I've been itching to build my own computer for a while now; it's something I've always wanted to do and I'd like the knowledge and ability to do this on my own. With the release of Starcraft 2, I decided it was finally time to go ahead and do this; my laptop simply can not handle this game. I've been looking around online for parts and reading up on what I need to know for a little over a week now, and I'm getting more and more anxious to start ordering parts. I'm posting here to make sure I don't rush into anything that I'll regret later. So first, the build advice format: Budget: My absolute maximum budget (I really have no intention of spending this much) is $2000. My desired price is $800, but I'm expected to spend closer to $1000, and I'd be alright going up to $1200 if I feel like I'm getting my money's worth. Main uses of intended build: My main reason to build this is gaming. I also want a computer that can work with 3d modeling (Sketchup, Blender). I don't do much with video editing but it's something I'd like to be capable of doing as well. I want a computer that will last me for several years, so I'm very concerned with the upgradability of my parts. Parts required: I've got a monitor, speakers, keyboard, and mouse that will do for now. Also, accessories such as a anti-static wrist strap, surge protector, and possibly a battery back-up. Monitor resolution: I'll be buying a monitor at a later date, so I believe I'll be able to pick that based on my graphics card? Storage requirements: I'm not terribly concerned about space. I'm not interested in SSD right now. I was only going to use a 250-320gb HDD (and some externals as needed) until I saw how low the prices were. I'll probably get a 1 TB HDD for now. Will you be overclocking: I'm very interested in overclocking. (Yes.) Any motherboard requirements (no. of USB, Xfire/SLI, fan headers): Not exactly sure, hopefully my current selection of parts will help this be determined. Extra information about desired system: Here's the current list of parts that I'm looking at... Processor- I'm leaning toward one of these two processors. AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition AMD HDT90ZFBGRBOX Phenom II 1090T Black Edition I was originally looking at the x6 1055T, until I saw the 1090T. From there, I found the x4 955 and I really like the price. I'm not sure how much of a performance return I would get from the 1090T vs the 955, especially after overclocking, that would make it worth spending nearly twice as much money (but that's why I'm here). Motherboard- I haven't done a lot of research into what motherboard I want, but this one caught my eye. MSI 790FX-GD70 Motherboard Reasons why I like this: -4 memory slots, up to 16gb memory (I plan on using Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit). -Quad CrossFireX (honestly, this may be overkill. I do want at least two graphics cards, however, with the plan to upgrade them in a sort of 'leap frog' style) -Overclocking features As I said earlier, I haven't done a lot of research into different motherboards, so there may be cheaper boards out there that have what I want. So to try and list some of the things I want from a motherboard: -Socket AM3 (assuming I stay with the AMD cpu...) -16+ GB memory (I only plan on having 4 GB from the start, but I want to upgrade later.) -Multiple graphics cards (Again, I only plan to buy one now, but I want to upgrade later. 2 cards in a minimum, anymore is a bonus.) -Overclocking abilities (I don't actually know how much the mobo affects this, but I would assume it plays a decent role.) -RAID support (This isn't a necessary feature, and I don't even know if I would use it if my mobo had it. Again, a bonus feature.) Graphics card- I haven't looked into many video cards, but a suggestion (from a possibly outdated website) is my top choice at the moment: Diamond 5670PE51G Radeon HD 5670 Video Card Why I like this: -$110 price tag -1gb Memory -CrossFire-X -Potential for multiple monitors (I haven't used this before, besides connecting my laptop to my television, but it's a feature I'd like to have) Water Cooling- Corsair CWCH50-1 Hydro H50 CPU Liquid Cooler I do plan to overclock, so I want a decent cooling system for my CPU. From here, I don't have specific products in mind... Memory- 4GB DDR3 (two 2GB sticks is fine) HDD- 500GB-1.5TB 7200 rpm Sound Card- On-board sound is perfectly fine. PSU- I'm not quite sure what size I'm going to need (mainly because I'm not sure how many graphics cards I'll be using...). Modular would be nice to keep the interior clean. DVD Drive- I've got a DVD drive I can use; I'll get another one later on if needed. Operating System- Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit. Computer Case- Now, this one is slightly complicated. I'm not terribly concerned with how my computer looks (in fact, I was actually considering going so far as to build my own case, until I saw how cheap a decent looking case was. However, while a friend of mine was cleaning out his house, he found his old (and fried...) Alienware. He knew I was looking to build a computer so he offered me the case. So I have a case. I have had some trouble trying to figure out exactly what type of case it is, however. I'll admit I haven't tried too hard to find what the model of the case is, aside from some Google searching that didn't turn up much information. Here's an image of the case: LINK I'm okay with buying another case if it will simplify the process of making sure everything is compatible. First and foremost, thank you for taking the time to read all of this. I've tried to be thorough, but I'm sure I've missed some things, so if I need to go into any more detail or give additional information please let me know. I'm looking for feedback on the parts I've chosen, and to make sure there aren't things I've overlooked. Thanks again!
the enthusiastic overclocker system on here would perfectly suit your needs and is better than what you have suggested cost around $910 with no OS. few things to point out that i feel are optimistic or nessercery within your build suggestions: The AMD build isnt bad but the i5 -750 is a lot faster when overclocked. The 6 core AMD is a waste of money and has no benefit unless your using heavily threaded apps which as a consumer you wont be. you will never really fill that 16GB of RAM or even upgrade to that before you change your system completely. you may upgrade to 8GB but i doubt it past that before the system as a whole is too slow anyway. Graphics your way off the mark a 5670 isnt really a good card for gaming unless your into medium settings on 1280x1024 monitor. ideally you want a 5770 or 460 minimum. Its hard to suggestion one really without knowing what monitor resolution you will be gaming at. BUT the enthusiastic overclocker specs a 460 which is good for up to 1920x1080 on almost all games at the max settings. Quad Xfire or SLI even is a complete waste as you will see no benefit to this as most games wont support it. Hell even dual GPU setups are questionable over a single similar priced card. buying into SLI or Xfire in the future is also not a good idea as you will find that when your ready to upgrade its better to get a single newer GPU rather than a 2nd slower one to add SLI/Xfire. H50 Corsair is a good cooler (got one myself) although the H70 is coming soon. Titan Fenrir is also very good and cheaper too without losing a lot of cooling ablity. for a 1TB drive a samsung F3 is the choice in todays world as it provides massive storage and its very quick for a mechanical drive.
I will echo what Adam said. The Enthusiast Overclocker is a perfect fit (and if you want to use the Alienware case you have got, even though it is ugly, you can save $100 off the build, making it just $810) and will serve you fantastically. If you really must have the option for mutli-GPU, then the Gigabyte P55-UD4 and UD5 both support SLI and Crossfire in x8/x8 iirc.
Thanks a lot for the information. I'm glad I decided to come here before I started to buy pieces. Thanks for the link. If the Alienware case will work, I'll go ahead and use that for now. I don't need multi-GPUs; I simply thought it would be better. With the case and optical drive out, the price comes down to $790. What about an OS? Do I have options when it comes to what OS is put on the motherboard? I'd like a copy of 64-bit Windows 7. Based on ram issues, I'd want a copy of Home Basic (8 GB ram) or Home Premium (16 GB ram). If I didn't have to buy a retail copy of Windows 7 for now, that'd be great. With the price as it is, what suggestions would you guys have for a monitor? It doesn't need to be absolutely top of the line, but are there some decent ones out there for a good price (I'm thinking a range of $150-300)? Another thing to consider, I'm also a console gamer, so if I could hook up my Xbox as well, that'd be an awesome bonus feature. Thanks again for the information!
