Matts96HB

So, my parents have agreed to help me buy/build a computer for my birthday and christmas. Basically, I'm going to have ~$1k to build or buy just the tower. I'll be using my TV as a monitor, and I already have a mouse and keyboard.

That being said,
- I do not have any experience building machines
- Would like something that can play Blu Ray DVD's.
- Must be geared towards gaming

I was thinking of just buying something like this:
INTEL i7 920 QUAD CORE CUSTOM GAMING COMPUTER SYSTEM - eBay (item 400078967245 end time Nov-12-09 20:39:31 PST)

Not that exact setup, but something pre-built from eBay.

But, considering I am new at this.. I figured I would come here and ask a few people with experience for some ideas. Keep in mind ballpark 1k cost, and just needs to be a decent tower basically.

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B

tv as a monitor sucks for the most part... everything is just too big and you won't get anything 'done'. i dunno, i would never enjoy that.

that's not a bad price for that system, but it doesn't come with an OS installed... or anything else. and the 500gb hard drive is pretty small by todays standards. no mention of power supply either.

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TurboMirage

better than you think. you just need an HD capable video card to make it work correctly. nobody likes upscaled 320x200.

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See what is done to the little Evo5.

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Matts96HB

I think I would probably get a smaller 20" LCD for when I'm on the net, or stuff like that. But the TV would be nice for movies.

The hard drive is the weak spot of that system, I was going to look into getting a bigger one for it, but I think that kind of defeats the purpose of buying a new system.
I'm going to make sure I get an HD compatible card, I think it'd be kinda pointless to have otherwise.

A question in regard to graphics cards.. what card would work best with the i7 processor? I have heard mixed reviews on running certain cards with certain processors, just want to make sure that it runs as smoothly as possible.

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phyregod

Call dell.

I used to build computers for a living, and now I just phone up dell. Its easier. And with the deals they are offering these days, its about the same price as building one, and zero headache. The XPS lineup is nice. I've owned 3 different XPS machines. One died, we still use the other two. And the one that died lived an incredibly hard life for years, it wasn't dell's fault, it was just used the fuck up.

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endlesszeal

you've come to the right place my friend

anyway. it really depends on what you want to do. ill list the strengths and weaknesses of Core i7/i5 and AMD Phenom II X4

Core i7:
Pro
-Currently the fastest thing on the planet.
-Overclocks well
-Supports CF and SLi
-Will support 6 Core CPUs (Gulftown)
-Triple Channel Memory
-All have Hyper-threading
-Bandwidth galore
Con
-Very expensive CPUs
-Very expensive motherboards (X58 chipsets only)
-Very hot (stock temps get up to 70C+ when fully loaded)

Corei5:
Pro
-Still very fast (750 and up match or beat the 920 stock)
-Clock decently well with a bit of voltage
-Integrated PCI-E on chipset (very fast for gaming)
-Boards are much cheaper than X58
-8XX series have hyperthreading
-Run much cooler than Core i7
-Improved Turbo-boost
Con
-Some motherboards toast the CPU when overclocking heavy (Foxconn Sockets)
-Most motherboards only support CF and not SLi
-If running two monster graphics card (ie dual gpu cards), can be possible bandwidth straved
-Will NOT support Gulftown

AMD Phenom II
Pro:
-Very affordable processors (almost all under $200)
-Very affordable motherboards (full loaded cost around 200 vs 300+ for Intel)
-Comparable performance to Core 2 Quad
-Overclock very well with little to no voltage bump
-Runs considerably cooler than Intel
-Can upgrade to Hexa-core (Thuban) depending on motherboard chipset
-AM3 processors can use either AM2+/AM3 boards (DDR2/DDR3)
Con:
-Performance still a bit behind on Core i7/i5
-No SLi support (that i know of)


Summary:
Core i7: Upgrade often and want the best performance and money is no concern.
Core i5: Want great performance, but not the best and flexible budget.
Phenom II: Want good performance and on a strict budget.

Video cards a bit trickery. But all in all, the new ATi 58xx/57xx spank anything Nvidia has. And if you are going to game at all, the bare minimum would be either a 9800GTX/GTS250 or ATi 4850/4750. All around $100. You can get away with older parts like 8800GT/9600GT etc, but spend the extra 20 bucks and performance will much be better. In theory, ATi cards work better with AMD systems and Nvidia works better with Intel because lesser drivers mean lesser junk which means less of a chance of system conflict. But really, Ive never experienced it and dont hear many people complain about it except for newbs. I mean shit, the fastest system is an Intel Core i7 paired with a few ATi 5870s simply because they are the fastet in the their respective fields.

As for hard drives; your system is only a fastest as the slowest part. And the slowest part would be your hard drive. If your budget allows, I highly highly recommend a SSD (solid state drive) from either Intel or an Indilix controller based drive. Only problem is it cost around $200 for 120gb where as a good traditional cost $50 for 500gb or $80 for 1 TB. However, the difference between response, access time, boot time, is like a Civic and an F430. But if you do choose regular HDD i would get either a Samsung F3 or Western Digital Black 500gb single platter hard drive. Why? Less moving parts = faster drive. 2 in Raid 0 would be awesome. Than get a 1TB drive like a WD Green for storage and back up because its cheaper and runs cooler.

Now cases are very subjective. As long as you have one 120mm for intake and one for exhaust, youre good to go. Of course, the more the better. However, build quality, space(room), removable motherboard tray, etc.. are excellent things to have but they up the price. And not to mention looks, thats important too =).
Current favorites among the enthusiast community are:
Cooler Master CM690, Cooler Master HAF, Corsair Obsidian, Antec 900, various Lian Li and Silverstone cases.

For power supplies, stick with known quality brands and you wont regret burning your $1000 system. OCZ, Corsair, PC&P, Antec, Enermax, and Seasonic all make great power supplies. And rule of thumb is, your power supply should be running around 60-80% load becauses thats where its happiest and most efficient. Gives it room to breath and its not wasting power whilst not doing anything. So if youre system draws 400 watts, look at around 600-700 watt.

As for motherboards, youll need to do research as I havent really kept up with them. Too many to look through but top tier is ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI and squeezing there, EVGA. More familiar with the chipsets.

Lastly, for optical drives Pioneer and Samsung are all great drives. Blue-ray seems to go to either Pioneer or LG. They dont matter much anymore because they all perform well. I say get the cheapest. Id get a blue-ray one IF you have to have one to watch movies and a DVD burner. Use only the blue-ray to rip the BR movies to a) save the laser from wearing out b) decrease access time and use the dvd for everything else.


If you need more help visit these sites and forums:
Tom's Hardware: Hardware News, Tests and Reviews (monthly best money for graphics card)
AnandTech: your source for hardware analysis and news <- like a lot
www.bittech.com
techPowerUp! - The latest in hardware and gaming
www.vrzone.com
XtremeSystems Inc <- like a lot

And of course, you can post here or PM me and ill guide you through whatever I can.

PS You can get upgrade copy of windows 7 for $30 if you know anyone that is affiliated with a college. Or various torrent sites for "demos"

corvetteguy78

you dont need spend a grand to have a nice system....but if you can do it nice....I have an IBUYPOWER and i love. Look into custom building yours at www.ibuypower.com

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Matts96HB

Thanks for all the help guys, rep

I'll be spending all day on this thread researching haha

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