Building a new gaming computer (My first one)

[Muffin Man]

baron5 is right, if you want a new rig with a monitor included for $1000, then i think you'd have to go with an amd phenom build.

but you didn't say that a monitor was to be included in the orignial $1k budget, thats why i didnt put one in.

so if your spending the 1k without the monitor included in the price, then go for the i7 build.

edit: meh i think i made it confusing...

basicly,

pc + monitor for $1000 = phenom build, still good

just pc for $1000 = i7 build

 

[Plasma Dragon]

baron5 is right, if you want a new rig with a monitor included for $1000, then i think you'd have to go with an amd phenom build.

but you didn't say that a monitor was to be included in the orignial $1k budget, thats why i didnt put one in.

so if your spending the 1k without the monitor included in the price, then go for the i7 build.

edit: meh i think i made it confusing...

basicly,

pc + monitor for $1000 = phenom build, still good

just pc for $1000 = i7 build

But which one is better? If the i7 build is better performance then I wouldn't mind spending like another $100 or so on the monitor.

 

[Muffin Man]

the i7 is the better choice and is kind of "future proof" for some years to come.

 

[Plasma Dragon]

the i7 is the better choice and is kind of "future proof" for some years to come.

Ok then it's all set I'll get the i7.

But my friend told me something about getting a better hard drive, disk drive, and a power supply enough to run everything on here.

 

[Muffin Man]

im sorry, but your freind is misinformed.

for the hdd, getting a better hdd as in what? the one i listed writes at speeds that are almost equal to the raptors.

do you mean better as in more storage? if you feel you want more storage, you can always add another one.

the disk drive i listed is fine. what else would have anything better? this is cd/dvd burner so your next step up would prob be like, a blu-ray drive for like $150? you dont need it.

and that power supply will defenitly power everything in that machine, corsair is one of the best power supply manufacturers out there. i think your freind might be looking at the wattage when its the amps that matter. its got 52a on one rail which is plenty power

 

[Plasma Dragon]

im sorry, but your freind is misinformed.

for the hdd, getting a better hdd as in what? the one i listed writes at speeds that are almost equal to the raptors.

do you mean better as in more storage? if you feel you want more storage, you can always add another one.

the disk drive i listed is fine. what else would have anything better? this is cd/dvd burner so your next step up would prob be like, a blu-ray drive for like $150? you dont need it.

and that power supply will defenitly power everything in that machine, corsair is one of the best power supply manufacturers out there. i think your freind might be looking at the wattage when its the amps that matter. its got 52a on one rail which is plenty power

Oh because my friend told me that the hard drives are prone to dying and suggested to get a 640 gb one.

He also said that I should get a SATA disk drive to process things faster.

Oh and for graphics he said that that I should get Nvidia since they are better in performance than ATI.

For the power supply he wants me to make sure it has enough power on the +12v rails to support the graphics card.

 

[DawnOfDoom]

all of those facts are true, minus the one about graphics. we dont want to start a flame war about which is better, nvidia or ATI. 12v rails are very important in a powersupply. SATA is alot better than the old IDE drives.

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i will repost a completely better build. im just pressed for a bit of time right now.

Goal = 1k build or less with a monitor

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Edit:

PSU: Newegg.com - mushkin 550150 650W ATX12V SLI Ready Modular Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies

GPU: Newegg.com - EVGA 512-P3-1150-TR GeForce GTS 250 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

CPU: Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 Yorkfield 2.66GHz 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

MoBo: Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

HDD: Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drives - Internal Hard Drives

Optics: Newegg.com - SONY Black 18X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model DDU1681S-0B - CD / DVD Drives

Case: Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases

Monitor: Newegg.com - Acer X193Wb Black 19" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 2000:1 ACM - LCD Monitors

RAM: Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK - Desktop Memory

Subtotal: $963.41

 

[Muffin Man]

meh...

@ plasma,

getting a hdd with more storage will not make something "less prone to dying". i dont know where your freind has gotten this misleading information. in very rare cases, ofcourse someone will get a bad drive, but thats just the reality of manufacturing the products, ther will always be a DOA somewhere.

yes, sata is better than ide, that is why i had posted an SATA drive in the setup. it even says "SATA" in the link, it cant get much more clearer.

- Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives

- SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 22X DVD Burner - CD / DVD Burners

for the gpu, choosing nvidia over ati is a matter of prefrence. either company has great gpu's with performance levels that compete with each other. again idk wher your friend has gotten this info.

and for the psu, trust me, this psu will completely handle everything in that rig. it is actually more than you might need but at that price and that brand, it is a great deal for a psu that will handle all your needs.

@ dawn,

i hope that you please dont take this wrong, but that build isn't better than what i listed.

for $99, i would defenitly go with a corsair or pc p&c psu over that mushkin with 4 rails

i had listed a 4870 which is a good bit better than gts 250.

the i7, mobo, and ram that i had listed would give better performance than the C2Q and DDR2 ram.

also why would you choose to list a standard optical drive when for $5 more, he can get a cd/dvd burner.


- all in all, both builds are around the same price, but for $1k, the first build i listed is better


edit: also, plasma, sorry, but i think that you should question what your friend tells you.

2nd edit: dawn, i see that you had included a monitor in your build. the only reasing i didnt include one is because there was no mention of it in the beginning.

 

[DawnOfDoom]

The only reason i recomended that PSU is because its modular and its cheaper than the one you recomended. Also the case you recomended is HORRIBLE for wire management there for restricting air flow and ending up in a hotter than usual PC. The HAF may cost more but its definately WORTH it.

I do realize that an i7 does out perform an C2Q. but unless he's doing some SERIOUS gaming or cad work he's not going to really notice that much of a difference. i7's are mainly for the extremists. Theres nothing wrong with having a C2Q in a gaming PC.

Basicly theres only a few things wrong with your build Muffin Man.

1. Case could be better but i can understand that you were trying to save cash
2. the Powersupply isnt modular. sure its good but modular is cleaner.
3. the lack of a Monitor
4. The hard drive i listed has more gb's per dollar

other than that its an excellently sugested build.

If your willing to spend just a bit more you can add this PSU.
I've had better experience with this. the PSU i recomended was just for saving cash. nothing wrong with it though.

Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX 620W ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Power Supplies

If your not going to be doing Hard core gaming then the C2Q build i suggesed would be fine.

The mushkin may not have alota street credit as far as their name goes but i can tell a good PSU by the specs when i see one. More 12v rails are better. again its modular. the one you recomended has only 1 12v rail which isnt necesarily good but Corsair has the street credit to back it up because of their experience in the market of PSU's

 

[Muffin Man]

i see,

but the only reason i included that case was not because i wanted it. the OP had selected that case in his list, therfore, since its his build, and the case is a matter of prefrence, i included it because it was the one he originally chose.

also, there are many people that decide that they would like an i7 build and they don't do anything thats hardware intensive other than the general pc use and a good bit of gaming. also, if you can get a nice i7 build, you won't have a need to upgrade for sometime to come, unless of course your a pc enthusiast. i didn't say that thers was anything wrong with a c2Q build

and for the psu, thats fine that the one you selected is modular, but you have to understand that i was choosing one that was getting the best bang for his buck.

for the monitor, you should look and the 2nd edit of my last post.