Wife said OK - New Computer

[stouthm]

Would like opinions and suggestions. Then I will pull the trigger. This is what I'm considering:

Case - Cooler Master Centurion 5 has 2 fans
PS - Cooler Master 850SP 80 plus certified
CPU - Intel i5 3570K
MB- Asus P8Z77-V Deluxe
Memory - 8GB DDR3-1600
Video Card - NVidia EVGA GTX 660, 2048mb, 960 cores
Drive 1 - Intel 520 SSD 120GB for OS
Drive 2 - Intel 520 SSD 180GB for TRS12
Drive 3 - WD 500G 7200 Blue for other stuff
Wireless - PCI-e WiFi b/g/n
Memory Card Reader
Optical Drive - Lite-On DVD-RW
OS - Windows 7 HP, 64 bit

All for the price of........... $1916 Good price or not?

12 month, 3yr tech support

 

[fran1]

Looks good.
Nothing you could use out of your old computer ? Hard/optical drive. PSU . Not got an O/S disc ?

 

[vernongt]

G'day Stouthm,
I'm fairly new to Trainz myself, as you can see by my 'track' at the top.
I have just been going through the process of building myself a gamer PC to replace my DELL Dimension E521 which is XP that I upgraded but only have 3GB of ram and a GeForce GT 240 video card.
I haven't ordered mine yet; a couple of weeks and the money will be available !
I don't know whether I can mention the site on here or not, but they seem to be quite popular.

Oh, I kept my money down little by using AMD and Compatible Motherboard. Here's a brief line of what I'm about to pay $1016 plus S&H for:

Corsair Carbide 300R mid-tower.
AMD FX-8350 4.00GHz Eight Core AM3+ CPU.
Asetek 510LC w/dual fans [push-pull].
CrossfireX Gigabyte GA-970A D3 AMD 970 Chipset Socket AM3+ ATX.
16GB [8GBx2] DDR3/1600MHz G.SKILL Ripjaws RAM.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 2GB 16x PCIe 3.0 Video Card.
600 Watt Corsair CMPSU-600CXV2 Power.
1TB Western Digital Blue SATA-III 6.0GB/s 7200 HDD.
24X Double Layer Dual Format [DVD+-R/+-RW+CD-R/RW] Optical drive.
External Wireless Network Card: ASUS USB-N13 802.11b/g/n 300Mbps [[I have Verizon Mobile Hotspot for my ISP].
I elected not to buy an OS because I have a DVD [Windows 7 HP 64bit] that I haven't used.
I'm gonna use my existing DVI 20" DELL Flat Screen Monitor [Save a buck or two].
Of course I paid an extra $20 to prevent the Parcel Delivery Company wrecking it in transit. [BIG foam bag that's inflated inside the case].

Now, a lot of the guys on this site might turn their noses up at AMD but I've had Super Good Service out of my previous AMD 64 and previous.
Besides, I sure as toot [little engine] , saved a barrel of money and I reckon I've got one sweeeeet rig coming soon.

Good luck with you machine and congrats on ALSO HAVING A GOOD WIFE - ME TOO!!! 37 YEARS MARRIED AND STILL PLAYING WITH TRAINS!!! :udrool:...

Cheers,
Vernon

 

[stouthm]

If I have an OS disk then I'm thinking of selling the old unit. I'll take out the hard drive. It's 6 yrs old and just now starting to bog down with TRS12. After 6 yrs I don't remember if I have a disk or not. Will look later. There's a person who is showing some interest in the old unit. Maybe get some money back for the new unit.

@Vernon - got you beat, it will be 45 years in October. One problem I can see emerging, she's going to retire in June so we might not see that 45.

 

[vernongt]

G'day again Stouthm,

Good luck with the search for the OS and also selling the ole machine. I'm pulling one of the SATA 500GB HDDs to stick in my new one. Then the rest is up for grabs...

About your 45yrs; congratulations to you both... My wife and I retired back in 2005 [aged 58], found we could live on our 401K's and SSA [retirement pension] and have lots more fun. Life's good!!!

 

[RoysTrainz]

Hi stouthm,
Finally she gave in, how did you do that?:hehe:
Config look good to me, the i5 maybe little bit low but ssd is the most important one for win64 excellent and one for trainz.
Nvidia good choice too.
Price i cannot compare with here.
My route should work well now for sure, need new update let me know.

best regards,
Roy

Would like opinions and suggestions. Then I will pull the trigger. This is what I'm considering:

Case - Cooler Master Centurion 5 has 2 fans
PS - Cooler Master 850SP 80 plus certified
CPU - Intel i5 3570K
MB- Asus P8Z77-V Deluxe
Memory - 8GB DDR3-1600
Video Card - NVidia EVGA GTX 660, 2048mb, 960 cores
Drive 1 - Intel 520 SSD 120GB for OS
Drive 2 - Intel 520 SSD 180GB for TRS12
Drive 3 - WD 500G 7200 Blue for other stuff
Wireless - PCI-e WiFi b/g/n
Memory Card Reader
Optical Drive - Lite-On DVD-RW
OS - Windows 7 HP, 64 bit

All for the price of........... $1916 Good price or not?

