As a little preface, I'm getting this new computer as a graduation gift from my parents, and have an extremely awesome budget of $2,500 to $3,000.
Getting all the parts from the US (mainly just been looking at NewEgg prices).
Will use primarily for gaming, but of course also for watching TV/surfing online, probably some work stuff at home, that kind of thing. I plan on using the i7 920 and OC'ing it, to a point undetermined so far (3.5ish?)
There's nothing I'm set in stone about, and I'm open to any help you can lend me -- don't be afraid to correct me where I've erred, or where I might be able to get more performance. I've gotten many of these suggestions out of the System Builders thread on these forums, so hopefully I'm on the right track.
Case - Antec P182 Mid Tower Case, $118.99 + 21.99 ship = $140.98. This case has space for additional fans (2, I believe) -- should I look into that additional cooling power? If I do, I'd like to look for quiet fans
CPU - Intel Core i7 920, $289.99 -- My question here is about C0 vs D0 stepping. From reading around, I've seen that the new D0 are pretty great for overclocking, but are difficult to find. The place I see them mentioned is over at TankGuys, but they are out of stock (and more expensive for the D0 guarantee) -- Do I need to worry about this?
Heatsink -- Undecided. I've looked at the ones linked in the Builders thread, as well as quite a few others, but can't make up my mind. I'm worried that some of the heatsinks I see linked performing well would be too large for my case. Anyone have a suggestion for a case this size? Also I have Arctic Silver 5 in my "to buy" list
Motherboard -- If I go with a 10k hard drive, probably ASUS P6T Deluxe V2. But if I want the 15k drive, I think I've got to go with the higher end version (~$70 more), looking at the Builders thread.
Power Supply -- Up in the air. From reading around, I really like the Corsair CMPSU-620HX 620W, $119.99, but I'm worried it might not be beefy enough. The 750W Corsair is an option, but isn't modular -- thoughts?
Memory -- 2x OCZ DD3 1333 SDRAM, $86x2 = $172. -- Looks to have great timings, and I haven't seen anything online that suggests going for the more expensive 1600 DD3 is really worth anything.
Graphics Card(s) -- Unknown. I've looked at both the 4890s as well as the 285, and really can't decide. I'd like to get a real beast of a card, but when I look at the ~$200 difference between the high-end and bleeding edge portion of the Builders thread, I can't determine if it'd be worth anything. I guess I could possibly pair two 4890s for a little cheaper, and probably better performance?
Storage -- Couple thoughts.
For my data storing, probably 2xWD Caviar Black, 1TB, 32MB Cache, 2x109.99 = $219.98
For my OS drive, I have a couple thoughts. The first would be a SSD, but from reading online it looks like the Intel SSD's don't suffer from the same issues that most do, but are incredibly expensive, somewhere around $500. Is that accurate? I'm not sure that I would spring for that..thoughts?
Otherwise, I would either go with a 10k or 15k RPM drive. If I go 10k, it would be the
WD VelociRaptor 300GB, 16MB Cache, $229.99.
If I go 15k, it would be one of those Fujitsu drives, but which I don't know.
Optical Drive -- LG Dual-Layer DVD Burner, $24.99
Monitor -- This one I'm really up in the air about. In the LCD thread the top choice is LG L227WTG-PF 22", 2ms, so it looks to me like the 24" version would be this. I did notice that the recommended resolution on the 22" is 1680x1050, while the 24 is 1920x1080. How will these hold up under gaming? I feel like 24 is about the biggest I should go, considering I won't be miles from the screen, but open to suggestions.
Mouse -- Logitech MX518, NE price $39.99 + $7 s/h, but I think I can prob find cheaper.
Keyboard -- Logitech UltraX Silver/Black, $18.99 + 7.92 -- Any other keyboard recommendations? This looks pretty nice, with laptop-ish quiet keys.
Speakers -- Probably going to go with 2.1 system simply because 5.1's are so large, but undecided there. Logitech Z-2300 2.1 System, $99.99
Sound Card -- Do I need one??
Mousepad -- XTRAC PADS Ripper, $13.99
Adding up all those things, and factoring in some guesstimates on heatsink/graphics, I'm right around $2k, well under budget. While I certainly don't have to buy more expensive stuff just to use the budget, it is available, so if there are areas where I could get greater performance at a higher price, please let me know.
I've tried to put a lot of effort into looking around and reading reviews and such, so hopefully you guys can help me finish this build up so I can hit the submit order button soon!
