  When I ordered the GPU, there were 2 choices for the Radeon HD 6790.  One was this PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card (which is the one I figure I should get) and the other one was just PCI Express without the 2.1 or the x16.  Am I correct in assuming the prior is the one I want?

Thanks to those of you who can help me out.  Hell, thanks to any of you that read this whole thing.  – A journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step. 

 

rod28021

July 18, 2011 at 4:21pm

• CPU:  Intel Core i3-2100 = $132
• MOTHERBOARD:  GIGABYTE GA-H67M-D2-B3 = $90
• OPTICAL DRIVE:  LiteOn x24 sata2 DL dvd-ram = $43
• PSU:  500 watt coolmax v-500 = $26
• RAM:  Kingston ValueRAM memory 4 GB total = $42
• OS: WINDOWS 7 HOME PREMIUM OEM 32bit = $99
• Solid state drive:  OCZ Onyx series - 32 GB - SATA2  = $70
• Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Green - 1 TB sata2 hard drive = $75
• Case:  Viper ATX = $65
• Video Board:  Visiontek Radeon HD 5670 = $117

My total $759 in July 2011

Warrior017

July 15, 2011 at 9:55am

This is a very well put together rig. The only thing that I would've tried upgrading is the motherboard. I always go for high-quality boards, at least x16/x8/x8 and hopefully x16/x16/x8 PCIe slots, and dual- or triple-channel memory. But this is a budget build after all. The WD 'blue' and 'green' classes would bug me as well, as I always get 'black' drives (I do a lot of moving 2GB+ folders and files).

cferran1

July 14, 2011 at 5:51am

There is typo in the model of the optical drive on the hardcopy of the magazine. The magazine lists it as a Samsung SH-S222A but that is an IDE drive. I bought it from Newegg and that is what I got. When I tried to install it I realized that it was not SATA. I checked my order, I checked the store, I checked Samsumg’s website and that drive is IDE. I see that you have corrected the model in the online version of the article. I should have checked those things before purchasing it but I trusted the magazine a bit too much. I could return it but shipping is going to take what they give me back so I better keep it as a souvenir. BTW, the motherboard upgrade that you suggest is no longer available. I tried to purchase it and it is no longer available (not out-of-stock).

oldobamaliar

July 07, 2011 at 6:40pm

If you cant afford a ssd then your computer will be a piece of sheeit any way. SSD's are the single most important piece of hardware on any computer. If you dont think so you haven't used one.

Jersey_Biker

June 22, 2011 at 6:15am

If you are replacing a system opposed to building an additional system there should be no need for a operating system unless you have something very old. XP and newer should suffice. That's also assuming you installed the OS on your old system yourself and it didn't come pre-installed. I would use the $100 budgeted for the OS for a i5-2500K CPU and use the remaining savings towards a better graphic card.

MattyMattMatt

June 21, 2011 at 8:32pm

I would've gone for a GTX 460 768MB / 1GB or 6850 and switched to AMD for the CPU. X4 955 and a good AM3 board is still more than plenty for games and it can overclock quite nicely. Sure, the i3 will outperform it in dual core games at stock at least, but four real cores, why say no?

jbwhite99

June 21, 2011 at 7:40pm

However, the "chips" are kinda crunchy.

I would rather dumb down the video card in the system and move up a little bit in processor.  I got lucky and got a 5770 for $75 on a memorial day sale at the Egg - got more MB and processor than I will need for a while (2500k and an ASUS Evo board) - but this will allow me to use Premiere Elements to burn movies, etc.  I only got the 5770 because it was $10 more than a 4670.

Budgetperson

June 21, 2011 at 1:20pm

I really like the build, but I can't believe more people are bashing the dual core processor and not the power supply. Maybe Rosewill has gotten better, but I doubt it. More wattage won't help the reliability (I think the article implies it.. too lazy to go check), but a better brand will. Look at the Antec EA-430D on newegg. I have two Earthwatts power supplies and they have been great. Plus, it's $10 cheaper. Yay.

But otherwise, this is an excellent build.

bling581

June 21, 2011 at 9:43am

"A tech media prediction says that optical drives will go away within five years."

That is very hard to believe. What are people supposed to play movies on? All programs will now be downloaded via the cloud? Yeah right.

