73 replies to this topic

[PixieDust]

Hello
I have been on the look for a new desktop and found this cyberpower on amazon.
and need advice on it.. is it a good desktop? i was worried about the power supply and the graphic card.. since i've read another threat on this forums saying it's a bad card.
.. and was wondering if it's possible to hook it to a HDMI capable monitor?

http://www.amazon.co...#productDetails

the monitor:
http://www.amazon.co..._pr_product_top

I am not a hard core gamer, currently I'd like to play league of legends and star wars.. and do some digital drawing..

Thanks =)

Edited by PixieDust, 13 December 2012 - 09:23 AM.

[Egomane]

CyberpowerPC Gamer Xtreme

I had to laugh so hard! While the CPU is good, the GPU is really not worth any consideration. I have no more time to look up a better one at the same price point, but I will do so, as soon as I come back home.

[Wun]

The Nvidia 620 is a business graphics card, You want at least a 650 for good gaming. A 660 should be close to max settings on that monitor.

You also dont need an i7 CPU. For gaming performance an i5 is about the same for significantly less money.

If you go to cyberpower.com or ibuypower.com you can custom pick the parts you want and see how much they are. Also check newegg.com for pre-built systems.

Edited by Wun, 13 December 2012 - 09:31 AM.

[Oderint dum Metuant]

That is a terrible gaming setup...and the GPU is well....that should be labelled false advertising.
I would strongly suggest building your own machine, you will get much much more for your money.

[PixieDust]

Egomane, on 13 December 2012 - 09:22 AM, said:

CyberpowerPC Gamer Xtreme

I had to laugh so hard! While the CPU is good, the GPU is really not worth any consideration. I have no more time to look up a better one at the same price point, but I will do so, as soon as I come back home.

well at least you got a laugh out of it ^^" ... I'd appreciate it if you showed me better desktops within this price range.

DV McKenna, on 13 December 2012 - 12:09 PM, said:

That is a terrible gaming setup...and the GPU is well....that should be labelled false advertising.
I would strongly suggest building your own machine, you will get much much more for your money.

I thought about building my own (I am actually very interested cuz i think it'd be fun).. but i don't have much knowledge .. and a bit limited on time (studies currently.. and building my own gonna involve alot of research since i'm .. a noobie lol)

Wun, on 13 December 2012 - 09:29 AM, said:

The Nvidia 620 is a business graphics card, You want at least a 650 for good gaming. A 660 should be close to max settings on that monitor.

You also dont need an i7 CPU. For gaming performance an i5 is about the same for significantly less money.

If you go to cyberpower.com or ibuypower.com you can custom pick the parts you want and see how much they are. Also check newegg.com for pre-built systems.

thanks for the suggestions.. i visited those sites.. was able to build a desktop on CP for 907$ (some upgrades I wasn't sure of..) and on ibuypower.. the price went over 1k ..

games I am interested in for now are league of legend and star wars.. and i want to do some art work too

[Vulpesveritas]

Just for the ~$800 range of prebuilts, some better options;
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16883229367
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16883227449

As far as building your own, more or less everything is labeled and there are a large number of guides available online, so even if you're a newbie it isn't that hard (I built my first one when I was 6. On my own I might add, with no prior research, just taking a desktop apart.). And as previously stated, you will get a better PC by Building your own. At $800, I would recommend the following;
Case: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16811139018
PSU: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817139028
Motherboard: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813157280
CPU: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819113285
GPU: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814202010
RAM: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820148543
HDD: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16822152244
ODD: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16827136254
OS: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16832116986
Heatsink: stock
TIM: stock

[Staplebeater]

I would highly recommend building your own PC. Vulpesveritas has a number of builds on this site (mostly AMD) and Tomshardware recently put out their 4th quarter builds. Additionally, tomshardware puts out best GPU and CPU for the money charts every month. It really isn't that hard. Newegg has a number of videos on how to do it. And when you build your own you can do the research and get exactly what you want not settling for this video card vs that one. the hardest part is the thermal compound in reality and if you are putting a stock cooler on (no overclocking) the compound is already on the heatsink simply attach to the CPU