Getting all the parts from the US (mainly just been looking at NewEgg prices).
Will use primarily for gaming, but of course also for watching TV/surfing online, probably some work stuff at home, that kind of thing. I plan on using the i7 920 and OC'ing it, to a point undetermined so far (3.5ish?)
There's nothing I'm set in stone about, and I'm open to any help you can lend me -- don't be afraid to correct me where I've erred, or where I might be able to get more performance. I've gotten many of these suggestions out of the System Builders thread on these forums, so hopefully I'm on the right track.
Case - Antec P182 Mid Tower Case, $118.99 + 21.99 ship = $140.98. This case has space for additional fans (2, I believe) -- should I look into that additional cooling power? If I do, I'd like to look for quiet fans
CPU - Intel Core i7 920, $289.99 -- My question here is about C0 vs D0 stepping. From reading around, I've seen that the new D0 are pretty great for overclocking, but are difficult to find. The place I see them mentioned is over at TankGuys, but they are out of stock (and more expensive for the D0 guarantee) -- Do I need to worry about this?
Heatsink -- Undecided. I've looked at the ones linked in the Builders thread, as well as quite a few others, but can't make up my mind. I'm worried that some of the heatsinks I see linked performing well would be too large for my case. Anyone have a suggestion for a case this size? Also I have Arctic Silver 5 in my "to buy" list
Motherboard -- If I go with a 10k hard drive, probably ASUS P6T Deluxe V2. But if I want the 15k drive, I think I've got to go with the higher end version (~$70 more), looking at the Builders thread.
Power Supply -- Up in the air. From reading around, I really like the Corsair CMPSU-620HX 620W, $119.99, but I'm worried it might not be beefy enough. The 750W Corsair is an option, but isn't modular -- thoughts?
Memory -- 2x OCZ DD3 1333 SDRAM, $86x2 = $172. -- Looks to have great timings, and I haven't seen anything online that suggests going for the more expensive 1600 DD3 is really worth anything.
Graphics Card(s) -- Unknown. I've looked at both the 4890s as well as the 285, and really can't decide. I'd like to get a real beast of a card, but when I look at the ~$200 difference between the high-end and bleeding edge portion of the Builders thread, I can't determine if it'd be worth anything. I guess I could possibly pair two 4890s for a little cheaper, and probably better performance?
Storage -- Couple thoughts.
For my data storing, probably 2xWD Caviar Black, 1TB, 32MB Cache, 2x109.99 = $219.98
For my OS drive, I have a couple thoughts. The first would be a SSD, but from reading online it looks like the Intel SSD's don't suffer from the same issues that most do, but are incredibly expensive, somewhere around $500. Is that accurate? I'm not sure that I would spring for that..thoughts?
Otherwise, I would either go with a 10k or 15k RPM drive. If I go 10k, it would be the
WD VelociRaptor 300GB, 16MB Cache, $229.99.
If I go 15k, it would be one of those Fujitsu drives, but which I don't know.
Optical Drive -- LG Dual-Layer DVD Burner, $24.99
Monitor -- This one I'm really up in the air about. In the LCD thread the top choice is LG L227WTG-PF 22", 2ms, so it looks to me like the 24" version would be this. I did notice that the recommended resolution on the 22" is 1680x1050, while the 24 is 1920x1080. How will these hold up under gaming? I feel like 24 is about the biggest I should go, considering I won't be miles from the screen, but open to suggestions.
Mouse -- Logitech MX518, NE price $39.99 + $7 s/h, but I think I can prob find cheaper.
Keyboard -- Logitech UltraX Silver/Black, $18.99 + 7.92 -- Any other keyboard recommendations? This looks pretty nice, with laptop-ish quiet keys.
Speakers -- Probably going to go with 2.1 system simply because 5.1's are so large, but undecided there. Logitech Z-2300 2.1 System, $99.99
Sound Card -- Do I need one??
Mousepad -- XTRAC PADS Ripper, $13.99
Adding up all those things, and factoring in some guesstimates on heatsink/graphics, I'm right around $2k, well under budget. While I certainly don't have to buy more expensive stuff just to use the budget, it is available, so if there are areas where I could get greater performance at a higher price, please let me know.
I've tried to put a lot of effort into looking around and reading reviews and such, so hopefully you guys can help me finish this build up so I can hit the submit order button soon!
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