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New machine, what do you think?

2K views 15 replies 6 participants last post by  Dashboard 
#1 ·
Hey everyone,


Last night, I took the plunge. Bought a new machine to replace my dying trusty old computer.


The new specs:


HP i7-2600

10 Gb Ram

ATI Radeon 6770.


http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/biz...odTypeId=12454


Costed me 1250$ with the taxes. Keep in mind I'm from Canada so it's more expensive and in Quebec, they taxe you like crazy!!! The deal gave a free xbox360 with it so I'll try to resell it for 150$. So it all, the machine will cost me 1100$


When the budget will allow it, I'll upgrade the power supply and put a GTX570 in it. What do you think?
 
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#3 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by 257Tony /forum/post/20808244


10GB of RAM is a weird number, not sure how, or why they went that route. Overall I am not a fan of HP, but I guess if you aren't comfortable building your own, you have to buy it from somewhere.

Yeah the 10 Gb is an odd number



I always had HP and my dad also use HP computers. They were always rock solid even after the small upgraded we made



I wasn't very comfortable with building my own rig, yet. This will be the next step.



I'll probably install this thing friday... good upgrade over my dual core 2.6ghz, 2Gb Ram with 8800GT
 
#4 ·
How come you aren't comfortable trying to build your own?


I had never done it before (done simple upgrades in the past), and it couldn't have been easier. Set aside a day to do it and take your time reading through the manuals. For what you spent, you could have that upgraded power supply along with the GTX570.


I went modular with the power supply, which I thought was a huge help. My biggest concerns were applying the thermal paste (easy) and to avoid clutter with the wiring, which a modular power supply did for me.


I've had no problems with HP's in the past, but I shudder at all the cost cutting they do to get you a machine that they can make a decent profit on.
 
#5 ·
looks like it will be decent enough. The 10 gig thing is very odd. I've never even, until now seen a system built with 10 gigs before. Are they using 2 x 4 gig sticks and a third 2 gig stick? or are they using 4 x 2 gig sticks and calling the ram on the video card extra or something? I would inquire about this if I was you. Not that it's a huge deal, it's just strange. From that board, you'd be better off with 8 gigs in a proper channel config.
 
#6 ·
I'll need to verify the ram and also the GPU. I've read people getting a 5770 (even if the 6770 is kinda like a rebadged 5770).


I'll set everything up tomorrow. This computer will help me clear my backlog



And I'm pretty sure it will play Diablo 3 well when it comes out. I wanted to wait before buying a new computer but my old once is dying... slowly.. before my eyes
 
#7 ·
Hmmm, maybe it's the Canadian $$$ throwing me off, but that seems like a high price and I think some of the options could have been gimped a bit in order to improve other areas. You did get it pre-built, so I guess that accounts for some of the markup.


What stands out right off the bat is that for gaming it would've been more cost-effective to go with the i5-2500 over the i7-2600 processor. Since hyper-threading is a perk for a very narrow set of programs (none of which are games), it isn't worth paying more for the i7 when the i5 overclocks so amazingly well.


On that point, I know from experience that sometimes motherboards from pre-built HP setups don't allow you to overclock the CPU, so try to find out if that is the case for you (not that it matters since stock 2600 speeds will be fine for a long time).


Also, 10 GBs of RAM is strange, and you really need no more than 4 GBs for gaming. Just about all games and many apps aren't even programmed in 64-bit mode, which is what's required to take advantage of anything over 4GBs unless you're multi-tasking. But, it came with the setup and memory in general is cheap so it isn't too bad.


The 6770 GPU is what bugs me the most considering the money being spent. I sold my equivalent 5770 six months ago and got a 6870, which really perked up my current-gen games (I'm now CPU limited however). For a new machine that's looking towards being viable with many games the future, such as BF3 and beyond, you should have really focused on getting at least a 6870 if not better, and kept an eye out for a possible Crossfire/SLI arrangement. Of course, with a generic 460W PSU installed, putting two cards in wouldn't be possible without upgrading it IMHO.


