Need advice for comp build. first time.

Corban227

Corban227

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1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming and Photoshop mainly
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
budget is about 1000 give or take a few hundred. shipping and tax not included
3) Where do you live?
california
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
Pretty much everything: monitor, case, mobo, graphics card, power suply etc.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
nothing for building the comp. just keyboard, mouse speakers and external hardrive (1tb)
6) Will you be overclocking?
dont know what this is yet o_O
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
about a 20-22 inch
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
probably after Christmas and hoping to finish before February
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
the only need i have right now is an esata connection for my external drive
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
no but this should not be an issue


the only thing i have found so far that i like is a case
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...?EdpNo=3911521&csid=ITD&body=MAIN#detailspecs

So this is my first time building a desktop so i have no idea what is good right now, what i needed etc etc. i have helped my friend build a comp, and my dad and girlfriends dad are both very good with computers. as much as you guys can help me with or let me know would be greatly appreciated!! o and could you guys hold off on the abbreviations for a bit. still a nub.
 
Do you happen to live near a Microcenter?

Can you actually afford to spend $1000 right now on a PC?
 
well not exactly right now. im waiting for a check in the mail, but there is a micro center about 10 minutes from my house. and just as a side question, does Microcenter normally have good prices?
 
Ok, when will you be able to get $1000 + any other tax/shipping costs to buy the PC?

In case you're wondering why I'm asking these questions: You mentioned " hoping to finish before February". People usually say something similar to that when they can only afford to buy the parts one by one over a period of time, a buying method that's not very cost effective unless the item was bought at a huge discount. Hence why I'm asking when you can actually afford to buy the PC.

Microcenter has very good prices. And good thing that you live near one :D That's gonna make this build a bit easier on the wallet.

Oh is there any way you can tell us exactly what you do with photoshop?
 
ok so i will be getting all the money at once, so when i decide on what my parts are, etc i will be making one trip to get everything i need, or order everything at the same time.
the reason im asking now is that im trying to decided what to get by the time Christmas comes.

I know my way around computers pretty well for someone who has never taken any classes or done anything like this before but i dont know how to make the most efficient and powerful comp (i.e. what parts work best together and what is spending too much etcetc). this forum came highly recommended from one of my buddies who's been building pcs since he was like 15 lol.

anywaz for specifics in use:

Photoshop
im getting a new camera and just got photo shop. im going to start learning how to use it in its entirety. the things i cant see myself ever using is like the 3D construction stuff. but as far as editing photos, combining them, etc, i want to learn how to do everything lol (big task so ive heard). and i am also going to try and learn how to create pictures, like virtual landscapes, etc.

Gaming
i want to beable almost any vid game with out the trouble of hoping it will run smoothly.
also another motivation (if it ever comes out) is stracraft 2... lol

those are the two main things i will be using, other than internet and word processing etc.
 
$160 - Core i5 750 from Microcenter
$110 - Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2 Intel P55 mATX Motherboard
$93 - G.Skill F3-10666CL9D-4GBRL 2 x 2GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$180 - XFX HD-577A-ZNFC Radeon HD 5770 (Juniper XT) 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$110 - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$27 - Samsung SH-S223C SATA DVD Burner
$90 - Corsair 650TX 650W PSU
----
$770 plus tax and shipping

Choose your own case and monitor. Try to pick up the monitor locally for two reasons:
1) If anything is wrong with it, i.e multiple dead pixels, you can return it straight to the store.
2) You can see for yourself the quality of the screen.
 
wow thx. im pretty new to this so i dont know the differences in products, but here are a couple of questions

1.would it be a good idea to get 8 gigs of ram right now to save from upgrading later?
2. ive always wondered if there is any benefit to having dual monitors or would 1 be fine?
3.dual vid card or single? what would i be gaining by getting a second one and would it even be worth it based on the price increase?
4.would it be beter to buy everything from microcenter? or would tax outweigh the fact that newegg has free shipping?
5.Would cooling be an issue? what are your guy's opinions on water cooling?
6.sorry bout this nub question but... how many internal hd does this mobo support? how many dvd drives? (mainly for expansion purposes)(im considering getting 1 dvd burner etc and one that does blue ray also so i can have 1 free and 1 with a game disc in if needed)

sorry bout all the questions but i wanna make sure i cover all my bases.

*edit*
also would i have any problems with that mobo fitting the case i listed above?

and would the case come with all the fans and blue led? or would that be something i would have to do myself?
 
