Computer build... Out of the game

[sumcrazycracka]

Hey how are you guys doing... I've been out of this game for quite some time. Joined the Marines 3 1/2 years ago and haven't gamed since. I'm returning home in less than a month now from the middle east and I need help with what to buy...

My budget for the CPU itself is 1200... I play mostly first person shooters like counterstrike source and pretty much any other half life mod... I know back when I was into CPU's people would tell me to go to fairs like the cogan fairs where I live and get the parts I need.. At any rate i've bought from newegg and tigerdirect quite a bit over the years.. I've read up on the pro's and cons to amd vrs i7 but i'd like to get people's opinions on this... I'd like to start buying this now so that come x-mas time when I get home I can put this together...

Any help offered would be much appreciated as like I said i've been out of the game for a while!

Thanks, Ryan

 

[Trotter]

$1200? What do you have that you can reuse, if anything? Things like monitor, keyboard, mouse, optical drive, hard drive, etc. $1200 will build a great system, but it will be less powerful if you need a monitor and such.

The main deciding factor between AMD and the i5/i7 line is how much you want to spend. AMD has a great band-for-the-buck ratio, but the 1366 i7's hold the speed crown. the way I look at it, the human eye/reflexes can't tell a difference at the speeds of either of them.

 

[sumcrazycracka]

No the 1200 was just for the build... Not including mouse keyboard monitor... That will be seperate... This is completely just for the hardware... And the OS

 

[aliasaid]

AMD has a great band-for-the-buck ratio

I totally agree.

 

[Trotter]

Newegg.com - Antec Nine Hundred + EA650 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 650W Power Supply - Computer Cases
$160

Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920 - Retail
&
EVGA 141-BL-E757-TR LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX X58 SLI LE Intel Motherboard - Retail
$484 w/free shipping and $20 MIR

Newegg.com - Crucial Ballistix 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model BL3KIT25664TB1608 - Desktop Memory
$150 w/free shipping

Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
$70 w/free shipping

LITE-ON Black 24X DVD Writer Black SATA Model iHAS424-98 LightScribe Support - Retail
&
XFX HD-489X-ZSFC Radeon HD 4890 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - Retail
$219 w/free shipping on the graphics card

Newegg.com - Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - Operating Systems
$105 w/free shipping

Total = $1178. With the shipping on the case and optical drive you may just top $1200.

 

[sumcrazycracka]

I really like that and appreciate how fast you responded... Couple questions for ya... What else would be needed for this build... Does this come with all of the necessary wires/connections..

 

[Trotter]

The build is complete. A third-party CPU cooler would be a good idea, but the stock cooler will do the job. The case has two front 120mm fans, a rear 120mm fan and a top 200mm fan, so it won't need any more.

The motherboard will come with all the cables you will need (2 x SATA, SATA power splitter). The PSU has more than enough connections for everything. If you have some zip ties to use to help with wire management it would be good.

Basically, this has everything you need to get up and running. Slap Microsoft Security Essentials (it's free and really good) on it to cover your AV/spyware needs and start gaming.