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First build, going for a well-rounded pc

C

cloudmyth

n00b
Joined
May 11, 2011
Messages
11
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=20367787


1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
75% hd movies 15% photoshop 10% gaming
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Budget is under $650 not including shipping/tax
3) Where do you live?
SC
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.
CPU, RAM, mobo, case, PSU, GPU
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Going to reuse a dvd drive and an internal hd
6) Will you be overclocking?
no
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
i have a 24" 1920x1200 monitor i'm using
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
over the next 2-3 weeks as i get the money
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? etc.
not sure, at least usb 3.0 and sata 6gb/s
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
yes, win 7 64bit




This will be my first build ever and I don't know much about building computers so please (nicely) let me know if I got something completely fucking wrong. :) For the case, I was looking for something that is quiet and that doesnt have a bunch of LEDs
 
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Ok, please come back 2-3 weeks before your actual build/buy date and ask for advice then. By then we can save you money by telling you what deals are out and what Newegg combo deals are out.

However some bad things about that setup:
- That Corsair 750W PSU is overkill. You'll be fine with a solid 520W PSU
- That GTX 550 Ti card isn't worth the money. Go for the HD 6850 1GB instead
- That mobo is overkill as well.
 
I've always heard you shouldn't skip on the PSU? I am also planning on adding in a sound card and a couple more hard drives if that makes any difference. As for the video card, I'd like to get an Nvidia if possible... The reason I went for top notch mobo and PSU is that I was attempting to help future proof my build. I want to be able to upgrade as time goes on.
 
cloudmyth said:
I've always heard you shouldn't skip on the PSU? I am also planning on adding in a sound card and a couple more hard drives if that makes any difference.
Click to expand...
Yeah you shouldn't skimp on a PSU but that statement generally refers to both quality AND power capability. However the setup you posted won't ever need 750W of power even if you are adding bunch of hard drives. In fact with your current setup as is, you would need to add 20 hard drives to make that 750TX worthwhile. And you can get decent quality PSUs for less:
$64 - Antec NEO ECO 520C 520W PSU
$90 - Corsair 650TX V2 650W PSU

However even if you want to stick with a 750W PSU, don't get that old Corsair. Go for the updated and better quality Corsair 750TX V2:
$110 - Corsair 750TX V2 750W PSU

Also, that G.Skill RAM choice is also a bad choice since A) that's a limited time shell shocker deal and therefore won't be $80 by the time you buy and B) There's no real world difference between DDR3 1333 and DDR3 1600 RAM. As such, at $100, that G.Skill RAM is a total waste of money. So I recommend this RAM:
$80 - G.Skill Value Series F3-10600CL9D-8GBNT 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
cloudmyth said:
As for the video card, I'd like to get an Nvidia if possible...
Click to expand...
All righty then. As long as you know that you're not getting that good of a bang for the buck value with Nvidia and if you're cool with that, fine by me.
cloudmyth said:
The reason I went for top notch mobo and PSU is that I was attempting to help future proof my build. I want to be able to upgrade as time goes on.
Click to expand...

FYI, outside of the PSU and HDDs, barely anything in a PC is ever future-proof. A year from now, there's a very good chance that not a single new Intel CPU will be compatible with the current LGA 1155 socket.
 
Thanks for such a great reply! You are really helping me better understand some of this stuff. Much appreciated.


So I'll chop the PSU down to the 650 and switch out the ram. For the video card, can you suggest an Nvidia card? I just picked out one at random haha. I stopped following vid cards way back when the 8800 was cream of the crop so I'm a little out of the loop :p Also, should I downgrade the mobo and upgrade the CPU to quad core? Does anything really make use of 4 cores?
 
A lot of games do in fact use quad-cores and Photoshop does improve with quad-cores as well. So definitely up the CPU to the quad-core Core i5 2400. For gaming at 1920x1200, I recommend the 560 Ti as a minimum.
 
You're pretty much set for the hardware. However, do note that for an 8% increase in price or $15 more, you can get an extra 15% in performance:
$188 - XFX HD-687A-ZNFC Radeon HD 6870 1GB PCI-E Video Card

Thats worth the extra cash, especially at your high resolution.
 
Alright, I'll look into the 6870. Any suggestions on the mobo? I'd be nice to maybe get a cheaper one, as $100 in comparison to the other components seems steep.
 
cloudmyth said:
Alright, I'll look into the 6870. Any suggestions on the mobo? I'd be nice to maybe get a cheaper one, as $100 in comparison to the other components seems steep.
Click to expand...

Actually, $100 is already near the bottom. The next decent mobo below $100 would be this $7 cheaper MSI mobo:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130579

So yeah, really really can't go any lower than that. Otherwise, you're looking at very low quality or limited motherboards.
 
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