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Geek Culture / Will this PC build work?

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Matt Rock
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Location: Binghamton NY USA
Posted: 27th Dec 2011 18:54 Edited at: 27th Dec 2011 18:57
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Hey guys,

So my girlfriend and I decided to play Star Wars: The Old Republic after I participated in a beta weekend back in November. The game looks incredible on my PC, with all of the settings cranked up to max, including shadows, banking 40 to 60 FPS on average. I figured that my girlfriend's laptop, which can play WoW with similar performance, would make short work of SWTOR. But no, not even close. She's lucky to get 10 FPS, and that's when no one is around her.

So, long story short, I decided to build her a new computer. But here's the catch: I haven't built a computer from the ground up since a single-core 1 GHz processor was top-of-the-line. I bought the case and the mobo already, and the mobo is installed, but I feel like I need a second opinion on the rest of the parts before I go and pay for them. I'm 99% sure it's all compatible, but better safe than sorry, right?

Here's the parts list (saved in a wishlist on Newegg, also findable by searching public wishlists for "Sharyn's Computer"). What do you guys think? Will this build handle SWTOR with decent performance? Are there any conflicts you can spot? Are there any similarly-priced components you think I'd be better off with? I appreciate any help anyone offers up on this!

Edit: In case you aren't familiar with SWTOR, here are my current specs, with which I'm getting the aforementioned performance:

Processor: AMD Phenom II 965 x4 @ 3.4 GHz
RAM: 6 GB
Video: ATI Jaguar HD5570 1 GB
Sound: Creative Titanium X

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Phaelax
DBPro Master
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Joined: 16th Apr 2003
Location: Metropia
Posted: 28th Dec 2011 00:21
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Well aside from your case being completely hideous, I see nothing wrong with the build. And I'm probably one of the few people who won't give you crap for spending money on a dedicated sound card but your gf probably will be fine with the motherboard's integrated sound. The harddrive and slot case coolers are a waste of money I think. Good cable management and you won't need any of that.

I did a quick comparison of your gfx and the gt 430. The 5570 outperforms the 430. And you're paying twice as much for a 430 because its a 2GB version. For the same price you can get the radeon 6570 2gb, or save $20 and get a 1gb 6570, which is what I'd do. The 6670 is also around $80 and still single-slot. Why let your gf scrape by with the bare minimum frame rates when you could be giving her so much more?!

Here's my recent build list, though significantly more than your build so I doubt it'd be any help to ya.
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=17947872

"You're not going crazy. You're going sane in a crazy world!" ~Tick
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Matt Rock
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Posted: 28th Dec 2011 03:36
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Thanks for looking into it for me, it's appreciated! My girlfriend picked the case, she wanted a green one and Newegg's selections were pretty slim for that. It's slightly darker green now that it's here than it looks in the picture though. Newegg's pictures are like that I've found: the mobo isn't actually blue, it's more of a dark green for some reason, but eh, it works.

I decided to forego the sound card because I have a 24-bit Creative Audigy lying around that isn't being used. You're right, she probably won't need it, but it might help free up a smidge of system resources, and if she ever decides to go with 5.1 surround she'll be covered

And HUGE thanks on the video card! I was weighing the differences between the one I picked and the 6570. I've always been partial to ATI cards but I couldn't settle on which to get. As long as it has HDMI out and performance as good or better than the 5570 then it works for the build I think. I'll definitely go with the ATI card

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Neuro Fuzzy
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Posted: 28th Dec 2011 04:52
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A hard drive cooler?

Also, I'm pretty sure that case doesn't come with a cd drive.

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Matt Rock
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Posted: 28th Dec 2011 05:49
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I'm taking a DVD-ROM out of an old tower. I figured the HD cooler might help move air around up front, someone told me a while back that overheating can slow down read speeds

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charger bandit
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Posted: 28th Dec 2011 14:17 Edited at: 28th Dec 2011 14:21
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Thats silly,as long as it's decently cable routed and have a fan in front/back and have a good case,the hard drive should never overheat.

For the cooling,you only need a fan on the side and in the back,thats it. The PCI slot and harddrive coolers are pretty much just fancy,no real use.

I strongly suggest for putting a slight bit more money into the graphics card,that GT430 isn't exactly a gaming card,for about 20 bucks more you should get the GTS450/GTX550 (I have a GTX550,it is awesome) to be a bit futureproof too. This GTS450 is about 2x as fast as GT430,for only 20 bucks more.

You also don't need any thermal paste because the good Arctic Cooling paste is already on the cooler preinstalled. You just mount the cooler.

For sound,I highly recommend Logitech Z320 over the Altecs,my friend had both and the Logitech speakers were way cleaner. And that soundcard on the list is pretty much worse than the integrated soundcard on the motherboard.

The motherboard is slightly outdated(old chipset),get THIS one,for the same price you get the latest chipset,AM3+ socket(don't worry,AM3 CPU's fit in fine,but you can also check on the ASUS website).


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MrValentine
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Playing: FFVII
Posted: 29th Dec 2011 01:20
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Sorry but if he is going all out amd ati he will need as many coolers he can fit in there...

Ignore my post as I dont wanna hear more about the two...

Regarding cases... I am more than happy with my SST RAVEN.RV01B... case

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The Wilderbeast
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Posted: 29th Dec 2011 18:10
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Quote: "Sorry but if he is going all out amd ati he will need as many coolers he can fit in there..."

I think that's a baseless comment. Any low-mid range processor or graphics card made in the past five years, from either AMD or Nvidia or Intel, will run at a fairly low temps and does not need an abundance of extra cooling.


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charger bandit
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Posted: 29th Dec 2011 23:19
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My Phenom X4 worked completely fine at about 40 degrees celsius with stock cooler,now I have a decent cooler it runs at about 30 degrees celsius. I hate it when people judge AMD as slow and hot. They actually provide extremely good CPU for the price up to the middle class of the preformance selection.

The basic computer should survive with only the stock provided coolers alone,if it doesn't work,the case is too closed or the space the computer is in is very hot(or a hardware problem itself).


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Matt Rock
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Posted: 30th Dec 2011 00:24
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Well, I am putting one fan in in the back, partially because the lighting will be neat, and also because when I expand it down the road, that'll be one less thing to worry about. I ditched the PCI and HD fans, though. Three case fans and the PS fan should be far more than enough, based on what everyone keeps telling me

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charger bandit
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Posted: 30th Dec 2011 21:29
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Just improve what I have mentioned three posts above and you should have quite a decent gaming machine.


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