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wait until SC2 actually comes out and reap better prices/performance then?
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If you can do it, I definitely suggest building your own from parts. Just finished building my first comp, and it was not tough after doing some research. Saved me a lot of money, and I got a much better comp out of it as well.
I would recommend going a mid range case. Do not cheap out, especially if you live in a warm area. Cool computers with much more space to move makes it 1000x easier, for only around 40 dollars more
For your ram, go g-skill imo. Much better price and quality on the market currently
For your power supply, make sure you dont go too low. You always want to have a little room with voltage, but I say with your setup, 700 would be fine
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1TB drives are the best value per GB right now, so I'd get one of those. I picked up a 1TB Hitachi for $65 a few months ago, and I'm already down to like 500GB free. Also, I'd try to aim for at least a 22" 1680x1050 monitor, which will set you back at least $150, leaving $50 for a mouse and keyboard. Maybe up that part of the budget a little more?
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If you can run Bioshock, you can probably run SC2 too, although not on maximum settings. If you don't want to do that, you can still wait half a year or so until SC2 is actually near release and then get a better/cheaper computer.
For your kind of budget, you should really get a RAID0 or SSD as your system drive. Hard disk performance is often underestimated, but greatly reduces booting/loading times and stuff. Myself, I have a 2*250GB RAID0, and it writes faster than the data drive can read.
I'm not too up to date with the other components, but I'm sure someone else around here can help you out.
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On January 08 2010 18:23 Scorch wrote:
If you can run Bioshock, you can probably run SC2 too, although not on maximum settings. If you don't want to do that, you can still wait half a year or so until SC2 is actually near release and then get a better/cheaper computer.
For your kind of budget, you should really get a RAID0 or SSD as your system drive. Hard disk performance is often underestimated, but greatly reduces booting/loading times and stuff. Myself, I have a 2*250GB RAID0, and it writes faster than the data drive can read.
I'm not too up to date with the other components, but I'm sure someone else around here can help you out.
Yeah, I got my 60 GB SSD for about 160 dollars. Well worth it if you can afford it.
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I agree with teh leet newb, that you should get a larger hard drive.... these stuff amazingly keep filling themselves up with junk pretty quickly : (
And might I suggest a large 19inch (or more) wide screen monitor? you won't regret it1
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How about SSD- drive for OS and games?
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Do they even still sell monitors smaller than 19"? Get a 22" or 24" monitor.
Alternatively, get a dual screen setup of two 5:4 19" monitors. That works wonders whenever you want to do any serious work on your computer, but is worse for gaming.
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On January 08 2010 18:07 Meta wrote:
This is half for myself, saving a few things for future reference.
Background (skip if uninterested):
I've been saving up for a few months and finally have my income worked out for the next 8 months or so and have enough money to buy a new computer, mainly to run SC2.
Max Spending Limit: $1500$700
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why do you take an expensive processor but a crappy gfx?
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Why do you need 8 GB? No game can use more than 2 GB to begin with, do you really plan on playing four games at once? 4 GB should be enough for anything in 2010.
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Germany / USA16648 Posts
SSD was already mentioned.
There are like no programs that can use more than 1.8 GB of ram, so more than 4 GB is a waste, since you won't run several of thos at a time.
Don't buy a 260gtx -.- a hd5770 has almost the same performance (slightly ahead in many games, slighty behind in some), costs less, consumes less power, heats up less and has directx 11...
With your budget you can go higher though (but I know I wouldn't, as I don't see me playing anything that requires more). Right now there is pretty much zero reason to buy nvidia, ATi is ahead like everywhere (unless you want stuff like CUDA, which is useless for most), cards perform better, cost the same or less, 5xxx generation consumes less, heats up less, etc.
Might change when nvidia's new generation of GPUs comes out in the next few months, that remains to be seen, but even then the first gfxs cards released will be enthusiast models, which IMHO are never worth the money (and would be more than a waste if your highest requirement is SC2).
Also, instead of "Monitor X, Keyboard X, Mouse X for 200" I would suggest spending more on a monitor. Get a nice 24" or two 22" and with your budget you might want to consider going for a IPS-panel instead of TN.
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this should be fine.
cpu + mobo: should be fine for your needs, you can't really justify a i7 860/920 unless you are everyday video editing etc... . It's also possible to take a i5 750 + p55 mobo.
