First off, thanks in advance for reading this and offering any suggestions you might have. I've been doing a lot of reasearch the last few days, and these forums have so far been an invaluable source of information.
That being said, this is the first time I've attempted to build my own computer. Having spent a fair amount of time considering the plethora of options, I think I've come up with a build that will meet my goals, which are as follows:
1) My top priority is stability and reliability. I would much rather spend a few extra bucks and have less headaches than save a bit and pay for it in brain-pain. However, to the extent that I can save and not lose any quality, I'm open to suggestions.
2) Second priority would be gaming performance. I want this system to rock now and for at least a few years into the future. My current gaming addiction is World of Warcraft. I'm also a fan of the Total War series, and would like to revisit FPS games as well--especially considering all the new eye-candy they are coming out with!
3) Third priority would be over-clocking potential--but with a caveat. I've never done any overclocking before, so rather than getting parts that have the most potential, I would rather have safer parts that will be more user-friendly and user-safe.
With those goals in mind, here's the build that I've come up with. I'll probably order all of the parts at once from NewEgg, as they seem to be well respected and tend to have the cheapest prices anyways.
Motherboard: ASUS A8N-E Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard for around $110. Solid motherboard with future upgrade potential, good brand that should be stable, and still have some overclocking potential, without all the confusing bells and whistles that a DFI would have. Other options that I've considered are the ABIT AN8-ULTRA or the CHAINTECH VNF4/Ultra. I really wonder if there is any practical difference between the ASUS and Abit. I've heard good things about the Chaintech, which costs considerably less (and comes in black!), but I wonder if I would end up getting what I pay for. Any suggestions here?
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 1GHz FSB 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Processor for $152. From what I've read this is the best bang for the buck. Over-clocks up to 3700 speeds without much trouble, and the real limit on gaming power is the GPU anyways, so why go crazy with the CPU? I am curious about one thing though--what is the difference between the Venice, San Diego, and other city names that come along with AMD cpu's? I've looked and not been able to find any explanation of that.
Video Card: BFG Tech BFGR78256GTCOD2 Geforce 7800GT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 VIVO PCI Express x16 Video Card bundled with Call of Duty 2 for $369. This is the one area that I'm most likely to splurge. I've read good things about BFG, but there are so many brands of cards out there it is hard to find any noticable difference between any of them. I do wonder if the price of the 7800GT is really worth it, compared to a 6800 of some sort that will cost around half as much.
Case: Thermaltake Tsunami VA3000BWA Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case for $95 after rebate. Yeah, I know that this is one area that I could easily save some cash on, but I kinda like this case. Blue lights, side window, big fans (including a side fan), stylish body, and USB/Audio jacks on top that have a cover to keep dust out. So long as there are no drawbacks other than the price, I think this is the one for me. Biggest concern is good air-flow. Oh, and I'm also wondering if I'll need any extra fans, or just go with what is included with everything.
Power Supply Unit: Antec SmartPower 2.0 SP-450 ATX12V 450W Power Supply 115/230 V UL, TUV, CB, FCC CLASS B, CUL for $67. I've read good things about Antec, and 450W should be plenty for my power needs.
System Memory:CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory for $219 after $25 mail-in rebate. This is one area that I really am still uncertain of. It sounds like 2 gigs is probably overkill for current games, but World of Warcraft is apparently a memory hog, and this seems like a good price for good quality RAM. I don't know too much about the different spec options for RAM, but this kit seems like it should be plenty fast. Any other options I should seriously consider?
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 ST380817AS 80GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive for $62. I don't need a lot of storage space, as I'm not into having gobs of movies or tunes on my computer. This seems to be decent quality and should get the job done nicely.
Optical Drives: LITE-ON Black 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model SOHD-16P9SV for $21, and a LITE-ON Black 52X CD-R 32X CD-RW 52X CD-ROM 1.5M Cache ATAPI / E-IDE CD Burner for $22. Lite-On sounds like a decent brand. Any objections?
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Professional With Service Pack 2 for $146. I've got XP Pro on my laptop and have been very happy with it. Really wouldn't consider using anything else.
Monitor: ViewSonic VA1912wb Black 19" 8ms LCD Widescreen Monitor 300 cd/m2 500:1 Built in Speakers for $309. Sounds like a good deal for a quality LCD screen that should be able to keep up with everything else--and it's wide-screen to boot!
Well, I think that's about everything. Please let me know if I've left anything out or picked stuff that won't work together. Total price comes to around $1572 after rebates, which as probably the most I would be willing to spend. Other stuff I already have or will just buy locally, such as speakers, keyboard, etc.
