- May 6, 2013
- 609
- 0
- 10,980
Hey all,
Thanks for any and all input. Long and short, I'm looking for a motherboard to build a new computer around. I'm looking to build a computer from the ground up. The last one I built was around the year 2000 and I've only been following tech moderately closely since then, so I'm in need of a lot of advice on how to go about this. A few things up front - I'm in Canada, would prefer to get my pieces from as few sites as possible (tigerdirect.ca is my first choice, but I'm open to suggestion), and I'm aiming to get the whole thing in under the $700 mark. This computer will be for home use, lots of work, moderate gaming. I don't need to max out Crysis, but being able to play Starcraft II, Minecraft, and Civilization V, and maybe even Destiny, all without many hitches, would be what I want from the machine. Mid settings is fine.
What I'm here for is to ask for the motherboard to build a computer around - and any other advice on other areas that anyone would care to give. Telling me the proper forum or a site for computer building advice to go to for this works well too.
First off, the motherboard. I want this to be a mid to upper end component. My key thing here is future-proofing it somewhat. I want to be able to switch in components for a few years at least, and a motherboard that isn't going to be hardware obsolete two years down the road is important. Not sure this is possible with a $700 target for the whole machine, but, what motherboards should I be looking at?
Second, CPU. Doesn't have to be the top of the line, but able to handle my above requirements with a bit of room to spare - Civ does slow down a lot without a decent CPU.
Third, graphics card. None of the games I mentioned - expect maybe Destiny - are graphics hogs. A cheap but solid graphics card, to be updated in a year or two, suits my purposes. It needs an HDMI out.
Fourth, looking to get 8gb of RAM. Doesn't need to be top of the line - again, upgradeable down the road.
Fifth, I'm wanting to go with a SSD for my primary drive. 240gb will be sufficient. Should I be looking for a Sata III drive? Any suggestions?
Sixth, case, power supply, and fan. Case doesn't have to be pretty, but room to add into it and futureproofed are what I'm looking for. Power supply should be good for a better graphics card down the road - though, I could just switch that out later. The fan should be a good solid one, but nothing fancy.
Seventh, ethernet and sound cards. Lower end for both of these will do - I guess even a wireless N card will do, rather than AC, but if AC fits into the budget, I'd go for that. Sound card? Decent and cheap.
Eighth, a basic optical drive - DVD RW. Doesn't need to be blu-ray or anything like that.
Nine, OS.. Well, I'll deal with that once the hardware is together - though, a cheap legal way to get Windows 8.1 would be handy.
Is there anything I'm forgetting? All I'm looking for here is motherboard advice, but I'll take any advice I can get. Remember, $700 is my target budget, and tigerdirect.ca is my preferred site - though I'm open for suggestion on that. Again, thanks for any advice. Directing me to the right site or forum would work just dandy as well.
Thanks for any and all input. Long and short, I'm looking for a motherboard to build a new computer around. I'm looking to build a computer from the ground up. The last one I built was around the year 2000 and I've only been following tech moderately closely since then, so I'm in need of a lot of advice on how to go about this. A few things up front - I'm in Canada, would prefer to get my pieces from as few sites as possible (tigerdirect.ca is my first choice, but I'm open to suggestion), and I'm aiming to get the whole thing in under the $700 mark. This computer will be for home use, lots of work, moderate gaming. I don't need to max out Crysis, but being able to play Starcraft II, Minecraft, and Civilization V, and maybe even Destiny, all without many hitches, would be what I want from the machine. Mid settings is fine.
What I'm here for is to ask for the motherboard to build a computer around - and any other advice on other areas that anyone would care to give. Telling me the proper forum or a site for computer building advice to go to for this works well too.
First off, the motherboard. I want this to be a mid to upper end component. My key thing here is future-proofing it somewhat. I want to be able to switch in components for a few years at least, and a motherboard that isn't going to be hardware obsolete two years down the road is important. Not sure this is possible with a $700 target for the whole machine, but, what motherboards should I be looking at?
Second, CPU. Doesn't have to be the top of the line, but able to handle my above requirements with a bit of room to spare - Civ does slow down a lot without a decent CPU.
Third, graphics card. None of the games I mentioned - expect maybe Destiny - are graphics hogs. A cheap but solid graphics card, to be updated in a year or two, suits my purposes. It needs an HDMI out.
Fourth, looking to get 8gb of RAM. Doesn't need to be top of the line - again, upgradeable down the road.
Fifth, I'm wanting to go with a SSD for my primary drive. 240gb will be sufficient. Should I be looking for a Sata III drive? Any suggestions?
Sixth, case, power supply, and fan. Case doesn't have to be pretty, but room to add into it and futureproofed are what I'm looking for. Power supply should be good for a better graphics card down the road - though, I could just switch that out later. The fan should be a good solid one, but nothing fancy.
Seventh, ethernet and sound cards. Lower end for both of these will do - I guess even a wireless N card will do, rather than AC, but if AC fits into the budget, I'd go for that. Sound card? Decent and cheap.
Eighth, a basic optical drive - DVD RW. Doesn't need to be blu-ray or anything like that.
Nine, OS.. Well, I'll deal with that once the hardware is together - though, a cheap legal way to get Windows 8.1 would be handy.
Is there anything I'm forgetting? All I'm looking for here is motherboard advice, but I'll take any advice I can get. Remember, $700 is my target budget, and tigerdirect.ca is my preferred site - though I'm open for suggestion on that. Again, thanks for any advice. Directing me to the right site or forum would work just dandy as well.
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