"Build the Best $700 PC" Some Questions

Link to article: http://teksyndicate.com/videos/build-best-700-pc-canadian-edition

Parts in article:

CPU: Intel Core i3-2100 3.1GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($119.99

Motherboard: ASRock H67M (B3) Micro ATX  LGA1155 Motherboard  ($74.88

Memory: Corsair XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($39.99

Storage: Kingston HyperX 3K 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk  ($94.99 

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1GB Video Card  ($179.88 

Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($63.21

Power Supply: SeaSonic 520W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply  $79.99

Optical Drive: LG GH24NS90 DVD/CD Writer  $17.69

I looked into "Solid State Disk" compaired to HDD and the difference seems to have greater speed but much lower memory. Forgive me if I am wrong. Will the Solid State Disk really matter? Or can I go with something like this "Seagate Barracuda Green ST2000DL003 2TB 5900 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive"? Or can an SSD and a HDD be used togather to achieve both great speed and lots of storage space?

I hear pc parts change price a lot so I was wondering if there are any superior parts while still keeping the $700 budget in mind.

I assume I will need to buy the operating system?

Can my TV with an HDMI port be used as a monitor?

How would I go about making it connect to the internet wirelessly?

 

 

You dont need to buy an OS, you can get Ubuntu, but there is limitations on the games that you can play

As with your TV, yes you can hook it up to your GPU but you will need to buy a m-HDMI to HDMI converter

You can buy a SSD, install you OS and programs on that, then have HDD that you store all you games and music on. This will make you boot faster and have faster load times on programs (games load slower since they are on the HDD) and not kill you 1,000,000 write/rewrites in 2 months.  

You can buy wireless dongles that will allow you to connect wirelessly to you internet

Thanks.

Should I am for for the same parts or can better be found?

That parts list is already outdated, wait and I'll try to put one together. An SSD is unneccessary for gaming, especially if you're one a low budget. Logan only recommends them in his gaming build vids if you already have a spare drive around. If not, an HDD wil serve you better. A WD Green drive might be quiet, but it's slower than a cheaper( as far as I know) Blue drive and slightly more expensive Black drive. If you want to play most games, buying Windows is neccessary. If you could live with waiting and playing Indie games for now, you can download a Linux OS like Ubuntu or Mint( though games can work with Wine, but it's not entirely bug-free and may not work with every game). If you can just connect it directly to your router, than it will be more reliable and faster. If not, get a WiFi card.

This would work. If you have a laptop or PC or have a friend with one that has a Windows 7 64-bit COA sticker on it( the sticker with the product key), you could use that( it should'nt affect the OS of that computer), and that'll save you some money so you could buy a 7950, which is stronger than a stock 7870.

If you don't mind spending $20 more, this'll give you a lot more storage.

If you don't have a COA sticker, this will be cutting it close, be a little weaker, but still be fast, and is faster than the original build you posted.

You can connect it to your TV, and you don't need a mini-HDMI to HDMI. Most graphic cards have full size HDMI on them.

Also, if you do have a spare drive, tell me, cause that would really help on your budget and make this build faster. Also, tell me if you can connect it directly to your router.

Appreciate the help. I don`t mind buying the OS. I have a spare 320 hard drive and the scrap has provided me a D-Link wireless card that I will assume will work once drivers are download from their website. I could connect a computer directly to my router but it would require a long to go down to the basement. Didn`t want the hassle.

Hmmm. that's awesome. Check to see what interface that wireless card has. By " I don`t mind buying the OS", do you mean that you bumped up the budget to $800?

If still $700:

More space, faster boot, load and start up times, but  a slightly slower in-game performance:  http://pcpartpicker.com/ca/p/xli2 ( use the SSD as boot drive and 320GB HDD as storage. If you want faster boot, load and start up times, put desired programs in SSD)

Better in-game performance, but less space, and slower boot, load and start up times: http://pcpartpicker.com/ca/p/xkw2

If $800:

More storage, faster boot, load and start up times then next build, but slower in-game performance: http://pcpartpicker.com/ca/p/xlma ( use the SSD as boot drive and 320GB HDD as storage. If you want faster boot, load and start up times, put desired programs in SSD)

Better in-game performance than any of the previous builds, best and fastest official AMD card( the 7990 is not officially recognized by AMD), but less storage, and slower boot, load and start up times: http://pcpartpicker.com/ca/p/xlnJ ( White card) or http://pcpartpicker.com/ca/p/xlnE ( Black card)

So why did you pick the AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor and the MSI 970A-G46 ATX AM3+ Motherboard?

