Novice PC Builder needs help...

[Prkchpsndwiches]

I have about 1.5 - 2k to spend on a new computer. I'm planning on building a gaming pc. My desire to upgrade is based on the fact that I am unable to run certain games. On my current system I am able to run HL2 and Doom III reasonably well, but COD2 and Obilvion are practically unplayable. I was recently going to build an AMD system, but the new Intel processors have me second guessing.

I want to build a single GPU system that has the potential to upgrade it to a dual-gpu. I'm leaning towards SLI over crossfire. I'm thinking 2gb of ram, and air-cooling over water.

I currently have a decent enough monitor and a creative audigy zs plat pro sound card, so I don't think that would need upgrading. Also a mouse, keyboard and speakers need not be included in the price.

So for 1.5-2k I need:
Case (Was thinking thermaltake armor?)
CPU
CPU cooler
Motherboard
Graphics card
Ram
DVD Burner
Hard Drive

If there is anything else I'm missing let me know. Also if someone has a computer company to recommend instead of self building let me know.

I know you guys probably get a lot of topics like this, but the help is definetly appreciated.

Thanks

Prk

 

[xxsk8er101xx]

So for 1.5-2k I need:
Case (Was thinking thermaltake armor?): as far as case get what you want because its hard to dictate as its relative to what you like. You'll want at least a 550 watt power supply though if you're going SLI.

CPU & CPU cooler: You mentioned going intel core 2 duo is the latest cpu from them if you wanna go with that. ALL retail cpu's come with cooling.
Motherboard: You'll have to wait for the latest nforce 5 comes out to support SLI. The intel chipset such as the 975 and 965 do not support SLI.
Graphics card: I guess a 7900GTX is a pretty fast card. Evga and MSI are pretty decent name brands. I'm sure others can throw in their own.
Ram: anything from Corsair is good. DDR2 667/675 or 800 will work
DVD Burner: NEC is good my dad has a sony, my cousin has a benque. They all don't have any problems.
Hard Drive: maxter, western digital are good choices. pick a drive with serial ATA 3GB/s and 16MB cache.

 

[xxsk8er101xx]

oh and www.newegg.com is a good place to make purchases if you live in the USA. any other country i couldn't tell you.

other options include www.mwave.com, www.zipzoomfly.com, www.computers4sure.com ... there are others but i can't think of them off the top of my head.

Good luck! Make sure you read all the directions and don't be afraid to come on here to ask for help. All the useful guys that can help you don't normally come here on the weekends. Thats why you got no responses.

 

[NMDante]

So for 1.5-2k I need:
Case (Was thinking thermaltake armor?): as far as case get what you want because its hard to dictate as its relative to what you like. You'll want at least a 550 watt power supply though if you're going SLI.

CPU & CPU cooler: You mentioned going intel core 2 duo is the latest cpu from them if you wanna go with that. ALL retail cpu's come with cooling.
Motherboard: You'll have to wait for the latest nforce 5 comes out to support SLI. The intel chipset such as the 975 and 965 do not support SLI.
Graphics card: I guess a 7900GTX is a pretty fast card. Evga and MSI are pretty decent name brands. I'm sure others can throw in their own.
Ram: anything from Corsair is good. DDR2 667/675 or 800 will work
DVD Burner: NEC is good my dad has a sony, my cousin has a benque. They all don't have any problems.
Hard Drive: maxter, western digital are good choices. pick a drive with serial ATA 3GB/s and 16MB cache.

Pretty good list of items.

CPU: the X6600 is an all around good choice for price/performance, if you can wait till it's widely available. If not, you can try to get an X6800 (way too freakin' expensive, imo) or a X6300 (again, if you can find one in stock).
If you're going AMD, at least try to get an AM2 socket setup, since it has a viable upgrade path, than the 939.

Cooling: The Tuniq Tower is the rave cooling solution right now, although I cannot honestly give an opinion, since I use a water cooling setup.

Motherboards: nVidia is supposedly agreeing to allow the SLI with the 975x and 965x chipset, or you can wait for the 59x series from nVidia.

As for the rest, xxxsk8er101xx put out a pretty solid list. The Lite-On DVD burner is also a good choice.

 

[aj6065]

Here is a great setup for $1700.

Core 2 Duo E6600 - $360
Nforce 5 Motherboard - $350
Corsair XMS2 2GB DDR2 800 RAM 4-4-4-12 - $270
Antec TruePower 550W PSU - $90
7900GT 256mb - $260
Thermaltake Armor Case - $150
Zalman CNPS9500 Fan - $65
Samsung DVD Burner w\ Lightscribe - $50
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320gb Hard Drive - $100

You can add a second 7900GT for SLI and still be under $2000. I don't know how much Nforce 5 motherboards will cost so I guessed on the high end of price ranges. If you want to go to Crossfire for some reason, then get the Asus P5W DH Deluxe for $270. All prices were taken from Newegg, except for the Core 2 Duo, which I got off of Tigerdirect.

 

[Prkchpsndwiches]

Thanks for the helpful info guys. I'm still debating wheter or not build my own system or buy from someone. I've changed RAM, and upgraded my video card and sound card in the past, and my PSU, but as far as starting from sratch this is my first endeavor. How hard is is to setup the cpu with thermal paste and attach the cooler, and drivers and bios etc. I'm just nervous about working on this myself with (well to me) are high-end parts.

Also I may have a little more $$ to spend than previously noted. Instead of the previous 1.5-2k it would be more like 2.5-3K (Good month on the stock market) However I was impressed with that 1700K setup mentioned earlier.

Would it be wiser to stick with a setup like that until DirectX 10 comes out, or is that still too far off? Just curious, because my understanding is that with DX10 I'll have to get a new motherboard and video card that takes advantage of it.

Thanks
Prk