Dynotaku

June 21, 2011 at 9:40am

My 3 year old machine has a blu-ray optical drive in it... I think besides using it to install the OS, I've never used it. (As 2 of my 3 monitors aren't HDCP compliant, I can't watch blu-ray discs on the thing)

Sid 6.7

June 21, 2011 at 4:03am

The GPU should be the EVGA GTX-560 SUPERCLOCKED 1GB. I made a mistake and listed the GPU as being from Asus.

Sid 6.7

June 21, 2011 at 3:37am

Here is my version. All prices are after rebates and current discounts from Newegg.Com. If you don't mind shopping from multiple sources, you could save even more money.

$220 CPU: Intel Core i7 2500k
$110 MOBO: Gigabyte GA-P67A-D3-B3
$65 Case: Thermaltake Armor A60
$35 PSU: OCZ ModXStreme 500W Modular
$44 RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws X-Series 4GB DDR3 1600MHz CAS-9 (2x4GB)
$184 GPU: Asus GTX-560 Superclocked 1GB
$60 HDD: WD Blue 1TB 7200rpm SATA3 6Gb/s
$56 Optical: Liteon 4X Bluray/DVD Combo (player/Burner)

Total Price = $775.

If I do say so myself, this would be a killer rig. Notice it's all premium, mainstream, enthusiast-targeted, brand name parts. You have overclocking ability right out of the box. Current-gen non-Ti ASUS factory overclocked Fermi GPU. SATA-3 hard drive. Tool-less mid-tower case. And you still have room to grow. Add another 4GB of RAM, add another GPU, drop in more HDDs, add some watercooling to the CPU for even higher overclocks ... etc.

If anyone would like the actual wishlist, give me your email, and I will send you a link.

I think one of the best factors of the current gaming market, is that we all have tons of choices available to us to get us where we want to go. And we can mix and match, and create a unique platform that expresses our individuality.

immersive

June 21, 2011 at 10:44am

I see a lot of trash talking a duel core CPU in the comments here.

Let me tell you a story of a duel core that could.

My old system:

Ram: Corsair Dominator 4GB (4 x 1GB) DDR2 1066

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz LGA 775 < OC @ 3.3GHz

MB: EVGA 122-CK-NF68-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI

HD: Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB

Grapics: EVGA 896-P3-1171-AR GeForce GTX 275 Superclocked Edition 896MB

 

So how old is that computer? Well it was build on 6/7/07 with the GTX 275 added on 4/22/2009

I played everygame with maxed out settings other then Crysis only because I never bothered to buy that game. But I will say it ran Bad Company 2 at 1920 x 1200 with max settings just fine. The only game I had problems with max was Just Cause 2 and even then the settings were close to max.

The point is that ya a duel core may be "outdated" but if thats the case then so is just about all the software we all run. When all software scales with how ever many cpu cores there are we will all be in heaven.

If I was so happy with it why do I not have it now? Well the new Core i7-2600k just looked to tasty to pass up. Now granted I can backup my movies faster then I ever could with my E6600 but I can't tell a differance in Bad Company 2 at all.

So was the upgrade to 4 cores and 8 threads worth it? Well yes for me because I'm a power user! I also have a 27" Dell Ultra Sharp monitor with 1920x1200 res. Would it be worth while for my friend to upgrade to a $2000+ system when all he dose is surf the web and play a few games here and there on his 22" monitor that supports a max of 1680x1050 res? Hell no! I also bet this setup your all commenting on would do him just fine in Battlefield 3 also.

Scootiep

June 20, 2011 at 7:51pm

Ditch the Rosewill case and go for an APEX TX-381-C:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811154094

I've used it before and the handle is pretty solid, you actually get a top mounted, very usable set of front ports with a nice little clear flip down protector window. Kicks the Rosewill's A$$ easily. While it's listed at $29.99 w/ free shipping now, I've gotten it recently from newegg for $24.00 with free shipping off of a special offer.

PCLinuxguy

June 20, 2011 at 6:59pm

$667. not bad, but then the builder spoke of changes if the budget was higher. there's about a $30 gap before the $700 mark, which means a different motherboard or more ram in this instance for a slightly higher performing system or room to upgrade later.  The biggest advantage is that it's a SandyBridge CPU, which for now is the current chipset that is being worked on, so there's going to be stuff coming for a little while for it compared to the LGA775 or 1156 non sandybridge i3-i7 dual and quad core chips.  Not a bad build.

quicks0rt

June 20, 2011 at 6:32pm

LoL@BF2 & 3

You think these are the only games people play? Even with 2 cores, i3 here will run faster in most benchmarks than the aging Athlon architecture w/ 4 cores, not to mention being cooler and less power hungry.

