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Looking to build first PC
Let me start off saying I have little comp knowledge:( the most I have ever done before is change video and sound cards or add memory.
As the title suggest I have never built a pc before although i have a few friends in rl who have and gave me some pointers already and aggreed to help:). Ive been researching for a few months and it has become abundantly obvious that if I put it together myself i can get a much bettter system for the money. So im coming to you guys for help:) I would love to see your recomendations. Ive mostly been shopping on newegg so far. I have a budget of anywhere from 1000-1400$ would be willing to go a little more or less depending on deals. Im really only builidng this comp for games at present I am playing eve and sc2 would like for the new system to be able to run diablo3 and gw2 and high or next to high settings. Im really looking forward to planetside 2 as well:)!!!!!!!!!!
Oh almost forgot not really looking for anythign else in that budget but the comp itself I have my monitor and keyboards and such . Well Thanks in advance for anyhelp I recieve.
Comments
1400$ budget ? wait till Quizz gets in here, he will build you a sweet rig
I built a Sandy Bridge-based PC in September for $1400 in parts from Newegg, myself, and aside from putting it off for a couple weeks thanks to a bad stick of RAM in my dual-channel package, it's been stable and running everything flawlessly that I've played since. Of course, there's the Ivy Bridge line of Intel CPUs due in the first half of this year, so there's always something to be said for waiting, and you'll hear countless people swear by the value of AMD/ATI as far as their price to performance ratio goes, so there are a lot of ways to go with building your own machine. Anyway, what I went with:
Processor: Intel Core i7 2600k (slick processor, OC'd to 4ghz and could push it beyond 4.5 if I felt I needed to.)
Motherboard: Asus P8P67pro rev3.1 LGA 1155 (has some startup quirks out of the box that can be taken care of simply, VERY slick auto-overclocking interface and UEFI "bios")
Graphics: EVGA GeForce GTX570HD Superclocked (SC is unnecessary money spent if you just OC it yourself, but I've read SC editions come better cooled, so I blew the extra little bit)
PSU: OCZ ZX Series 1000watt (fully modular, 80-plus Gold)
Memory: 8GB (2x4GB) Corsair Vengeance Low Profile DDR3 1600mhz
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200rpm SATA 6Gb/s (if you're willing to spend, you'll see a nice difference upgrading this to a 10k rpm, getting a well-reviewed SSD for your game installs, or weighing the risk vs reward of a RAID config)
Case: Corsair Obsidian Series 650D (highly impressed with this case...no frills design, great features and wire management)
And of course, whatever optical drive and aftermarket cooling solution you decide on. For me, it was a Samsung SH-B123L/RSBP Blu-ray drive (cheap BD reader and DVD writer) and the cheap but decent Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus. Total cost of the build was under $1400 after instant and mail-in rebates, and may be lower now as we approach new releases.
A $1400 build today would look pretty similar to this (at least spec-wise, maybe not exact brands). The video card may be a bit different, but more or less the same type of stuff across the board.
I highly recommend staying away from 10k rpm drives, and RAID 0 arrays. RAID is great for protecting your information, less so for speeding up access, especially when SSD storage is so much faster for general purposes.
Processor/heatsink combo: $250, before a $15 rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.810782
Right processor, but the stock cooler is terrible.
Motherboard/OS combo: $255
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.791361.13-157-231
A high end motherboard at a clearance price. And you need an OS.
SSD: $170
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147161
Ample capacity, excellent reliability, and probably discontinued, or at least will be soon.
Optional hard drive: $85
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148767
If you don't need more than 120 GB of capacity, then skip the hard drive, and you can add one later for cheaper if necessary. Some people do and some don't.
Memory: $36
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220570
2 x 4 GB, 1600 MHz, CAS 9, 1.5 V
Optical drive: $18
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136236
They're all basically the same, so get a cheap one.
Case: $96, including shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119240
All the modern features you'd want, and tons of airflow. Or if you don't like the looks of that, then get something else.
Power supply: $90
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182071
Because I don't think it's worth paying an extra $50 just to get something modular.
That comes to $1000 with shipping and before rebates if you get the hard drive, or $915 if you don't. And then the question is how much you want to spend on a video card. Here are the best deals I see in what it looks like your price range should be:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125401
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125385
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131391
There's also the Radeon HD 7970 for $550, but that doesn't fit your budget.