12 month, 3yr tech support

 

[stouthm]

Hi Roy & Ning - it was never a problem with my wife, I was satisfied with the system that I had. Just recently it has started to bog down and it's 6 years old so I figured it's time for a new system. I still don't understand why you need a SSD for the OS. For TRS12, yes, but as for speeding up the OS I don't see how it will make that much of a difference. If I'm on my browser and I click on my e-mail it takes abot 3-5 secs and I'm there. If the SSD takes 1 sec I don't think spending the money for that difference is worth it. Convince me otherwise.

 

[Gandalf0444]

I 100% agree with you. I use an SSD strictly for trainz, the OS is still on the old school platters. I don't need windows to boot in 2 seconds...the fact that I have a multi-boot system already slows that process down some so a SSD won't matter. I also don't need to be able to access the emails at light speed either I am more then willing to wait the extra 2 seconds.

 

[lewisner]

Deleted due to talking nonsense.

 

[RoysTrainz]

Morning,
SSd for your win7 64 bit makes quiet.a difference in daily usage at very good speed. Most important is reliability and ease of keeping a clean well organised disk.
I use my now 4-6 year old hdd's only for backup and storage and they getting old, disk errors etc
So for me yes ssd makes more than a difference so try this for a while and notice win7 64b works better and easier.

Ning says hello to you and your wife.
Regards,

Roy

 

[fran1]

Lewisner,
stouthm's price was $ dollars which converts to £1283.72p. roughly. I had a go at pricing it up last night, I think it got to about a grand for parts only, could have been more I've lost me bit of paper.

 

[steamboateng]

I think for the $2k you should be getting at least an i7 quad core processor @ 3.2 Ghz and a high quality PS (both add up to the real 'guts' of the system). Throw in a GTX680 gpu and you can say you got a very good buy.

 

[lewisner]

Lewisner,
stouthm's price was $ dollars which converts to £1283.72p. roughly. I had a go at pricing it up last night, I think it got to about a grand for parts only, could have been more I've lost me bit of paper.

Oops! Guess I had a senior moment there. Deleted.

 

[steamboateng]

It's ok Lew. Even Patternax has senior moments!

 

[stouthm]

@ steamboateng - if you can find me a site where I can get your suggested system please direct me there. I've looked at several different sites where you select the parts and they put it together for you and for what I what they're all around $1800. That does not include the i7 3770k, or a 690 vidoe card. I don't believe what you suggested for $2000 is obtainable unless I build it.

 

[steamboateng]

stouthm, I didn't reference a GTX 690 card; that's a $1k card. I refernced a GTX 680 2Gb card; about $500
Check out this site: http://www.digitalstormonline.com/
Digital Storm offers several fine gaming rigs in your price range. Pick and choose components right from their site.
How about this:
Case: Cooler Master 942 HAFX
CPU: Intel i7 3770K 3.5 Ghz quad core
CPU Cooler: H20 Digital Storm 120 mm Radiator Liquid CPU cooler
RAM: 8 Gb DDR3-1600 Mhz (Digital Storm)
Mobo: Asus Sabertooth Z77
PSU: Corsair 800w-SLI compatible
GPU: NVidia GTX GeForce 680 (2Gb vram)
SSD: 1x120Gb Corsair(Model-Nuetron GTX series)
HDD: WD 1Tb-7200 rpm-32 Mb cache
Optical Drive: x1
High Speed network ports
OS: Win7-64 Home
Standard Chasis Fans
Total: $2274
Same as above w/GTX 670 GPU - $2125
For an extra $50 get the upgraded Asus mobo and DS will overclock your CPU to approx 4.5 Ghz.

Notes on Digital Storm: A very reputable company with excellent support. They would not OC your CPU if they thought it hurt the rig.
You can get on the phone with them an get guidance in choosing components. They also have a very helpfulll Forums site where you can get tips, info
and recommenations for your build.

Tips on getting 'significant other' to ok that extra few hundred $$:
1. A few meals out at good eateries
2. A weekend getaway now and then
3. Gift a Kindle Fire w/gift card for books
And if all else fails;
5. A vacation to Hawaii

Regards

 

[stouthm]

I like your tips at the end. Spend $6000 for a vacation in Hawaii for a $2000 computer. That adds up to a $8000 computer. I checked out that site but since I don't use JAVA anymore I can't get to the configure section. I finally pulled the trigger and ordered from www.jncs.com They built my last two systems and I'm very happy with the quality of work. Price came out at $1855 including shipping and I should have it the week of the 25th. Thanks for your inputs.

 

[lewisner]

I like your tips at the end. Spend $6000 for a vacation in Hawaii for a $2000 computer. That adds up to a $8000 computer. I checked out that site but since I don't use JAVA anymore I can't get to the configure section. I finally pulled the trigger and ordered from www.jncs.com They built my last two systems and I'm very happy with the quality of work. Price came out at $1855 including shipping and I should have it the week of the 25th. Thanks for your inputs.

Did you go with the specs at the start of the thread or with Steamboateng's suggested specs?

 

[steamboateng]

Hey, that's life in the fast lane!:Y:

 

[stouthm]

@ lewisner - as stated above I couldn't access the site he suggested because I've disable JAVA, too many negative things happening with that , so I went with most of the original specs except I did away with the second SSD, replaced it with a WD 1T 7200 Black, a different case with 3 fans, 16Gb RAM and the SSD is now 256GB. Got it for $1800. The important thing is I'm happy and now I have to wait.