Parts I'm looking at getting:
Case - ($151) Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced Full Tower Case
Heatsink - ($78) ZALMAN CNPS9900MAX-B
DRAM - ($160) 16GB G.Skill DDR3 PC3-19200 2400MHz Trident X Series CL10
Motherboard - ($125) Asus P8Z77-V LK Intel Z77 DDR3 LGA 1155
Operating System - ($91) Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64bit (OEM)
Processor - ($315) Intel Core i7-3770K Quad-Core Processor 3.5 GHz 8 MB Cache LGA 1155
Solid State Drive - ($220) Samsung Electronics 840 Pro Series 2.5-Inch 256 GB
Soundcard - ($180) ASUS XONAR ESSENCE STX
Videocard - ($265) EVGA GeForce GTX660 FTW 3GB 192-bit GDDR5
Approximate Purchase Date: e.g.: This week
Budget Range: <$1600
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming > Audio Processing > Everything else
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: None, get me the lowest with reputable sites.
Location: Denver Colorado
Parts Preferences: Intel for processor, EVGA for videocard, ASUS for motherboard (not necessary, but seems to work the best for me)
Overclocking: Yes
SLI or Crossfire: In the future when needed
Your Monitor Resolution: Dual 1920x1200
Why I'm Upgrading: Want a better computer for gaming and want to have it decked out for music creation. I created an overclocked computer 6 years ago that has finally run its course with games and now I also want to add to it with audio processing capabilities.
Additional Comments:
So as it stands I will not need to buy a power supply (Cooler Master 750W), external hard-drive (Seagate 250G), monitor (Samsung 23"), keyboard (G15), mouse (imperator), or headphones (HD650)... The operating system and soundcard are for sure locked down and you don't need to worry about. The processor and videocard I have high confidence that I will be staying with those unless there's a good argument against it.
Reasoning for picks:
Case - This was chosen because it has big fans for the attempt to cut down on the sound produced while giving me something that will cool the system down for when it is overclocked (I currently have 6 180mm fans on my case, and the sound is something close to a human making a wooshing sound at a talking level), and I'm still in the lazy phase where I don't want to go liquid cooling.
Heatsink - Seemed to be one of the better heatsinks with one of the highest ratings.
DRAM - This is operating at 2400 with good timing (10-12-12-31), but I could easily go for a 4 pack for 16GB if it would give better performance.
Motherboard - Able to give me all the slots with room to grow along with SATA RAID, HDMI, S/PDIF Out, and ATX form factor.
Operating System - No complaints, and I'm not going to Windows 8.
Processor - Seemed to be of the better processors with the possibility of overclocking.
SSD - I wanted something over 250GB to hold all my games on (with the benefit of fast) and have my external to hold all my other stuff, and from playing with a computer with only 180GB wasn't even close to handling what I wanted.
Soundcard - I've been looking for a while to find something that is boss for my headphones and this seemed to be the best choice out of all of them (considered building my own discrete amplifier, but without getting too off topic on this, I'm going to be staying with this soundcard).
Videocard - Seems to be one of the best graphics cards for performance/dollar while being a relatively high-end card (a GTX 760 when it comes out I would guess to be my 2nd choice depending on the price).
Let me know what you think!
Thanks,
-Sean
Case - ($151) Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced Full Tower Case
Heatsink - ($78) ZALMAN CNPS9900MAX-B
DRAM - ($160) 16GB G.Skill DDR3 PC3-19200 2400MHz Trident X Series CL10
Motherboard - ($125) Asus P8Z77-V LK Intel Z77 DDR3 LGA 1155
Operating System - ($91) Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64bit (OEM)
Processor - ($315) Intel Core i7-3770K Quad-Core Processor 3.5 GHz 8 MB Cache LGA 1155
Solid State Drive - ($220) Samsung Electronics 840 Pro Series 2.5-Inch 256 GB
Soundcard - ($180) ASUS XONAR ESSENCE STX
Videocard - ($265) EVGA GeForce GTX660 FTW 3GB 192-bit GDDR5
Approximate Purchase Date: e.g.: This week
Budget Range: <$1600
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming > Audio Processing > Everything else
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: None, get me the lowest with reputable sites.
Location: Denver Colorado
Parts Preferences: Intel for processor, EVGA for videocard, ASUS for motherboard (not necessary, but seems to work the best for me)
Overclocking: Yes
SLI or Crossfire: In the future when needed
Your Monitor Resolution: Dual 1920x1200
Why I'm Upgrading: Want a better computer for gaming and want to have it decked out for music creation. I created an overclocked computer 6 years ago that has finally run its course with games and now I also want to add to it with audio processing capabilities.
Additional Comments:
So as it stands I will not need to buy a power supply (Cooler Master 750W), external hard-drive (Seagate 250G), monitor (Samsung 23"), keyboard (G15), mouse (imperator), or headphones (HD650)... The operating system and soundcard are for sure locked down and you don't need to worry about. The processor and videocard I have high confidence that I will be staying with those unless there's a good argument against it.
Reasoning for picks:
Case - This was chosen because it has big fans for the attempt to cut down on the sound produced while giving me something that will cool the system down for when it is overclocked (I currently have 6 180mm fans on my case, and the sound is something close to a human making a wooshing sound at a talking level), and I'm still in the lazy phase where I don't want to go liquid cooling.
Heatsink - Seemed to be one of the better heatsinks with one of the highest ratings.
DRAM - This is operating at 2400 with good timing (10-12-12-31), but I could easily go for a 4 pack for 16GB if it would give better performance.
Motherboard - Able to give me all the slots with room to grow along with SATA RAID, HDMI, S/PDIF Out, and ATX form factor.
Operating System - No complaints, and I'm not going to Windows 8.
Processor - Seemed to be of the better processors with the possibility of overclocking.
SSD - I wanted something over 250GB to hold all my games on (with the benefit of fast) and have my external to hold all my other stuff, and from playing with a computer with only 180GB wasn't even close to handling what I wanted.
Soundcard - I've been looking for a while to find something that is boss for my headphones and this seemed to be the best choice out of all of them (considered building my own discrete amplifier, but without getting too off topic on this, I'm going to be staying with this soundcard).
Videocard - Seems to be one of the best graphics cards for performance/dollar while being a relatively high-end card (a GTX 760 when it comes out I would guess to be my 2nd choice depending on the price).
Let me know what you think!
Thanks,
-Sean
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