Where to buy a custom PC?

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GibsonLA

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Guess I should answer these first:

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
-Mostly work in photoshop/lightroom. I'm a semi-professional photographer and as large as the RAW files are from my camera they are destroying my current computer when trying to operate photoshop. Though, I am interested in getting into gaming. Some games like Assasins Creed II, Modern Warfare 2, Crysis, etc.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
-About $12-1400 all in

3) Where do you live?
-Los Angeles, CA

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
-Parts that I was considering (not entirely firm on as it's been a while since I've done the whole PC scene)
CPU: i7 2.8ghz
Ram: 4-6gb ddr3 1600mhz
GPU: Radeon 5850
PSU: 750 watts
Motherboard: Know next to nothing about MOBOS
Other things I'd like but aren't necessary: HDMI output, sound card, high performance OS drive (don't really care how small it is as long as the OS will fit on it) and then a second HD with at least 500gb of storage, wireless internet capable, 12 in one card reader (SD, CF, etc)

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
-None

6) Will you be overclocking?
-Possibly

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
-Currently have a 22" widescreen monitor

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
-That's what I need help with =)

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
-No Clue

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?
-Yes, pretty much any version I want. Current boss has multiple corporate licenses for a few different versions of Windows 7


Anyways now some background:

So I have about $12-1400 to spend on a new desktop, though I would prefer to hang closer to 1200 if possible. I debated building it myself but I have very little time and it's been ages since I've built one. I'd rather pay a premium to have it built for me.

That being said, this computer will primarily be used for image editing. That is, a lot of work with LARGE files in adobe photoshop and lightroom. I'm a semi-professional photographer so it's important to me to have a computer that can keep up with the workload and can handle upcoming Adobe CS5 well enough.

Aside from that I do some gaming. I want to be able to play games like modern warfare 2, assasins creed, crysis, etc on high visual settings. I also use my computer as a source for my multimedia and plan to run it into my TV for viewing HD movies etc.

So yah.... Where's a good place to get a custom computer that falls into the above description? A friend recommended ibuypower.com but I've read both really good and really horrible reviews of the company. Also, it seems that they slightly overcharge for their product. I've also heard rave reviews about digitalstormonline.com but they're a little out of my price range starting at $1468

Any recommendations on where I should be shopping for this PC would be appreciated.

Thanks and kind regards,

-Michael

EDIT: **I'm flexible on what I listed as "required" above. I've been out of touch with the PC scene for quite some time so I'm not sure what really is required for an adequate gaming/multimedia machine**
 
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Cyberpowerpc.com is a little better than ibuypower. They've got a few more options and are a tiny bit cheaper with slightly better customer service. Just make sure to use the code "instant" or "mega" to save an additional 5%.
 
You would be better off buying and building it yourself. Or having me build it for you ;) I live just north of you buy Magic Mountain.

Microcenter in Orange County has great prices on most every part especially cpu's. Their hardware team could help you pick out every part and put it together for you there also. Heres what I suggest:

i7 930 $200
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0331303

Sapphire 5850 $299 free shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102884&cm_re=5850-_-14-102-884-_-Product

6gb ram G. Skill $170 free ship
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231225

MSI Mobo $200
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130273

WD Black 640gb hdd $80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319

Antec Earthwatts 750 $89 after rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371026

Antec 300 case $50
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0283272

Card reader $15
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820223109


Thats around $1105 before tax some shipping. Leaving room to get a high performance SSD drive. And you would want an aftermarket cpu cooler. But if you shopped around you could perhaps find everything a little cheaper at other websites. Maybe no sales TAX and no shipping. Take your time scouting around and get the best deal. Buying some stuff at Tigerdirect would save you tax and shipping. Going a 1156 build route would not be advisable due to current costs being so very close.
 
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A1ch3myst said:
Cyberpowerpc.com is a little better than ibuypower. They've got a few more options and are a tiny bit cheaper with slightly better customer service. Just make sure to use the code "instant" or "mega" to save an additional 5%.
Click to expand...

Both are equally bad to buy from. I would not recommend either iBuypower or Cyberpower (the owners are cousins or brothers or something like that).