I can't seem to find the sticker but the computer I am using currently is a Gateway zx6800. It has 8gb of ram, Windows 7 64-bit, 1tb hard drive, touch screen, ect. Someone just threw it away and nothing was wrong with it lol.

 

Edit I found the COA sticker on the gateway.

Is it an all in one? If not I'd just upgrade parts from that. You could scrap it and recycle some of the parts if it'd work out for you better.

Its all in one :(

Well, you could at least use the sticker. I chose the 6300 becuase some games need a fairly powerful CPU( like most MMOs[ Planetside 2 is particularly a hog] and Skyrim). And it's just $10 more than a 4300, so you get more performance for a cheap additional. I chose the MSI mobo because it's cheaper than some boards, while still having quality and have grrat features. Also, I chose a 970 chipset because I'm not sure if any chipset before that supports Vishera, while chipsets after it are too expensive for this build. 

If I wish all parts that go on the mobo are upgradeable in the future right?

I can't quite understand what you mean, but if you mean that if the parts on the builds I suggested are future-upgradable, then for the most part. The possibility of you being able to upgrade the CPU to the next gen of AMD CPUs depends on the manufacturer, and also for AMD. AMD did say that they will keep the AM3+ platform for 1-2 more years, so you're pretty safe on that side, but MSI might drop support for their 970 chipset mobos by then. But I'm pretty sure you won't be upgrading any time soon. DDR4 is coming out, but it's still new, so it's gonna be pretty expensive, so DDR3 is still okay. The graphics are upgradable, of course, or you could XFire. 

Whats Xfire?

XFire or Crossfire, which is AMD's answer to SLI. SLI and Crossfire just means using two or more GPUs in a system to improve graphical performance. In both cases, you need to use a bridge to connect the GPUs. Though there is a case where you don't need a bridge, something called Hybrid XFire, where a dedicated GPU is paired up with an iGPU( like from a  mobo or APU). Different XFire capable AMD cards can XFire with any combination of other XFire capable GPUs, but an SLI capable card can only SLI with the same card. A 7850 can be paired with a 7770, but a 660 Ti can only be paired up with another 660 Ti, to put it bluntly. Though, XFire and SLI don't always improve performance. In some cases, they even worsen the performance. If you're gonna ask " So by buying two lesser cards, I can get more performance than one greater card?". In most cases, no. For example, buying two 7770s will cost something like one 7870. Does that mean you get 7870 performance? In a lot of cases, no. In some, there might, but just from the headache of setting up multiple cards negates that edge. " But two 7770s cost more than one 7850, does that make it better?". It can perform a worse than the 7850 in some, a little better in some, and somewhat equal in another. But again, the headache, and because it costs more, negates any advantage it might have. That's why we always recommend getting one greater card rather than getting two lesser ones.

Hope that was easy to understand

Thank you "Z" for being awesome and pointing people in the right direction. I would like to add if he wants both ssd speed and harddrive storage then a hybrid drive would be the best option. but it is a 2.5 inch drive so you will have lower seek times and a more responsive experience. I also wouldn't spend that much on a power supply altho xfx psu's are very good.

so here is my idea http://pcpartpicker.com/ca/p/xwbm

then with my thinking Keynomaru could buy a cpu cooler after the rebate $ come in.

revised intel setup

http://pcpartpicker.com/ca/p/xwto

You should choose the 750GB version. The 500GB flavor only uses SATA II, THE 750GB one uses SATA III.

I also like the XT. I saw some benchmarks, and it was faster than a Caviar Black, and it was only slightly slower than some full-fledged SSDs. I was viewing the one with SATA II, mind you, so the SATA III one is gonna be even faster.

@OP- If you're curious, what the XT does is it takes 8GB of flash memory( 4GB for the 500GB one) and uses it as a huge cache. It then uses a special program to remember your most accessed files and applications, and puts it in the flash storage, which of course, is faster than a hard drive. Quite literally , the more you use your PC, the faster it becomes( well, for the most used files and applications, though). The first time you boot an OS on it, it's gonna have normal HDD speed. The second, it's gonna be faster. It goes faster until you reach SSD like speeds. But it's still gonna have normal write speeds, because the HDD part of the drive is still used for storage.

Thanks Z. So you mentioned using the COA sticker to copy windows 7-64 bit to another hard drive. How exactly is that done? 

Lets not factor in the OS and Hard drive into around $700 budget. I would like a reliable 1TB HDD for now. I suppose what I need the computer to do is run games smoothly, have modern games look great, have the option to connect to the internet wirelessly.

About "slower boot, load and start up times" does the SSD make a phenomenal difference?