Hi, first time poster, was hoping I could get my build rated. I rarely build desktops (been years), so a lot of it is again new to me. It's meant for "casual" gaming (non-competitive) but would like it to run well, if that's not too vague.
I'd like to spend about $900-$1000. I'm in Hawaii so I'd rather purchase from the US (I actually am just building a PC deal on cyberpowerpc.com, since it's so convenient to be able to buy it all in one place). I have no brand preferences, but I have heard that Seagate/nVidia are unreliable brands? I have a monitor and a mouse but plan on needing everything else bought. I have searched and read a few threads. I've never overclocked but the thread at the top said that it is substantially better and easy to do, so I guess I plan to now. A 1680x1050 resolution would be sweet, but as long as it's 1280x800 or higher I don't care. I plan on buying it within the week.
Case: Corsair Obsidian Series 800D Full Tower Gaming Case
Don't really know what to get at all, have heard that a full-size tower is a safe bet. This is more expensive than I thought it would be though. Any recommendations on just a brand or tower size?
Power supply: 600W (some random one from the website)
CPU: AMD Phenom™II X4 955 Black Edition Quad-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology
For $50 more I can get the 965, but am wondering if it's necessary, or if I even need the X3. I am willing to get the i5 if it's substantially better, but it seems that they run similarly and the AMD Phenom is cheaper?
Default CPU fan/heatsink
Does it matter? Should I spend like $50 more for whatever other ones they are offering?
Motherboard: GigaByte MA770T-UD3P AM3 DDR3 770 Chipset 1666+/1333/1066 with PCIe slot SATA RAID MB w/GbLAN,USB2.0,IEEE1394,&7.1Audio
I've just selected the first (cheapest) one for now because I have *no* idea. Here are the ones they are offering and the relative pricing.
4GB (2GBx2) PC1333 DDR3 PC3 10666 Dual Channel Memory
Is there a significant difference between these (or the 1600 MHz)?
ATI Radeon HD 5750 1GB DDR5 16X PCIe Video Card [DirectX 11 Support]
On this site it's actually cheaper than the 4870. How does this compare to the Geforce cards like the 9800 GT or the GTX series of cards?
HD : Extreme Performance (RAID-0) with 2 Identical Hard Drives (1TB (500GBx2) SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD)
Is a HD cooling fan important to add?
Optical drive: LG 22X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Dual Layer Drive
Sound: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
Defaults, should I get better? I can't imagine that it matters too much.
Thanks for looking, I hope this isn't too long and that I included everything. Please be harsh, I'd like to build a decent rig without messing it up!
I'd like to spend about $900-$1000. I'm in Hawaii so I'd rather purchase from the US (I actually am just building a PC deal on cyberpowerpc.com, since it's so convenient to be able to buy it all in one place). I have no brand preferences, but I have heard that Seagate/nVidia are unreliable brands? I have a monitor and a mouse but plan on needing everything else bought. I have searched and read a few threads. I've never overclocked but the thread at the top said that it is substantially better and easy to do, so I guess I plan to now. A 1680x1050 resolution would be sweet, but as long as it's 1280x800 or higher I don't care. I plan on buying it within the week.
Case: Corsair Obsidian Series 800D Full Tower Gaming Case
Don't really know what to get at all, have heard that a full-size tower is a safe bet. This is more expensive than I thought it would be though. Any recommendations on just a brand or tower size?
Power supply: 600W (some random one from the website)
CPU: AMD Phenom™II X4 955 Black Edition Quad-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology
For $50 more I can get the 965, but am wondering if it's necessary, or if I even need the X3. I am willing to get the i5 if it's substantially better, but it seems that they run similarly and the AMD Phenom is cheaper?
Default CPU fan/heatsink
Does it matter? Should I spend like $50 more for whatever other ones they are offering?
Motherboard: GigaByte MA770T-UD3P AM3 DDR3 770 Chipset 1666+/1333/1066 with PCIe slot SATA RAID MB w/GbLAN,USB2.0,IEEE1394,&7.1Audio
I've just selected the first (cheapest) one for now because I have *no* idea. Here are the ones they are offering and the relative pricing.
RAM:
4GB (2GBx2) PC1333 DDR3 PC3 10666 Dual Channel Memory
Is there a significant difference between these (or the 1600 MHz)?
Video card:
ATI Radeon HD 5750 1GB DDR5 16X PCIe Video Card [DirectX 11 Support]
On this site it's actually cheaper than the 4870. How does this compare to the Geforce cards like the 9800 GT or the GTX series of cards?
HD : Extreme Performance (RAID-0) with 2 Identical Hard Drives (1TB (500GBx2) SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD)
Is a HD cooling fan important to add?
Optical drive: LG 22X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Dual Layer Drive
Sound: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
Defaults, should I get better? I can't imagine that it matters too much.
Thanks for looking, I hope this isn't too long and that I included everything. Please be harsh, I'd like to build a decent rig without messing it up!
Last edited:
