need new pc, any suggestions?

[larrtdrifke]

went to power down my pc that I built two years ago, and looked and sounded like fourth of July (ok a bit of an exhageration, but it get a couple of sparks, a puff of smoke, and that lovely burnt electrical smell). Opened case and the capacitors on motherboard are bulging and scorch marks all over. Guessing other componets are fried as well. I am using my green energy saving pc till I get a new gaming pc (limited budget so it may take a while). I was just wondering what people have for builds. Mostly concerned with what motherboards people use, as I seem to be cursed with bad luck when it comes to them.
my old computer, may she rest in peace, was:
Evga 780i motherboard
Evga, 9800GT with 1GB ddr3 memory
Intel dual core duo 3.00 GHZ
4 GB 800 mhz DDR2 kingston ram (but only 32 bit OS)
Seagate 500 GB hard drive SATA
Vista ultimate 32-bit

[Roor]

What is your budget? Well part you something nice. Is the PSU still good? Also, will you be using the same case? You also want to check what actually is fried. If the proc/ram/drive are salvage worthy, and you are trying to keep the budget as low as possible, we may need to just replace the mobo....

[larrtdrifke]

plan on using the case and have a less than year old WD SATA hard drive the was completly disconnected so that should be salvageable. The power supply wont turn on my working pc so that is gone. Havent checked anything else, debating on where I want to go with building a new pc. Age of Conan is the most intense thing I do with my PC. I have noticed that even with my dual core duo 3.00 Ghz processor on my asus motherboard (w7 OS 64-bit and 5 Gigs ram) is running at around 90%. Was wondering if that is normal while playing AOC and if so I should upgrade. Dont mind paying a little more for a PC as its my hobby, just dont have the budget for super high end stuff like the 6 core i7 extreme on newegg for $900. Was thinking maybe around $1500 for everything MAX.

[Roor]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883147178 - around 1200 - seriously nice deal for the components.

1tb hdd, nice GC, 8 gigs of ram, and a core i7

[larrtdrifke]

that is a good pc, looking around to see what it will cost to build a pc but I will definately consider it. Thanks

[Force]

If you're good with pc hardware I would just go out and build your own.

[larrtdrifke]

yeah built two for myself, so I am experienced with building my own. Just trying to find good gaming parts

[SSSlippy]

The only that bothers me about that pc is the ram. Who puts 8gb into a triple ram setup. Most likely means u need to pull a stick out as it's common for intel made boards to only have 4 slots and because you lose both dual and triple channel by keeping that stick in you hurt yourself.

[larrtdrifke]

true. I am currently stuck on what motherboard I should get. Had an evga 780i since may 2008, was good till about a month ago. Hate to spend $200+ on a board only to have it go and take out other componets as well just after the warranty expires

[SSSlippy]

Are you going for a system overhaul or a part replacement. I can put together a solid gaming rig for under 1k easy.

[Onyxe]

I don't want to make a separate post but I am thinking about doing the same thing. I'm using an old AMD phenom that had a TLB bug. I've had to disable TLB and it keeps frying my cards. I'm not smart enough to build my own comp. but I was thinking about using cyperpowerpc. Has anyone used or know anyone who has used this company?

[larrtdrifke]

Are you going for a system overhaul or a part replacement. I can put together a solid gaming rig for under 1k easy.

out of curiousity, what would you build that would cost less than 1k and is good for gaming? I am on a bit of a budget and what something that can play current and upcoming mmo's. trying to decide if I should just replace the motherboard and cpu or do a overhaul. Also, where do people shop for parts? I have always used newegg.com. had a friend on wow suggest tigerdirect as well.

[larrtdrifke]

I don't want to make a separate post but I am thinking about doing the same thing. I'm using an old AMD phenom that had a TLB bug. I've had to disable TLB and it keeps frying my cards. I'm not smart enough to build my own comp. but I was thinking about using cyperpowerpc. Has anyone used or know anyone who has used this company?

cant say that I have ever heard of cyperpowerpc. Call me paranoid, but when it comes to computers I dont use any hardware or software from sources that I am not sure on, worried about viruses, malware, causing hardware issues,etc. If anyone else ever heard anything good or bad let us know.

[SSSlippy]

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?...pZHk5bkE&hl=en

Still need your own case but its a solid system.

[Onyxe]

that looks like some of the builds from cyberpowerpc. one difference is more ram...I still have a few months before I'll invest in that

[SSSlippy]

that looks like some of the builds from cyberpowerpc. one difference is more ram...I still have a few months before I'll invest in that

I just compared system and you looking at paying about $600 more.

[larrtdrifke]

Thanks SSSlippy, got a case and hard drive so that is looking rather amazing and affordable. Thank you

[larrtdrifke]

darn, that cpu is a in-store pick up only item only and no stores near me and newegg wants $279.99.

[SSSlippy]

If you want a slightly less power CPU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115067. All you really lose is hyper threading.

[larrtdrifke]

yeah saw that, my question is what is hyper threading and is it worth the extra money?

[SSSlippy]

Hyperthreading is where each core handles 2 threads. Normally each core handles one thread. This is almost like running 8 cores but there are disadvantages. Because it's 2 threads on one core they also share the same cache so some applications actually perform worse with hyper threading. Most of the time you will get better peformance with hyper threading if I remember it's about a 20% average speed increase with multi threaded apps. Is it worth having yes IMO but if u are on a budget u can skip it and u won't suffer that much.

For more info hit up wikipedia.

[larrtdrifke]

thanks, thinking of waiting till payday and getting the i7

[larrtdrifke]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813188055 ended up getting this board with the intel i7. Now wait till I can get the ddr3 ram and video card, well suppose I can use 8600 Gt sitting in closet till than ( I am not very patient lol). It was a combo deal. $404.95 for both plus a $40.00 mail in rebate for mobo

[SSSlippy]

There were reasons I recommended the other board but its your final call.

[larrtdrifke]

may I ask what those reasons were?