case: i like the review
hd: it has 500gb platters, i know other brands also have 500gb platters but i cant find a list of them 
gfx: very good performance and features (directx 11) for its price
psu: it's a slight overkill but the one i wanted wasn't in the list
memory: 4 gig is good enough. see R1CH post
cpu cooler: its a good quiet cooler, you can also overclock with it, thou if you really want to reach say 4 ghz i'd take something else
you can move the rest a bit around it's more up to you
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Germany / USA16648 Posts
good suggestion by pakje, some comments:
- not a glossy screen!!! I have one myself, and altho it's not annoying me most of the time I'd switch mine into the same model w/o glossy surface in a heartbeat if I could
- phenom II x4 is certainly great bang for the buck wise and one of the best choices for a gaming rig right now, gonna buy myself one of those soon as well (actually, the exact same model pakje mentioned and the same mainboard as well :p ). don't wanna start a quasi-religious amd vs intel war here, but imho for a gaming rig intel is not worth the money right now (especially because the mainboards are more expensive too, I'd rather spend my money on sth else). regular video encoding would be a different story
- case: good, lian li makes some of the best cases
- hd is ok, altho with that budget I'd go with an SSD (some Intel PostVille) for the system and a big WD Caviar Greens for storage
- gfx: too much imho (certainly unnecessary for SC2), I'd go with a 5770, but I dunno what else you play. but otherwise a good choice
- psu: yeah, little too much, at least you didnt pick a 700 :p should be ok tho, some good brands are bequiet, seasonic, enermax, cooler master.
- cpu cooler is ok, I'd prolly go with like a scythe mugen 2, but not much of a difference
add 2-3 120mm fans, for example some noctuas or scythe s-flex
edit: since the op asked whether to buy a complete rig or build one: always build one, always. complete rigs will pretty much always have some crappy components (for example a crappy psu, which is like the worst component to be cheap about) or if they don't be way, way more expensive than a PC you build yourself.
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Obvious dvd rom drive
Cheap effective case
Fast cheap large HDD, the guy above talked about the larger platters but he didn't talk about how it has long random seek times which matter for most performance issues. The larger platters just make it better at sustained read and writes which is usually not the case in most usage of HDD's
Great monitor with taky speakers put in it to cost us more money 
5850 good card kind of over priced but good enough
Great PSU originally wanted a 550w psu but i could find none i liked, went for modular, single rail, with ATX and EPS standards and efficiency.
for the same price i found this baby very good for the price but 750w is way above what you need that's into crossfire territory and high ocs, hell 650w is crossfire for x 5770's easy and you can get 5850 if you have no oc and not too much crap in your computer (i have 6 hdd's in mine) god dam that's a good price for a great psu from a reputiable brand,
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256059
http://www.80plus.org/manu/psu/psu_detail.aspx?id=62&type=2
Cheap generic keyboard, really unless you want media keys eh it's more of you thing
Mouse i like just as a filler for one you'd get
Great low watt ram sticks less heat less fuss etc
Cheap effective mobo you can crossfire on that just don't expect putting a wifi card and 10 other pci cards in there it's not a ful atx board
have alot of pci cards
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128412 for 35 bucks more though
Strong i5-750 quad core cpu with HT.
Cost 1300 or about 1500 if you live in cali and have to pay the high taxes and shipping else it be more like 1400 meaning you can play around with the stuff more, maybe get the 750w psu if you plan to crossfire
get a full atx case get an aftermarket cpu cooler so you can run it quieter, although the fans from a 5770 or a 5850 revved up is loud but you can always go after market gpu cooler something from arctic cooling (i love silent pcs)or something etc etc
But this is fairly overkill all over in performance, i'm sure a i5-750 + 5770 could play sc2 effortlessly for the most part and alot of the stuff is on the nicer end instead of the cheaper but mostly effective end.
save you 200 bucks by going in which case i'd spend that money on a nicer case, as you wont have nice modular psu for lazy cable management and zip ties become your best friend
this psu
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371030
this gpu
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150462
if you do that i'd go with this lovely case the HAF wont let you down on air flow
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119160
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Germany / USA16648 Posts
the revamped ati reference design for the 5770 has a much quieter cooler (the one with the egg kind of shape) than the 1st design btw
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Note that you can save on certain places/parts, without screwing the whole project.
Firstly, the memory. You could just get 4 gigs now, later if you need more it´s a lot cheaper. Getting 8 gigs right now is an overkill, don´t worry about installing the extra memory yourself as it´s probably the easiest thing to do compwise.
Nr. 2, assemble it yourself, the internet is full of instructions WITH PICTURES !, all parts have their own warranty ( memories can have a lifetime warranty even ) and so on.
Only the processor and RAM can be destroyed by static electricity if no precautions have been made.
And lastly: your old computer. If you are not going to use it/ sell it, you can always use some parts of it (and then maybe sell the rest or smth). Parts you can keep(unless you really need a replacement/upgrade...or it´s almost dead anyways) : Case, HD, Disk drives..
Old computers tend to get noisy but that´s mostly due to loose screws and old fans so just by some cleaning and fan replacing the case is as new.
I too think your processor seems a bit of an overkill at this point, I´ve always gone by the rule that the GPU should be the most expensive part of the computer.
And get a small SSD drive, what I´ve seen they really upgrade the experience with OS and games. Something like 64gigs should be enough, however it would be a good idea to wait about 6months for the prices to drop.
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for 1500$ i'd get a really decent monitor with the 400~ $.... and 8GB of RAM is overpowered for gaming.
otherwise you still can download moar ram if you really need it.
but why 1500$ for a computer? it's so useless in two years. spend 700$ now, and in 4 years again 700$ for new pc or single updates ( CPU, ram, mobo, videocard).
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EPT
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