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Building my first gaming computer

C

Cheesecakeh

n00b
Joined
Mar 20, 2011
Messages
8
Hi guys!

First time building a computer. I think I tried to make one when I was in 6th grade, and I ended up breaking something. Haven't tried since. I'm entering my junior year in college now. That's how badly I felt about it. D:

So, I'm looking to build myself a gaming computer with the following criteria. I honestly have no idea where to start. Could use a push in the right direction. :)

Price range: $<900, with tax and shipping
Location: NYC
Usage: Dual monitor gaming. Probably not going to do anything more resource-heavy than that.
Monitor: I will be using two 23" monitors. I already have one, Hannspree HF235DB
Parts I need: CPU, Mobo, Hard Drive(s), Case, GPU, Memory, PSU, wireless card, sound card. Preferably Intel i7 / Nvidia / DDR3
OC'ing: Nope, don't think I will. I don't think I will need to for my purposes..
When? As soon as possible!
Features: RAID, USB 3.0, support for 2 monitors, wireless card, sound card
OS: Win 7 Professional 64-bit (already have an unused real copy).

So.. yeah! Pointers in the right direction or suggested parts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys. You the best. brofist.
 
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Which games? Which level(s) of visual quality?

Is the second monitor part of your $900 budget? Do you prefer to buy the same monitor as you have?

What wireless card do you have? Do you have a sound card?
 
Games - Shogun 2 Total War, Starcraft 2 are the most demanding games. As high quality as I can get. ;D

Aha. Knew I missed something. As far as objects that will be going inside the case, I have nothing. That means that I still need the wireless and sound card. I fixed the OP.

Here's what I have so far thanks to some people on Reddit:
http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/partlist/ar/iv5/

I left out the HD on purpose because one user recommended that I get an SSD for the OS and maybe a couple games, and then a regular HD for everything else - what's your opinion on this? It'll definitely put me over the $900 limit, but do you think it's worth it?

As for the monitors, I have both already. Staples had a deal where you could get a Hannspree HF235DPB 23" monitor for $51 :3
 
SSD/HDD -- Yes, absolutely worth it and most important component upgrade. Get a 120 GB SSD and put W7 and Apps/Games on it. And get a 5400 RPM HDD for your data.

NYC -- A fellow NYC'er. Keep in mind Newegg charges no sales tax in NY, and Amazon does.

Wireless Card -- Why? For gaming you want to be hardwired. Reconsider that.

RAID --- Why? You don't need this with a SSD/HDD scheme.

Sound Card -- What type of audio peripherels do you have? What are your sound listening habits? What is the break down of movies/music/gaming?

CPU -- Don't need i7 unless you make a case for it. What else do you do with your computer? Otherwise you can step down to an i3 or an i5. An i7 would also be expensive for your budget and not worth it over an SSD, for example.
 
Can you get to a Microcenter?

Ballpark build until I get an answer on that:

$350ish - Core i5-2500k + motherboard combo from Newegg (usually Asus or MSI motherboard)
$75 - 8GB DDR3 1333MHz CL9 1.5v (usually G.Skill)
$60 - Cooler Master HAF 912 (or equivalent)
$70ish - 600w to 650w PSU from Antec, Corsair, Seasonic, or XFX (those are my usual top four companies in this price/power range.)
$60 - Samsung F3 1TB Hard Drive
$20 - DVD Burner
$220 - GeForce GTX560Ti or Radeon 6950 (Usually eVGA, PNY, MSI, or XFX depending on cost and warranty.)
Total before taxes and shipping: $855

Wireless cards are usually around $20 to $30. Use the integrated sound on the motherboard.

You could get a cheaper GPU and fit in a cheap 64GB SSD but I wouldn't (and didn't) do that when I built my rig for around the same price. I'll put together a final build for you once I find out if you can go to a Microcenter. If you can go, be sure to tell me which one so I can figure out the sales tax that you'd be charged on the items as well (sometimes it doesn't make sense to use Microcenter because of the sales tax.)
 
