New Build, and it's been a while...

[Shhteve24]

Questions First...

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming, some MS Office work, browsing

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Between $1,200 - $1,300, including T&S

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
San Francisco, CA

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.
All core pieces + Monitor.. MOBO, CPU, GPU, RAM, PSU, HDD/SSD, Case, Optical Drive, Monitor

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, Speakers

6) Will you be overclocking?
It will be my first foray into overclocking, so nothing crazy...but yes, I would like to.

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
Would like to get 2560x1600 if looks good enough (otherwise 1920x1080), initial budget looks like I'll go for something in the 23" range..

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
I would like to start buying in the next 30 days.

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)? UEFI? etc.
USB 3.0, SATA 6Gb/s, I dont know enough about UEFI or RAID, so no? No intention of SLI or CF either.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
NO, will be grabbing Win7 64bit most likely (not included in budget).

I haven't built a computer (or paid much attention to tech advances) in almost 10 years. I got the itch again, so I've been researching the past few weeks, checking newegg/tigerdirect, etc, reading posts on here, etc. This will mainly be a gaming rig, but also used for general purpose stuff. I would likel to be able to play games like Diablo 3, bf3 on high settings, but does not have to be able to max everything out (maybe I'll attempt that while I'm attempting to OC...).

Here is what I've come up with so far (with some comments), and would love to hear input from the guys that know a heck of lot more about all the details than I do...
(newegg prices - before MIR's and Tax)
CPU: i5 - 2500K - $220
CM Hyper 212 evo - $34
MoBo: Biostar TZ77XE3 - $110
GPU: either MSI GTX 560 Ti ($270) or HD7850 (ASUS, MSI, or Sapphire? ($250-$260)) - I've read they're both a fantastic bang/buck, have OC potential, and should be plenty for what I'm aiming for. I'm leaning towards the 7850 because it runs cooler w/less energy, but really wanted to hear what you thought when put into a system like this...
RAM: G.Skill Ares 2x8GB model#F3-1600C10D-16GAO ($110) , or Ripjaw 2x8GB model#F3-12800CL10D-16GBXL ($115)
PSU: SeaSonic M12II 520 ($60) - Heard nothing but great things about seasonic..
Case: Antec 302 - $70
SSD: Corsair CSSD-F60GB3A ($80) - Boot Drive
HDD: WD Caviar Blue WD1600AAJS ($65) - Do you think it is worth dedicating a SSD to boot drive? I really wont be storing a ton of stuff so a smaller capacity does not bother me...I'm wondering if I should just go with a SATA 6Gb/s HDD? rather than a SSD+HDD setup?
DVD/RW: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS - $18
Monitor: Asus VS229H-P 21.5" ($164) or Acer G235HAbd 23" ($140) - I like the idea of having HDMI input on the Asus, but not sure if I'll really need one/worth losing the size..

The total for that comes to about $1,131. I am fine with piecing things together over the next month or so to take advantage of deals, and before I order from any site I will check out each of them (mainly newegg, tigerdirect and amazon). I work somewhat close to a Fry's, so I will also try to check out their prices as well. Mainly just wanted some input to see if there are any big red flags with the hardware coming together..

Thank you guys, I appreciate any input! After reading through a lot of random posts and reviews on various pieces, I thought it's time I put my idea out here....

 

[Dangman]

Buy as much of your parts as possible from Amazon.com or Tigerdirect.com since they do not charge sale tax for CA residents like Newegg does.

Motherboard wise, I'd spend the extra cash for this more reputable motherboard:
$120 - Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H Intel Z77 ATX Motherboard

GPU wise, definitely the HD 7850 2GB since the extra VRAM will help out in the long run.

RAM wise, do note that if you're planning on getting 32GB of RAM, you will need Windows 7 Pro. If you're planning on only having 16GB of RAM, really no point in spending extra cash for the 2x8GB sets. If you're fine with 16GB of RAM max, then I recommend two of this set of RAM and call it a day:
$42 - Corsair CMV8GX3M2A1333C9 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM

If you want 32GB of RAM, I recommend this Corsair set instead:
$110 - Corsair CMV8GX3M2A1333C9 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM

PSU wise, while that Seasonic is a good PSU, the problem is that once you factor in shipping and tax, it comes out to about $75 shipped. Not that great of a deal since $15 more gets you its larger 620W brother:
$90 - SeaSonic M12II 620 Bronze 620W Modular PSU

Case wise, not a good choice for a case. It's relatively cramped and there are better cases out there for the money. I'd go with this case:
$80/URL] - Corsair Carbide Series 300R ATX Case

SSD wise, that SSD isn't too good of a choice for a few reasons:
- It's a Sandforce based SSD
- It's one of the slower Sandforce based SSDs
- Its GB per $1 ratio is not good at all.

If you want the best bang for the buck SSD possible, I recommend this SSD:
[URL=http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-2-5-Inch-Solid-State-CT128M4SSD2/dp/B004W2JKZI/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1338511035&sr=1-1]$121 - Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5" 128GB SSD

And the above SSD does go on sale for $100 every once or awhile. So keep an eye out for the above SSD series as well as the Samsung 830 series.

HDD wise, don't go for anything smaller than a 500GB drive these days. Drives smaller than 500GB are often older, slower, and very overpriced drives. I recommend this HDD while it's on sale now:
http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barra...2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1338511247&sr=1-2

Monitor wise, if you want 1920x1080, I'd stick with a 23" or higher as IMO, 21.5" is a tad too small for that resolution.

 

[E4g1e]

Questions First...

