# Any advice appreciated



## cornejo (Jan 30, 2011)

Hello,
I built a computer about 8 years ago and it had its first mess up and the video card is fried. Now for my dilemma. The video card is of the AGP variety so I can get one fairly cheap to replace it but since agp is being phased out would I be better off starting from scratch again. If I go with a replacement I can fix the computer now and if I go the new route I'll have to wait about 6 months to come up with the extra money. I have another pc that I'm using right now so I'm not in any hurry to get it fixed.

If I go the New route this is the setup I'm considering:

Motherboard: Asus LGA 1366 X58
Processor: Intel i7 980X
Cooling: Noctua NH-U12P SE2
Hard Drive: Samsung 1TB Spinpoint 7200RPM 32MB Cache SATA
Memory: Mushkin 12GB (3x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800 10-10-10-27 Blackline
Video Card: Nvidia Geforce GTX580 SLI
Audio Card:Sound Blaster PCie X-Fi Titanium Fatality Champion Series
Power Supply: Mushkin Enhanced Joule 1200W 
OS: Windows 7 Pro 64Bit

So which route would everybody go? Also if I go the new route is there anything anybody would change for a better system?:T


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## Harpmaker (Oct 28, 2007)

Hi cornejo, welcome to the forum! :wave:

You could get replies running the full spectrum on this question, and none of them necessarily wrong. It all depends on what you intend to do with the new or repaired PC. If this 8 year old PC was your primary computer for daily use , and you were happy with it's performance, it seems apparent that you were not doing anything with it that is terribly CPU or GPU intensive. If that is the case then simply getting another AGP video card would be the least expensive way to go.

On the other hand, if you have been putting off running the latest games or getting into serious video, or even audio, editing now seems to be the perfect time for a new system built to handle today's computational needs.

One thing I can say right off the bat is that if you are getting a new motherboard make SURE it will take the CPU and memory chips you want to use. Back in the day this was almost a given, but not today. Also, when looking at power supplies bigger isn't always better. Try to figure out what power you actually need to run your new system and then try to get a PS that isn't way higher than that. It depends on the PS, but many larger wattage PS's aren't very efficient when run significantly underloaded.


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## cornejo (Jan 30, 2011)

Thanks for the reply harpmaker. Your right as I have been using this for my daily computer for the last eight years. I was happy with its performance for a few years and then just put up with it for the last few. It frustrated me the last few years that I couldn't do some of the higher end stuff like I could during the first few years. I just couldn't afford at the time with college, getting married, 2 kids, and then a mortgage. But the mortgage will be paid off in a couple months so its time to make the decision fix the pc or :bigsmile:replace the components in it with higher end pcs.:bigsmile: 

I have checked the components to make sure they are compatible and as far as I can tell they are. I have just started looking at them and made the list over the last few days. Thats why I was hoping I could get some inputs from the current experts on the issue. II built that computer eight years ago and it was the last one I built. There has been ALOT of advancements since then and I didn't keep up with them over the years like I wish I had. 

The power supply I thought bigger was better, but thats why I came to you guys. I've read alot of posts and it seems this is the best place to get answers. I know another website ran a setup close to what I put on here and they did it with an 800W psu, but they weren't using as much memory, video cards in sli, as big as hard drive, or a sound card. 

Thanks again for the reply.


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## gdstupak (Jul 13, 2010)

I upgraded everything last year from a system I build about 6yrs earlier.
Wow, was I amazed at how much better everything worked.
If you multitask on you computer, a multi-core processor is an eye opener!

Harpmaker makes a critical point. Make sure everything is compatible with each other!


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## esp1ivers1 (Jan 28, 2011)

This looks like it will be a pretty fast system. To top it i would recommend a Solid state drive (SSD) as system disk. They are still quite expensive, but extremely fast. I used a 120 GB from OCZ as system disk in my HTPC and a regular HDD for storage, it was worth every penny. Booting windows 7 home premium 64-bit takes about 16 seconds


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## cornejo (Jan 30, 2011)

I thought about an ssd but haven't had time to find any information on their reliabilty compared to a regular hard drive. Anybody have any info on this?


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## Infrasonic (Sep 28, 2010)

That's a really powerful and expensive system you've laid out! What are you planning to use the computer for (gaming, video editing etc.)?


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## cornejo (Jan 30, 2011)

I will use it mainly for gaming. I have a problem when it comes to buying new stuff. I always seem to over build something. Do I need something this powerful, probably not, but I don't want to pay $500 - $1000 on a pc just to have to do it again in a couple years cause it won't run the games/programs anymore. I want something that I can rely on it being fast enough to keep up with the new games/programs coming out for a few years. I may be wrong but I feel this system should be good for a little while. I should be able to run it in stock form for awhile before the need to start overclocking it. Otherwise I would just put a new video card in the one I got now or buy one off a wally world shelf.


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## Infrasonic (Sep 28, 2010)

I understand your logic and if money is absolutely no issue then go for it!

Otherwise I would step down on the processor, you'll only notice a difference if you are doing some heavy video editing - I would go for a i7-950 and save the $600, you wont even notice a difference gaming.

Most games are not CPU bound and will only increase in frames with a better video card. The GTX580 is an excellent card but just one would be perfect unless you are playing at resolution higher than 1920x1200 with all the eye candy turned on.

Just stepping back on those two will save you a grand and you'll still be able to play games in a few years no problem - if anything you could drop in another GTX580 down the road.

One thing I would spend more on though is the hard drive, this is probably the best non-SSD on the market. SSD's are great and reliable now but you'll still want a fast mechanical HD to pair it with.


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## esp1ivers1 (Jan 28, 2011)

Just google SSD test/rewiew and you'll find lots of info.
From my understanding it's not som much the brand or size of the disk, but make sure it uses the Sandforce 1200 controller. I think this controller is commonly used in most of the 2.nd generation SSDs.


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## mechman (Feb 8, 2007)

If you can hold off for a bit, Intel is going to be releasing the 1155 socket (Sandy Bridge) and it's new processors later this year. The early specs I saw show comparable performance to some of their extreme processors but at a much lower price - similar to the 980 performance for 950 pricing.

Also, FYI, it was released already but a problem was found with the Sandy Bridge chipset. I'd guess it will be fixed and re-released by the end of summer.


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