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Finishing What I Started

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#1 Rob38

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Posted 28 March 2014 - 05:37 AM

It's amazing how long it has been and how much I have changed since I first took an interest in BFME Modding.  Back in August 2006 when it all started, I was a recent high school graduate nervous to start my freshman year of college.  Kind of like Bilbo getting ready to start his first big "adventure" :) Throughout the coming years, my skills evolved, and my involvement with BFME modding and the T3A community as a whole increased dramatically.  Then, in 2012, I more or less vanished without any explanation or word of what happened.  For that I am sorry.  To make a long story short, I burned out and lost the spark and motivation that I initially had when I first started modding.  A lot of big changes where happening in my life, and it seemed I had less and less time and energy to commit to T3A and BFME modding.  Thus are the wonders of life.

 

It is now March 2014.  It has been 7.5 years since I first arrived on the BFME modding scene.  I have a bachelor's and master's degree in social work, and I work full-time as a child welfare caseworker.  It is a challenging and exhausting job at times, but it has kept me humble and sincere.  I have grown and evolved so much over the years, and I hope to keep that trend well into my future.  But enough of that.  I am posting now after such a long absence because I wish to finish a project that I started when I was still a kid.  There has always been a pit in my stomach so to speak about never completing Helm's Deep Last Hope.  The project means so much more to me than just a mod, and I just cannot help but feel that a part of me will neverfeel complete it until I am completely satisfied with the final product and release it to the public.     

 

In the past, one of my problems was taking on way too many projects and responsibilities, and I lost my original intentions with the mod and its goals.  I do not regret taking on jobs such as TEA:CE and T3A admin, but it did leave me with virtually no time for Helm's Deep Last Hope.  That is my fault entirely.  I believe I have a better sense of when I am overreaching and when I need to step back and evaluate my own health and needs.

 

So here I am.  I suppose back and better than ever! :p My first task is to get myself reoriented on where I left things at and where things need to go moving forward.  But before I can do that though, I first need to get a new computer.  Now, I am by no means an expert on computers and all the gadgets and hardware with it.  This is where I hope some of you can help guide me in the right direction.  I am willing to spend a decent amount of money investing in a solid gaming computer.  Obviously, I need a computer that can run BFME on the highest settings smoothly.  I also would like the computer to be powerful enough to run some fairly newer game well such as Starcraft 2 Wings of Liberty.  I know for some people that game is hardly new, but I have been meaning to play it for years now but never really got around to it.  Any help or guidance on where to look for a solid gaming desktop?  Looking online, it seems that Alienware, CyberpowerPC, CybertronPC, iBuyPower, Avatar, Acer, and Asus are popular brands.  Like I said, I am a novice when it comes to this area so any assistance or expertise in this area is greatly appreciated.  Thank you all, and here's to a new beginning :thumbsuphappy:      


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#2 Radspakr Wolfbane

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Posted 28 March 2014 - 06:42 AM

Welcome back Rob MK 38.

I glad to see you back.

I kind of feel the same way about my mod that it's something that I just have to finish and will feel unfulfilled if it isn't which is probably what's kept me going all these years.

Looking forward to seeing how the project will change with time away.

 

Good luck.


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#3 Lauri

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Posted 28 March 2014 - 03:17 PM

Welcome home.

 

Regarding computers, I'm not quite on top of that, but I would recommend you don't go about buying the popular brands, but rather build it up from scratch. With or without help. Quite a bit more bang for the buck.

Yes, you can buy an Alienware and get a monster, but it'll cost you way more than it should.


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#4 Elric

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Posted 28 March 2014 - 04:09 PM

Welcome back!

 

As for the computer: newegg.com is a great place to build up a custom computer cheaply compared to other brands like alienware etc.

 

If your budget is a $1000.00 then here is a pretty good general description of things you could go for.

 

If you want a solid gaming computer that can basically play anything then go for a quad core i5 (i7's only add something called hyperthreading which games don't support yet) This will cost roughly $200-$300 for the Haswell chips which are the newest and most up to date.

 

If you want to do a lot of multitasking say having 5-10 image files open in the latest version of photoshop as well as run the game and do a few other things i would go with 1600 8gb of 240pin RAM. This will be completely solid and will make sure your RAM wont bottom out. This can cost anywhere between $55-$100. I highly recommend the brand G.Skill, its around $80.00 but if you wait for a sale which happens often it can get as low as $55.

 

A 1gb dedicated graphics should do the trick for maxed out settings on both games but if you have the extra cash and just wanna go all out a 2gb will be even better, i would recommend an Evga or MSI graphics card, nvidia 550 ti fermi is what i used to have and that did the trick for a 1gb card, played at max settings for a long time. Cost me roughly $150.00 at the time, now a days you can get a basic 2gb card for that price if you find a good sale.