I cannot get to a microcenter. I'm a little curious, but why? o_O

Seeing as how the SSD is over $200, I guess it's reasonable to raise the budget as well. Here's the link again for the build so far. http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/partlist/ar/iSH

As for the newegg combo deals, the current Processor/Motherboard comes out to be around $380 without discounts.

Any ideas on where to cut costs? I decided that a Sound and Wireless card wouldn't really be necessary (thanks Valaire) and I can always install them later if need be.

Also: I'm buying the processor from tigerdirect (http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=3064175) which is $190. Around $20 off the total price on PCPP, with some more discounts for using Bank of America.
 
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Microcenter has cheap Intel CPUs, but they only sell them in store (if you buy online, you have to go in store to pick them up.)

So some issues with the list you have on the PC Parts Picker

The ASRock P67 EXTREME4, while a competant motherboard, isn't a very good value, especially for the system you're looking at. Since you don't want to overclock, it's not really necessary. (Same with the K version of the 2500.)

The RAM you chose is 1066MHz RAM. It'll work, but ideally you'd have 1333MHz RAM.

The Samsung Spinpoint F2 isn't a great drive for the money. You should get the faster F3. Same size, $10 more, but faster.

The X25M isn't a good bang for the buck. Look at a Crucial M4 instead.

The GeForce GTX560 (non-TI) isn't a good bang for the buck either. Look at a Radeon 6870 in that price range (the mail in rebates + free games will bring the cost down a lot more than the GTX560.) Better yet, look at the GTX560 Ti or Radeon 6950 for about $20 to $30 more.

I have an Antec 300 case. it's a decent case, don't get me wrong. But if I had to do it again, I'd get the Cooler Master HAF 912. It has better cable management, is easier to work in, and it's the same price.

That Corsair 750w PSU is a decent PSU, but I'd look at a cheaper 650w from one of the companies I mentioned in my last post. You don't need 750w for a single GPU system unless you have a lot of other 12v power draws.

Anyways, here's my suggested build.

$171 (use coupon code - HARDOCPX629C) - Intel Core i5-2400 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz (3.4GHz Turbo Boost)
$160 - Intel BOXDH67CLB3 LGA 1155 Intel H67 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX + CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B (This RAM is totally overkill but works out to be the cheapest 8GB you can get because of that combo deal. Intel branded boards are also know for their stability and reliability. I personally have three Intel motherboard based systems still running under my care.)
$230 (before $30 MIR) - EVGA 01G-P3-1560-KR GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB
$60 (use coupon code EMCKDGK26) (before $20 MIR) - Antec NEO ECO 620C 620W
$60 (before $10MIR) - COOLER MASTER HAF 912
$65 - SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM
$230 - Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5" 128GB

Subtotal: $985.42
Shipping: $9.65
Total: $995.07
Total after MIRs: $935.07

If you need to get your budget below $900, you can get a 64GB SSD Crucial M4 for $115 instead of a 128GB one, but you'll be looking at your OS and maybe one or two games on there versus a lot of your games.

Feel free to look around for cheaper prices. But remember slight changes in the model number (GeForce GTX 560 and GeForce GTX 560 Ti, or Samsung F2, F3, and F4) are usually different products that have different performance.
 
Wow, thanks for this amazing post. I will poke around with different models to see if I can reduce the price further, but your build seems to be pretty solid.
 
That's a motherboard designed for AMD processors, not Intel ones.

Look at this combo instead.

Then get this RAM (use promo code EMCKDGK49 to get it to $55.)

Comes out to be less than what I previous suggested.
 