Anyway, OP, your budget is not high enough for you to be able to buy the parts you listed from a quality PC boutique. I've checked over at Maingear, AvaDirect, and PugetSystems, my top three PC boutiques, and their Core i7 based setups are usually a minimum of $1500 with some less than ideal video card.

So in other words, either up your budget or build it yourself.
 
Are there some components I can cut some cost on without giving up too much performance? Perhaps the processor/gpu/psu?
 
GibsonLA said:
Are there some components I can cut some cost on without giving up too much performance? Perhaps the processor/gpu/psu?
Click to expand...

You could probably cut back on the video card since you only have a 22" monitor. The HD 5770 is the next step down.
 
Would that limit me when I decide to run the video out to my 42" plasma HDTV or 36" LCD 720p tv?
 
GibsonLA said:
Would that limit me when I decide to run the video out to my 42" plasma HDTV or 36" LCD 720p tv?
Click to expand...
No to the 36" 720P LCD TV. As for the 42", it depends on whether or not it's 720P or 1080P.
 
The 42" I think is really 720P but the up it somehow to 1080p? I don't remember the lingo.

A quick question on hard drives:

The last time I did hard drives was when they still used those 1 inch ling flat cable things to connect to the MOBO. I have no clue about raid set-ups or what it is or the different configs do. But on some of these sites where you can customize your hard drives you can do 2 identical hard drives in some sort of raid set up and that is supposed to boost speed. Would it be cheaper for me to get 2 of the caviar drives and put them into whatever that sort of set up is? Or should I get one 10,000 rpm drive for the OS and another for everything else?
 
GibsonLA said:
The 42" I think is really 720P but the up it somehow to 1080p? I don't remember the lingo.
Click to expand...

Well find out.

GibsonLA said:
A quick question on hard drives:

The last time I did hard drives was when they still used those 1 inch ling flat cable things to connect to the MOBO. I have no clue about raid set-ups or what it is or the different configs do. But on some of these sites where you can customize your hard drives you can do 2 identical hard drives in some sort of raid set up and that is supposed to boost speed. Would it be cheaper for me to get 2 of the caviar drives and put them into whatever that sort of set up is? Or should I get one 10,000 rpm drive for the OS and another for everything else?
Click to expand...
the 10,000RPM drives are no longer good buys. Many consumer 7200RPM drives perform about the same as those 10,000 RPM drive. For example, the WD 640GB drive that Defense linked are one of the drives that performs about the same.

So in other words, assuming you chose the right drive, no need to get a 10,000RPM drive or a RAID 0 array.
 
x2 for avadirect, if you choose not to do it yourself, which would be a little silly because you really should.
 
The board that Defense chose supports USB 3.0. Yours doesn't. USB 3.0, with its larger (maximum) bandwidth than USB 2.0 or SATA II (3.0GB/s), will be pushed (in the form of more devices that support it) more in the future, so it's something to consider.

But if you want a decent board with a good amount of bells and whistles, consider the Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R.
 
GibsonLA said:
Defense,

Is this the same motherboard just cheaper with less shipping haha

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130226&cm_re=MSI_X58-_-13-130-226-_-Product
Click to expand...

Ya that would work fine. Skimming over it. I think the only difference is the lack of USB 3.0. My build was more of a guide line. Are you trying to lower your total cost? Or are you trying to squeeze in other components?


An alternative build would be this:

i7 860 with HT $229
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0317378

Antec Earthwatts 650w $80 no rebate rubish
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0281688

WD Black 640gb hdd $75
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319

MSI 1156 mobo $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130253

4gb 1600 Memory G.Skill $105
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231190

Cooler Master 341 Elite Case $30
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0305925

That puts you around $620 without a Video card or a SSD. Video cards could be:

5770 $150
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161317
or
5830 $230
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102878
or
5850 $300 (5850 is recommended for cash/value)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102884


If your photo editing or video editing I would recommend the i7 860 or i7 930. Both with Hyperthreading. Personally I would go with the build I first posted earlier (i7 930). But if your trying to save some cash the build I just listed could save a little. You could go that path with a 5850 (sweet spot). Be around $900 and some change. Leaving you with money for a SSD. Like I said you could shop around and find some items tax and shipping free. It's not a race, I spent a month planning out my build. I just put it together a month ago.