I agree with the poster above - building your own rig is not as tough as it may seem. I've done it once and it wasn't too bad, and now it is easier than ever. Since my wife/kid's eight-year old XP computer is sputtering, I'll give them my current unit later this year and make a new one for me. I've been doing some research for the project which is why these points are sticking out as I read over the specs. You could probably get a 50% - 100% (or more) increase in frame rates for less money spent if you do it yourself with recommended parts. As an example, here's a random benchmark test I just found comparing the 6870 to other cards including the 5770 (which is also the 6770):


Crysis Warhead, 1920x1200 2xAA


- Crossfire (2x) 6870s = 79 fps

- Single 6870 = 44 fps

- Single 5770 = 27 fps


See? You can almost triple the frame rate in this example by making a rig yourself so the savings can be spent on buying a CFX setup. It'd be even faster with either your 2600 processor or the 2500 since they used a slower processor.
 
#9 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by joeblow /forum/post/20811384


Hmmm, maybe it's the Canadian $$$ throwing me off, but that seems like a high price and I think some of the options could have been gimped a bit in order to improve other areas. You did get it pre-built, so I guess that accounts for some of the markup.


What stands out right off the bat is that for gaming it would've been more cost-effective to go with the i5-2500 over the i7-2600 processor. Since hyper-threading is a perk for a very narrow set of programs (none of which are games), it isn't worth paying more for the i7 when the i5 overclocks so amazingly well.


On that point, I know from experience that sometimes motherboards from pre-built HP setups don't allow you to overclock the CPU, so try to find out if that is the case for you (not that it matters since stock 2600 speeds will be fine for a long time).


Also, 10 GBs of RAM is strange, and you really need no more than 4 GBs for gaming. Just about all games and many apps aren't even programmed in 64-bit mode, which is what's required to take advantage of anything over 4GBs unless you're multi-tasking. But, it came with the setup and memory in general is cheap so it isn't too bad.


The 6770 GPU is what bugs me the most considering the money being spent. I sold my equivalent 5770 six months ago and got a 6870, which really perked up my current-gen games (I'm now CPU limited however). For a new machine that's looking towards being viable with many games the future, such as BF3 and beyond, you should have really focused on getting at least a 6870 if not better, and kept an eye out for a possible Crossfire/SLI arrangement. Of course, with a generic 460W PSU installed, putting two cards in wouldn't be possible without upgrading it IMHO.


I agree with the poster above - building your own rig is not as tough as it may seem. I've done it once and it wasn't too bad, and now it is easier than ever. .

I checked a little bit on newegg.ca for parts to see how much it would cost me to build something comparable. Instead of having a 6770 I putted a GTX570 and instead of the 460W Power Supply it was a 750W. With the shipping and everything, it was more a little bit more expensive to build it by myself (but i had a more powerful card and Power Supply). After my next upgrade of power supply and GPU, with buying it pre-build instead of building myself, it will have cost me like 200$ more. Not so bad.


I have no plans on overclocking my computer. I'm a gamer but not that hardcore. I'm not aiming to have the best of the best gaming rig, just something that I can enjoy some eye-candy and play my games well. If I can run Diablo 3 well, I'll be more than happy
the i7 is kinda overkill but the difference with the i5 wasn't that big so.. why not



I'm installing everything today after work. Can't wait and thanks everyone for your inputs
 
#10 ·
Well, I said in my post that improving some areas would come by gimping other areas. By doing so, you get a good balance of price-to-performance. While there are dozens of ways to make a list of each component pricing when planning to do it all yourself, here's a quick and dirty combo deal from Newegg with all the main parts:

The total is about $770, but they are offering it all at a combo discount for $686. Add $100 for Windows 7, $60 for a generic mouse & kb like the one in your package, and $20 for a DVD drive (yours has a Bluray, which isn't needed for gaming) and you are looking at $950 for the base price, and about $860 if you buy it at the combo deal price. Add 10% to account for Canadian taxes and you still are looking at a $1,045 total base price, or a $945 total with the combo deal.


