Help me pick out a new PC

[Maniche]

32 GB? Oh my.

As long as they don't fry your motherboard after X months then go for it!

The 660 is a good mid-range card, with a good performance vs. price-ratio. You could've ramped-up towards a 680/79*0 with your pricerange though, but oh well.

Good on you, Apple! Now I want a new PC...

Haha!

Maniche

 

[Sir Apple]

Motherboard should be fine since its all built to same specs

Will the 660 card be able to handle games on high settings or no? Games like battlefield 3, far cry 3, Crysis etc.

 

[Maniche]

A 660 would be mid-range I reckon, around 10-20 frames lower than borderline high-end 670.

You could expect to be able to run any games today on high/very high at full HD resolution (1920x1080), but with borderline acceptable frames of 30-60 FPS (where 60 FPS are preferred for smooth gameplay).

You could pick-up a factory-clocked Ti version (for instance the Asus DirectCU II 660 Ti), which will be a few bucks more but granting you somewhat good boost in frames compared to a stock 660. I'd highly recommend the Asus DirectCU-versions as they're known for their quality and noise-less fans.

Maniche

 

[Sir Apple]

Hmmm I see.

Well if the 660 can handle things with little problems, could I just upgrade later on to a 670 or a little higher?

 

[Maniche]

I believe 660 should be sufficient at the current time, as a new generation is expected eventually.

What CPU did you go for?

Maniche

 

[Sir Apple]

I can't think of it off the top of my head but its on par with the other hardware.

Also it has windows 8 pro or some such. Windows 8 looks really weird, is there a way I can default it to the old style?

 

[Maniche]

Well, get Win 7, haha!

Maniche

 

[Sir Apple]

lol but windows 8 is newer!

 

[brrr]

lol but windows 8 is newer!

Nooooooo, dont fall into that trap, but in all seriousness windows 7 is better . Unless of course your using a tablet.

 

[Fuchs]

Now we are on the subject, my PC was last upgraded in April 2010 and I'm slowly looking at parts and acquiring funds to upgrade spring 2013. Already wanted to do this in 2012 but budget cuts, budget cuts.

New parts:
Graphics card
CPU
Motherboard
Hard drive
PSU

I already have a list but I like to hear some neutral opinions. Budget is max 700, excluding PSU. Just needs to be ready for 2 years again, I don't need a NASA computer. Just a decent rig that can run games on good settings.

 

[General Naga]

lol but windows 8 is newer!

Windows 8 isn't as evil as everyone makes out. It's different that's all.

It's takes getting used to - the main issue for me is the fact the start menu is in Metro mode and I spend the rest of the time in desktop mode so it feels a little clunky.

Aside from that the main issue is compatibility. CRYENGINE3 isn't Win8 compliant (yet) and some games are reporting issues.

If you have Win7 available you should consider sticking with it - but the price of Win8 is set to rise early next year so it's up to you

EDIT:

If it's the start menu which is your main concern you can get replacements. Classic Shell is probably the most popular (and open source) but you can use programs such as DisplayFusion which also enables multiple taskbars for multiple screens etc... I use DF personally and found it to be brilliant.

 

[Sir Apple]

If Windows 8 has those issues then forget windows 8, I'll do windows 7. I can't afford compatibility problems Though I don't know to what extent the compatibility issues are. For instance game wise, would battlefield 3, or far cry 3 have issues? I assume 3dsmax and such would be fine but I don't know?

 

[General Naga]

No idea but I think it's safe to say any mainstream game/software package will get fixed if it doesn't work already. So far I haven't found anything which doesn't work - check the Steam forums perhaps?

 

[Sir Apple]

Ooo okay. Well, I think I'll stick with Windows 8 then. I know its new and probably quirky here and there but so was Windows 7 at one point

 

[General Naga]

Ooo okay. Well, I think I'll stick with Windows 8 then. I know its new and probably quirky here and there but so was Windows 7 at one point

That's pretty much my view and if you get fed up with Metro you can always install ClassicShell

 

[_Franky_]

You should be fine with Win 8. I know they released a patch for LA Noire specifically to make it work on Win 8, but everything else should be fine.

 

[Sir Apple]

So, is there a way I can get my Firefox bookmarks off of my current computer, and onto my new one (when it I get it)?

I really do not want to track down all my bookmarks, some are important to me. Its all organized and nice! I imagine there is some way but not sure?

 

[General Naga]

So, is there a way I can get my Firefox bookmarks off of my current computer, and onto my new one (when it I get it)?

The easiest way would be to sync your bookmarks on your current PC to a cloud service and then retrieve them once you're setup on your new PC. For Firefox there are two major services I'm aware of:

1. Firefox Sync - run by Mozilla but only works on Firefox
2. Xmarks - run by a third party but cross platform/browser

Personally I've been using Xmarks for years and found it to be great. I've always got a copy of my bookmarks saved in case of accidents and everything is synced between PCs/browsers

 

[Maniche]

You can export your bookmarks through your FireFox, in the bookmark page (Cntr+Shift+D I believe).

Maniche

 

[Sir Apple]

Okay thanks guys, a bit confusing but I will give it a go and see what happens. If not I'll copy and paste all the urls into a text file and add them manually