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When using this resource, please read FragKrag's opening post. The Tech Support forum regulars have helped create countless of desktop systems without any compensation. The least you can do is provide all of the information required for them to help you properly. |
I appreciate any help you guys could offer. I've never tried building a computer before.
What is your budget?
- Approximately $2000 US. This cost will include the peripherals such as mouse, keyboard, headset, webcam as well as possibly a monitor or two (see next question). I do have a decent set of speakers though. And I certainly wouldn't complain if my cost came in well under budget.
What is your resolution?
- I suppose that would depend on what kind of monitor I end up with... which would depend heavily on how much I have left over after building the rig itself. Right now, I have two monitors, a HP w22 and a HP w19b. Those run in 1680x1050 and 1400x900, respectively. I wouldn't mind upgrading on them (provided it's in my price range to do so), but continuing to use one or both of them probably wouldn't be the end of the world.
What are you using it for?
- I'd like to be able to stream myself playing starcraft 2 with high graphical settings and listening to music. And of course, the standard web browsing and word processing when I'm not doing the more fun stuff.
What is your upgrade cycle?
- 3 to 4 years
When do you plan on building it?
- I wouldn't mind getting started in the next couple weeks, but if the predicted price drops are worth waiting for, I'd be willing to stall on that by 3-4 months.
Do you plan on overclocking?
- I don't feel comfortable with doing so. If the benefits are worthwhile, the price is right, and I'm convinced of its safety, I could be convinced... but I'd just as soon forget about it.
Do you need an Operating System?
- I'm afraid so.
Do you plan to add a second GPU for SLI or Crossfire?
- I hadn't planned on it.
Where are you buying your parts from?
- Reputable online sites that ship in the US. I might be able to make a 3 hour trip up to Chicago if Microcenter has an in-store deal that's worthwhile, but it'd have to be pretty worthwhile.
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I'm helping a friend put together a PC.
Questions Answered:
+ Show Spoiler +What is your budget?
6000DKK (~$USD 1139). Please note that that VAT in my country is 25%. Therefore hardware is somewhat expensive here.
What is your resolution?
1920x1080
What are you using it for?
Gaming.
What is your upgrade cycle?
N/A - first build he's doing
When do you plan on building it?
Now.
Do you plan on overclocking?
No.
Do you need an Operating System?
No.
Do you plan to add a second GPU for SLI or Crossfire?
Maybe. I told him that I thought it might be an idea to boost the PCs performance down the line with another GFX card. Could someone suggest a cheap motherboard compatible with SLI/Xfire (Is 16x/4x good enough?)
Where are you buying your parts from?
Various Danish Retailers. If you have suggestion for parts, just link to any retailer of your choice.
What I suggested so far:
+ Show Spoiler +Case: Cooler Master Elite 430 ~$67 (Lowest price among Danish retailers)
Motherboard: ASRock P67 Pro ~$133
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K ~$251
RAM: Kingston ValueRAM 2x4GB PC10600 CL-9 ~$75
GPU: Club 3d Radeon HD6950 2GB ~$336 (or Gforce 560TI?)
PSU: OCZ ModXStream Pro 500W Modular ~$83
HDD: Samsung SpinPoint F3EG 1TB ~$70
Generic DVD-burner ~$31
Total: ~$1044.
Notes:
I'm aware that since he's not overclocking, he could just go for a CPU with the multiplier locked. I checked the prices and the two CPUs are virtually the same price.
I'm thinking of spending the leftover money on the PSU. 500W seems too weak - especially if you want to go for Xfire/SLI
A big thanks for any help 
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What's the deal with RAM prices these days? I remember a year or two ago when I was buying a stick of 2GB of RAM, it costed like $40. Now 8GB is like ~$60 and the same 2x4GB sticks I bought on sale on newegg like a month ago is now on sale for $40?
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On July 20 2011 07:26 djcube wrote:
What's the deal with RAM prices these days? I remember a year or two ago when I was buying a stick of 2GB of RAM, it costed like $40. Now 8GB is like ~$60 and the same 2x4GB sticks I bought on sale on newegg like a month ago is now on sale for $40?
lol ya http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231426
wtf. SC2 came out and I was trying to upgrade my old system, so I bought 4GB of DDR2 for $80.
