OMG... Making a PC is HARD.........................

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OnlyCurious

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Alrighty.... I'm about to give up. haha. I spent the last 2 days trying to figure out what parts to buy and I can't do it, there are way too many options!! :(

Ok, I will start from scratch. THIS IS IT, THIS THREAD WILL DETERMINE WHAT I BUY. I am really sorry to the people who have been reading my posts (which is similar to this) and helping me. SORRY!! I need to take baby steps.

My budget is $1500. With monitor, and can play FEAR/DOOM3 on mid-high settings.

SORRY, if I seem lazy but I really did research and I'm having a hard time deciding... so if you are a PRO at building a computer please take a few minutes to suggest performance parts that will work together.

What MOBO should I get for a Core2Duo (I will not overclock; and b/c of budget reason I will probably get e6300)???

CPU- CORE 2 DUO E6300
GPU- NVIDIA 7900GS? MAKER?
MOBO-
CASE-
RAM-
POWER-
Do I need fans, or do they come with power or case?

I think I can decide on my own on the DVD drive/Hard Drive/ OS-Vista / Modem / Monitor / keyboard mouse / speakers. Thanks.
 
EVGA for your GFX card.

Gigabyte S3 for mobo.

1 gig of DDR2 (or two if you have the dough)

Case? Whatever you like.

Power? Antec, Fortron, Hiper... several good ones out there.
 
intel core 2 e6600]
asus p5b
2gb ddr2 800 (look for a brand like g skill, or ocz around 230 bucks)
hiper type r 580watt
7900gt unless you have more money then get a 8800gts
for a case just fine something you like around 80 bucks (thermaltake, coolermaster, and aspire are the most popular around here)
 
For 1500$ budget I think you can get an E6600 instead of E6300, and I would go for 7950GT or 8800GTS, mabey if you squeez a bit more you can get 8800GTX
 
I'd recommend the Cooler Master Centurion cases, excellent airflow, completely tool-less, very easy to work in, and fairly inexpensive to boot.
Trotter's suggestions are going to be the same as mine otherwise. Make sure you don't get an Intel motherboard, they're picky as all **** about memory.
 
If you are 100% certain that you will not overclock your cpu, just get DDR2-533Mhz memory. Any higher speed is useless at stock setting.

Alright check this out.

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 - $222
The higher clock speed will give you a nice advantage over the E6300 at just a slightly higher price. And since you're not overclocking, this works out better for you I think.

Motherboard: Asus P5B-E - $151
A good, reliable motherboard. Provides all the features you need, and not more.

Memory: Corsair ValueSelect 2x1GB DDR2-533 - $198
Good memory for the price. You don't need faster than this since a non-overclocked cpu would be bottleneck.

Video card: eVGA 7900GS 256mb - $176
Very good card for its price. Definitely one that allows you to play high resolution without sacrificing your budget.
You could get a better video card like the 7950GT if you want to but I wouldn't spend that much on a DX9 card right now. You'll want to upgrade to DX10 in a year or two.

Power supply: Seasonic S12-430 - $90
Very reliable and efficient.

Case: CoolerMaster Centurion 5 - $50
Of course a case is a personal taste, but this case is pretty generic and a very good purchase for anyone.

Total: $887

Now you'll have quite some money left to get a nice 20.1" monitor, a good 5.1 speakerset, quality mouse and keyboard, hard drive, optical drive and operating system.
 
Trotter said:
EVGA for your GFX card.

Gigabyte S3 for mobo.

1 gig of DDR2 (or two if you have the dough)

Case? Whatever you like.

Power? Antec, Fortron, Hiper... several good ones out there.

I think this is it:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128017
The reviews talk a lot about overclocking... do you still recommend this even though I won't be overclocking?

What Phrantic offered seems good too:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131070

I can't tell the diff... the Gigabyte s3 seems good for future cpu upgrade to a quad core.
ASUS has firewire and comes with sata cables and power cables..
Gigabyte seems like a better offer, -$40.

I'll get the Corsair ValueSelect 2x1GB DDR2-533.. but it doesn't make that much of a difference if I got a 667mhz or 800mhz??

I want to get the eVGA 7950gt... but I agree with the price/dx9 thing.

So
CPU: c2d e6400 or e6600 ( might order this in the spring so depends if the prices drop a lot )
RAM: Corsair ValueSelect 2x1GB DDR2-533
MOBO: Gigabyte s3
Case: CoolerMaster Centurion 5
PSU: eVGA 7950gt (when will these drop in price?)
Power: Seasonic S12-430

Still deciding whether I should get that ram.... I want something that is 800mhz but if it doesn't make a difference then... I guess 533mhz it is. Are the mobo and Ram compatible?
 
Phrantic said:
Power supply: Seasonic S12-430 - $90
Very reliable and efficient.
[/B]

Is 430watts enough?? I was planning to get around 500watts-550watts... or maybe I just don't know what is good...


edit: nice pc by the way... how well does your pc run games?
 
Alright one question at a time... :p

About the two motherboards: there isn't that much difference between them. I'd look at the DS3 instead of the S3, as far as I know it's an upgraded and improved version. They are the same chipset, same socket, and pretty similar in terms of overclocking (which you say you won't, but probably end up doing. :p) If you take away the overclocking features of the Gigabyte DS3 though, I consider it just an average board. I like the layout of the P5B-E, as well as the BIOS, the Asus customer support, etc. But you'll have a good buy with either of the boards.
Now, both motherboards can hold quad core processors, so that shouldn't be a reason to pick one. All I can say is I've got a P5B-E and I'm very happy.

Now, about the memory. The speed that the memory will run at default cpu clock speeds will be 533Mhz. So you'll only notice significant improvements once you start overclocking. If you don't plan to, then just get whatever speed you need, since it won't go any faster than 533Mhz anyway. Plus, you can overclock the memory a bit if needed. If you want to overclock you might as well jump right to DDR2-800 since 667 isn't worth it, if I'm to believe the benchmarks.

One other thing. If you're looking to order this baby in the spring then you'll be in time for the next batch of Intel processors, the E6320 and E6420. It has twice as much cache available which you will only notice slightly, but it's still worth it since you're not ordering today anyway.

The memory is compatible with the P5B-E, which some consider a picky board when it comes to memory brands. Since I own it I've thoroughly studied what brands it can take, and Corsair is the most recommended brand for the P5B series I believe.

The 430 watt of the power supply is more than you need. A fully stressed system like that requires about 300W max. The extra 130W is just a little safety and future proof.

My pc runs games perfectly. I can run games on 1280x1024 high settings with good fps (100-200) on the games that I play (CoD2, Oblivion). I do have it overclocked a bit, it does help a few fps for games.
 
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