And really, did you not read the article? He clearly states he chose this over X4 because X4 was found lacking even in multi-threading benchmark!! If you don't believe this, head over to Anand or Toms for more comprehensive cpu comparison.

The single-thread performance on i3 will decimate any advantage Ahtlon will have by merely having 2 more cores, which is quite important for majority of current games and everyday software. Sorry, multi-threading is still ways to go, and some computing tasks are not just cut out for it.

And if you're worried about the future, i3 is still a better choice. Not only is this better gaming bang for the buck relatively to Athlon X4 now, but you have an upgrade path to i5 or i7, which pretty much runs circles around anything AMD has right now.

On top of that, QuickSync will be an asset down the road for video encoding if you pair this with the right motherboard, although this is not really a concern for a gamer, but still a nice icing on the cake.

 

Sediket

June 20, 2011 at 6:23pm

Very nice how-to article, a lot of detail, very informative, and if your looking to build a new PC all bases are covered.

Thanks!

jackal49

June 20, 2011 at 4:44pm

I recently built a $700 machine for my wife.  I got most of the parts on sale, but it does the trick.  She mostly wanted to run SIMS 3, but I was able to run Crysis at max settings at a res of 1440x900.  It's not 1080p, but with the quad-core I can do all of my media encoding and ripping rather quickly.  It also is very snappy with photoshop.  She needed more CPU than GPU.  And FYI, a 32 SSD is barely enough for Win 7, most programs, and Photoshop.  If you don't mind installing programs like games and such on the HDD, then a 32Gb SSD should be plenty for a speedy OS Drive.

AMD Phenom II X4 925 Deneb quad-core 2.8GHz

ASUS M4A88T-I AM3 M-ITX mobo

2 x 4GB G.Skill DDR3 1333 SoDimm (on sale)

MSI HD 5770 1Gb Low-Profile GPU

Corsair Nova 32Gb SSD, Samsung Spinpoint 1Tb 7200 RPM

Sony Optiarc Slot-Loading Slimline DVD Burner (on sale)

Generic ITX Box with 350 Watt Power Supply (found locally)

Win 7 Home Prem 64-bit (on sale)

 

joebob

June 20, 2011 at 4:07pm

At least with me, the first thing in my budget that went out the window was the case. Why? Because I allready had one. Not a fancy case mind you, but a fugly beige ATX one from the late 90's. Other than some wacky hole mount problems for the psu, it all came together nicely. Granted, I only have one front usb port (which a stole from another case) and there are no real fan mounts to speak of, but its a sturdy box. My advice, if you have an old Pentium tower laying around in your closet since 2003 and you want to save some $$$ for the most important stuff first, gut that pos packard bell and throw in the new stuff. Then, you could use that till you can get a new case. Heck, if you're enterprising, with a dremel and drill, you could have more fans in that old monster than an antec lanboy air.

I_pwn_newbz86

June 20, 2011 at 3:43pm

This config sucks. Intels Sandybridge CPUs only start getting good for gaming at the $200 mark with the 2500k and maybe the 2400 Under that AMD is king. Like joeking said how are you gonna play BF3 on a dual core? I recently did a build for my friend at this exact price range. 

HIS HD RADEON 6850 $160

Lian Li Lancool First Knight $60

4GB Crucial Ballistix Tracer DDR3 1333 $35 

Rosewill 500w Blue LED PSU $40

AMD Athlon X4 640 $99

Seagate 1TB SATA 3 HD + Lite-On 24x DVD Burner Combo $$67

Asus M4A78LT-M $60

Windows 7 HP 64-bit $100

$622

He didn't need an OS so I managed to get a monitor, keyboard, and mouse in for $700. Better CPU for BC2 and other frostbite games, better videocard, LED Memory, much better case, and Cheaper. Fail MPC. 

 

TheMissingPiece

June 20, 2011 at 3:12pm

Looks great, but I personally think a GTX 460 1GB would make a better GPU; you can find one online for as low as $110.