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Newbie building a new system

D

DarthMerritt

n00b
Joined
Dec 27, 2010
Messages
9
I'm looking to finally build a new computer after having squeezed every last drop of computing mileage out of my previous rig. Now it's been a while... alright, a long while... since I built that "bad boy", so I could definitely use some guidance in making the choices on what parts to get for my new system and why. Here we go:


1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Moderate gaming, web browsing, some movie watching

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$1,000 - $1,500 total. Doesn't have to be top shelf, but I do want something that has both quality & longevity.

3) Where do you live?
Texas

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.
Mid-tower case with all the internals (case, CPU, mobo, RAM, PSU, graphics card(s), sound card, HDD, R/W DVD).

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
24" Widescreen LCD, standard mouse & keyboard, decent Sony speakers

6) Will you be overclocking?
No, that sounds dangerous.

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
Acer G245Hbmid 24" Widescreen LCD Display

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
No deadlines but I am anxious to get started... which is why I already bought the monitor :)

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? etc.
Not sure on some of these :confused: Crossfire/SLI sounds good. USB 3.0 would be nice. SATA 6.0 also nice...

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
I need a new one, leaning towards Windows 7 in 64bit

11) What games do you plan on playing? And at what settings?
I have some slightly older games such as Battle for Middle-earth 2 & Neverwinter Nights 2 that I want to play but can't on my current rig (I know, how sad is that!?). Also, I'm looking forward to Star Wars: The Old Republic when it comes out next year. I'd prefer to enjoy whatever I play at the higher settings and not have any problems.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions & info!
 
Considering your budget, please come back and ask for build advice in the second week of January. By then, we'll know what Newegg combo deals are available (those save you money) and what exactly Intel's new Sandy Bridge CPUs bring to the table in terms of performance.
 
Alright, I followed the advice and waited a few weeks. Is now a good time to buy parts or should I wait a little longer?
 
DarthMerritt said:
Alright, I followed the advice and waited a few weeks. Is now a good time to buy parts or should I wait a little longer?
Click to expand...

Good time.. Your budget is way more then needed though.. I just spec'd this in another thread.. It will be a good build for what your asking for as well.

390 Intel Core i5-2500K + ASUS P8P67 PRO + Sid Meier's Civilization V
80 G.SKILL Value Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333
180 GIGABYTE GV-R685D5-1GD Radeon HD 6850 1GB
135 Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC064MAG-1G1 2.5" 64GB
55 SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB (promo code HARDOCP112C)
70 Antec NEO ECO 620C 620W
50 COOLER MASTER HAF 912

Shipped total of 972.81.. In addition you will still need a cooler if your gonna OC & an optical drive.

That is in fact still overkill for what your asking for in fact. Since your not going to be overclocking you wouldn't need the "k" model CPU so that could shave off a few bucks, but I would but this one anyway in case you change your mind later.
 
Thanks, bastage! That all looks really good with very nice prices! And overkill is a good thing IMO :)

I do have a couple of newbie questions though...

Will I need to buy a heatsink for this or will it come with the cpu?

What does a solid state drive do exactly and how do I set it up in conjunction with a regular hard drive?
 
Last edited:
DarthMerritt said:
Will I need to buy a heatsink for this or will it come with the cpu?

What does a solid state drive do exactly and how do I set it up in conjunction with a regular hard drive?
Click to expand...

The CPU will come with a HSF.

SSD is basically another form of storage. You use just like any other hard drive out there. You just install the OS on the SSD as well as any really really critical/needed apps. Install the rest of your programs onto the hard drive.
 
Danny Bui said:
The CPU will come with a HSF.

SSD is basically another form of storage. You use just like any other hard drive out there. You just install the OS on the SSD as well as any really really critical/needed apps. Install the rest of your programs onto the hard drive.
Click to expand...

That makes sense. So having the OS on the SSD will allow it to boot up quicker and run better?
 
I'm close to pulling the trigger on all the parts but I can't figure out what sound card to get. I'm currently running a 2.1 speaker system and I'd like to be able to upgrade to a 5.1 further down the road. Whatever I get will also need to be Windows 7 64-bit compatible. Any ideas?

EDIT: Or will I even need a sound card given that my mobo will have audio ports?
 
DarthMerritt said:
I'm close to pulling the trigger on all the parts but I can't figure out what sound card to get. I'm currently running a 2.1 speaker system and I'd like to be able to upgrade to a 5.1 further down the road. Whatever I get will also need to be Windows 7 64-bit compatible. Any ideas?

EDIT: Or will I even need a sound card given that my mobo will have audio ports?
Click to expand...

Try the onboard audio first. Buying a PCIe sound card is worth it only if you have really good, expensive speakers.
 
So I did my build the other day using bastage's recommendations and it worked out really really well. I couldn't be more pleased with the results :) Thanks for the help, guys!
 
DarthMerritt said:
So I did my build the other day using bastage's recommendations and it worked out really really well. I couldn't be more pleased with the results :) Thanks for the help, guys!
Click to expand...

Glad it went well. and yes show us pics
 
So I'm really happy with my new system. I haven't taken any pics yet though, sorry ;)

However, I got an email from NewEgg a few days ago informing me about the problem with the Sandy bridge mobo that I bought (ASUS P8P67 PRO). I'm sure this is old news for you guys by now, but I'm trying to decide what to do about the recall. Should I wait until April (estimated time for a revision of the mobo to come out) and get a replacement board with the fix, or would I be better off sending it back now and buying a different motherboard?
 
Wait til April and get a replacement mobo with the fix. Switching mobos right now won't do anything.
 
Danny Bui said:
Wait til April and get a replacement mobo with the fix. Switching mobos right now won't do anything.
Click to expand...

On top of what Danny said the issue with the chipset shouldn't cause a problem for approx 3 years so using the defective chipset for a few months shouldn't be a problem.
 
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