I'm looking to get a new computer as mine is close to four years old. Mine is custom built and I'd prefer to do it that way again. However, I know next to nothing about the latest and greatest when it comes to parts. I'm looking for advice on what is considered top line and a bit of technical help when it comes to assembly.

 

Well, even if you get "top of the line", your hardware's gonna be outdated no less than 6 months later. I suggest getting 2nd or even 3rd best items for the PC, that way you'll still get a decent computer, and not empty your wallet.

I suggest a Ge-Force 8800 or higher, 2 gigs of ram (if you want XP), 100+ gigs on the HDD, and I suggest getting something other than an Audigy, I've been told some games don't like the sound card. An Asus motherboard wouldn't be a bad idea.

 

Okay. To build a PC, you need the following components:

Motherboard:

Processor (CPU):

RAM (Memory):

HDD (Hard Drive):

Video Card:

A Case:

A PSU (Power Supply):

DVD-Rom:

The prices for these will vary where you buy, what you buy and what country you live in. I'm assuming Maryland is in the US, which is a shame since I know a great place in Australia for this. No matter. To decide what parts you want, you need to give yourself a budget. For 500$ US, you can make a moderately decent PC. For 1000$ US, you can make a kick-arse machine. For $2000+, you can have all of the latest and greatest parts and so forth.

Depending on your income, I reccomend the 1000$ US. It gives you more flexibility in choosing what you want and you don't have to skimp on some parts you might want. Here are some suggestioms below, where all the prices have been taken off newegg.com (apparently it's a good US site or something for PC parts)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R: $120

CPU: Core 2 Duo e8400- 3.0ghz, 1333 FSB, 6mb L2 cache: $160

RAM: 4 gig of DDR2 1066 RAM: $105

HDD (Hard Drive): Western Digital 500gb Hard Drive: 65$

Video Card: XFX 9800GTX 512mb: $200

A Case: Cooler Master Centurion ATX Case: $50

A PSU (Power Supply): 600W Power Supply: $90

DVD-Rom: Sony 2x Blu Ray and 12x DVD ROM: $130

Total: $920

A lot of these were just personal choices. For the case, for example, I didn't go for the flashy and glossy 'cool' ones. I'm of the opinion that my PC's external apperance could look like a piece of dog crap as long as it runs well. I also went for a high-end Core 2 Duo rather than a Quad Core simply because I've been fapping over the e8400 ever since I saw it. You could scale back your RAM a gig if you were going XP over Vista, saving you some more money. You could also increase/decrease your Hard Drive size depending on your personal preference. 500 gb is a good start off point, but you might have a lot of stuff you want to keep.

And this is assuming that there's nothing you can't scavenge off your old PC, like your old DVD Rom or your old HDD, etc. Just remember that this was a crappy list I compiled in 5 minutes and you should probably think about it a tad more.

That said, if this PC were built it would kick arse.

 

I agree with him. It would be a nice machine. It would play almost all games just fine. some games don't like some pieces of hardware though, so you'll want to keep an eye on that.

 

I disagree with getting a bluray. I would also get a gtx 260 as a gfx card (around 220 on newegg.com and much better quality than the 9800), and maybe a Q6600 (quadcore) as the processor. Also get some good heatsinks for cooling if you are going to overclock.

 

These are from Tom's Hardware, a well-known computer hardware review site.

They do these system builds every so often.

System Builder Marathon: $625 Gaming PC
System Builder Marathon: $1,250 Mid-Range PC
System Builder Marathon: $2,500 Enthusiast PC

 

Do your research first.

Tomshardware is a good bet, as well as Newegg and TigerDirect.

 

Tomshardware turned shit a good while ago. >__> In my opinion, techrepo****** and arstechnica.com both have fairly decent computer rec guides/reviews/etc.

 

Out of curiosity, where did you guys learn about building computers and everything?

College courses?

 

i cant say for the other guys here but learned about system building through friends sparked by frustration from realising the massive premium i pay for when buying a prebuilt computer.

 

Need.

Also, GTX260 is a piece of shit. ATI 4850 is much better, same with the 4870, 4850X2, 4870X2 aswell. Much better value than the current nvidia range. At that price, blu-ray is well worth it.

 

I learned all my information from 15 to 17 years of computer usage. Started using computers between 8 and 10 years old. I know how to put them together and use them literately. For the most part.

 

Murton: Eh... GTX 260 is on par with 4870 (1gig of ram version0 , pretty much the same price too. I'm assuming that your opinion is based on the older drives in which case that was true, however both amd and invidia updated their drivers and lnow like I said 4870 (1gig) = GTX 260 (216 version). Depending on what games/applications your going to be using you can pick either one.


Anyway, about 20 days ago I put this system together and its working perfectly so far.

CPU Cooler: ZALMAN 9500A 92mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler - Retail

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

Power Supply: CORSAIR CMPSU-1000HX 1000W ATX12V 2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply - Retail

Memory: Patriot Viper 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale 3.16GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail

Graphics card: EVGA 896-P3-1265-AR GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

Case: LIAN LI PC-A70B Black Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail


A few things to take note of. The case is probably more expensive then you need since a) its Lian Li b) its a full tower and c) when I got it it was $50 off.

