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| Building A New Computer | |
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| Topic Started: Feb 26 2008, 02:23 AM (168 Views) | |
| + Jspace10 | Feb 28 2008, 06:14 AM Post #16 |
Cheesus Fan
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800W is overkill, and you WILL need a heatsync. that's how my old comp died. its only 50 bucks or less, so buy it. also you need a tube of thermal paste for it, so thats another 10$ at max, so i highly recommend a heatsync. nothing too fancy, just read reviews. I have the Antec 180 case and I love it. Only problem is it's heavy. |
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| + SirLamer | Feb 29 2008, 05:11 AM Post #17 |
Cheesus Fan
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You shouldn't be telling people who ask "what is a heat sink" to buy one.
 I am going to buy a new PC in a couple months (when school is done) and I have been doing a lot of research on computer hardware so that I can learn more about how the hardware works and stuff. "Heat sink" is used to describe an encompasing feature designed to remove heat from components. It does include a heatsink, but it also includes other important components such as fans, thermal paste and often heat piping. The reason I don't think you shoud buy your own is because you have to be careful about how you install it, with particular concern for how the thermal paste is applied. If you really want to get a third party one, then just look up some stuff about them on the Internet, because to be honest they're not too hard to install. But, if you buy your parts from newegg, you'll have to install the heatsink whether it's stock or 3rd party. FYI, the best performing heat sink right now is the Thermalright Extreme 120 Ultra, but it's massive. All processors ship with a stock heat sink that will cool it fine if you don't overclock. You will still be able to overclock with the stock heat sink and fan a bit, but you risk reducing the life of your processor (see: electromigration). I think you don't need a 3rd party one. Know that the Antec 900 is massive and it's loud. It's usually meant for very high performance machines. It's the popular one right now, but mostly because it is the popular one right now (ie. it's hip). There's nothing BAD about it - indeed, it's the cheapest gaming PC case you'll find that also very good. If you are not concerned for size or noise, then you should get it. However, if you have no intention of overclocking you can get a simpler case and save some money (and size and noise). I am going to get the P182, which is soundproofed and has some more advanced features, but it costs more and is heavy. P182 = P180 mentioned earlier, but newer. If I were to buy a new machine right now, would get get a 8800GTS 512MB. For those who don't know, the 512MB version is a new GTS, different from the 640MB version of last year. It's based on the newer processor (the 65nm one) and thus performs better while being cheaper. However, Wisp, given your budget you might want to consider getting the 8800 GT. It's not quite as fast but it's by far the most valuable card out right now in terms of cost vs. performance. Finally, I think you should consider getting an Intel processor. AMD's technology is WAAAAY out of date and far behind Intel's. The new 45nm processors from Intel are fantastic and I strongly encourage you to get one of those. They also overclock very very well and they support SSE4.1, which is for fast rendering of high definition video (though any new CPU today can handle it, it's nice to be able to play back high-def video while also doing other stuff). Dual core chips are out right now, and the quad cores (asside form the horribly overpriced Extreme Addition ones) will be hitting the market very very soon. Now, to answer your question regarding quad core performance: Having multiple cores only improves performance in parallel task processing. For the desktop (ie. normal Windows use) this means improved performance almost all the time, as Windows will assign separate tasks to different cores, which reduces time wasted on switching back and forth between tasks. Many games also support multiple cores, but they must be designed to support the feature. Dual core support has been around for several years, but quad core support is a new thing. Currently, all games based on the Unreal 3 Engine and the Crytek 2 engine (ie. Far Cry) support Quad Core. Also, the Steam Engine supports quad core as of the Orange Box released (including TF2 and portal). However, HL2 and Ep:1 run on dual core. Note that a dual core program will run on a quad core chip just fine with all of the benefits of dual core processing, but the other two cores will sit mostly idle, however Windows will make the low CPU use background tasks migrate to these idling cores, boosting performance a little. Also, a quad core chip usually comes with an extra large on-chip data cache, boosting performance of high-bandwidth programs for both dual core and quad core programs. You might also want to consider getting a 64-bit version of Windows Vista. A lot of people are telling people to get the 32-bit OS, and that's fine, except 32-bit systems will no longer be able to meet the performance needs of new systems within the year and they will quickly fall out of support. For example, a 32-bit system can only address 4GB of memory. This means less than 4GB of RAM can be used, since other devices use some of this available addressing space. Also, SP1 adds to Vista support for a very important hardware feature that hardware vendors will be eager to support but will require 64-bit Vista. There is also a performance boost in games made within the past couple years, including the entire Half-Life 2 library and the mods released with it (note that Half-Life 2 was updated long after its released to add 64-bit support, and most games released at this time don't support 64-bit). Note that software designed for 32-bit will usually work, but sometimes does not. Also, there is a bit of an emulation involved so there is a performance hit for using 32-bit software, but since this is mostly older programs that are easy to run this is usually okay. Also, you need to use different drivers for hardward on the 64-bit OS and some vendors of older parts might not release any. |
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| Versus | Feb 29 2008, 01:35 PM Post #18 |
Cheesus Lover
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or 64-bit XP, like I have.
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6:08 AM Nov 28