Last edited:
1) DDR3 RAM will be cheaper in the future. So you're better off getting 4GB now and an additional 4GB later on.
2) Dual monitors does help productivity and multi-tasking. IIRC, there was a report that dual monitors does improve productivity by 33%. A bit anecdotal evidence here but personally, I can't stand single monitors now. Once you go dual monitor, it's hard to go a single.
3) If you're a hardcore performance enthusiast and gamer who plays games at 1920x1200 and above, no reason for two video cards. However if you plan on using four monitors, then yeah, dual video cards would be needed.
4) Up to you dude. CA Tax from Newegg would cost ya $60 for all the parts I listed except for the CPU. So factor that in and see how much it'll cost ya to get the same parts from Microcenter. Also note that Microcenter will price-match newegg on some parts if you bring out a printout of your Newegg cart page.
5) Cooling would not be an issue unless the cooling in your home sucks.
6) If you look at the specs for that motherboard, you can see that it has 7 SATA ports. You can use any combination of DVD burners and hard drives as long as it does not exceed 7 SATA ports. So in your particular situation, two of those SATA ports would be taken up by a DVD burner and Blu-Ray player. Which leaves you 5 SATA ports open for either hard drives or even more DVD drives.

EDIT: That case will definitely be cramped. I would not recommend that case. Some other case recommendations:
$50 - Cooler Master Elite 335 RC-335-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$50 - Cooler Master Elite 331 RC-331-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$50 - Cooler Master Elite 332 RC-332-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$50 - Thermaltake WingRS 201 VJ60001N2Z ATX Case
$60 - Antec 300 ATX Case
$50 - Cooler Master RC-590-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$70 - Cooler Master RC-690-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$80 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K7B ATX Case
$80 - Lian Li PC-7B Plus II ATX Case

And yes it would come with blue LED fans.
 
as far as monitors go what are good buys? i know with tvs dynamic contrast ratio is a big thing among other features

what are some good monitors?

also i am limited by my desk and the way it is built. its a corner desk. (olny about 35 inches of space at the widest point if they were facing directly toward me. but if i were to put them in a "v" shape i could fit 2 20's next to each other... but i don't think viewing would be very easy if they were like that lol)

would it be possible to get a good monitor for under 200? and would it be possible to get 2 good monitors for under 250?

i would love duals, but to be honest i dont think it would work out right now, the way the desk is set up... but knowing that there is room for expansion helps. ill get up pics if i can.
 
Dunno too much about monitors even after all these years on the forum. But I do know enough that you can get a good monitor for under $200. You could also get two good monitors for under $250 as well. However those two good monitors would probably only be good for gaming and all-right for photo-editing and the like.
 
ok so with this build, how long will it last me?

is it upgrade friendly?

do i have the option to have dual GPUs?
 
Corban227 said:
ok so with this build, how long will it last me?

is it upgrade friendly?

do i have the option to have dual GPUs?
Click to expand...

You have the option for Crossfire.

Should be easy to upgrade with.

How long a build lasts depends on the needs of the user at that moment. But for gaming, at least a year and a half, 3 at most.
 
1) or if prices are cheap enough, add 8GB later.

5) If you want to OC, then you should get an aftermarket CPU HSF (heatsink/fan for the CPU). Something like the Cooler Master Hyper 212+ would be good. An aftermarket HSF is also typically quieter than the stock intel HSF. BTW, Core i5 has auto OC'ing, with Intel Turbo Boost. ;) But if its not enough, manual OC'ing is always available with the parts Danny listed and a good cooler.

Whether its upgrade friendly or not depends on when and what you decide to upgrade. All PC's are upgradeable by design. ;)

Danny Bui said:
... 2) Dual monitors does help productivity and multi-tasking. IIRC, there was a report that dual monitors does improve productivity by 33%. A bit anecdotal evidence here but personally, I can't stand single monitors now. Once you go dual monitor, it's hard to go a single.

3) If you're a hardcore performance enthusiast and gamer who plays games at 1920x1200 and above, no reason for two video cards. However if you plan on using four monitors, then yeah, dual video cards would be needed. ...
Click to expand...

2) ... unless its a very large single. :p I had dual 20" monitors since 2002, and they are great for any type of development (web, coding, photo/video editing, etc). While I couldn't go back to a single 20-22", I'm defintely loving this 37" 1920x1080 monitor, lol. Though, I don't dev much on this PC, just game, watch media, and browse. I still prefer dual 20's or larger for work stuff.

3) I think you meant "Unless" instead of "If" ... or the word "not" is missing after "you're".
 
enginurd said:
3) I think you meant "Unless" instead of "If" ... or the word "not" is missing after "you're".
Click to expand...

lol i assumed that was missing.