 

Now as for a hard drive, it depends. There are SSD's which i am betting you have heard of and are very quick and then there are standard hard drives which are cheaper and have a lot more space. Most people only get SSD's for when moving large amounts of files quickly as well as quick boot up and opening other applications quickly. SSD's are overrated but if you do get one which is also recommended then i would get 256gb samsung drive, these can get pretty expensive but if you wanna go all out then go for it. Also, dont forget you should get another drive for file storage and such a 500gb or 1tb 7200rpm would do nicely. 

 

I have a 256 evo samsung ssd and it cost $180.00 on sale

I also have a 750gb 7200rpm western digital blue harddrive where i keep a lot of my larger applications and games etc. cost around $60.00

 

Those are the main components but if you want a full build that can definitely play all of that plus more this build below should do you just fine.

 

Motherboard:

Note: This one has "onboard" wireless, if you dont use ethernet this is highly recommended.

 

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813130693

 

CPU:

Note: Anyone on this list will do, a higher GHZ means its better typically but will also cost more.

 

 http://www.newegg.co...=1&name=Core i5

 

RAM: 

 

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820231428

 

Standard Hard Drive:

 

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16822136769

 

SSD:

Note: Only if you want extra read and write speeds and fast boot up + move gbs of files

Also Note: This is an example of a good solid drive that is a pretty high end one, might be more expensive then other drives.

 

http://www.newegg.co...=9SIA2W00ZD1539

 

 

 

I will edit this post later to add more detail because i have to go now.



#5 Rob38

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Posted 28 March 2014 - 05:59 PM

A custom build... interesting.  I never really considered it until now.  I have installed video cards, fans, and RAM on desptops before so I have at least some experience with this.  This would be my first build from scratch though.  What do you recommend in terms of a tower to plug this stuff all in?  I suppose I will also need to purchase a copy of Windows 8 as well.  I would like to keep my budget around the $1000 at most.  Thanks for the help with this Elric! 


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#6 Mathijs

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Posted 28 March 2014 - 06:16 PM

With a 1000 bucks, you can build an amazing machine. 

 

Kwen, get in here!


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#7 Rider of Rohan

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Posted 28 March 2014 - 07:38 PM

Nice to see you're back Rob, Helm's Deep Last Hope is something I look forward to playing :p !


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#8 Sauron-the-Deciever

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Posted 28 March 2014 - 07:59 PM

Welcome back, Rob! We missed you dearly.

 

I would've given some insight on what you should get, but Elric stole the words out of my mouth. He's got everything I would recommend. But for GPUs, I would recommend a 2gb since you do want to play newer games. If you went with the SSD, you'd have around $600 and $400 left to spare for monitor(s), keyboards, mouse (but I'm thinking you'll stick with your current ones?). So no, not those three. I'm saying: Case, fans, coolers, GPU, and DVD drive (if you're getting one). Other than that, you're set. I'll leave it to Elric, as he knows his stuff slightly better than I do. But for graphics cards, I wouldn't go with the 550ti as the current nVidia drivers are known to 'break' 500 series cards. I'd go with a 660 - $170-200 (2gb) (I have one myself, pretty great card. Runs a lot of games on max, (Metro, BF3)) or a 760 - $250 (2gb)/ $299 (4gb; that's a 50 dollars more for a whopping 2048 MB), which is quite much better. Don't go for any of the R9 series for Radeon, since they overheat a lot. If you're not gonna get the GTX 660, then get the 7870. 

 

I'd recommend you get PNY, ASUS, MSi, or EVGA, those four are the best (of many) that manufacture/brand the cards. 


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#9 Rob38

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Posted 28 March 2014 - 09:48 PM

Well, $1000 is the most I want to spend.  I may need to look at getting a monitor too though.  I have a laptop right now.


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#10 Radspakr Wolfbane

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Posted 28 March 2014 - 11:52 PM

With a monitor too it might be a bit tight.

I'd only go with 4gb RAM and maybe 1gb GPU you can always upgrade them later.


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#11 Kwen

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Posted 29 March 2014 - 02:44 AM

Nah, you'd be surprised. You can get a lot of performance and upgrade-ability with $1000, to include a monitor.

 

You do not need to get one of the 1150 boards and a 4000 series CPU. They are new and yes better. But the 1155 boards and 3000 series CPU will run much less in price and the performance difference is a meager 5-10% at best, and that is really only noticeable when doing things like overclocking and benchmarking where you are trying to yield max performance.

