Ok I give up on the prebuilt systems Paying $10 Paypal for advice

[entropy1982]

I will pay $10 for an experienced ananadtecher who will work with me either in this thread or in PMs. I know it's not much... but you guys do this for free so why not? 😛

I will use this for gaming, browsing, photoshop, etc.

I don't really have too much time for customization so I dont want to spend over 2 or 3 hours to put this entire thing together.

I remember with the PC in my sig, I had to saw off pieces of the fans and stuff... lol. Just too much. I need something that's just "Plug and Play" so to speak 🙂

I do NOT need a monitor, KB, Mouse. I DO need speakers (room setup doesn't really allow for 5 and they don't need to be fancy).

I would like for it to have one of those 12 in 1 card readers as a perk 😛 and I would like to have at least 5 or 6 USB ports with at least 2 in the front of the case

I am thinking about a fast drive for main drive (hoping for it to be about 100gigs+) and another drive for storage 1TB+

I would like to overclock unless it requires me to mess with the parts too much like getting custom fans to achieve proper temps etc 🙂.

So if any of you guys does not mind putting together an entire list of parts including case, psu, thermal paste (i think i have as5 somewhere which is 3 years old, not sure if that is still good), cpu cooler, etc.

I am not one of those people who changes parts often (usually never do in fact, I usually just donate an old comp to a family member and build a new one from scratch every 2-3 years)

Thanks for any help guys, I really do appreciate it.

 

[fatpat268]

What's your budget?
How much are you will to allocate towards a case... any size preferences?
Nvidia or ATI?

 

[Lunyone]

Lets see... Where do I begin??

Here is what I'd consider and it's well under your $2500 budget:
$280 shipped!! Need I say more??
Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor - Retail

$405 - $35 MIR's = $370 shipped!! Gigabyte EX58 UD3R mobo w/4890 1gb GPU combo deal!! You can spend more on a GPU, but why?? Just take the $ that is saved now and upgrade in a year or so with the latest and greatest GPU out on the market!!
Gigabyte X58/4890 1 gb GPU combo

For <$100 you could get the Cooler Master 690 case. It's almost tool-less and has plenty of room for upgrades. You can also run some of your wires behind the mobo tray for better airflow in the case!!
COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

You could run this system on a Corsair 650tx without any issues, but if you want a bit more upgrade path than the Corsair 750tx would be my first selection. Even the PCP&C 750w PSU would be just fine too. Both are good quality and come with 5 yr. warranties too!!
$120 - $20 MIR = $100!!!
CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Retail
$120 - $20 MIR = $100!!! What a steal to have too!!
PC Power & Cooling S75QB 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI NVIDIA SLI Certified (Dual 8800 GTX and below) CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply compatible with core i7 - Retail

The Velociraptor HD is nice, but for the $ I'd rather have 2 HD's in RAID 0 or just have a HD for the OS and stuff and a large one (1 TB) for storage and games. Most games these days are 5-15 gb's installed, so keep that in mind when buying.
$70 shipped!! Has plenty of room and doesn't cost alot. Get 2x for a RAID 0 configuration, if you so desire!
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM
and for storage needs:
$100 shipped!!
Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drives - OEM

As far as the OS, Vista Home Premium 64bit is all that I'd get. The Ultimate edition doesn't really make that much of a difference.
$100 shipped!!
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit for System Builders - OEM

The RAM is good, but spendy, IMHO.
$95 shipped!! Good and solid performing RAM. Should OC pretty good, if you decide to do that!
G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

$180 shipped!! Comes with burning software too and why not have BR burner now?? Also has free blank BR disks too!
LG Black 6X BD-R 2X BD-RE 16X DVD+R 6X BD-ROM 4MB Cache SATA Internal Blu-ray Burner Super Multi Blu-ray Disc Burner & HD DVD-ROM Drive Model GGW-H20L - Retail

~$30 for a Card reader. There are plenty of options, this is one of them.
Koutech IO-RCM620 USB 2.0 3.5" Card Reader - Retail

Total ~$1483 shipped!!! This is with 1x640 gb AAKS HD and 1x1 TB WD HD too. You can go for a Velociraptor HD, but they just seem a bit too spendy in my book. It's up to you. I've built a rig almost exactly like this one in the last few weeks, so I know it isn't rocket science to put this thing together!!

P.S. I forgot to put in a set of speakers... I personally use a nice headset, since it keeps the room quiet and also has a built in microphone (for chatting online during game play!!). AND THERE IS NOOO CUSTOMIZING WITH THIS RIG!! PLUG and PLAY about sums it up!

 

[Eureka]

If you have the cash now, wait a little bit more and 4890 prices should drop some more. Get 2 of them and xfire them. This way you won't have to worry about upgrading again! (on the flip side... oh my god the power draw on that).

Also, since you have the budget I'd say just go for a better case than the RC-690, everybody and their mother has one (it's a great value case but why not go better?). Stacker 830 and Silverstone Raven (I think that's what it's called) comes to mind!