Yet Another PC Help Thread...

I've had my Phenom II X4 965 BE for probably 6 months now and on stock it's like 45 Celsius under load (not full since I can't give it full and I'm not really interested in Slamming it with Prime 95 for informational purposes). With a good aftermarket air cooler (Scythe mugen 2) and some Arctic MX3 thermal paste (NON Conductive :D) I wouldn't expect it to ever reach above 41 Celsius under Full load, warranting the room isn't 100 degrees Fahrenheit from summer.

Also, Intel is a premium. You can buy a Phenom II X4 955 BE for 150-160 where you can buy an i7 920 for 270-300, and I'm pretty sure you'll never full load either. As for future proofing, AMD has a series of socket AM3 procs coming in Fall of 2011 for desktops, which will be a brand new architecture with a die shrink giving better energy, heat and performance at more then likely a significantly less price then the nearest comparative competition. Since it uses same socket as current Phenom IIs (AM3) you will be able to just swap the processor (after a bios update of course) and have a brand new Proc. Should give you another 3 years + on the longevity of your computer overall :)

tl;dr AMD will do what Intel does for 100 dollars cheaper for the average to light power user and this "heat issue" is non existent.

If you know your socket (AM2+ I'm guessing) you can easily get an older Phenom II X4 to replace your processor. There are some that use AM2+ Socket. They are like 100-120 at most and you will notice quite a bit of performance. Your graphics card is also a draw back but someone already suggested a solution :). An alternative is using the new radeon 5700 series (I use sapphire 5770 Juniper XT). They are about 150 for a 5770 and are pretty damn good for a mid line card. Check on your socket and you might be able to squeeze another 2-3 years outta your computer (go go new games on medium/medium-low settings).

You could also manage to snag 4GB of dual channel DDR2 1066 (guessing that's what you are running) and upgrade to Windows 7 (which comes with both 32 and 64 bit so either way if you get memory or not you can still use it) which would cost maybe 160 (80 memory and 80 upgrade OS copy from newegg).

One thing though, it's important you have a large enough power supply if you do decide to update your PC. I don't think you can replace the Dell power supply without replacing the mobo which defeats the purpose of all this upgrade. Dell uses a proprietary shape for their mobo connector last I remember (read, *** shaped mobo power connector monopolizing you from being able to replace it so you have to buy from them). You are looking at 500 watts minimum; 600 watts is very safe.

BTW If anyone can't build a computer, it's really not difficult. I suggest doing some reading on the internet. There are millions of guides, websites and informationals on computer hardware, building and maintaining. It takes some time to understand things, but talk to people, ask questions, study and in a couple of weeks you will feel confident enough to try it. If you want a practice build, try something super cheap like a used Pentium 4, an old radeon/geforce, old memory etc. and try and make a working build with a copy of Windows XP :). You could probably come up with all the stuff for 60-75 dollars at a used parts store/goodwill. If that isn't an option, newegg lets you return hardware you order so don't feel you are stuck into something that you can't return. If worse comes to worse, local computer shops might build the system outta the hardware you ordered for a small fee (50-75 dollars) which includes installing and fully updating OS and making sure all bios settings are correct. Saves you 4 hours of your life and the possibility of making mistakes.

If you want to upgrade one of your Premade PCs from Dell/HP/Sony etc. I recommend using a program like Speccy to check information about your hardware. It's pretty damn good :)

Lastly, always shop around. Newegg.com and Tigerdirect.com are both very good; Newegg is very clean and has a larger selection and better customer service, while Tiger direct shipping is a bit slower, limits you to fedex in exchange they have tons of Processor and Mobo combos that are easily a 30dollar or so combo discount making it a very nice choice for buying combo deals.

Good luck and I hope everyone gets what they want in their computer. I sure have what I want :); I could really do nice with a new monitor for some larger eye candy though :)


Sorry for wall of text. :)

Disclaimer: I'm not a professional. This is strictly my hobby and I have quite a few years experience with 100% success on my builds, but I don't claim to be omniscient of computers and computer related issues.

Been awhile since I made the tread. Gonna post my setup, hoping to order it next week. Any last minute suggestions would be great.

CPU: Intel Core i7-930 Bloomfield 2.8GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80601930]

Mobo: ASUS Sabertooth X58 LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

RAM: CORSAIR DOMINATOR 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TR3X6G1600C8D

Video Card: Palit NE5TX470F10DA GeForce GTX 470 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Hard drive: Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Power Supply: CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX 850W ATX12V 2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply

Optical Drive: ASUS Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM

Case: COOLER MASTER HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case

I'd like some advice on a CPU cooler, not really sure what to get a far as cooling goes.

Right now all that is at about $1400 USD with shipping and such.

Also, is there nything else that i'm missing? Any suggestions on alternative parts to replace on that list would be great, such as cheaper pieces that are just as effective as the ones listed.

Thanks guys.