First time builder needs help.

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$trapped

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 18, 2012
Messages
168
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Email, web browsing, financial software, light gaming (Civ 5)
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
~$500 all inclusive
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Peoria, AZ
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.
Case, CPU, Mobo, RAM, PSU, Disc Drive, GPU (not sure if I need a discrete card), WiFi N
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
I have keyboard/mouse and a Samsung ATA133 SP2514N
6) Will you be overclocking?
Only if it helps ;)
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
2 different lcd tvs (not simultaneously). A Vizio VX240M (1920 x 1080 native) and a Vizio L37 HDTV (1,366x768 native).
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Within the next month
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.
USB 3.0, I don’t plan on running multiple discrete GPUs, nor more than 2 hard drives if that helps.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
I have XP Pro SP3, so i'd need to upgrade to win7

Would like to make future upgrades without replacing everything if possible.
 
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$trapped said:
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
I was thinking of waiting until Ivy comes out so that the prices drop on everything else. Would this be advantageous for my build? (I’ve no preference as to Intel or AMD)
Click to expand...
Actually Ivy probably won't drop the prices on current Intel CPUs as Intel's strategy for the last few years has been to introduce their newer/faster CPUs at the same price point as the slower/older CPUs. However with your budget, it really won't help if you wait for Ivy Bridge as more than likely the first Ivy Bridge CPUs to hit the market will be around $180 to $250+.

$trapped said:
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
I have XP Pro SP3 32bit, but am thinking I should move to Win7, unless waiting for 8 makes more sense by now. I would rather have better hardware and use xp until 8 comes out unless you all think 8 has significant problems like vista, 2000k, winME, etc.
Click to expand...
Windows 8 hasn't been released yet nor has a beta of that OS is in the wild yet. The beta won't be out until February 2012 apparently. What I'm trying to get at is that no one really knows how bad or how good Windows 8 will be.

Anyway, with your budget, you're better off with a prebuilt PC man. Sure we can definitely build a PC for that price but it won't be the best bang for your buck. Case in point, check out this Dell PC for $580:
http://configure.us.dell.com/dellst...cid=27740&lid=2026224&acd=10993952-268435-993

It comes with:
Dell E2211H 21.5" VGA/DVI Monitor
Intel Core i3-2120 3.3GHz Processor
Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
16X DVD-ROM
3 Year Warranty
Intel HD Graphics 2000 with HDMI
500GB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
3GB DDR3 Non-ECC SDRAM Memory

It is $80 over budget but you get a monitor, 3 years of Dell Warranty, and Windows 7. No way can we beat that without going with some really really low quality parts.
 
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