[PixieDust]

Vulpesveritas, on 13 December 2012 - 01:33 PM, said:

Just for the ~$800 range of prebuilts, some better options;
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16883229367
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16883227449

As far as building your own, more or less everything is labeled and there are a large number of guides available online, so even if you're a newbie it isn't that hard (I built my first one when I was 6. On my own I might add, with no prior research, just taking a desktop apart.). And as previously stated, you will get a better PC by Building your own. At $800, I would recommend the following;
Case: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16811139018
PSU: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817139028
Motherboard: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813157280
CPU: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819113285
GPU: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814202010
RAM: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820148543
HDD: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16822152244
ODD: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16827136254
OS: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16832116986
Heatsink: stock
TIM: stock

thanks for the suggestions!
i'm very unfamiliar with AMD.. and kinda feel more comfortable with nvida/intel as i've been looking for a desktop for quite a while.. from this forum i read that intel is more reliable and more energy efficient?
i can go a bit higher on the price if it's worth it ^^"

but i'm wondering.. is that all i need to build? and what do u mean by 'stock'?

Staplebeater, on 13 December 2012 - 03:12 PM, said:

I would highly recommend building your own PC. Vulpesveritas has a number of builds on this site (mostly AMD) and Tomshardware recently put out their 4th quarter builds. Additionally, tomshardware puts out best GPU and CPU for the money charts every month. It really isn't that hard. Newegg has a number of videos on how to do it. And when you build your own you can do the research and get exactly what you want not settling for this video card vs that one. the hardest part is the thermal compound in reality and if you are putting a stock cooler on (no overclocking) the compound is already on the heatsink simply attach to the CPU

hmmmm.. i don't understand some of the terms (thermal compound.. sock cooler and heatsink?) but i know i don't need to overclock

Edited by PixieDust, 13 December 2012 - 04:13 PM.

[PixieDust]

i've tried to make a build on cyberpower.. ended up with $907

Case: Thermaltake Commander Mid-Tower Gaming Case (Black Color)

Internal ]USB Extension Module: None

Extra Case Fan Upgrade: Default case fans
Noise Reduction Technology: None
CPU: Intel® Core™ i5-3470 3.20 GHz 6MB Intel Smart Cache LGA1155

Cooling Fan: Asetek 510LC Liquid Cooling System 120MM Radiator & Fan (Enhanced Cooling Performance + Extreme Silent at 20dBA) (Single Standard 120MM Fan)
Coolant for Cyberpower Xtreme Hydro Water Cooling Kits: Standard Coolant
Motherboard: [CrossFireX] GIGABYTE Z77-DS3H Intel Z77 Chipset DDR3 ATX Mainboard w/ IRST, 7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, 2x Gen3 PCIe x16, 2 PCIe x1 & 2 PCI (Pro OC Certified)
Freebies: GIGABYTE GC-WB300D Exclusive Bluetooth 4.0/WiFi PCIe Expansion Card
Intel Smart Response Technology for Z77: 30 GB Corsair Nova 2 SATA II 3.0Gb/s SSD - 270MB/s Read & 220MB/s Write (Single Drive)
Memory: 8GB (4GBx2) DDR3/1866MHz Dual Channel Memory (Patriot Viper III [Free upgrade from 1600MHz Major Brand])
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GT 630 2GB 16X PCIe Video Card (Major Brand Powered by NVIDIA)

Power Supply Upgrade: * 750 Watts - Corsair CMPSU-750TXV2 80 Plus Power Supply - Quad SLI Ready
Hard Drive: 1TB SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 32MB Cache 7200RPM HDD (Single Drive)
Data Hard Drive: None
Hard Drive Cooling Fan: None
External Hard Drive (USB3.0/2.0/eSATA): None
USB Flash Drive: None
Optical Drive: 24X Double Layer Dual Format DVD+-R/+-RW + CD-R/RW Drive (BLACK COLOR)
Sound: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO

Network: Onboard Gigabit LAN Network
Keyboard: AZiO Large Print KB505U Keyboard w/ Tri-color backlight
Mouse: AZZA Optical 1600dpi Gaming Mouse with Weight Adjustable Cartridge

Wireless 802.11B/G Network Card: 802.11b/g/n 300Mbps PCI Wireless Adapter Network Card
External Wireless Network Card: None
Wireless 802.11 B/G/N Access Point: None
]Bluetooth: None
Flash Media Reader/Writer: None

Power Protection: None
IEEE1394 Card: None
Internal USB Port: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports
USB Port: None
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows 8 (64-bit Edition)
Media Center Remote Control & TV Tuner: None
Office Suite: Free Microsoft® Office® 2010 STARTER EDITION (Reduced-Functionality versions of Word and Excel that include advertising)
Ultra Care Option: None
Service: STANDARD WARRANTY: 3-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT
Rush Service: 5% Instant Rebate for NO-RUSH Delivery, order will ship in 3 to 4 Weeks. Must Enter Coupon Code "NORUSH"

907$... is it worth it? (i'll check on some videos about building my own .. i watched one a while back and the guy had alot of things.. and glues was kinda intimidating!) lol
maybe change to i7.. and windows 7?

Edited by PixieDust, 13 December 2012 - 04:33 PM.

[Vulpesveritas]

PixieDust, on 13 December 2012 - 04:11 PM, said:

thanks for the suggestions!
i'm very unfamiliar with AMD.. and kinda feel more comfortable with nvida/intel as i've been looking for a desktop for quite a while.. from this forum i read that intel is more reliable and more energy efficient?
i can go a bit higher on the price if it's worth it ^^"

but i'm wondering.. is that all i need to build? and what do u mean by 'stock'?


hmmmm.. i don't understand some of the terms (thermal compound.. sock cooler and heatsink?) but i know i don't need to overclock

A few points here,
AMD vs Intel; Equally reliable, Intel is more energy efficient, but AMD gives you more performance / $$$, even over the life of the machine (if you are in the USA and not in Hawaii) Even in European countries (Which pay 2-5x times as much in electricity as most of us in the USA), it's pretty much split even in price / $$$ until you get to 5+ years of running the machine. For most uses in the USA, it will take seven years of use for an AMD FX-8320 to even out with an i5-3450 in price, and even then the FX-8320 is the faster processor in multithreaded applications, which are becoming more and more common as software improves.

AMD vs Nvidia; AMD holds a performance advantage at most price points at this time. For example at the point of the build, at $200-250, a Radeon HD 7870 is 5-10% faster than the similarly priced Geforce GTX 660. The 7870 is also more energy efficient.

By stock, this means to use the heatsink and thermal compound which come with the CPU in the box. And yes, that is all you need in a build.

PixieDust, on 13 December 2012 - 04:25 PM, said:

i've tried to make a build on cyberpower.. ended up with $907

[color=#AFEEEE]Case: Thermaltake Commander Mid-Tower Gaming Case (Black Color)[/color]

[color=#AFEEEE]Internal [/color]USB Extension[color=#AFEEEE] Module: None[/color]

[color=#AFEEEE]Extra Case Fan Upgrade: Default case fans[/color]
[color=#AFEEEE]Noise Reduction Technology: None[/color]
[color=#AFEEEE]CPU: Intel® Core™ i5-3470 3.20 GHz 6MB Intel Smart Cache LGA1155[/color]