Hi there mate! Building your own computer is a great idea! You'll learn so much over a short period of time, and there will be times when it'll make you want to pull your hair out but ultimately its very very satisfying and you’ll get a real sense of achievement out of the whole thing. So to evaluate your build. Cost: I think you have a good budget, and if you spend somewhere in the lower regions of what you’ve estimated it leaves some money spare for things like a nice keyboard/mouse/OS etc that you might want to upgrade eventually. It’ll also stress you out if you’re spending more than you can afford. CPU: The two choices in your price range are the i5 range from Intel and the Phenom II range from AMD. Both are good choices. The widely held view is that the Intel i5’s will be slightly faster than their equally priced AMD counterparts, and overclock slightly better. However, personally, I believe the Phenom IIs are a better choice at the moment because the 1156 motherboard range (that the i5 uses) is about to be replaced with 1155 – rendering your motherboard useless past this generation, and limiting your upgrade path. On the other hand AMD already have 6 core CPU’s out running on AM3 (the latest AMD motherboard). Whatever you choose the Corsair H50 is a really great cooler for the money, both in terms of thermals and sound levels. Motherboard: I’m no experts on motherboards so I’ll leave that to someone else, but you literally cannot go wrong with Asus, MSI or Gigabyte – if you spend around £100 with any of those, you’re going to get something pretty capable. The MSI one you’ve chosen for example, looks fine. RAM: 4GB DDR3 is fine – just be sure to buy a known brand and not generic memory. If you plan on overclocking you’ll want RAM that runs at 1600mhz as well. Hard Disc – You may as well go for 1TB – the difference between that and 500GB can’t be more than about $25. Two brands I’d definitely recommend are Samsung (the F3) series, and Western Digital. Make sure your drive runs at 7200rpm. Sound Card: Agreed, on board sound will probably be fine, and if its not, you can buy an add in card at a later date PSU: If you want to do Crossfire or SLI you’re going to need to get a very decent PSU from a well known brand. Ignore ‘budget’ PSU’s that claim to be 800w – they just don’t deliver. Best brands are OCZ, Antec, Enermax, BeQuiet, Coolermaster, Corsair, and Silverstone. Depending on what cards you plan to buy, you’ll probably want at least 800w. Most high end cards these days require either 2x 6 pin PCI-E adaptors or 1 x 6 pin and 1 x 8 (6+2) pin. Modular is a good choice. GPU: This is your only mistake in an otherwise good build. A 5670 is woefully underpowered. At a bare minimum you’ll want something in the next series up, the 5770 for example, but really, if you are using this for gaming, you’ll want something better. A very popular card at the moment is the Nvidias 460GTX – which scale very well in SLI in case you need more power in the future. I know these are over your GPU budget but honestly, the only thing that is likely to really stress your computer in any way is in gaming and therefore, you should be spending the maximum amount possible on the things that make a difference in this area – that is your GPU. I know you’ve stated that you want to use SLI/Crossfire, but think about this. Single cards draw less power and require less motherboard slots. Therefore you can spend less money on both of these components, and more money on your GPU. This doesn’t even factor in the huge amounts of extra noise and heat, and depending on the game, you’re not going to see twice the amount of performance. The choice of course is yours, but do take it into consideration. Monitor wise – buy as big as you can afford – if you’re thinking of using your Xbox as well, a 24” would be ideal. Also think about inputs –how do you plan to connect your Xbox? You’ll probably want something that has HDMI and/or VGA connections as well as DVI (for your PC). Resolution wise, the higher you go, the better graphics card you need, but you won’t find many 24” monitors with a resolution below 1920x1080 so I’d say that would be the one to go for. Also remember that the Xbox will display in an aspect ratio of 16:9 (though it might do others, I don’t know), so a 1920x1080 native resolution monitor would be a good bet. I have one from BenQ that has VGA/HDMI/DVI and was fairly cheap. Its not going to give you the best image ever, but for what I’m doing, its fine! Finally, I’d honestly suggest you buy a new case. It’ll really give polish to your build and leave you with something neat to look at, and if you choose right, give you better cooling abilities than that alienware one – which may also have been bashed around, have screws missing, or dented side panels. You don’t have to spend a fortune and something like the Antec 300, the M59 from NZXT or the new Silverstone PS05 will make a massive difference. All ring in at under £40 Anyway, hope some of that is of use, keep asking questions, work out the kinks, but most importantly – HAVE FUN!