Keep in mind that the GeForce 560 it has is a significant improvement over the 5770/6770 (it's comparable to the 6870). This "lesser" processor i2500 is more or less equal to the more expensive i2600 when it comes to gaming, and even though you don't want to OC now, at least the option is there for you in this setup. 4GBs of RAM is fine for any game you can think of, and the power supply unit is much better.


Honestly, you can even do much better than even this summary to save more while keeping/increasing the performance if you poke around a bit for ideas. As it stands, paying at least $300 less for a faster gaming rig if you do it yourself is worth it IMHO.
 
#11 ·
Finally had time to set this up and play with it. It is day and night from my previous computer ( dual core 2.6 Ghz, 2 Gb Ram, 8800 GT)... I only tested Civilization 5, Starcraft 2 and Dragon Age : Origins but it's very impressive so far



The Ram is splitted 2 X 4Gb and 1X 2Gb. After initial installation, I was able to make a backup disk, start SC2 installer (jammed before installing). Then decided to erase the useless programs HP puts on the machines.... wasn't able to acces the BR drive after that
Couldn't boot the BIOS and all



Did a system restore... no luck... Unplugged the drive and switched the SATa on the board and it work well
Guess I,ll keep the BR program... I think it deleted the codex or something
 
#12 ·
One thing positive I'll say is that you seem to be in very good shape to easily upgrade in the future.


If some of the new games over the next few years feel sluggish, you can simply sell the 6770 and buy the lastest and greatest card you can afford (provided your PSU will power it), and you'll be in excellent shape for a long time. There will be no need for a new rig for at least five years or more IMHO.


~~~


BTW, I dloaded Civ V a couple of weeks ago when it was on sale for $11. I never played a game in the series but was always intrigued by it. How do you like it? As a beginner who has yet to fire it up, are there some general tips I should be aware of?
 
#13 ·
Dash, you could always just do a clean install of Win 7. Then you'll be free of all the garbage HP puts on there (hopefully they gave you a disc). IMO, I'd yank out the 1 gig sticks. They are not doing anything good for you, if anything they would hinder the performance a bit. Let you system run dual channel.
 
#14 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by joeblow /forum/post/20824377


One thing positive I'll say is that you seem to be in very good shape to easily upgrade in the future.


If some of the new games over the next few years feel sluggish, you can simply sell the 6770 and buy the lastest and greatest card you can afford (provided your PSU will power it), and you'll be in excellent shape for a long time. There will be no need for a new rig for at least five years or more IMHO.


~~~


BTW, I dloaded Civ V a couple of weeks ago when it was on sale for $11. I never played a game in the series but was always intrigued by it. How do you like it? As a beginner who has yet to fire it up, are there some general tips I should be aware of?


The PSU will be one of the first upgrade I'll do (when I'll be ready to upgrade my GPU since the original 460W won't be enough for bigger cards). The original plan with this computer was like my previous one, to keep it for as long as I can. I could have kept my old one but I decided to buy this one for gaming only and keep the old one for downloading. I'm reducing the virus threat this way and keeping the new one as clean as I can.



For Civ V, I was a beginner too. My dad played them all and kept talking to me about the serie. Tried Civ Rev on PS3 and it was fun but didn't seem "deep" enough. From what I've read, Civ 5 is a little simplier than Civ IV which, the purist disliked. Civ V is the first Civ game I played and I'm loving it. After 3 games, I am still learning new things/ways on how to play the game



The first tip I can give you is... get a clock next to your computer
This game is so addictive, you'll find yourself saying "one more turn then I'm done for today" pretty often



The best tip is to play a first game with the in-game help. They will guide you greatly with the ressources,management,culture, etc. Also, try to settle your first city near useful ressources for the beginning (horses,iron) this will help you start out if you go for a military victory
 
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