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Hey all, helping a friend build a slick new gaming workstation with potential for some lite photo/video work. Basically his first new desktop in years and he's looking to power a 24" monitor at 1600x1200 with latest games at max resoultion (BF3, CoD, Skyrim) and run some VM's for software development work and testing.
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Friend is a software developer/QA guy by day and gamer at night. Needs to be able to run 2-3 Server 2k8 R2 VM's (1GB-2GB ram used per VM) while working and then play Skyrim, BF3, Arkham etc. at night. VM's wont be running while gaming. Has a 24" display now, not really looking at tri-monitors but wouldn't mind being able to do that in 1-2 years. Some photo editing and maybe very light video work. Also might power a 30" TV @ 1080p from time to time.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Up to $2000 shipped, would perfer $1400-$1900.
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
USA - Cambridge, MA. Microcenter is nearby and we can get a CPU + Mobo combo there if a deal is approprate.
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, Power Supply, CPU, CPU Cooler, Mobo, RAM, SSD for OS and apps (~120GB), 1TB HD (x2*), Videocard, CD/DVD burner (blu-ray not essential)
*might wait a couple months on 2nd 1TB drive for prices to fall*
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Keyboard & Mouse (Logitech), 24" Acer Monitor (I think), 4.1 speakers of fair quality, entry level headphones w/mic.
6) Will you be overclocking?
Not now but open to it down the line as CPU ages.
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
1600x1200 - 24". Could potentially use 30" @ 1080p via HDMI.
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
This week 1/22/2011-1/29/2011
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 would be nice, RAID not essential (will probably use 1TB for torrents, music, movies, VM's, and other 1 TB for local backup/storage)
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Already have Winows 7 x64 Enterprise and bulk Server OS licenses.
-=-=-=-=-
This DIY Newegg combo looked pretty good, we're partial to the case too (I've noticed Danny had recommended it a few times too so that didn't hurt) but the SSD is too small:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.791304
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Friend is a software developer/QA guy by day and gamer at night. Needs to be able to run 2-3 Server 2k8 R2 VM's (1GB-2GB ram used per VM) while working and then play Skyrim, BF3, Arkham etc. at night. VM's wont be running while gaming. Has a 24" display now, not really looking at tri-monitors but wouldn't mind being able to do that in 1-2 years. Some photo editing and maybe very light video work. Also might power a 30" TV @ 1080p from time to time.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Up to $2000 shipped, would perfer $1400-$1900.
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
USA - Cambridge, MA. Microcenter is nearby and we can get a CPU + Mobo combo there if a deal is approprate.
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, Power Supply, CPU, CPU Cooler, Mobo, RAM, SSD for OS and apps (~120GB), 1TB HD (x2*), Videocard, CD/DVD burner (blu-ray not essential)
*might wait a couple months on 2nd 1TB drive for prices to fall*
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Keyboard & Mouse (Logitech), 24" Acer Monitor (I think), 4.1 speakers of fair quality, entry level headphones w/mic.
6) Will you be overclocking?
Not now but open to it down the line as CPU ages.
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
1600x1200 - 24". Could potentially use 30" @ 1080p via HDMI.
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
This week 1/22/2011-1/29/2011
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 would be nice, RAID not essential (will probably use 1TB for torrents, music, movies, VM's, and other 1 TB for local backup/storage)
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Already have Winows 7 x64 Enterprise and bulk Server OS licenses.
-=-=-=-=-
This DIY Newegg combo looked pretty good, we're partial to the case too (I've noticed Danny had recommended it a few times too so that didn't hurt) but the SSD is too small:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.791304