Thanks again for any comments and suggestions you might have, and double thanks for actually reading all this!
Cheers!
That being said, this is the first time I've attempted to build my own computer. Having spent a fair amount of time considering the plethora of options, I think I've come up with a build that will meet my goals, which are as follows:
1) My top priority is stability and reliability. I would much rather spend a few extra bucks and have less headaches than save a bit and pay for it in brain-pain. However, to the extent that I can save and not lose any quality, I'm open to suggestions.
2) Second priority would be gaming performance. I want this system to rock now and for at least a few years into the future. My current gaming addiction is World of Warcraft. I'm also a fan of the Total War series, and would like to revisit FPS games as well--especially considering all the new eye-candy they are coming out with!
3) Third priority would be over-clocking potential--but with a caveat. I've never done any overclocking before, so rather than getting parts that have the most potential, I would rather have safer parts that will be more user-friendly and user-safe.
With those goals in mind, here's the build that I've come up with. I'll probably order all of the parts at once from NewEgg, as they seem to be well respected and tend to have the cheapest prices anyways.
Motherboard: ASUS A8N-E Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard for around $110. Solid motherboard with future upgrade potential, good brand that should be stable, and still have some overclocking potential, without all the confusing bells and whistles that a DFI would have. Other options that I've considered are the ABIT AN8-ULTRA or the CHAINTECH VNF4/Ultra. I really wonder if there is any practical difference between the ASUS and Abit. I've heard good things about the Chaintech, which costs considerably less (and comes in black!), but I wonder if I would end up getting what I pay for. Any suggestions here?
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 1GHz FSB 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Processor for $152. From what I've read this is the best bang for the buck. Over-clocks up to 3700 speeds without much trouble, and the real limit on gaming power is the GPU anyways, so why go crazy with the CPU? I am curious about one thing though--what is the difference between the Venice, San Diego, and other city names that come along with AMD cpu's? I've looked and not been able to find any explanation of that.
Video Card: BFG Tech BFGR78256GTCOD2 Geforce 7800GT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 VIVO PCI Express x16 Video Card bundled with Call of Duty 2 for $369. This is the one area that I'm most likely to splurge. I've read good things about BFG, but there are so many brands of cards out there it is hard to find any noticable difference between any of them. I do wonder if the price of the 7800GT is really worth it, compared to a 6800 of some sort that will cost around half as much.
Case: Thermaltake Tsunami VA3000BWA Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case for $95 after rebate. Yeah, I know that this is one area that I could easily save some cash on, but I kinda like this case. Blue lights, side window, big fans (including a side fan), stylish body, and USB/Audio jacks on top that have a cover to keep dust out. So long as there are no drawbacks other than the price, I think this is the one for me. Biggest concern is good air-flow. Oh, and I'm also wondering if I'll need any extra fans, or just go with what is included with everything.
Power Supply Unit: Antec SmartPower 2.0 SP-450 ATX12V 450W Power Supply 115/230 V UL, TUV, CB, FCC CLASS B, CUL for $67. I've read good things about Antec, and 450W should be plenty for my power needs.
System Memory:CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory for $219 after $25 mail-in rebate. This is one area that I really am still uncertain of. It sounds like 2 gigs is probably overkill for current games, but World of Warcraft is apparently a memory hog, and this seems like a good price for good quality RAM. I don't know too much about the different spec options for RAM, but this kit seems like it should be plenty fast. Any other options I should seriously consider?
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 ST380817AS 80GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive for $62. I don't need a lot of storage space, as I'm not into having gobs of movies or tunes on my computer. This seems to be decent quality and should get the job done nicely.
Optical Drives: LITE-ON Black 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model SOHD-16P9SV for $21, and a LITE-ON Black 52X CD-R 32X CD-RW 52X CD-ROM 1.5M Cache ATAPI / E-IDE CD Burner for $22. Lite-On sounds like a decent brand. Any objections?
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Professional With Service Pack 2 for $146. I've got XP Pro on my laptop and have been very happy with it. Really wouldn't consider using anything else.
Monitor: ViewSonic VA1912wb Black 19" 8ms LCD Widescreen Monitor 300 cd/m2 500:1 Built in Speakers for $309. Sounds like a good deal for a quality LCD screen that should be able to keep up with everything else--and it's wide-screen to boot!
Well, I think that's about everything. Please let me know if I've left anything out or picked stuff that won't work together. Total price comes to around $1572 after rebates, which as probably the most I would be willing to spend. Other stuff I already have or will just buy locally, such as speakers, keyboard, etc.
Thanks again for any comments and suggestions you might have, and double thanks for actually reading all this!
Cheers!
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