suggestions please for gaming + daw build - first build in 5 years

[anonimousey]

as the title says this is my first build in a little over 5 years. i've been doing some research the past couple days but with some of the newer technology im still feeling a little out of the loop

any suggestions would really be appreciated



1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc

some gaming: source, cod:mw2, starcraft II, (and maybe diablo III and the new assassins creed when they come out but not if the reqs are going to be insane)

other main usage would be audio recording. i run all my gear into a mackie 1402-vlz pro (circa 2004) and then into the line in on my current motherboard via a 2x 1/4" to 1x 1/8" line. i almost always use adobe audition to record. current setup can be a little noisy during VERY quiet recordings but not noticable enough for me to have changed anything in the past 5 years. i'd like this setup to be relatively noise free. (when i speak of noise i mean the noise on the line/audio in, NOT fan/hdd noise)

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?

i'd like to keep it in the $1000-1500 range if possible. tax and shipping excluded

3) Where do you live?

out californee way

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.

cpu + hsf, ram, hdd, case + fans, power supply, video card, possible sound card but only if necessary to keep the noise low. im not looking for a soundcard with 20 inputs or softsynth capabilities. all my music gear is hardware

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.

keyboard and mouse, thats about it

6) Will you be overclocking?

most likely not


7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?

right now using an old viewsonic va720 but theres a very strong possibility i might just hook it up to my LG 42LE5500 and use that. not sure what impact (if any) this would have on my video card selection

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?

within the next month. i am hoping to take advantage of some black friday (or newegg black november) deals for some of the parts but im not going to hold my breath

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? etc.

nothing too specific that i can think of. a clean audio in/out would be preferable but im aware that built in sound components are not always known for that. RAID, firewire and SATA 6gb/s options would all be nice bonuses but not necessarily a requirement. i know next to nothing about SLI, not sure if thats needed for most gaming systems or not

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?

not going to use any of my current licenses for this machine so i'll need to purchase. looking to go with windows 7 32bit


thanks!

 

[Dangman]

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?

right now using an old viewsonic va720 but theres a very strong possibility i might just hook it up to my LG 42LE5500 and use that. not sure what impact (if any) this would have on my video card selection

That actually has a huge impact on GPU selection: The larger the resolution, the faster the video card needs to be to deliver good performance. Going with your current 17" would only require a $100 to $140 card whereas a 42LE5500 would require something like $200 to $500 depending on your gaming performance need.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?

within the next month. i am hoping to take advantage of some black friday (or newegg black november) deals for some of the parts but im not going to hold my breath

So you're basically saying December right?

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?

not going to use any of my current licenses for this machine so i'll need to purchase. looking to go with windows 7 32bit

Is your software incompatible with Windows 7 64bit?

Also since you're in California, buy as many parts as possible from Amazon.com since CA residents do not get charged tax there. That could means a savings of $100 to $200 depending on the parts.

 

[Smoke1991]

Listen to Danny, he knows his shit!

 

[anonimousey]

That actually has a huge impact on GPU selection: The larger the resolution, the faster the video card needs to be to deliver good performance. Going with your current 17" would only require a $100 to $140 card whereas a 42LE5500 would require something like $200 to $500 depending on your gaming performance need.

makes sense. looks like i might have to bump up the budget a little bit because the more i think about it, its much more likely i'll go this route

So you're basically saying December right?

yes, i'd like to be up and running by new years day at the very latest

Is your software incompatible with Windows 7 64bit?

its not so much a software issue, more of a hardware thing. the current midi controller and DMX controller i use are only 32 bit compatible. i could get a new midi controller relatively cheap but the DMX was EXPENSIVE and its software was built around the unit. then again i could always keep my old comp around just for these tasks, its just a matter of finding a place to put it, something to think about

i have a couple friends on 64 bit systems and i hear about software compatibility issues from them more often than i'd like to so im just a bit weary. if we're talking a major performance boost here then i may reconsider but i dont know anyone personally whos been blown away by their 64 bit system but its not like we've done a side by side comparison. i'll admit my knowledge in this area is a bit lacking, probably pretty obvious by now

Also since you're in California, buy as many parts as possible from Amazon.com since CA residents do not get charged tax there. That could means a savings of $100 to $200 depending on the parts.

good call


thanks for the advice so far!

 

[modulus]

yes, i'd like to be up and running by new years day at the very latest

My advice would be wait 5 more days and build a sandy bridge based system, but it sounds like you don't want to wait that long.

Just doesn't make sense to me to build a new system 5 days before an intel tock.

 

[Hostile]

My advice would be wait 5 more days and build a sandy bridge based system, but it sounds like you don't want to wait that long.

Just doesn't make sense to me to build a new system 5 days before an intel tock.