Alright. How do I go about getting an OEM copy of Windows 7. Again, this is another field I don't have much experience with. Do I need to buy it individually? Will it come bundled with something else? I've been looking at the Enthusiastic Overclocker build. It lists the i5-750 as the processor. It and the i5-760 were discussed in another thread, and the consensus seemed to be to go ahead and get the 760. Are there any negatives to going with the 760 besides the small price increase? So at this point, I'm going with the Enthus. OC build, with these modifications: i5-760 My own case My own DVD drive Two 160gb SATA hard drives I have lying around (I will almost definitely buy another HDD at some point down the line) When it comes to switching parts, is the motherboard the only thing I can't swap and keep using a OEM copy of Windows? Also, are there any suggestions on a specific brand for the memory and/or graphics card? I think those are the only questions I have now. Hopefully I can start ordering parts tonight. --Edit-- Thanks for the feedback. Posting here has definitely been very helpful for me. I'm fairly convinced that CrossFire-X/SLI aren't nearly as great as I first imagined them to be, and buying a single GPU card is perfectly fine now. I'm still deciding whether or not to buy another HDD or a new case. On one hand, I'd like to minimize the computer's cost and use that extra money toward a decent monitor and a sound system. On the other hand, the price of a case/hdd really isn't that much, especially with some of the cases you mentioned. The idea of using the alienware case for now and perhaps swapping it out later doesn't seem so unappealing to me either.
well if your US look at newegg for all your products as that seems to be the main one people use. correct me if im wrong though as im UK. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...116754&cm_re=windows_7-_-32-116-754-_-Product you can probly get all the other stuff from there too. as for 760 over the 750 if its almost the same price why not it wont effect anything. for RAM pick a big brand like Corsair, crucial, OCZ etc and just find the cheapest set of 2x2GB DDR 1600, same for graphics look at the warranties as some offer only 1 year while others might be 3 or 5.
I've been looking at prices for parts, so here's my list, along with the price and the vendor: PRODUCT -- PRICE -- VENDOR i5-760 -- $205 -- Buy.com (eWiz.com has it for 200, never heard of them however) GA-P55M-UD2 -- $105.25 -- Buy.com Corsair Dominator DHX TW3X4G1600C9D 4GB -- $104.99 -- Tigerdirect.com EVGA 768-P3-1362-AR GeForce GTX 460 -- $219.99 -- TigerDirect.com (Is there a difference between this and the EVGA 768-P3-1362-TR, besides the price and warranty?) OCZ ModXStream -- $49.99 -- Tigerdirect.com Gelid Tranquillo -- $47.55 -- Newegg.com (Directron has one for $38.20, never heard of them) NZXT M59 -- $52.98 -- Newegg.com (It was funny you mentioned this parge, it was the first case I looked at when I was still looking for one) Samsung F3 1TB -- $59.99 -- Newegg.com That brings my total to something like $845.74. I'm still missing an OS, however. Windows 7 64-bit Home Premium -- $99.99 -- Tigerdirect.com However, with the OS I see another option. Microsoft has a deal where they will sell Windows 7 at a very cheap price to college students with an .edu email address. I was looking into it and they offer me this: Windows 7 Professional Upgrade -- $29.99. The price seems fantastic, but it's an upgrade, so I'm unsure if that's usable. Here's some information from the licensing terms: "Microsoft® Windows 7 Professional Upgrade (USD$29.99*) Perpetual license, which includes the following application: Microsoft® Windows 7 Professional Upgrade* *You must be a licensed user of one of the following products to be eligible for purchase of Microsoft® Windows 7 Professional Upgrade License. Qualifying Operating System for purchase of Windows Upgrade License Windows Vista (32-bit or 64-bit) Business (N, K, KN) / NOTE: “N”, “K”, and “KN” are specialized editions available for certain markets Business Blade PC Edition Ultimate Home Premium Home Basic Windows XP (32-bit or 64-bit) XP Professional XP Tablet PC Edition XP Pro N XP Pro Blade PC Edition XP Home Edition" Any idea whether this is a viable option or not? Also, with the parts I have listed, do the prices seem right? They mostly match the values from the Enthus. OC guide. Any idea how reputable the vendors with the cheaper parts were?
