- Wed Apr 03, 2013 8:39 pm
#152924
Just have a few critiques to start off (Please don't think I am trolling, I have some suggestions).
First, while I would say mad props for building your own laptop, its demise is not suprising. Desktops are much easier to build for one important reason - they are generally not proprietary (although some components are very proprietary). I am gald you were not injured.
Second, after the Athelon/P4 debacle, I went AMD for life. Intel has a bad habit of making their chips faster at the price of making them less efficient. The Phenom II X6 is just slightly slower than the i7, while (when I was pricing them a few years ago, I have no idea what they cost today) the i7 cost about 5 times as much (again, pricing when they were released). I really suggest you consider AMD again.
On to the more constructive comments....
The PC you posted a link to seems ok. I personally like picking out every component that goes into the computers I build. Keep in mind that a bare-bones computer from Newegg may not be fully assembled (although it is probably at least mostly assembled). You can save a little money for pricyer parts if you have a computer case that can be re-used. DO NOT skimp on a PSU, you will eliminate about 33-50% of your build problems paying the extra $20-40 for a better quality one. The price difference may even pay for itself in lower overall energy consumption over the life of the PSU. The biggest performance consideration you want to make, second to CPU speed, is memory bandwidth/speed. I built a computer a few years ago and splurged on a CPU/MB/RAM configuration that could operate the RAM at 1600 Mhz (DDR 3, so 800 Mhz x2). What a difference. I still get (again the computer is about 3 years old, Phenom II x2, 3.2 Ghz) 50-200 FPS in minecraft. I have not seen it drop below 50!
Other considerations would be what peripherals are built into the motherboard, future processor support, max RAM, video card compatibility and availability (how many high speed PCI-E slots are on the MB). As far as video cards, I love my ATI 6570. It's old (1GB DDR5 V-RAM) but it plays games well. A more up to date ATI card is probably in order but I would stay away from NVIDIA cards. In the recent past their cards ran too hot for my tastes. If you go with a high end CPU/Video Card combo make sure you buy MULTIPLE high quality fans to cool your system.
I hope this helps. I have to say I am very jealous of you future computer purchase (have some tax return money comming, maybe I can splurge too).
-gallinka
Self appointed prince and ruler over all of Maldovia