Now 8GB of DDR3 is $45. :D And look how sexy it looks! hehe
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@Cubbieblue66
There's a lot you can do with this large of a budget but here's a sample build capable of streaming and playing games on high at 1080p for $912:
Intel Core i5 2500k @ $220
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072
GSkill 2x4GB 1333MHz @ $55
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231424
Asrock P67 Pro3 @ $110
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157230
EVGA GTX 560 Ti @ $230 ($205 after mail in rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130604
XFX Core Edition @ $55 ($45 after mail in rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207012
Xigmatek Gaia @ $30
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233082
Coolermaster HAF 912 @ $47
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119233
Windows 7 Home Premium x64 @ $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986
Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB @ $65
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185
DVD Burner @ $19
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106289
This leaves you with roughly $1100 for your peripherals. You can spend the majority of this on peripherals, ex. mechanical keyboard ($120), IPS monitor ($400), another monitor ($400), etc.
Or you can use a little more to upgrade the configuration such as getting a core i7 2600k ($315: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115070 ), adding in an SSD (ex. Intel 320 Series 80GB @ $160: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167049 ), preparing for SLI / CrossfireX (bad decision), getting a silent case, etc.
Microcenter sells the 2500k for $180 iirc, sometimes has a motherboard deal with it as well.
This configuration is overclockable btw. You don't have to do it but overclocking is extremely easy, it's just increasing a number and you can leave the rest of the settings on auto if you don't feel like tweaking. The performance gains from overclocking for the 2500k and 2600k can be seen in this article: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core-i7-2600k-990x.html
With your large budget, it makes sense to overclock. If you're absolutely sure you don't want to overclock than you can save $100 by dropping the Xigmatek Gaia, switching out the P67 motherboard for a H61 or H67 motherboard, and getting a processor with no K suffix.
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On July 20 2011 07:26 djcube wrote:
What's the deal with RAM prices these days? I remember a year or two ago when I was buying a stick of 2GB of RAM, it costed like $40. Now 8GB is like ~$60 and the same 2x4GB sticks I bought on sale on newegg like a month ago is now on sale for $40?
Meh, my RAM I'm using right now ran about $180 for 6GB last year.
But then, I'm the guy who blows a ton of money on small gains.
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On July 20 2011 07:18 SpiffD wrote:I'm helping a friend put together a PC. Questions Answered: + Show Spoiler +What is your budget?
6000DKK (~$USD 1139). Please note that that VAT in my country is 25%. Therefore hardware is somewhat expensive here.
What is your resolution?
1920x1080
What are you using it for?
Gaming.
What is your upgrade cycle?
N/A - first build he's doing
When do you plan on building it?
Now.
Do you plan on overclocking?
No.
Do you need an Operating System?
No.
Do you plan to add a second GPU for SLI or Crossfire?
Maybe. I told him that I thought it might be an idea to boost the PCs performance down the line with another GFX card. Could someone suggest a cheap motherboard compatible with SLI/Xfire (Is 16x/4x good enough?)
Where are you buying your parts from?
Various Danish Retailers. If you have suggestion for parts, just link to any retailer of your choice. What I suggested so far: + Show Spoiler +Case: Cooler Master Elite 430 ~$67 (Lowest price among Danish retailers)
Motherboard: ASRock P67 Pro ~$133
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K ~$251
RAM: Kingston ValueRAM 2x4GB PC10600 CL-9 ~$75
GPU: Club 3d Radeon HD6950 2GB ~$336 (or Gforce 560TI?)
PSU: OCZ ModXStream Pro 500W Modular ~$83
HDD: Samsung SpinPoint F3EG 1TB ~$70
Generic DVD-burner ~$31
Total: ~$1044. Notes: I'm aware that since he's not overclocking, he could just go for a CPU with the multiplier locked. I checked the prices and the two CPUs are virtually the same price. I'm thinking of spending the leftover money on the PSU. 500W seems too weak - especially if you want to go for Xfire/SLI A big thanks for any help
if you arent planning on overclocking, then go with the i5-2500 with no k. the k is just for overclocking so your wasting ~$15 if you get that.
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On July 20 2011 07:18 SpiffD wrote:I'm helping a friend put together a PC. Questions Answered: + Show Spoiler +What is your budget?
6000DKK (~$USD 1139). Please note that that VAT in my country is 25%. Therefore hardware is somewhat expensive here.
What is your resolution?
1920x1080
What are you using it for?
Gaming.
What is your upgrade cycle?
N/A - first build he's doing
When do you plan on building it?
Now.
Do you plan on overclocking?
No.
Do you need an Operating System?
No.
Do you plan to add a second GPU for SLI or Crossfire?
Maybe. I told him that I thought it might be an idea to boost the PCs performance down the line with another GFX card. Could someone suggest a cheap motherboard compatible with SLI/Xfire (Is 16x/4x good enough?)
Where are you buying your parts from?