Ok so i talked to my computer expert who i go to for everything.

i want to hear what you guys think about what he said...

Radeon cards are playing catchup to nVidia right now and have a tendancy to crash during gaming in Windows Vista ... may be the same for Windows 7 - I don't know

The MOBO can handle a 2200 FSB ... why not get DDR3 2200 RAM?

The Samsung DVD Burner does not have good reviews ... I would go with an LG or HP (hp costs more)

Don't know anything about Corsair power supplies ... I always get Antec ... they are well known, reliable, and they stand behind their products

the corsair power supply is cheaper so im wondering if that would be fine.

And also what would the nvidia equivalent be for the XFX HD-577A-ZNFC Radeon HD 5770 (Juniper XT) 1GB PCI-E Video Card

also as far as monitors go how is this lg monitor?
http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.aspx?EDC=1850382
 
enginurd said:
3) I think you meant "Unless" instead of "If" ... or the word "not" is missing after "you're".
Click to expand...

LOL!

Anyway, your go-to "computer expert" is wrong:

enginurd said:
3) I think you meant "Unless" instead of "If" ... or the word "not" is missing after "you're".
Click to expand...

LOL! Sleepiness FTL

Anyway, OP, your go-to "computer expert" is wrong:

- Many of ATI's latest cards now outperform a majority of Nvidia's lineup while using significantly less power and at a significantly less cost. What he said was true about a year and half ago. But not now. ATI drivers and ATI cards are very stable in Windows 7 and Windows Vista. Not only that, ATI's latest cards now support Eyefinity and DX11. Still no word on when Nvidia's new cards will be out.

- That's not how the FSB:RAM ratio works with Core i5 or Core i7 CPUs. In fact, there's no FSB per se to speak of when it comes to Core i5 and Core i7 CPUs. In addition, you would not notice an iota of real world performance increase in apps and games between DDR3 1333 and DDR3 2200 RAM.

- Too lazy to dispute or agree with him on the Samsung drives.

- Dude should really read a Corsair PSU review sometimes. Everything he just said about Antec is exactly the same thing people say about Corsair.


The nearest Nvidia equivalent in terms of performance to the HD 5770 is the GTX 260. However, in terms of price, the GTX 260 is a horrible choice for the money since the significantly faster HD 4890 video card is roughly $20 more than the GTX 260.
 
You're expert is about a year behind. ATI isn't playing catchup, they went with a different strategy long ago -- focus on mainstream and double up for high end crown (build the best value high-midrange GPU, and use two for the extreme enthusiast high end). Catchup was when the HD2900 couldn't keep up with the 8800GTX, despite being 8 months newer. Since the HD4800, they've been the best bang for buck cards around.

I haven't had any issues with Samsung optical drives. They're also rather quiet compared to Lite-On and some LG.

Not having any info on Corsair PSUs shows that your friend is outdated. They've been re-branding great PSUs from the first day they started into the PSU business. Antec uses the same OEM for some of their models. All Corsair models are good. For Antec, you'll want to avoid the Basiq lineup. The TruePower New lineup is MUCH better than their older TP3/Quattro lineup. The Earthwatts is good, but its their entry level line. You can't go wrong with any Corsair (HX-modular;TX-non-modular;VX-value;CX-affordable).
 
alright thats good to know.

i also looked up RAM 2200 and it was about 100 dollars more. which means i could get 8 gigs of 1333 instead of 4 gigs of 2200 and i know enough that i would notice the 8 gigs more lol

also if there are any monitor guys out there it would be great to hear from you =) lol. i am really interested in doing dual without spending to much. lol if i got some extra cash for Christmas, then i would like to do triple with dual GPU
 
Short version:
The main point regarding monitors and photo editing, is that you most likely want to avoid TN panels due to not as good color reproduction -- you'll be better off with an *IPS or MVA/PVA panel, but those are typically more pricey. TN panels are fast and cheap, so they're ideal for gamers, since they have good enough color for most (but typically not good enough for photo editors).