personally id go from 1 supplier not several especailly if you have never dealt with them. newegg are very good and is themain supplier US people seem to use on here so can vouch for them. you want the 1GB 460 not the 768MB version which is slower and only just cheaper. as for the OS if you are indeed a student grab a pro copy for cheap. shouldnt have any issues with it been an upgrade just may need to install XP or vista first then install 7 after
I agree, the 1GB of the 460GTX version is definitely worth the price of entry and is only another $10 - you'd be crazy not to get that one. Also the Gigabyte version has the best cooling system so runs cooler and quieter than the EVGA. I got the student copy, it comes as a digital download, but you can burn it onto a disc. It works great and I highly recommend you get that.
I was hoping to start buying things... yesterday. After reading what you said about the 1156 sockets, I'm not sure anymore. My first priority here is a computer that will last me as long as possible. It doesn't need to be the most powerful, so long as it's capable of running games with decent settings. My current line of thinking is to build a computer where I can swap out the CPU and GPU.... 3-5 years down the line and still have an acceptable computer. Is that achievable? I think it would be cheaper to spend another $500 or so then rather than to buy another computer because my parts are no longer usable. I don't really know the upgrade time on these things, will Socket AM3 still be used then? Let's say I decide to go with the AMD processors instead: Processor: x4 955 Motherboard: Does anyone have a specific recommendation here? Things I want: up to 8-16gb 1600mhZ memory (4 slots), good overclocking, ATX form (mATX would also fit, correct?) and 2 PCIe x16 slots (I'm not necessarily still planning on CrossFireX/SLI, but I'd like to have the option. If there is a good board, but it doesn't have 2 x16 slots, I'd definitely still consider it though.). Memory: 4gb ddr3 1600mhz Graphics card: EVGA 01G-P3-1371-AR GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB (I didn't realize the last one I posted wasn't the 1gb model. I also read that this card runs louder than the MSi one, but I really like the lifetime warranty.) PSU: OCZ ModXSteam (500W or 600W) I'd lean toward the 600W, and a quick search found me a 600W that cost the same as the 500W (after a mail-in rebate). 600W should be good for what I have now, right? What about if I had two GTX 460s? CPU Cooling: Gelid Tranquillo Case: NXZT M59 Storage: Samsung SpinPoint F3 1tb 7200rpm. Total Price: ~$815, assuming a MoBo cost of $110. I think that would seem pretty solid. I realize it won't be as powerful as the enthusiastic overclocker, but if the computer lasts as long as I hope it will ( is 7+ years a stretch?) I'm more than happy to sacrifice some performance now. --EDIT-- Here's a motherboard I think feels my requirements: Asus M4N98TD EVO Motherboard - 16gb ddr3 2000mhZ memory - ATX form factor - 2 PCIe x16 slots - Overclocking? (I don't know whether this board offers anything, and I don't have much time before I need to leave for work to research it. If anyone knows whether this board is good or bad, or has a (better) suggestion for a board to buy I'd really like to hear from you.)