 

Board: $125

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813131837

 

CPU: $190

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819115234

 

RAM: $80 (Same Elric suggested)

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820231428

 

Graphics: $160 (Stretch a teensy bit here, get a lot of bang for your buck with this card)

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814487024

 

HDD: $110 (optional, you could go with a MUCH cheaper one, really)

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16822236525

 

Power Supply: $90

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817182071

 

Disk Drive: $20

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16827151266

 

Case: $50

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16811147153

 

Monitor: $140

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16824009422

 

So if my calculations are correct, then this totals to $965. With shipping it would go over your $1000 mark by a tiny bit, but this is a complete build and would rock your socks for years. It also retains upgrade-ability with the only thing that wouldn't be a one for one swap would be if you wanted to upgrade the CPU, you'd need a new board too. But that isn't necessary at all for at least a few years.


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#12 Elric

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Posted 29 March 2014 - 05:22 AM

Kwen an Acer monitor really?! haha and a western digital black edition is good but if your going for a much lower price i would go for this one:

 

Alternate HD:

 

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16822136769

 

Alternate Monitor with 2ms response time (good for gaming) and by Asus better known company and better products IMO

 

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16824236175

 

 

Alternate Case (in case you dont like the one he listed):

 

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16811119233

 

I didnt spend a load of time on the things i gave above, was in school at the time. Other then the monitor and the hard drive, Kwen gave you a very nice build.

 

The price points mainly break down to this:

 

Motherboard: $100-$200 depends on size, ports, brand etc..

CPU: $175-$225 (for the one you want)

GPU: $150-$250 (for the one you want)

HDD: $50-$125 depends on the size, make, and speed etc..

PSU: $80-$125

Disc Drive: Any $20 one will do

Case, only go big if you want a nice looking case. Don't get a small case either this will leave room for upgrades etc

 

I would typically go around mid range for the CPU, it is exactly as Kwen said. Haswell chips are new but you wont notice the difference immensely, Go with Ivy Bridge for a budget build like this.

GPU - I would go with the exact one Kwen said because of the reasons he stated (good find BTW)

HDD - For this i would spend it on the one i gave above (western digital blue 500gb or 750gb) this will spring some extra money to be able to throw into either better parts or a better monitor or case etc OR even an SSD

PSU - dont skimp out on this, it is very important, better to get a bigger one then to get a smaller one and bottom out your PC so to say

Disc Drive - 20 bucks said and done

Case - the one i gave above is a very well known case that many people enjoy, my school actually got this case for a few custom builds they did over the summer and they are quite pleasing to the eye and have good built in fans already.

 

--

 

I made this build earlier today before i knew your budget, this would run basically anything and its for a fairly good price plus it had an SSD and a HDD as well as onboard wireless networking in case you need that as well as good audio.

Do note all the mail and rebate prices to, should come down to around 1200, if you take out the SSD and extra fans you are borderline 1000 with the mail and rebate.

 

http://secure.newegg...Number=18904334

 

EDIT:

 

Just noticed the mail and rebates dont show in public wish lists, the rebates i believe total at around $60 bucks so subtract that from the total there.

--

 

I hope that all makes sense, i am not the best at wording these kinds of things!

 

--

 

Ill combine me and Kwens builds to see if i can get under a 1000 with more power and a monitor etc, but who knows maybe you have already gotten a pretty good idea as to what you are looking for. 

 

--

 

Did this quick build, with shipping to me in in PA, USA this build is less then a dollar close to $1000

 

Note: very late for me so sorry if i missed anything important, also note that i am guessing you already own a keyboard and mouse, if you dont then we will have to factor that into the cost as well. unless you want a really crappy 20 buck keyboard + mouse or who knows maybe someone on Revora might donate one to you! :p I say that because i dont know about anyone else but i loved where this mod was going.

 

Total with Shipping without rebates: $999.30

Total with Shipping with rebates: $964.30

 

http://secure.newegg...Number=32627228


Edited by Elric Hawnetyne, 29 March 2014 - 05:40 AM.
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#13 Kwen

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Posted 29 March 2014 - 06:16 AM

I know the Acer monitor isn't the greatest. But it would do the trick in a pinch and it would make a fine secondary for later on down the road if you decide to buy a better one. I listed that one simply for the fast of cheap, and good without being over the top.

 

I like the build you made there Elric, I left out the SSD because a solid 1TB 7200 rpm HDD can be wonderful for having an OS and till oodles of room for whatever you want on there. And it saves a bit on price versus getting an SSD and a bare drive both.

 

I don't really see the point in bumping up to a i5 3570 over the 3470. You're really only getting .1 or .2 Ghz for a $40 increase in price.

 

But yes Rob, you can see here that a very sweet rig can be built for under $1000 :p


Edited by Kwen, 29 March 2014 - 06:21 AM.