Well, this is the end product! :)

1 x ($229.99) SSD 128G|CRUCIAL CT128M4SSD2 R $229.99
1 x ($59.99) CASE CM|RC-912-KKN1 RT $59.99
1 x ($64.99) HD 1T|SAMSUNG HD103SJ 32M 7K % - OEM $64.99
1 x ($69.99) MEM 4Gx2|GSKILL F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL $69.99
1 x ($99.99) PSU ANTEC| 750W HCG-750 RTL $99.99
1 x ($239.99) VGA EVGA|01G-P3-1561-AR GTX560 1G R $239.99
1 x ($99.99) MB BIOSTAR TH67+ RT $99.99
1 x ($189.99) CPU INTEL|CORE I5 2400 3.1G 6M R $189.99
1 x ($14.99) FLASH 8G|PATR FLDRV PEF8GUSB R $14.99
1 x ($19.99) DVD BRN ASUS | DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS% - OEM $19.99
1 x ($27.99) CPU COOLER XIGMATEK|GAIA SD1283 R $27.99
1 x ($-20.00) DISCOUNT FOR COMBO #675360$-20.00
1 x ($-24.50) DISCOUNT FOR PROMOTION CODE$-24.50

A little under $1100, but that's fine. Wooooo! I feel good. Thanks so much for the help tony :)
 
Cheesecakeh said:
Well, this is the end product! :)

1 x ($229.99) SSD 128G|CRUCIAL CT128M4SSD2 R $229.99
1 x ($59.99) CASE CM|RC-912-KKN1 RT $59.99
1 x ($64.99) HD 1T|SAMSUNG HD103SJ 32M 7K % - OEM $64.99
1 x ($69.99) MEM 4Gx2|GSKILL F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL $69.99
1 x ($99.99) PSU ANTEC| 750W HCG-750 RTL $99.99
1 x ($239.99) VGA EVGA|01G-P3-1561-AR GTX560 1G R $239.99
1 x ($99.99) MB BIOSTAR TH67+ RT $99.99
1 x ($189.99) CPU INTEL|CORE I5 2400 3.1G 6M R $189.99
1 x ($14.99) FLASH 8G|PATR FLDRV PEF8GUSB R $14.99
1 x ($19.99) DVD BRN ASUS | DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS% - OEM $19.99
1 x ($27.99) CPU COOLER XIGMATEK|GAIA SD1283 R $27.99
1 x ($-20.00) DISCOUNT FOR COMBO #675360$-20.00
1 x ($-24.50) DISCOUNT FOR PROMOTION CODE$-24.50

A little under $1100, but that's fine. Wooooo! I feel good. Thanks so much for the help tony :)
Click to expand...

Ssd are good. Will it give you better fps or improve performances in games etc? No. Will taking that money you saved by sticking with a spinner and getting a better cpu give you improve performance in games and such etc etc? Yes.
 
Cheesecakeh said:
Well, this is the end product! :)

1 x ($229.99) SSD 128G|CRUCIAL CT128M4SSD2 R $229.99
1 x ($59.99) CASE CM|RC-912-KKN1 RT $59.99
1 x ($64.99) HD 1T|SAMSUNG HD103SJ 32M 7K % - OEM $64.99
1 x ($69.99) MEM 4Gx2|GSKILL F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL $69.99
1 x ($99.99) PSU ANTEC| 750W HCG-750 RTL $99.99
1 x ($239.99) VGA EVGA|01G-P3-1561-AR GTX560 1G R $239.99
1 x ($99.99) MB BIOSTAR TH67+ RT $99.99
1 x ($189.99) CPU INTEL|CORE I5 2400 3.1G 6M R $189.99
1 x ($14.99) FLASH 8G|PATR FLDRV PEF8GUSB R $14.99
1 x ($19.99) DVD BRN ASUS | DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS% - OEM $19.99
1 x ($27.99) CPU COOLER XIGMATEK|GAIA SD1283 R $27.99
1 x ($-20.00) DISCOUNT FOR COMBO #675360$-20.00
1 x ($-24.50) DISCOUNT FOR PROMOTION CODE$-24.50

A little under $1100, but that's fine. Wooooo! I feel good. Thanks so much for the help tony :)
Click to expand...

Congrats! Let us know how the build turns out.
 
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