The power supply when i got it had a $50 rebate. Its probably overkill for you unless you have a lot of hard drives in addition to everything else. That being said it is one of the best power supplies and its one of the cheapest too for the performance it delivers. Plus its modular

Memory wise there is no reason not to get a 2x2gigs kit (total of 4) of ram. You can get that DDR2 memory 4 gigs (two modules not four) for 12-30 dollars after the rebate.

CPU: if you ever plan on doing overclocking I recommend the e8500, because it has a slightly higher multiplier than the e8400. If you aren't going to do that, then get the e8400 since it will be a better value buy.
If you are into multitasking (doing a lot of things at once on the computer) then get the q6600, its a quad-core highly overclockable and more suited to multitasking. if you want your computer for gaming go with other cpus I mentioned.

For a harddrive, going for anything less than 1Terebyte drive nowadays is a waste of money. First things first though, ignore the older western digital drives that advertise 10000 or 15000 RPM. The 1T drives while advertised as 7200 RPM are actually faster. I'd recommend either samsung F1 for $100 (OEM), or a western digital 1T for about $120 (OEM). Personally I'd go with the samsung.

The motherboard I choose has gotten excellent reviews, good stability, solid performance, and if you want it overclocking potential.

One thing that you need to be careful with is the cpu cooler and motherboard combo. These two were a bitch to put together, almost had to send my cooler back. Normally on this kind of cooler you install the backplate of the cooler first, then you attach the cooler itself. However, the ehatsinks on the motherboard were intefering i such a way that you have to install the heatsink with its backplate at the same time. Trust me its not fun when you dont have room to work with. That being said it can be done without any modifications, just patience and persistence.


Other notes: If you want gaming stay away from iCore7. Whiel a great CPU it is ridiculously overpriced for gamers. If you rely heavily on multitasking then you may want to go thsi route. However, your memory will be at in the range of $100 more expensive, your motherboard anywhere from $100-250 more expensive and your cpu at the very least $120 more expensive. IMO not worth it yet.

Another thing: As Richardc269 recommended, dont go for the top of the line. Unless you can afford to blow 6k every six months its not worth it. Its far better to build a 1k computer this month that achieves 87% of the perfomance of the 4k computer and then if you want 6 months later build another 1k computer that is faster than the old 4k computer.... And voila not only do you have a faster computer for less but you have two computers both of which are really good.

Bying the top of the line is quite frankly ridiculous. This past June, the GTX 280 was going for $639.99 (Source: www.bit-tech.net). Now? now you can get it for $320. Which means if someone had waited for a bit they could potentially (SLI like Crossfire perfomance is variable) have double the graphics power of someone who bought the top of the line.

Anyway good luck and have fun building. BTW use newegg for most of our purchases.


EDIT: For the blu ray, the question is do you need it? If yes you absolutely do then sure go for it, however pick up a regular burner/drive combo as well. Personally I havent seen enough pros of having one too justify the cost yet. Dont forget blu ray discs (whether we're talking about movies or blanks that you can write to) cost more than dvds.

EDIT 2: Did a bit more digging, the gtx 280 dropped 230 dollars in price in less than a month after release. Depreciation is a true malicious bitch.

EDIT 3: If you do go with an ATI card, then depending on which one you get DO NOT forget too adjust the fan speed on the card. If I remember correctly it was mainly the 4850 that had this issue. On those cards people had to raise the fan speed to about 65% because it was too low and the card was getting dangerously hot. So just remember to research your card for that if you do go ATI

EDIT 4 (hopefully last): The hardware I'm using is for gaming at a 1920x1200 resolution.
Also, for research tomshardware has indeed gone to shit, they try to be everything for everyone and end up satisfying no-one. in addition to the other sites already mentioned bit-tech.net is especially nice.

 

1000w for that system? You are crazy overkill unless you plan SLI in the future or an awesome RAID setup. 216 version seems like such a blow out to me. Like Nvidia struggling extremely half assed to put out a new card which competes. Also I really don't like that range of CPU coolers. They used to be king until Thermalright Ultra 120 and the Noctuna range of coolers hit the market. Much better options around now days.

 

Wow. When I put up this thread I wasn't expecting so many replies.

However, it is very much appreciated and I thank you all for doing a bit of the research for me. I just received orders for a transfer to Ft. Worth, TX. So I'll be heading there in June. So, I think I'll hold off on the computer until then, what with expenses and all.

Once settled in, I will most definately look up everything you guys have recommending and trust your opinions. Thanks again everyone for their advice, though I may bug you again come summertime after my move.

 

Yeah the power supply is a bit overkill. As far as the cooler goes not what I would normally get, but since the system wasn't primarily mine and any overclocking would be limited, I decided to get something relatively cheap and good, but not excellent.

The 216 unless I'm mistaken is the result of scavenging the GTX 280's. When not all the cores(?) on a 280 work, they just disable them and produce a lower end chip thus limiting the damage. As a result the 216 is basically a slightly weakened 280 for a uch lower cost.

 

I work p/t at a computer store.

Although, that doesn't mean I know about parts or prices. I just build shit. And listen to trance while doing so.

 

A bit overkill lawl?
I'm pretty sure you can optimally run a heavy multi-gpu sys with a quad cpu on like less than 850 Watt Xd

 

I'll see you here. No, really, I'll find you, and watch you. :O