So sandy bridge parts are going to be available for purchase in mass quantities by Jan 5th? That's hard to believe considering that no one even has real reviews yet only 6 weeks out.

 

[/usr/sbin]

So sandy bridge parts are going to be available for purchase in mass quantities by Jan 5th? That's hard to believe considering that no one even has real reviews yet only 6 weeks out.

From what I understand, that's the way it is!

 

[patric]

That's NDA's for ya.

It'll be worth waiting for though...even if you don't go the Sandy Bridge route, you'll be able to get a steal on a "gently" used i7 system in the for sale forums here!

 

[Dangman]

yes, i'd like to be up and running by new years day at the very latest

Yeah as others have said, because of your decent $1500 budget, you're just better off waiting until Sandy Bridge CPUs come out on Jan 5.

So sandy bridge parts are going to be available for purchase in mass quantities by Jan 5th? That's hard to believe considering that no one even has real reviews yet only 6 weeks out.

Yes. As others have said, this happens all the time. As a recent example, reviews of the HD 6xxx cards didn't come out till a few days beforehand and those cards were in mass quantities on launch day.

 

[modulus]

So sandy bridge parts are going to be available for purchase in mass quantities by Jan 5th? That's hard to believe considering that no one even has real reviews yet only 6 weeks out.

Plus, keep in mind this isn't an nvidia/amd video card release that's rushed to meet some deadline. This is intel. If they say jan 5th, it'll be ready to go on the 5th.

 

[anonimousey]

looks like i'll be waiting a little longer then. while part of me doesnt want to, i know it will be for the best as this will give me time to do a little more homework. i also figure that if i spread out my purchases over a month and a half or so it will give me more wiggle room with my budget.

my question to you all now is knowing vaguely what my goal is going to be, which components could i buy in the meantime? i'm thinking HDDs and case would probably be safe bets, power supply and video card im not so sure on though. im also thinking about throwing a sound card in after all as it would be much nicer to be working with something like RCA inputs instead of the flimsy 1/8" jack.

like i said i'll be doing some homework soon but i'm trying to get a few starting points here. just not up to date on whats good these days. thanks again for all your help

 

[Dangman]

The case is probably the safest bet since the prices on those don't fluctuate that much and deals for them aren't as common as with other parts. Hard drives tends to get a LOT of deals so that's one part I would hold off on until a really good deal swings by. Video cards are more volatile in pricing so that should be kept as a last minute purchase. As for PSUs, those tend fluctuate in price and availability. RAM has been dropping down in price over the past few months. But I'm not sure when or where those prices will finally stop dropping and staying level.

 

[kindasmart]

Listen to Danny, he knows his shit!

This.

That quote should be the sub-title of this forum!

 

[E4g1e]

its not so much a software issue, more of a hardware thing. the current midi controller and DMX controller i use are only 32 bit compatible. i could get a new midi controller relatively cheap but the DMX was EXPENSIVE and its software was built around the unit. then again i could always keep my old comp around just for these tasks, its just a matter of finding a place to put it, something to think about

i have a couple friends on 64 bit systems and i hear about software compatibility issues from them more often than i'd like to so im just a bit weary. if we're talking a major performance boost here then i may reconsider but i dont know anyone personally whos been blown away by their 64 bit system but its not like we've done a side by side comparison. i'll admit my knowledge in this area is a bit lacking, probably pretty obvious by now

Be very careful what you wish for. I cannot recommend 32-bit editions of recent versions of Windows for any new builds due to the extremely little headroom between its minimum memory requirement and its maximum memory support. In fact, if you get a higher-end GPU with a lot of VRAM you might find that 32-bit Windows 7 needs more system RAM than it can effectively support. Generally speaking, it needs 3GB, but due to the graphics card VRAM eating up memory space (remember, 32-bit Windows supports a maximum of 3.99GB minus the graphics card VRAM and miscellaneous hardware cache) you could end up with just barely more than 2GB (or even less) of total system RAM available for Windows and its programs if you have 3GB or more RAM installed! And of that reduced effective available amount Windows 7 by itself eats up 1.5GB, leaving you with as little as 512MB of RAM available to run your game or DAW software. That slows down overall system performance. And adding more RAM will not do you any good at all whatsoever because 32-bit Windows has a hard limit of 3.99GB of total RAM support.

Also, you might want to keep your existing DAW with your older system: If it's so old that it supports only 32-bit operating systems, there is a very good chance that it may not work at all on any operating system newer than Windows XP. And as of this past July 13 the only version of Windows XP that will continue to receive security fixes and other critical fixes is the IMHO buggy Service Pack 3 release. Service Pack 2 or earler is now no longer further supported by Microsoft.