I've recently decided to build my credit and have obtained a credit line with Newegg with the goal of doing something I've always dreamed of doing: building a kickass PC in whose specs HAL would be envious of.

But while I'm fairly knowledgeable about computers and all things technical in general, I confess to be absolutely lost when it comes to figuring out the hardware side of it. I could use a little help and advice as to what kinds of parts I'd need to build a gaming PC/media PC that will last me for at least 5 years, if I can manage it.

Here's the deal, guys. You've got around 1k to work with. I don't need a screen because my HDTV will suit me just fine. (If you find a 32"+ Screen for a ridiculously low price, I might consider it). I absolutely will not go over 1.1k. And if possible, hunt down a decent wireless mouse/keyboard setup.

If anyone has any suggested lists of parts, that's awesome. If anyone has any links to guides that might help me, that's awesome too.

 

You can always start off with a barebone kit off tigerdirect.com

 

What you want is to base your build around two things, the processor and the graphics card and then build around these two. I'd recommend getting the new AMD six core processors that are coming out soon and mayeb a 5870 radeon if your too impatient for nvidias beastly 400 series that will be coming out soon.

If you must have it now I'd get a quad core BE AMD @ 3.5ghz and run with a gtx 275 or higher.

 

Suggestions? Comments?

 

PSU wont be enough for your setup, i'd rather get the case seperate and atleast a 700+ watt PSU so you have room for upgrades. Good Mobo and GPU, not sure bout the i5, i don't really like nvidias i5 series, considering they suck compared to AMDs black edition series. i5's are made for overclocking so you might want to read up on that and get some cpu cooling. Are these USA prices? seems a bit OP, you might want to ditch the monitor and get a better GPU and CPU if you want to last 5 years as you say, unless your current monitor does not support 1080p that is.

 

Ok biggest question that needs answering before any recommendations are given is what are you going to be using this computer for?

 

Nothing hardcore. Just some casual gaming. If the Star Wars MMO comes out anytime soon, I'll probably pick that up. It'll mostly be gaming, media, music, storage, that sort of thing.

 

I was actually in the middle of editing my post after rereading your OP but i saw your reply and just want to make sure you see this since i don't think an edit would give an alert.

If you tv is 720p then you're going to want to keep the monitor. If it's 1080p and you don't mind using it as a monitor then scrap the one in your listing as well as scrap the 5770 and pick up a 5850 using the money saved.

The 5850 is a lot better than the 5770 and as a result will last much longer without needing an upgrade.

If you must absolutely go with a cheaper card I'd recommend a 4870 1 gig over the 5770. The price now is the same for the most part and the biggest difference is the 5 series is dx11 and the 4 series is dx10.1.

The only downside to your build is the powersupply. Not necessarily the wattage but the quality. 500 watts is enough for you build but you always want good quality with a PSU or else you might fry your components.

I just finished reading reviews on your case/psu and people seem to like the psu so no real problems there but there are a whole bunch of reports as well as a confession from antec about a static discharge problem.

Static is your worst enemy when building a pc antec said they don't even know what is causing the problem so for that I'd pick a new case/psu.

 

I notice you have no speakers. If your HDTV is 1080p, consider dropping the monitor and picking up a set.

Also, you're overpaying for that case/PSU. For the same money you could get something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119068
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341010

 

I'm actually hearing impaired, so speakers aren't a big deal to me. I mostly use headphones whenever I'm playing a game or listening to some music, but that's pretty much it. If I decide I need speakers, I'll just pick up a decent system at my workplace.

As for the card...I decided to go with the 5770 mainly because the friend I was talking to who helped me make this build couldn't stop singing it's praises. I know absolutely nothing about card quality aside from the fact that integrated graphics cards are shitty. If it's not what I need, I'll simply trade up for a better card.

As for the PSU....I have read a couple reviews where people said it had a tendency to fry their components, but it's a really good psu other than that. I decided to take a gamble.

Unfortunately, I've already made the order. >_>;

 

Why's that, Oz?

 

Because AMD has been lagging behind Intel ever since the Core2 Duos came out. The i5 is far and away the best processor on the market for its price.

 

There's nothing wrong with AMD, although Intel is ahead on a performance basis* but can be a bit pricy (so if you want to compare performance/price, AMD does pretty well).




*There's no useful raw metric for performance, actual system performance depends heavily on what you're doing and what other components are in your system.

 

As I've said before I know very little to a whole lot of nothing about the hardware aspect of computers. I don't plan to do a whole lot of hardcore gaming or anything that requires top of the line tech. At most, I'll just have 4 or 5 programs running at the same time; Firefox, IRC, a game, iTunes, etc., etc.

I mainly wanted this computer for its storage properties and a big enough improvement in graphics that I could run WoW on something more than 5 FPS when raiding or doing pvp. =/