Building a new Family Computer

A

AMD_RULES

2[H]4U
Joined
Mar 26, 2007
Messages
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1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Web Browsing, Quickbooks (taxes), Skype, Microsoft Office, Email, HD Video Playback, etc
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Around a grand ($1000)
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Pennsylvania
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
Tower, Monitor, Keyboard, Mouse
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Speakers
6) Will you be overclocking?
Nope
7) 7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
1920x1080
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Within the next week
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? etc.
Nope
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Have access to Windows 7 through MSDNAA... will be using Windows 7 Professional x64

Here's what I've picked out... I know it's total overkill, but we get our moneys worth out of the machine. The current "family computer" is almost 8 years old and barely chugging along. Has a P4, 512mb of ram, 160gb ata hdd, and Windows XP Home. It's sad how slow it is lol. I'd like this machine to last at least 5 years. Definitely needs to be FAST!
I considered prebuilt, but I can't find a machine as power as the one below for the price. Was considering a HP touchsmart, but we don't need the touchscreen feature.

Case: COOLER MASTER Elite 341 - $44.99
CPU: Intel Core i7-2600 - $299.99
MB: ASUS P8Z68-M Pro - $124.99
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) - $84.99
HDD: HITACHI Deskstar 7K1000.D 750GB SATA 6.0GB/S - $99.99
PSU: Antec EarthWatts Green EA-430D - $59.99
CD: LITE-ON DVD Burner - $17.99
Monitor: ASUS VS Series VS247H-P Black 23.6" - $189.99
Keyboard/Mouse: To Be Determined...
Subtotal: $922.92

Let me know if you see where I could make some changes and/or improvements. Thanks!
 
*looks at the OP's name*

Oh the irony. :)

Anyway, If possible get this hard drive tonight with promo code "EMCJHJE29" before it ends tommorrow:
$148 - Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

The promo code knocks it down to $110 which is an excellent deal for a 1TB drive that's significantly faster than that 750GB drive.

PSU wise, ditch that EA430 since you can get this large and slightly better performing Antec 620W PSU for $5 more once you factor in shipping:
$69 - Antec NEO ECO 620C 620W PSU'
 
I would also recommend a Crucial M4 64Gb SSD as a OS harddrive strictly, this will allow start ups to be faster and give that little extra oof for some gaming or taxing (performance) programs.

I know this will knock your budget up a little bit but nothing beats a $100.00 SSD drive for those 30sec start ups.

Use the 1Tb drive mentioned above for movies, pictures, and data.
 
I think I'd dump 8GB of RAM in order to fit in an SSD to run the OS and a few apps instead of spending the money on 16GB of total RAM.
 
If all you are doing is web browsing and email, etc, I wouldn't bother with a SSD. It's not like you'll notice that much of a day to day difference for those tasks.
 
Forceman said:
If all you are doing is web browsing and email, etc, I wouldn't bother with a SSD. It's not like you'll notice that much of a day to day difference for those tasks.
Click to expand...

I don't see why not, when a small one will most likely be plenty of space as a primary hard drive for the use the computer seems it'll be used for. Since I doubt it'll be running 24/7, booting will be considerably faster not to mention with the recent high prices of HDDs, it's not that much more in price. Opening programs will be a good bit faster as well. So take the ~$35 saved from not using 16GB of RAM, the $~$110 from not using an HDD, and the ~$150 saved from going with a more suitable CPU and it's well within' the budget.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions guys. The only thing is with the hard drive, not the SSD drive, is there a cheaper drive I could use? Honestly we don't need a terabyte of space. Otherwise I'll switch out the PSU, RAM, CPU, and add the SSD to the list.
 
AMD_RULES said:
Thanks for all the suggestions guys. The only thing is with the hard drive, not the SSD drive, is there a cheaper drive I could use? Honestly we don't need a terabyte of space. Otherwise I'll switch out the PSU, RAM, CPU, and add the SSD to the list.
Click to expand...

Here's the deal with the smaller-capacity hard drives:

They all are now almost as expensive as their 1TB siblings (because the flooding in Thailand affects primarily spindle motor components, but some platter production is also affected). As a result, the smaller-capacity drives now deliver an extremely horrible capacity-to-price ratio. What's the point of getting a 250GB or even a 160GB hard drive for nearly $100 or more when just a little bit more money buys you the full 1TB? Plus, some of those smaller capacity drives are molasses-slow by current standards irrespective of their rotational speed (for example, one of those smaller-capacity drives is actually slower than even a cheapo USB pen flash drive in sequential transfers).
 
If anything, get the SSD, and pick up an external drive. There's still some WD or Seagate smaller external drives for cheaper, and they'll playback videos and store files just fine.
 
AMD_RULES said:
Thanks for all the suggestions guys. The only thing is with the hard drive, not the SSD drive, is there a cheaper drive I could use? Honestly we don't need a terabyte of space. Otherwise I'll switch out the PSU, RAM, CPU, and add the SSD to the list.
Click to expand...

Pretty much what E4g1e said: Not only are the smaller sized drive slower than their larger sized cousins, they have a horrible price to GB ratio. In addition, this is further exacerbated with that $40 off deal for that Samsung 1TB drive that knocks it down to $110. That's only $10 more than the drive you chose but the performance difference is easily worth the extra $50 in regular pricing. You won't find an fast, smaller sized, and/or cheaper drive that'll match that $110 Samsung F3 1TB. And you're running out of time too.
 
Danny Bui said:
Pretty much what E4g1e said: Not only are the smaller sized drive slower than their larger sized cousins, they have a horrible price to GB ratio. In addition, this is further exacerbated with that $40 off deal for that Samsung 1TB drive that knocks it down to $110. That's only $10 more than the drive you chose but the performance difference is easily worth the extra $50 in regular pricing. You won't find an fast, smaller sized, and/or cheaper drive that'll match that $110 Samsung F3 1TB. And you're running out of time too.
Click to expand...

Actually, Danny, that 750GB Hitachi 7K1000.D is not your father's 750GB hard drive: It is cut from the same piece of cloth as its exceptional 1TB sibling (which we all know is very fast in sequential transfers). However, while the 1TB version's performance is well known, there are no known benchmark results of the 750GB version: It could be slightly slower than its 1TB sibling if the outermost usable tracks of the 750GB version are towards the center hub, or slightly faster than its 1TB sibling if the innermost usable tracks are towards the outer edge of the platter (both relative to its 1TB sibling).
 
E4g1e said:
Actually, Danny, that 750GB Hitachi 7K1000.D is not your father's 750GB hard drive: It is cut from the same piece of cloth as its exceptional 1TB sibling (which we all know is very fast in sequential transfers). However, while the 1TB version's performance is well known, there are no known benchmark results of the 750GB version: It could be slightly slower than its 1TB sibling if the outermost usable tracks of the 750GB version are towards the center hub, or slightly faster than its 1TB sibling if the innermost usable tracks are towards the outer edge of the platter.
Click to expand...
I stand corrected. I wasn't aware that anyone wast still making newer 750GB drives to be honest.
 
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