Long version:
HG's post below... :p
 
What would be more your priority on the computer? Gaming or Photoshop? The reason why I ask is that most 20"-22" monitors out there right now are TN panel monitor. TN stands for Twisted Nematic which uses a 6bit panel. TN panel lcds suffer from horizontal and especially vertical angles. They are not able to fully display the full 16.4 million colors as an 8-bit panel. Therefore, TN panels wouldn't be as ideal for Photoshop editing because of color shifting. An 8 bit panel would be more ideal for photo editing because it does not suffer from poor viewing angles and it's able to display the full 16.4 million colors. But, an 8 bit panels most of them anyways, do not have the low response times as a TN panels which would make it more ideal for high fps gaming. TN also have lower input lag than most 8 bit panel lcd. The sucky thing I don't like about the new 20" widescreen lcds out there right now is the 1600 x 900 (16:9 aspect ratio) resolutions. 900 pixels in height is not that much to view your photos or even web browsing and word documents. My favorite 20" lcds is the non widescreen ones that are 4:3 aspect ratio with 1600 x 1200 res. I think 2 x Dell 2007FP in Dual Monitor is really solid. We are running these at work and they look good. But, of course the Dell 2007FP monitors would be out of your budget though. I like the new Samsung C-PVA panel lcds that just came out. They have a 20" 2080 model and the 23" 2380 model which are 8 bit non-TN panels. It would be ideal for your photoshop needs. But, it doesn't have the lowest response time for gaming though. A Dell 2209WA 22" lcd would be perfect for you and its a well rounded 22" monitor. If you are looking at 2 x 20" then both of these monitors will have to be TN monitors. But, you won't be able to get 2 x 20" monitors for under $250. 19" and below you can.
 
Not bad. But, I would go with this ASUS VH226H 22" with 1920 x 1080 res and 2ms response time. It's 2" larger and you have the lower response time and it has free shipping with a $20 MIR
 
well H**L thats great lol

just as a side note: i like building computers better than modding my car lol. its a lot cheaper for me o_O
 
Corban227 said:
well H**L thats great lol

just as a side note: i like building computers better than modding my car lol. its a lot cheaper for me o_O
Click to expand...

hm... but you get more girls with a suped up ride than a suped up computer. :p
 
enginurd said:
hm... but you get more girls with a suped up ride than a suped up computer. :p
Click to expand...

lol indeed.

ok here is another query. i asked one of my friends who has been building cpus for a while and this was his response;
i5 - good for the price... cache is good 'n all but no hyper threading? =[

p55 board - I'd go with Asus. i don't know if they make a mobo with a LGA1156 socket but Asus makes some damn good mobos. you sure about the mATX? doesnt leave much room for expansion. IMO, the only good mobo series gigabyte made was their p35 series.



----
to get more bang for your buck, i'd go with an Asus system with Nforce & nVidia GPU.
I'm sure you had plans to go crossfire eventually, but ATI's crossfire isnt quite up to par with nVidia's SLI in terms of maturity.



my questions are what is hyper threading and will it push me over my budget?

what is a good Asus board that would be the equivalent to the one listed above?

and if i were to get an Asus board with nVidia GPU would it bump up the price a lot?
 
HT helps for crazy multi-tasking and for multi-threaded apps. Gaming and photoshop alone does not sound like you need HT. But if you want HT, the Xeon X3440 is $40 cheaper than the i7 860 but only 266Mhz slower. ;)

He sounds like an Asus fanboy. Gigabyte and Asus are top tier mobo companies. Some people have personal preference, but when it comes down to it, they're rather equal as mobo manufacturers, IMO. Each brand will have their share of bad parts. You can't go wrong either one. MSI is also a top tier mobo company.

If you think you'll need more room for expansion, I'd go with something like the GA-P55A-UD3 or similar instead. Asus doesn't have a mATX equiv P55 board. An Asus alternative w/ SLI would be the P7P55D Pro, and an MSI alternative w/ SLI would be the P55-GD65. SLI isn't worth it, IMO, since ATI's cards give better bang for buck.

Looks like this friend is behind the times, too. NVIDIA no longer makes Intel chipsets for Core i5/i7. Instead, they've licensed SLI to Intel. Heh, but even for Core2, nForce + LGA775 was still a very bad combination until the last revision 750i/780i FTW from eVGA. The 680i was plagued with problems, and so were the earlier 780i versions. If you want NForce on AM3, you'll switch to a Phenom2, which performs as good as a Core2. Yes, AMD is behind in the CPU game, but for GPU bound gaming, you won't notice the difference between the two. For everything else intensive, the Core i5/7 will leave the Ph2 in the dust.
 
so after all this discussion i think the original build is probably what im going to go with.

The ATI cards sound great: the HD 5770
the only modifications and additions ive made to the original build suggested are:
1. Probably going to get 2 GPU
2. Getting 2 of the Asus monitors suggested above (possibly 3 if i have the money
3. Most likely going with the NZXT Tempest Evo case
4.possibly getting this motherboard if you guys think it is better than the mATX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131405

the last questions for now are:
would two HD-5770 fit on the mATX MOBO?
if not and i get the Asus board,
would all this stuff fit in the case listed above?
 
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