[color=#AFEEEE]Cooling Fan: Asetek 510LC Liquid Cooling System 120MM Radiator & Fan (Enhanced Cooling Performance + Extreme Silent at 20dBA) (Single Standard 120MM Fan)[/color]
[color=#AFEEEE]Coolant for Cyberpower Xtreme Hydro Water Cooling Kits: Standard Coolant[/color]
[color=#AFEEEE]Motherboard: [CrossFireX] GIGABYTE Z77-DS3H Intel Z77 Chipset DDR3 ATX Mainboard w/ IRST, 7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, 2x Gen3 PCIe x16, 2 PCIe x1 & 2 PCI (Pro OC Certified)[/color]
[color=#AFEEEE]Freebies: GIGABYTE GC-WB300D Exclusive Bluetooth 4.0/WiFi PCIe Expansion Card[/color]
[color=#AFEEEE]Intel Smart Response Technology for Z77: 30 GB Corsair Nova 2 SATA II 3.0Gb/s SSD - 270MB/s Read & 220MB/s Write (Single Drive)[/color]
[color=#AFEEEE]Memory: 8GB (4GBx2) DDR3/1866MHz Dual Channel Memory (Patriot Viper III [Free upgrade from 1600MHz Major Brand])[/color]
[color=#AFEEEE]Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GT 630 2GB 16X PCIe Video Card (Major Brand Powered by NVIDIA)[/color]

[color=#AFEEEE]Power Supply Upgrade: * 750 Watts - Corsair CMPSU-750TXV2 80 Plus Power Supply - Quad SLI Ready[/color]
[color=#AFEEEE]Hard Drive: 1TB SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 32MB Cache 7200RPM HDD (Single Drive)[/color]
[color=#AFEEEE]Data Hard Drive: None[/color]
[color=#AFEEEE]Hard Drive Cooling Fan: None[/color]
[color=#AFEEEE]External Hard Drive (USB3.0/2.0/eSATA): None[/color]
[color=#AFEEEE]USB Flash Drive: None[/color]
[color=#AFEEEE]Optical Drive: 24X Double Layer Dual Format DVD+-R/+-RW + CD-R/RW Drive (BLACK COLOR)[/color]

[color=#AFEEEE]Sound: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO[/color]

[color=#AFEEEE]Network: Onboard [/color]Gigabit LAN[color=#AFEEEE] Network[/color]
[color=#AFEEEE]Keyboard: AZiO Large Print KB505U Keyboard w/ Tri-color backlight[/color]
[color=#AFEEEE]Mouse: AZZA Optical 1600dpi Gaming Mouse with Weight Adjustable Cartridge[/color]

[color=#AFEEEE]Wireless 802.11B/G Network Card: 802.11b/g/n 300Mbps PCI Wireless Adapter Network Card[/color]
[color=#AFEEEE]External [/color]Wireless Network[color=#AFEEEE] Card: None[/color]
[color=#AFEEEE]Wireless 802.11 B/G/N Access Point: None[/color]
[color=#AFEEEE]Bluetooth: None[/color]
Flash Media[color=#AFEEEE] Reader/Writer: None[/color]

[color=#AFEEEE]Power Protection: None[/color]
[color=#AFEEEE]IEEE1394 Card: None[/color]
[color=#AFEEEE]Internal USB Port: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports[/color]
[color=#AFEEEE]USB Port: None[/color]
[color=#AFEEEE]Operating System: Microsoft® Windows 8 (64-bit Edition)[/color]
[color=#AFEEEE]Media Center Remote Control & TV Tuner: None[/color]
[color=#AFEEEE]Office Suite: Free Microsoft® Office® 2010 STARTER EDITION (Reduced-Functionality versions of Word and Excel that include advertising)[/color]
[color=#AFEEEE]Ultra Care Option: None[/color]
[color=#AFEEEE]Service: STANDARD WARRANTY: 3-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT[/color]
[color=#AFEEEE]Rush Service: 5% Instant Rebate for NO-RUSH Delivery, order will ship in 3 to 4 Weeks. Must Enter Coupon Code "NORUSH"[/color]

[color=#AFEEEE]907$[/color]
[color=#AFEEEE]maybe change to i7.. and windows 7?[/color]

Unfortunately, that rig is underpowered on the GPU end. You would see much greater gains improving the GPU, with a minimum of a Radeon HD 7770 or a Geforce GTX 650ti.

[Staplebeater]

PixieDust, on 13 December 2012 - 04:11 PM, said:

thanks for the suggestions!
i'm very unfamiliar with AMD.. and kinda feel more comfortable with nvida/intel as i've been looking for a desktop for quite a while.. from this forum i read that intel is more reliable and more energy efficient?
i can go a bit higher on the price if it's worth it ^^"

but i'm wondering.. is that all i need to build? and what do u mean by 'stock'?


hmmmm.. i don't understand some of the terms (thermal compound.. sock cooler and heatsink?) but i know i don't need to overclock

Thermal compound is paste that is used to allow good thermal transfer from the CPU to the heatsink (cools the CPU down)that you are using. Stock cooler is the cooler (heatsink) that come with the CPU. Many companies will make larger better coolers that will keep the temperature of the CPU down. cooler is better but the one that comes with the CPU is fine if you do not overclock

[PixieDust]

I am thinking about all given options here.. thanks all

if i want to add something like "Intel Smart Response Technology for Z77: 30 GB Corsair Nova 2 SATA II 3.0Gb/s SSD - 270MB/s Read & 220MB/s Write (Single Drive)" to the system i'm building myself, how can i do that?

[Vulpesveritas]

PixieDust, on 13 December 2012 - 06:37 PM, said:

I am thinking about all given options here.. thanks all

if i want to add something like "Intel Smart Response Technology for Z77: 30 GB Corsair Nova 2 SATA II 3.0Gb/s SSD - 270MB/s Read & 220MB/s Write (Single Drive)" to the system i'm building myself, how can i do that?

You have to have a Z77 motherboard which supports the drive, and then a solid state drive. After that you will set it up as a cache drive for your hard drive in your UEFI from the motherboard. However, it is generally a better idea just go go with a larger solid state drive for your operating system and a few of your more often used programs than to use a cache drive, as you'll get higher performance on those programs. However it does take more work managing your programs between drives than running a cache drive, but mostly you just end up having to use drive D:/ for your data instead of C:/ which you would have your operating system and said often used applications on. Also, I would recommend a Samsung SSD if you were looking at a solid state drive personally.

[PixieDust]

Vulpesveritas, on 13 December 2012 - 06:52 PM, said:

You have to have a Z77 motherboard which supports the drive, and then a solid state drive. After that you will set it up as a cache drive for your hard drive in your UEFI from the motherboard. However, it is generally a better idea just go go with a larger solid state drive for your operating system and a few of your more often used programs than to use a cache drive, as you'll get higher performance on those programs. However it does take more work managing your programs between drives than running a cache drive, but mostly you just end up having to use drive D:/ for your data instead of C:/ which you would have your operating system and said often used applications on. Also, I would recommend a Samsung SSD if you were looking at a solid state drive personally.

so I just get two drives, one is a regular and one SSD and put my programs on the SSD.. like what'd be a reasonable size for the SSD?
I found this site ...has a list of parts and compares prices and i can set a reminder to check for price drops
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/soY0
previously all i have researched was the processors and video cards (i don't know anything about other aspects of the PC so i didn't know what to chose.. probably why the price is high? ) and was leaning towards an intel/nvidia combo ^^" ..
and this made it bit harder to change my opinion: http://www.anandtech.com/print/6396
price wise, i'd a agree AMD is better, but when it came to photoshop and gaming that analysis site said AMD Vishera came below intel

Thanks for taking the time in answering my inquiries

[Vulpesveritas]

PixieDust, on 13 December 2012 - 07:14 PM, said:

so I just get two drives, one is a regular and one SSD and put my programs on the SSD.. like what'd be a reasonable size for the SSD?
I found this site ...has a list of parts and compares prices and i can set a reminder to check for price drops
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/soY0
previously all i have researched was the processors and video cards (i don't know anything about other aspects of the PC so i didn't know what to chose.. probably why the price is high? ) and was leaning towards an intel/nvidia combo ^^" ..
and this made it bit harder to change my opinion: http://www.anandtech.com/print/6396
price wise, i'd a agree AMD is better, but when it came to photoshop and gaming that analysis site said AMD Vishera came below intel

Thanks for taking the time in answering my inquiries

The main difference in gaming is whether it is newer games which are supporting 4+ threads, or in the case of the Anandtech benches, older and non-thread optimized games. In general, AMD is as fast as Intel in newer games. When gaming in general, at 1080p it doesn't really matter what CPU you use except in a small minority of games. Which happens to be mostly just bethesda titles, as they for whatever reason tend to dislike AMD processors (though it doesn't help that they're not coded for more than 2 threads) As far as Photoshop goes, AMD gets an advantage in CS5 and CS6 where thread utilization is higher, and the 8320 pulls about equal with an i5.


Even without going with an AMD CPU, I would highly suggest getting an AMD graphics card at most price points.


As for the size of an SSD, it comes into how much of a budget you're willing to put into it, however if you can I suggest getting a 120GB or better SSD.

[Sen]

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820226153

Not a bad price for 240 Gig SSD.

Also, you can install all your programs to an SSD. . but you don't HAVE to. When you install a program they typically ask you where you want to install, at which time you can select a different hard drive.

As for the intel vs AMD debate, Intel does have a decent edge when it comes to almost everything compared to AMD. Vulp will argue that the performance loss by going AMD isn't THAT huge, and the upshot is that AMD costs significantly less than intel processors.

To sum up most of the reviews of AMD processors VS Intel:

In some cases the AMD processors keep up with the intel i7s. In others, they're a bit weaker than similarly priced i5's.

The question is: How much of a difference in performance is Johnny Q Consumer going to notice?

And the answer is. . probably none at all.

As an example, let's say that with AMD you'd get. . oh. . 5 FPS less in games than an intel. let's also say that on the intel you're getting 80 FPS in MwO. On the AMD system, you'd only [lol, ONLY] be getting 75 FPS. At those levels, there will be 0 difference to your eye.

As far as photoshop, the difference in that link's benchmark between the i7 and the 8350 AMD chip is. . . . 3 seconds.

THREE SECONDS!

Again, Johnny Q consumer isn't even going to notice a difference of 3 seconds.

Just some food for thought.

[Vulpesveritas]

One thing Sen, I would recommend this samsung over that mushkin as it is a much newer design, significantly faster running SATA III, is twice as fast on read time, and includes Samsung's maintenance software, and has a better controller, for only $20 more.
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820147189

Edited by Vulpesveritas, 14 December 2012 - 09:35 AM.

[Sen]

NO SAMSUNG!


Samsung + Asus rampage IV extreme = random lockups, frustrating troubleshooting, and eventual replacement. [work in two other machines just fine. . stupid STUPID samsung /dramatic rage ]

I counter with:

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820226237

Which apparently just came back in stock, b/c I looked for it and couldn't find it earlier.

[Vulpesveritas]

Sen, on 14 December 2012 - 09:50 AM, said:

NO SAMSUNG!


Samsung + Asus rampage IV extreme = random lockups, frustrating troubleshooting, and eventual replacement. [work in two other machines just fine. . stupid STUPID samsung /dramatic rage ]

I counter with:

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820226237

Which apparently just came back in stock, b/c I looked for it and couldn't find it earlier.

Sorry, but the Samsung Pro version wipes the floor with every other SSD on the market, and the non-pro is almost as fast while still beating out sandforce drives and being more reliable. And for mostly every single motherboard out there Samsung doesn't have a problem. Just because it doesn't like ONE motherboard does not mean that you should complain about it.
http://www.hardocp.c...ro_ssd_review/1
http://www.anandtech...40-pro-failures
http://hexus.net/tec...o-series-512gb/
http://www.techspot....ng-840-pro-ssd/

Which as the HardOCP review states, any failures from the REVIEW samples came from that Samsung made the review samples still beta tests, pre-factory release samples, and the HardOCP being a retail sample with no issues, as is the later one Anandtech got. You can also see it working fine on Gigabyte, AsRock, and MSI motherboards without complaints.

Edited by Vulpesveritas, 14 December 2012 - 10:09 AM.

[Oderint dum Metuant]

Im not going to wade in on the intel/AMD debate, i have and do own one chip of each and the Intel chip performs better.
Vishera based chips are an entirely different proposition however.

As to SSD to go for, definitely the Samsung, its just about recognised on every credible site and magazine as being one of if not the best SSD on the market.