Various Danish Retailers. If you have suggestion for parts, just link to any retailer of your choice. What I suggested so far: + Show Spoiler +Case: Cooler Master Elite 430 ~$67 (Lowest price among Danish retailers)
Motherboard: ASRock P67 Pro ~$133
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K ~$251
RAM: Kingston ValueRAM 2x4GB PC10600 CL-9 ~$75
GPU: Club 3d Radeon HD6950 2GB ~$336 (or Gforce 560TI?)
PSU: OCZ ModXStream Pro 500W Modular ~$83
HDD: Samsung SpinPoint F3EG 1TB ~$70
Generic DVD-burner ~$31
Total: ~$1044. Notes: I'm aware that since he's not overclocking, he could just go for a CPU with the multiplier locked. I checked the prices and the two CPUs are virtually the same price. I'm thinking of spending the leftover money on the PSU. 500W seems too weak - especially if you want to go for Xfire/SLI A big thanks for any help
SLI / CrossfireX is a bad upgrade path. By the time that the Radeon HD6950 is inadequate of playing on high settings at 1080p, we'll be three generations ahead and there will be a $200 card that will offer consistent and the same performance of a CrossfireX 6950 configuration.
ModXStream Pro are okay units, 500w is doable for a CrossfireX 6950 configuration but definitely not recommended.
If he's not overclocking than why get a P67 motherboard? H67 motherboards are also capable of CrossfireX. But then again, why do CrossfireX if you're only playing at 1080p and not overclocking?
All motherboards with two PCI-E x16 slots are capable of CrossfireX. Some SLI capable motherboards include most of all Z68 motherboards, Gigabyte P67 UD4, Asrock P67 Extreme4, ASUS P8P67 Pro, and MSI P67 G series.
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On July 20 2011 07:18 SpiffD wrote:I'm helping a friend put together a PC. Questions Answered: + Show Spoiler +What is your budget?
6000DKK (~$USD 1139). Please note that that VAT in my country is 25%. Therefore hardware is somewhat expensive here.
What is your resolution?
1920x1080
What are you using it for?
Gaming.
What is your upgrade cycle?
N/A - first build he's doing
When do you plan on building it?
Now.
Do you plan on overclocking?
No.
Do you need an Operating System?
No.
Do you plan to add a second GPU for SLI or Crossfire?
Maybe. I told him that I thought it might be an idea to boost the PCs performance down the line with another GFX card. Could someone suggest a cheap motherboard compatible with SLI/Xfire (Is 16x/4x good enough?)
Where are you buying your parts from?
Various Danish Retailers. If you have suggestion for parts, just link to any retailer of your choice. What I suggested so far: + Show Spoiler +Case: Cooler Master Elite 430 ~$67 (Lowest price among Danish retailers)
Motherboard: ASRock P67 Pro ~$133
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K ~$251
RAM: Kingston ValueRAM 2x4GB PC10600 CL-9 ~$75
GPU: Club 3d Radeon HD6950 2GB ~$336 (or Gforce 560TI?)
PSU: OCZ ModXStream Pro 500W Modular ~$83
HDD: Samsung SpinPoint F3EG 1TB ~$70
Generic DVD-burner ~$31
Total: ~$1044. Notes: I'm aware that since he's not overclocking, he could just go for a CPU with the multiplier locked. I checked the prices and the two CPUs are virtually the same price. I'm thinking of spending the leftover money on the PSU. 500W seems too weak - especially if you want to go for Xfire/SLI A big thanks for any help
500W is definitely on the low side for Crossfire HD 6950s, but I'd advise against that option anyway. New graphics cards with better performance, lower cost, lower power consumption, on so on, are always upcoming. What with the inconsistent performance of Crossfire/SLI, particularly with some new releases, the cost and hassle aren't usually worth the potential performance gains unless you enjoy the tweaking or really need top-notch performance to drive a multi-monitor gaming setup.
By the way, that AsRock P67 Pro doesn't even have two PCIe x16 slots. Also, why P67 if he's not overclocking?
I'd get a 7200 rpm HDD rather than a 5400 rpm model like the Samsung Spinpoint EcoGreen (WD Caviar Green, Seagate Barracuda LP, etc. are all slower drives).
HD 6950 1GB is as good as the 2GB at 1920x1080. It's a bit better than the GTX 560 Ti if you're not overclocking either.
There may be better power supplies available for the price, but the OCZ ModXStream Pro 500W is okay. It's actually overkill by a decent margin for just a HD 6950 and i5-2500 (no overclock). The build as is isn't ever going to use over 300W, typically much under that.
