New build. first build.

[shiky]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
web browsing, word processing, some gaming probably (diablo 3 when it comes out, Star Wars MMO)
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
would like to stay under 1200 for everything, peripherals included preferably.
3) Where do you live?
Long Island NY
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
CPU, PSU, Mobo, Case, Ram, GPU, optical drive, monitor... brand new build, so EVERYTHING.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
nothing being reused.
6) Will you be overclocking?
should i be? i'd consider it.
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
probably between 21" and 25", wanna stay below 150 for the monitor, 1080p, 2ms refresh rate...
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
within the next few weeks, waiting on a refund check from my college
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
not quite sure. if i get the HD5850, i won't crossfire immediately, but if i go with 4850's i'll probably crossfire. i don't really understand it though. I also want to run 8GB of ram, just because. someone talk me out of it?
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
yes, and i'll use the student upgrade to windows 7


thanks guys in advance. this is my first complete build, but i've installed a GPU and RAM in a desktop before many moons ago.

 

[Dangman]

So just two games? And even then, both games haven't even been released yet? And all you're doing is web browsing and word processing? That's it?

If so, $1200 is waaay over budget for that.

 

[shiky]

i'm not sure if i'd be into other games. i'm probably going to get MW2 for 360, but i'd be willing to try other FPS's. i've got a crazy cart on newegg built.

WD1001FALS HDD
MSI NF750-G55 mobo
Sigma Monster SP750C PSU
OCZ Special Ops 4GB (2x2GB) 1600 DDR3 (PC3 12800) x2 for 8GB
AMD Phenom II x4 955 3.2GHz 125W Quad Core.

All in a Raidmax Smilodon ATX 612WB since it has that fold out side panel.

basically need to decide on a GPU.

oh and i might start playing Aion

 

[Dangman]

i'm not sure if i'd be into other games. i'm probably going to get MW2 for 360, but i'd be willing to try other FPS's. i've got a crazy cart on newegg built.

WD1001FALS HDD
MSI NF750-G55 mobo
Sigma Monster SP750C PSU
OCZ Special Ops 4GB (2x2GB) 1600 DDR3 (PC3 12800) x2 for 8GB
AMD Phenom II x4 955 3.2GHz 125W Quad Core.

All in a Raidmax Smilodon ATX 612WB since it has that fold out side panel.

basically need to decide on a GPU.

oh and i might start playing Aion

Not that good of a system: Horrible PSU, not very well priced CPU, probably overvoltage RAM.

Ok, here's the deal: I think you're wasting $1200 since your needs, besides gaming, can easily be met by any $400 laptop out there. Nothing you've said so far justifies spending that much money IMO. So with that said, I recommend this scaled down build:
$179 - AMD Phenom II X3 720 CPU + Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UDP3 AMD 770 ATX Motherboard Combo
$86 - G.Skill Ripjaw Series F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL 2 x 2GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$145 - XFX HD-487A-ZWFC Radeon HD 4870 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$95 - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$31 - SAMSUNG SH-S223B 22X SATA DVD Burner Black Drive
$100 - Antec Truepower New TP-650 650W PSU
$170 - Asus VW224U Black 22" 2ms(GTG) Widescreen LCD Monitor
-----
Total: $806 plus tax and shipping.

Choose whatever case you like. But here are some suggestions:
$50 - Cooler Master Elite 335 RC-335-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$50 - Cooler Master Elite 331 RC-331-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$40 - Cooler Master Elite 332 RC-332-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$50 - Thermaltake WingRS 201 VJ60001N2Z ATX Case
$60 - Antec 300 ATX Case
$60 - 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
$105 - Thermaltake ElementS VK60001N2Z ATX Case
$135 - Antec P183 ATX Case
$140 - Cooler Master HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$200 - Cooler Master Cosmos S 1000 RC-1100-KSN1-GP Full Tower ATX Case
$200 - Cooler Master ATCS 840 RC-840-KKN1-GP Full Tower ATX Case
$220 - Silverstone FT01-B ATX Case
$250 - Lian Li PC-V1200B Plus II ATX Case
$240 - Lian Li PC-A71B ATX Case
$285 - Silverstone TJ09-B Full Tower ATX Case
$320 - Silverstone TJ10-B Full Tower ATX Case
$330 - Silverstone Temjin SST-TJ07B Full Tower ATX Case

