After being out of the desktop realm... I'm making a come back

[Shamrock]

This has now become a HELP THREAD! HELP HELP HELP!

Well, I've had a laptop for the past.. 2~ years, and of course, it's age has been showing. It's been showing for almost a year now which is one of the reasons that made me stop playing games! D:

So.. I want to purchase a new build. At the moment, I've got a budget of about 400-500$ AMERICAN DOLLHAIRS. I've got help and information from STIGMATA/SOUPSTORM/SPAGHETTI/TIT and we've come up with these two little beauties at the moment for my build. I only want to upgrade the CPU and GPU at the moment. My current desktop has 4 GB ram and a good enough PSU that I shouldn't bother to get a new one unless I want to SLI or so.

HERE ARE THE PARTS:
MSI N560GTX-TI Twin Frozr II/OC GeForce GTX 560 Ti
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127565

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808

Now, that stays in my budget, but I'm looking to at least have this GPU handle games for this upcoming year at relatively high FPS. Will this stay up there? I don't want it to show it's age in.. 3 months. Is there a different card that would offer me more BANG PER DOLLHAIR? I think I'm set on the CPU though unless you can talk me out of it, but my current mobo is AM2+ and I'd really prefer to stick with AMD instead of shelling out for a whole new mobo/CPU combo.

Let me know what HELPLIFE2.net thinks about my return to successful PC gaming and any info or suggestions regarding the parts I've listed!

 

[Maestro]

I'd say the only thing comparable to that card is the 69 series from ATI, and those cost approximately one metric ****ton more than that. Stick with it.

 

[Ennui]

Refer to this:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/GPU11/

The 560 Ti is about the best bang for your buck on the market right now IMO. I'd say go for it. You'll be running new games on max settings at 1920x1200 well past the end of 2011 I'd expect.

 

[Vegeta897]

God, now I really want that thing. I didn't even realize that my 5770 has fallen so far behind, it's at the bottom of that damn graph!

And I've got an SLI mobo so I could get another in the future when I get the money... Argh that damn china trip has milked me dry.

 

[MuToiD_MaN]

Refer to this:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/GPU11/

The 560 Ti is about the best bang for your buck on the market right now IMO. I'd say go for it. You'll be running new games on max settings at 1920x1200 well past the end of 2011 I'd expect.

Seconded. It was depressing to compare its numbers to the twice-as-expensive 580 GTX though

God, now I really want that thing. I didn't even realize that my 5770 has fallen so far behind, it's at the bottom of that damn graph!

Still running off my five-year-old 8800 GTX. Contemplating expediting its end-of-life with overclocking since my card falls short of "full detail everything" these days and there are almost none of its model left on the Internet for running SLI. It has been FIVE YEARS so my investment paid off in that I haven't had to replace the card all this time, but at this point in my life I cannot justify another > $500 graphics card purchase. THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU GET MARRIED.

 

[Shamrock]

Well, well, well... It looks like we have a winner when it comes to the video card. That is the one I shall be purchasing.. Maybe tomorrow..

Thanks for confirming that for me!

What about that processor? Is that the best AMD I can get for the money? I don't really want to get the 970 or 965 since I can just overclock this to their speeds on stock cooling and save 50$ at the same time. But is this the best bet? Thanks for your help so far everyone!

Oh, I have another request! I need a new tower! I prefer mid ATX, good ventilation, and preferably a window on the tower. I've been looking around, but I can't really find GOOD ones for the price I'm looking at. I'll tell you the price.. It is... Are you ready? $50! Haha.


THANK YOU SO FAR FOR YOUR HELP!

 

[Higlac]

Oh, I have another request! I need a new tower! I prefer mid ATX, good ventilation, and preferably a window on the tower. I've been looking around, but I can't really find GOOD ones for the price I'm looking at. I'll tell you the price.. It is... Are you ready? $50! Haha.


THANK YOU SO FAR FOR YOUR HELP!

Good luck. I don't see much on newegg, but my local best buy had their Antec 902s selling for $70. You should check if there's some near you. It's $20 more than you wanted to spend, but it'll be a damn sight nicer than a $50 case.

 

[Shamrock]

Good luck. I don't see much on newegg, but my local best buy had their Antec 902s selling for $70. You should check if there's some near you. It's $20 more than you wanted to spend, but it'll be a damn sight nicer than a $50 case.