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#14 Rob38

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Posted 29 March 2014 - 07:55 AM

Wow!  Thanks you so much everyone for the help.  By the way, I will not need a monitor.  My brother had one that he was no longer using.  I believe this is the monitor on newegg here.  It appears good enough for the time being.  So that saves me around $150.

 

Now for my custom build:

 

Motherboard: $144.99 after $10 rebate - I need the wireless Internet function so I'll choose the MSI

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813130693

 

G. Skill 8gb Ram - $79.99 - Since you both recommended it and it blows away anything I have had in the past, it is an easy decision for me. 

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820231428

 

Case - $59.99 - This one will do. 

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16811119233

 

More to come.  I need to go to bed now :p

 

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#15 Kwen

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Posted 29 March 2014 - 07:59 AM

Since you don't need the monitor you can have a very nice system with a comfortable price tag (for your price limit).

 

Just make sure if you're going with the MSI board you get a CPU that fits the 1150 socket Elric's suggestion fits the bill perfectly. The one I linked only fits 1155. 


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#16 Elric

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Posted 29 March 2014 - 05:12 PM

Alrighty then, just as kwen said since you already have a monitor you will get a great rig!

Will you need a keyboard and mouse???

Also if you wait a little bit or do some research you can probably get that RAM for a lot less, I got lucky with mine and was able to get it for $55. Just a small recommendation but who knows when newegg will have that kind of sale again.

And now that your not getting a monitor you could possible get a smaller ssd and put the operating system on that, however above you mentioned that you might need to purchase the OS. if that's the case go with the black 1tb drive and get the OS. The bright side of the drive he recommended is it does have a good speed and you will never run out of space really.

Then in say a year or two you could upgrade and just throw and ssd in there.

I am unsure about this and maybe kwen can give some insight but of your going with that board I would recommend the same type graphics card, maybe it's just me but staying within the brand name for a motherboard and graphics cars seems like it will have an added benefit.

Sorry for any typos, early morning and am on my phone. Kwen gets renamed to keen btw. Weird..........



#17 Elric

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Posted 29 March 2014 - 05:25 PM

Damn, messed up. Last I had heard the killer wireless networking included wireless, I wanted to double check and am glad I did. Looks like that motherboard does not have onboard wireless. I will do a bit more research. Looks line a separate PCI or USB wireless adapter might be needed. Kwen any suggestions? I don't know of any solid ones? 

 

EDIT:

 

Found a card that looks to be on the newer side and hasnt given anybody trouble yet. http://www.newegg.co...N82E16833389005

 

I would wait for Kwen to answer before trying to just say yes to that card.



#18 Rob38

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Posted 29 March 2014 - 08:03 PM

Here is a draft of my custom build:

 

Motherboard: $154.99 - I still like the MSI even if it does not have wireless Internet.  Once again, my brother has saved the day and has provided me with an unused usb wireless interenect connection device. 

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813130693

 

CPU: $219.99 - A little more expensive than the Ivy Bridge but newer and connects to my selected motherboard.

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819116898

 

GPU - $179.99 - Matches the MSI board

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814127783

 

HDD - $87.99 - I found one that is $22 cheaper than the one Kwen suggested but it looks to have the same specs.  Thoughts?

http://www.newegg.co...=9SIA2W019M6559

 

G. Skill 8gb Ram - $79.99 - Since you both recommended it and it blows away anything I have had in the past, it is an easy decision for me. 

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820231428

 

Power Drive $89.99 - Is 650w enough?

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817182071

 

Hard Drive - $19.99

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16827151266

 

Case - $59.99 - This one will do. 

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16811119233

 

Any feedback/suggestions on lowering the price is greatly appreciated.  I also need to get a copy of Windows 8.  Should i get 32 or 64 bit version?  I can get the 64 bit version for $99.99 here or the full version with both bit sizes here.  Not really sure what the difference is.  I alreadly have a wireless mouse in my possession, and getting a keyboard will not be a problem.


Edited by Rob38, 29 March 2014 - 08:23 PM.

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#19 Elric

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Posted 29 March 2014 - 09:13 PM

64bit Windows 8 should do it. I dont see a reason for having the 32bit. The power supply should be fine to. Since you are getting the operating system with it (you could just erm torrent it and save a 100) you will be at just over 1000 but with the mail and rebates and shipping might be lower then a 1000. My bet is that it will be literally within a few dollars of a 1000 depending on how much shipping costs.

 

Anyways, i would wait until you get a confirmation from Kwen :)

 

EDIT:

 

Cool, here you can use this if you get windows 8 in the next 12 hours: EMCYTZT58897

 

that is a promo code to get 20 bucks off.



#20 Radspakr Wolfbane

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Posted 30 March 2014 - 12:43 AM

Don't go Windows 8 stick with 7.


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