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Thank skyr the build, but now the gf is scared that her brother plays the computer all day and night because he's been with us for about 3days and been playing Empire: total war from 6am to midnight. i was wondering what will be an alternative build so that his black box doesn't run too slow.
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Black box? That configuration is capable of playing many current and upcoming games on reasonably high settings at 1080p.
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Just a quick question, what do you guys think of this case (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146069)
It'd be using the majority of the build Mym suggested back on 421.
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On July 20 2011 08:52 lOstHeaven wrote:Thank skyr the build, but now the gf is scared that her brother plays the computer all day and night because he's been with us for about 3days and been playing Empire: total war from 6am to midnight. i was wondering what will be an alternative build so that his black box doesn't run too slow.
It won't run slow whatsoever. That build is far better than what you'd see from a $1,200 Alienware computer (I just checked online last night because I was curious of their markups), which has an i5 2300 (they charge an extra $150 if you want to "upgrade" to an i5 2500k), only 4GB of RAM (costs $100 extra to get 8GB), and two GTS 450's in SLI mode (if you want a GTX 560 ti which is better than your card, but not by a ton, it's $100 more as well). So to get around an "equal" level of performance, WITHOUT any SSD, you'd need to pay around $1550. Granted, it's a 1TB HDD instead of a 500GB, and it has a 525w PSU, but I have no idea on it's quality. From what I've heard though, Dell has awful PSUs and Alienware is Dell so).
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On July 20 2011 09:08 shabinka wrote:
Just a quick question, what do you guys think of this case (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146069)
It'd be using the majority of the build Mym suggested back on 421.
For the price, not bad, going by what I can find. Be wary of CPU cooler clearance with a side fan, they can get in the way of taller ones sometimes. Cable management seems to be a bit wonky for some things, and I'm personally a little concerned about the price, since it has a built in temp monitor. Gimmicky stuff in lower priced cases always makes me wonder where corners got cut.
That said, by the reviews I can find, it's at least decent.
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Generally I would expect very thin panels to keep the costs down, but it's listed at 18 pounds. The website lists CPU cooler clearance as 144.4mm with fan, 169.4mm without. 144.4mm is too small for the typical 120mm fan tower coolers. However, you can just move the side panel fan to the top to use as exhaust.
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Hi, my friend needs a build for a computer. She plans to get it off newegg. She also wants a pink case if possible, but she'll settle on a white case as well. I was thinking of a nzxt phantom white/blue. Her budget is $1500. She needs an OS and monitor as well.
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A computer to do what...?
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On July 20 2011 10:52 skyR wrote:
A computer to do what...?
play games lol oh yeah shes not gonna overclock
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On July 20 2011 07:32 skyR wrote:@Cubbieblue66 There's a lot you can do with this large of a budget but here's a sample build capable of streaming and playing games on high at 1080p for $912: + Show Spoiler +This leaves you with roughly $1100 for your peripherals. You can spend the majority of this on peripherals, ex. mechanical keyboard ($120), IPS monitor ($400), another monitor ($400), etc. Or you can use a little more to upgrade the configuration such as getting a core i7 2600k ($315: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115070 ), adding in an SSD (ex. Intel 320 Series 80GB @ $160: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167049 ), preparing for SLI / CrossfireX (bad decision), getting a silent case, etc. Microcenter sells the 2500k for $180 iirc, sometimes has a motherboard deal with it as well. This configuration is overclockable btw. You don't have to do it but overclocking is extremely easy, it's just increasing a number and you can leave the rest of the settings on auto if you don't feel like tweaking. The performance gains from overclocking for the 2500k and 2600k can be seen in this article: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core-i7-2600k-990x.htmlWith your large budget, it makes sense to overclock. If you're absolutely sure you don't want to overclock than you can save $100 by dropping the Xigmatek Gaia, switching out the P67 motherboard for a H61 or H67 motherboard, and getting a processor with no K suffix.
Thank you so much for your help.
Comparing this shopping list to the OP, it looks like I'd be pretty close to the top of the line. Is that still a reasonable assessment, or is the information in the OP out of date?
Per your suggestion, I've looked into overclocking a bit more and it's not quite so scary as I had envisioned it. I may very well end up going that route. And I think I may be leaning towards that i7 2600k. As it turns out, I'll be in Chicago anyways a couple times in the next month, and Microcenter sells them for $280 in-store. I also quite like the idea of adding a small SSD, but I'm undecided as to whether the cost is justified.
Do you (or anybody else for that matter) have any specific advice for monitors?
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EPT
. Although there's a "version2" being pretty much a better model for $10 cheaper than I paid 
