Computer Build Resource Thread - Page 1208

Important questions you should ask yourself

If you request a build, please answer these questions. We will spend as much effort on your build as you spend on your answers to these questions! I urge people to abstain from providing builds unless all the questions are answered.

What is your budget?

This should be an obvious one, you should determine a price range that best describes how much you want to spend on your build. It makes it easier for people to make recommendations.

What is your resolution?

This is extremely important especially for a gaming machine. I see people all the time asking for a video card recommendation and 5 people reply "5850" and the person hasn't even given their gaming resolution; it turns out the person games at 1280x1024 and could have ended up wasting $200 on a card that is total and complete overkill for his resolution.

What are you using it for?

Mostly gaming? Some gaming with video encoding mixed in? Photoshop? Streaming? All this matters, you can end up spending a lot of money and not be able to do anything you wanted to or you can spend a lot of money on stuff you don't even want to do.

What is your upgrade cycle?

Knowing the answer to this question makes it easier for people to recommend CPU sockets and GPUs so you get the most for your money. A person with a longer upgrade (2+ years) cycle will probably end up spending more initially but end up saving more at the expense of some performance. On the other hand a person with a shorter upgrade cycle (1 - 2 years) wants to spend less initially so they can put more money toward their next build.

When do you plan on building it?

Computer parts shift in prices often. With the release of new products, exist prices may drop further. Even without the release of new prices, changes in supply can affect the price of a specific part. The HD 5850 was supposed to retail at the $260 mark, but in a mere 4-5 months after its release it climbed to top $300 for basic reference models.

Do you plan on overclocking?

If you plan on overclocking, the motherboard choice and heatsink choice will be affected. Enthusiast overclocking requires enthusiast heatsinks and at least a stable motherboard. A simple budget Foxconn motherboard will not be adequate for your overclocking needs!

Do you need an Operating System?

An OS is around $100. It affects how much of your budget we can spend on the actual hardware.

Do you plan to add a second GPU for SLI or Crossfire?

CrossFire and SLI are powerful solutions that allow higher performance, but in order to utilize them, we have to choose motherboards and PSUs that can support the increased demands that Crossfire and SLI place on your components.

Where are you buying your parts from?

If you have a nearby Fry's or Microcenter you can utilize their deals. If you're in Europe you obviously cannot use Newegg/Fry's/Microcenter so we need to know where you are from to put together a list of parts from a website or area you can actually buy from.

If you can't answer these questions, make sure you can answer them before you ask us to help you put together a list of parts for you. Every single question affects the build we will put together for you greatly so make sure you can answer them accurately!