However if you do want to use up all that cash, I recommend this setup (Still overkill for your needs):
$325 - Intel Core i5 750 CPU + Gigabyte GA-P55-UD3R Intel P55 ATX Motherboard Combo
$86 - G.Skill Ripjaw Series F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL 2 x 2GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$260 - XFX HD-585A-ZNFC Radeon HD 5850 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$95 - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$31 - SAMSUNG SH-S223B 22X SATA DVD Burner Black Drive
$100 - Antec Truepower New TP-650 650W PSU
$170 - Asus VW224U Black 22" 2ms(GTG) Widescreen LCD Monitor
-----
Total: $1067 plus tax and shipping.

 

[shiky]

I also like to multitask. Any reason not to get the faster quad-core processor? I'll probably go with the 4870 1GB card too, also, why shouldn't i go all out on the ram? why 4GB over 8GB?

 

[Dangman]

I also like to multitask. Any reason not to get the faster quad-core processor? I'll probably go with the 4870 1GB card too, also, why shouldn't i go all out on the ram? why 4GB over 8GB?

Main reason not to get the quad-core is the additional cost. If you multi-task heavily (6-7 Firefox windows open with 10 tabs each, 4-5 Word docs opene, , instant messaging, two virtual machines, 6-7 Google Chrome windows open or do a ton of Photoshop work, all at the same time), then get the quad-core. If you're nowhere near the above usage scenario, then a quad-core is not needed. In addition, 8GB of RAM won't hurt performance in any way BUT you haven't mentioned any usage scenario that would require 8GB of RAM. Considering how high RAM prices are now, going for 8GB of RAM when you have no need for it is a bad idea.

 

[shiky]

i'm basically building this rig because my 1.6GHz Pentium R Dell laptop with 1GB of ram is just too slow for me. I've constantly got 3-4 tabs open on firefox with a few pop-up plugins (which i've had to stop using because it keeps freezing up), and instant messenger. I'd get into gaming if it wasn't so damn slow. would i still be better off with the tri-core? i read that it doesn't even use the third core?

 

[shiky]

okay how bout this:

Samsung 22x SATA Dvd/CD Burner
COOLER MASTER Centurion 590 RC-590-KKN1-GP Black SECC / ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
ASUS VH236H Black 23" 2ms(GTG) HDMI Widescreen Full HD 1080P LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 20000 :1 (ASCR) Built in Speakers
POWERCOLOR AX4870 1GBD5 Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card
Antec TruePower New TP-750 Blue 750W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.3 / EPS12V V2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC "compatible with Core i7" Power Supply
OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model OCZ3G1600LV6GK
well never mind on the cpu/mobo combo, it expired yesterday.so i'll choose the same processor, phenomII x3 720 with this mobo:MSI 770-C45 AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard

that adds up to $905.85. not terrible.

i do appreciate the help danny. i'm just one of those people who hates to pass up better products for just a bit more, knowing that what i've bought is just about obsolete.

 

[lt_shiro]

Gigabyte 770T is better board for same price.

 

[Dangman]

would i still be better off with the tri-core? i read that it doesn't even use the third core?

Yup. For multi-tasking, that extra core does come in handy. In addition, many future games will scale well with tri and quad core CPUs.

POWERCOLOR AX4870 1GBD5 Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card
OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model OCZ3G1600LV6GK
well never mind on the cpu/mobo combo, it expired yesterday.so i'll choose the same processor, phenomII x3 720 with this mobo:MSI 770-C45 AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard

Poor choice on the video card. Is a free game, a game that often goes on sale for $5 worth the extra $10 in shipping + addition $5 in costs over a video card that comes with far better customer support, lifetime warranty, and free shipping?

AMD does not support RAM in tri-channel. So that 6GB set is not that suitable for an AMD setup. So go with the 4GB set I recommended earlier.

Also note that no matter how much money you spend on a PC, it becomes obsolete the minute you buy it.

Also I concur with lt_shiro that the Gigabyte 770T, even without the combo deal, is still the better motherboard.

 

[engiNURD]

... Also note that no matter how much money you spend on a PC, it becomes obsolete the minute you buy it. ...

I wouldn't say obsolete... but its like a new car... the minute you drove it off the lot, it depreciated $10k.