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming, some MS Office work, browsing

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Between $1,200 - $1,300, including T&S

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
San Francisco, CA

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.
All core pieces + Monitor.. MOBO, CPU, GPU, RAM, PSU, HDD/SSD, Case, Optical Drive, Monitor

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, Speakers

6) Will you be overclocking?
It will be my first foray into overclocking, so nothing crazy...but yes, I would like to.

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
Would like to get 2560x1600 if looks good enough (otherwise 1920x1080), initial budget looks like I'll go for something in the 23" range..

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
I would like to start buying in the next 30 days.

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)? UEFI? etc.
USB 3.0, SATA 6Gb/s, I dont know enough about UEFI or RAID, so no? No intention of SLI or CF either.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
NO, will be grabbing Win7 64bit most likely (not included in budget).

I haven't built a computer (or paid much attention to tech advances) in almost 10 years. I got the itch again, so I've been researching the past few weeks, checking newegg/tigerdirect, etc, reading posts on here, etc. This will mainly be a gaming rig, but also used for general purpose stuff. I would likel to be able to play games like Diablo 3, bf3 on high settings, but does not have to be able to max everything out (maybe I'll attempt that while I'm attempting to OC...).

Here is what I've come up with so far (with some comments), and would love to hear input from the guys that know a heck of lot more about all the details than I do...
(newegg prices - before MIR's and Tax)
CPU: i5 - 2500K - $220
CM Hyper 212 evo - $34
MoBo: Biostar TZ77XE3 - $110
GPU: either MSI GTX 560 Ti ($270) or HD7850 (ASUS, MSI, or Sapphire? ($250-$260)) - I've read they're both a fantastic bang/buck, have OC potential, and should be plenty for what I'm aiming for. I'm leaning towards the 7850 because it runs cooler w/less energy, but really wanted to hear what you thought when put into a system like this...
RAM: G.Skill Ares 2x8GB model#F3-1600C10D-16GAO ($110) , or Ripjaw 2x8GB model#F3-12800CL10D-16GBXL ($115)
PSU: SeaSonic M12II 520 ($60) - Heard nothing but great things about seasonic..
Case: Antec 302 - $70
SSD: Corsair CSSD-F60GB3A ($80) - Boot Drive
HDD: WD Caviar Blue WD1600AAJS ($65) - Do you think it is worth dedicating a SSD to boot drive? I really wont be storing a ton of stuff so a smaller capacity does not bother me...I'm wondering if I should just go with a SATA 6Gb/s HDD? rather than a SSD+HDD setup?
DVD/RW: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS - $18
Monitor: Asus VS229H-P 21.5" ($164) or Acer G235HAbd 23" ($140) - I like the idea of having HDMI input on the Asus, but not sure if I'll really need one/worth losing the size..

The total for that comes to about $1,131. I am fine with piecing things together over the next month or so to take advantage of deals, and before I order from any site I will check out each of them (mainly newegg, tigerdirect and amazon). I work somewhat close to a Fry's, so I will also try to check out their prices as well. Mainly just wanted some input to see if there are any big red flags with the hardware coming together..

Thank you guys, I appreciate any input! After reading through a lot of random posts and reviews on various pieces, I thought it's time I put my idea out here....

There are a lot of poor choices for the money in that build:

1) First and foremost is the hard drive: It is priced way too close to a superior-performing and much larger capacity 500GB hard drive for its own good. In fact, that 160GB WD Blue actually costs $69 shipped, while the superior 500GB model costs only $5 more (with free shipping)!

2) The SSD: That one is not only Sandforce SF2281-based (and most SF2281-based SSDs suffer from the random BSOD issue), but that Corsair SSD is actually one of the slower SF2281-based SSDs due in large part to its use of cheap, sluggish asynchronous NAND flash chips. Worse, even at the $80 price point it's overpriced for its real-world performance, considering that you can purchase significantly faster-performing 60~64GB SSDs for just $5 more.

3) At $270, the GeForce GTX 560 Ti 2GB model and the GTX 560 Ti 448 1.25GB model are both now overpriced for what they are (unless you either hate AMD or you have programs that take advantage of NVIDIA's CUDA technology). Go for the HD 7850 2GB, in this case.

4) That Antec 302 is an outdated case: It is very cramped on the inside, especially from front to rear. And the HD 7850 2GB is long enough to not fit inside that case if a 3.5" HDD is installed in any of the top three hard drive bays.

EDIT - It took me so long to track down the parts. I saw that Danny came up with his suggestions first.

 

[Dangman]

EDIT - It took me so long to track down the parts. I saw that Danny came up with his suggestions first.

It's nice to have some extra confirmation

 

[Shhteve24]

Awesome guys, thanks for the heads up. I'm going to do some more looking around tonight with your advice in mind..

 

[Shhteve24]

So I've looked around a bit..

For the case It was initially a toss-up between the 302 and the Carbide series...you tipped the scales to the Carbide.

RAM: I think 16GB will plenty for me, I can't imagine ever needing 32GB unless I get the urge to one-up my brother

I think the only real question I have left (for now anyway...) is whether its worth it to go with some DDR3 1600 RAM vs. the DDR3 1333 you recommended. I have no problem with the extra $10 if it will mean more fun in the long run (performance increase/OC potential etc). Here are the 3 I narrowed it down to...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...31-429^20-231-429-TS,20-233-203^20-233-203-TS

So the question is: Will I get even slightly better performance out of the 1600? Will the 1600 be more OC friendly? If so, and if it's just as compatible, then that's what I'll go with..

Now I'll just hang back and keep my eye out for specials over the next couple of weeks!

 

[DJ Big T]

I've OCed the crap out of the Ripjaw X series. +1 for that. Not sure if I would get 4 sticks though. You can OC better with 2 x 8GB but it will cost you a bit more.