Defense
 
Alright a few more questions

-Would there be a noticeable difference between 4gb and 6gb of ddr3 1600mhz ram?
-Do I need a 750 watt power supply? Whats the reccomended wattage for what defense listed?
-What's the cons of going with a less expensive mobo? I would have to say my knowledge of motherboards is probably my weakest area so I'm not sure what I need now or will need in the future.
 
GibsonLA said:
Alright a few more questions

-Would there be a noticeable difference between 4gb and 6gb of ddr3 1600mhz ram?
-Do I need a 750 watt power supply? Whats the reccomended wattage for what defense listed?
-What's the cons of going with a less expensive mobo? I would have to say my knowledge of motherboards is probably my weakest area so I'm not sure what I need now or will need in the future.
Click to expand...

- For photoshop and lightroom, possibly. For gaming, not at all.
- Not really, a quality 550W PSU would be enough for that setup. With that said, from a price to performance perspective, The EA650 650W PSU is a good choice. The EA750 750W PSU however is not a good choice for the money.
- Well Defense actually recommended two different platforms:

A X58 mobo w/ socket LGA 1366
A P55 mobo w/ socket LGA 1156

Key differences between the X58 and P55 is that the X58 supports more than 8GB of RAM of RAM, has slightly faster multi-GPU performance (about 5%), and better support for future Intel CPUs. However for all intents and purposes, the only real advantage for X58 in your case is the extra RAM support. So it's really up to you: Do you need more than 8GB of RAM?
 
GibsonLA said:
Alright a few more questions

-Would there be a noticeable difference between 4gb and 6gb of ddr3 1600mhz ram?
-Do I need a 750 watt power supply? Whats the reccomended wattage for what defense listed?
-What's the cons of going with a less expensive mobo? I would have to say my knowledge of motherboards is probably my weakest area so I'm not sure what I need now or will need in the future.
Click to expand...


Well between the two builds you were provided the 4gb is dual channel (socket 1156) vs the 6gb which is triple channel (socket 1366). Depends on what video card and cpu you get. If you are getting the socket 1156 setup with a 5770 you probably could get by with a quality 550w psu. More expensive motherboards often give you more scalability in the graphics department (usually x16x16 xfire/sli vs x16x8 sli/xfire, or whatever) and can be slightly more reliable with better cooling solutions. For a regular user there is no need to go with a high end motherboard.

Lol Danny beat me to it, but +1 to what he says too.
 
No, not really considering at this point I'm still only debating between 4gb and 6gb of RAM. Either of which seems like a huge upgrade from the 2gb ddr2 667mhz RAM I have in my laptop now.

Open to multiple mobo suggestions =)
 
If you go with the lga 1366 socket (the i7 920) I would suggest the Gigabyte X58A-UD3R. It's only about $25 more than the cheapest x58 boards but has a wide array of useful features (Including Sata6 and USB3.0). I'm not really up to date on the best 1156 motherboards, so I'll leave that to Danny or whoever else is helpin' ya. But if you do decide to go with intels cheaper socket I would also take a look at AMD's Phenom II offering, as they often can beat the price/performance of the lga 1156 lower end builds.
 
Along the same line as Shadow's suggestion, for P55, I'd suggest the GA-P55A-UD3.

Build it yourself, it's cheaper than a boutique. Just be prepared to deal with the potential issues. No worries, there are build guides, these forums, and google. ;) If you need help in-person, swing by (bring lunch) and I'll tell you what you need to do. :p
 
Congratulations you all convinced me to build it myself =)

Though, I may take those of you up on your offer to help me out locally if I buy you lunch or something as its been a long long time since my last build (last time was a gaming computer for counter strike 1.6)

All that's left is to settle on a mobo and case and I **think** I'm good to go

EDIT: Also, any reccomendations for heatsinks? I don't need anything too crazy. Might do some generous overclocking but I don't want to deal with liquid cooling or giant monstrosities that take up the entire case
 
The CM Hyper 212+ from Amazon, $30. As for mobo, you can't go wrong with either the Asus or Gigabyte. Oh, and definitely grab an SSD, or two, if you've got extra cash.
 
Since your a photoshopper I would suggest a SSD with a 1TB drive for storage.
 
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