Well, actually, I found a pretty good looking case for $49.99 from Newegg. It is this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119227

It's received a bunch of good reviews. I like the design a lot, and it has almost everything I am looking for in a case. A simpler design than most towers these days, bottom PSU placement, inside painted black, window on the side, screwless hardware!

Also, I PURCHASED EVERYTHING. So if anyone wants to fight me in something soon, I'm here to party now. I can't wait to get this rig up and running!

 

[MuToiD_MaN]

Pretty decent one, not even when limited to $50 cases, IMO.

 

[CowPunk]

I like me some Rosewill and Coolmaster cases. They all have a really nice design and aren't to expensive. Also, I think I may be sold on that 560ti. It looks a beast.

 

[Shamrock]

I like me some Rosewill and Coolmaster cases. They all have a really nice design and aren't to expensive. Also, I think I may be sold on that 560ti. It looks a beast.

I will be sure to tell you come... Thursday (Hopefully) or Friday at the latest!

 

[Shamrock]

So I've been getting blue screens before I am able to install.

I have some generic RAM, a Logysis 575 PSU, and a Biostar A770 AM2+ mobo.

Ok so.. I start the computer, boot to disc, it starts to load the Windows 7 files except VERY SLOWLY (probably 5-10 minutes to load the files), then it proceeds to go to the Starting Windows screen and the animation starts for about 3 seconds then BLUE SCREEN. The first blue screen was for WDFLDR.Sys file. The next.... thousand of them have been Machine Check Exception.

Here's what I did so far...

• I checked my 1st HDD
• then I proceeded to check my 2nd separately
• I reset the CMOS
• I took out one stick of RAM
• I swapped the one stick with the one I took out
• I changed videocards to my old videocard
• I tried to run Memtest86 from CD and it gave me Boot Disc Error; Insert System Disc then hit Enter
• I tried the different RAM slots
• I tried the 32 Bit disc and 64 bit disc of Windows 7

So.... where do I go from here? Are all signs pointing to my RAM? I can't test it out right now because I do not have ANY here. If it is my RAM, can you recommend me some good DDR2? I won't REALLY be able to test my RAM out till tomorrow when my friend comes over and hopefully brings it.


Blah. Is there anything else I should try before tomorrow?

EDIT: Also, there was ONE thing I noticed, but it might just be how the drive reacts. I have a legal copy of Windows 7 that I purchased from my school's bookstore, but they only gave out 32 Bit instead of 64. I went online and downloaded the 64 bit of it and burnt that to disc. Well, when I went to use that and load it today, the disc drive was almost whisper quiet. Now, when I inserted the 32 bit disc, it WAS ROARING THUNDER. I don't know what that means in regards to the blue screens. HELP MEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

 

[Higlac]

Try a different disc drive?

 

[Shamrock]

Try a different disc drive?

Sadly, that's not an option at the moment. I have no other disc drive in my house other than my internal one on my laptop and my mom's laptop.

I'm debating what to do right now. If my friend has DDR2 RAM for me to test, then AWESOME, but I'm fearing it's DDR because I knew I had some RAM in my house, but it was DDR. I don't want to fork out another.... $130 for a mobo and RAM. Ughhhhh! D:

 

[Shamrock]

Try a different disc drive?

Well, it looks like it wasn't the disc drive. Just went out and bought a new one, and it's SATA connected and doesn't work. Froze/Blue Screened at the same exact point.

I'm beginning more and more to believe it's the RAM just because when you load the Windows disc, does it run it from memory to use the installation? When it's run from disc, it has to set something in memory yes? That's what I'm assuming is going wrong then.

 

[MuToiD_MaN]

Yeah, come to think of it, I'm pretty sure I fixed a problem on a new machine once by replacing the memory. Try process of elimination to figure out which stick is bad.

 

[Shamrock]

Yeah, come to think of it, I'm pretty sure I fixed a problem on a new machine once by replacing the memory. Try process of elimination to figure out which stick is bad.

Well, if my friend comes over, he's going to bring his RAM and hopefully that will fix it. If not, I've got an order from Newegg on the way that will replace the mobo and RAM so.. I guess it's pointless now.