I haven't made much progress since yesterday. I've got myself narrowed down to 2 builds however: Intel route: i5-760 P55M-UD2 4gb DDR3 1600mhZ Gigabyte 460 GTX 1GB OCZ ModXSteam 600W Gelid Tranquillo NZXT M59 1TB Samsung F3 or the AMD route (nearly the same build): Phenom II x4 955 Still looking for a motherboard 4gb DDR3 1600mhZ Gigabyte 460 GTX 1GB OCZ ModXSteam 600W Gelid Tranquillo NZXT M59 1TB Samsung F3 I'm still looking for a motherboard, but I really don't know what I should be looking for. Is there a specific chipset I should look for? Using the guided search, I narrowed their selection down to 9 choices: MSI 790GX-G65 ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3-- SATA 6.0, USB 3.0 ASUS M4A89GTD PRO-- DVI and HDMI built-in (they wouldn't use my gpu card, right?) Asus M4N98TD EVO-- SLI Ready Asus M4N75TD-- Supports 1066MHz DDR3 1333MHz DDR3 2200MHz DDR3, does that mean 1600 wouldn't work? Asus M4A87TD EVO Biostar TA790GX A3+ MSI 770-G45 ASUS M4A78T-E If anyone has any personal experience with any of these, or another board they'd recommend, I'd love to hear about it. Now on to a monitor. Here's some of the things I would like: $150-250 20"-24" range. 16:9 VGA and/or HDMI (so I can hook up my Xbox as well) Good response time (or input lag, I can't remember which one is important) I'd like those things, but they aren't absolutely necessary. When it comes to resolution, I plan to get the Gigabyte 460 GTX and according to the nVidia website, the maximum resolution is 2560x1600 for digital (that's DVI and HDMI, correct?). It doesn't need internal speakers, I'll hook up my own set-up at a later date.
On the AMD motherboard question - have a look at this one that recently won a roundup: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/MSI-...R3-1800-2000(OC)-SATA-III-6Gb-s-SATA-RAID-ATX
Have you looked into selling the Alienware case? There are probably people willing to pay dearly for one of those.
Thanks for the recommendation! I'll definitely consider it. I came across another board that seems like it could have some potential: MSI NF980-G65. Seems like it has all the standard features, along with SLI rather than CrossfireX. It also has a kind of "Easy Overclock" feature, which might be nice to use while I'm still getting the hang of the build. Any comments on the NF980? Reasons to avoid it? I'll look deeper into the 870A tonight. You know, I hadn't really considered it. Wouldn't really be right taking the money though. I'll definitely mention it to the friend that gave me the case.
I'm now leaning heavily toward the AMD build now, so let's go over this one more time. I'm going to list full product names to make sure I've got what I need: AMD HDZ955FBGMBOX Phenom II X4 quad core 955 3.2ghz black edition processor w/8mb cache 125w 64-bit socket am3 retail boxed w/ cooling fan: $149.99 Either --MSI NF980-G65 AM3 NVIDIA nForce 980a SLI HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard: $134.99 --ASUS M4N98TD EVO Desktop Motherboard - AMD Chipset ATX - Socket AM3 PGA-941 - 2600 MHz HT - 16 GB DDR3 SDRAM - Ultra ATA/133 (ATA-7) - Serial ATA/300 - 7.1 Channel Audio: $139.99 G.SKILL F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL Ripjaws PC3-12800 4GB 2X2GB DDR3-1600 CL9: $94.99 GIGABYTE GV-N460OC-1GI GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card: $229.99 OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ600MXSP 600W ATX12V V2.2 / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply compatible with core i7: $49.99 Gelid CC-TranQ-01-A Tranquillo CPU Cooler: 41.79 Samsung 1 TB Spinpoint 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.5 inch Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive HD103SJ: $68.84 NZXT M59-001BK M59 Gaming Mid Tower Case - ATX, mATX, Baby AT, Black: $59.98 Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OEM Branded???: $74.99 Adding that up, we come to a total of: $905.55-$910.55. What other things will I need to buy? Anti-static Wrist Strap? Thermal Paste? Extra Fans?