I would suggest this PSU over the Rosewill one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207014
Mostly because it is a Seasonic PSU which are known for their high quality and silence. It is also semi-modular which allows for better cable management.
Another plus is that it is slightly cheaper than the Rosewill PSU.
I would generally advice a different motherboard but you can't really beat that MOBO/OS combo.
Looking forward to uhh.....
playing: Civ 5, Tony Hawk Pro Skater HD
If you're only going to play games, get the i5-2500k and a GTX 560Ti.
You can follow this guide for reference: http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/af150/The_FalconO6/CurrentLogicalPCBuyingGuide/Guide.png
Also, with the flood in Thailand, you'd save quite a bit of cash if you salvage your current harddrives.
Eleanor Rigby.
Seasonic isn't the only company that can make good power supplies when they care to. The Rosewill Capstone is their modular version of Super Flower's gold platform. Here, compare:
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=266
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=216
Yes, Seasonic's most recent 650-850 W bronze platform is pretty nice. But Super Flower's gold platform is better. And cheaper before rebate, too.
If it is just for gaming a Phenom II X4 wouldn't be bad either with a AM3+ mobo for future upgrading purposes. That way more of the budget can go to SSD/GPU/cooling
Looking forward to uhh.....
playing: Civ 5, Tony Hawk Pro Skater HD
Why plan on upgrading in the future if you can get something about as good for gaming as the best AM3+ future upgrade is likely to be, and get it today without needing to upgrade? It's not like you can't fit a 2500K on a $1000+ budget.
Why buy a ferrari when you don't go over 30 miles per hour?
I would rather go with the i5 myself than a AM3+ CPU but why bother when it is notneeded?
Looking forward to uhh.....
playing: Civ 5, Tony Hawk Pro Skater HD
I like AMD chips, don't get me wrong, but I only recommend them when you can't squeeze an i5 into the budget. There's no reason not to get an i5 if your able. There are many games that bottleneck on individual core performance (EQ2 comes to mind in particular) - and Intel has much better individual core performance. The extra performance also helps to guarantee longevity - it will be longer before you run into future programs bottlenecking on your CPU if you have a faster CPU in the first place. And it isn't hard to imagine mid-high tier video cards of the past two generations actually getting bottlenecked on CPU on a lot of games.
Sure, 30FPS may be good enough, but if you can afford better, do so. I certainly don't see anyone advocating still using Core2Quads as "good enough" - and they have about the same CPU horsepower as a Phenom II at similar clock speeds. Intel moved on - well on with the 1156, 1366, 1155, and 2011 socketed CPUs (ok they could have used fewer sockets, that's my biggest complaint, but...), and was able to keep the prices very competitive.
If you can afford it, there's no compelling reason not to get the i5 (unless you just really like or want to support AMD - and there isn't really anything wrong with that). But if you can't afford it you can't, and that's really where the lower cost AMDs shine compared to Intel's lower bins (and that's just about the only place they do, being brutally honest about it).
Just want to say thank you for every one that responded. I have a lot of info to digest here special thanks to quez i appreciate your in depth response with links:) I should have something in the next couple weeks and ill post what I decided on.
Anyways Thanks for all you guys help
EEEERrrrr One more question... Are any of theses componets unreliable enough that I should buy the warranty for them.
I realize no one can tell me if something is gonna break...just curious is there anything more likely to go and worth the extra money for the warranty?
If you mean the New Egg extended warranty, then no, that's a waste of money. Warranties like that tend to charge several times what the company expects to pay out in warranty claims. Basically, it's a way for them to let people give them more money, for those inclined to do so. That's not specific to New Egg, either; any time you see an extended warranty like that, it's probably a waste of money, whether it's on cars, household appliances, or whatever.
If a component is broken when it arrives, then you can send it back to New Egg for a replacement. Individual components will generally be warranteed by the component manufacturer as well, so you might well be covered a year or three into the future.
Honestly. As you can see, much like how I do my parts shopping, everything is pretty much from newegg. Just go to the site. Look around. READ the EXPERT reviews on whatever products you are considering. Its not hard to do at all. Good luck!
(o'')-O Vs Q('' Q)
AM3+ is a letdown. If you really wanna future proof you can STILL go with the i5 1155 and be ready for when Ivy Bridge comes out.
(o'')-O Vs Q('' Q)
