I am going to be building my first computer on my own here soon, something I have wanted to do for a long time. Here are the parts I plan to use and my reasoning, but I would appreciate the input of any experienced builders.
1 - Case - Antec Nine Hundred Mid Tower Gamer Case (Retail) (100$)
I like the look of this case, especially with the tray on top for my iPod and such along with front USB support and the clear windows on the side.
1 - CPU - Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q6600 2.4GHz (250$)
I want a quad core processor and the Q6600 seems like it will be good for a while to come and the price point is about what I was expecting a CPU to cost me.
1 - Mobo - GIGABYTE GA-EX38-DQ6 ATX Motherboard (260$)
I like this board. It may be a bit more than I was expecting to drop on the mobo, but I plan on getting into PC gaming in the future and would like a board that will support crossfire for my PC gaming. I also needed a board that has support for front side ports on my case and it seems like this mobo has what I need to support the case I am buying.
1 - HDD - Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1TB ST31000340AS SATA-II 32MB Cache (240$)
I am going to need a huge hard drive because I will be buying a Black Magic HD capture card and will be recording HD video to my PC (XBox game capturing). This seems like a good hard and has the 1TB I am desiring. Would 2 500 HDDs be better than 1 big HDD though?
2 - RAM - Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2-1066 CL5-5-5-15 Dual Channel Kit Retail BL2KIT12864AA1065 (85$)
RAM is RAM, but this is a good brand. I know that intially anything over 3 GBs is overkill being that I will only be using a 32 bit OS, but when the driver support is there, I would defintiely like to move to a 64 bit OS.
1 - Graphics Card - Sapphire ATI Radeon HD3870 512MB DDR4 2DVI/HDCP PCI-Express Video Card (200$)
This was on Tom's Hardwares March guide as one of the best graphics cards for your money, so I went with this. If I come across games in the future that are more graphics intesive than this card can handle, I can always upgrade or the mobo I selected is crossfire compatible.
1 - PSU - Gigabyte GE-S800A-D1 ODIN GT 800W Software Control Power Supply (180$)
This may be a bit overkill, but I LOVE the cable management system and if I ever go to crossfire, I will need the extra wattage. Everything about this PSU seems to impress me, but maybe I am missing something as I know very little about PSUs.
1 - DVD Drive - SONY NEC AD-7190A-OB BLACK DUAL DVDRW CDRW EIDE COMBO DRIVE (45$)
This was the downer. I wanted a Blu Ray writable drive but they are too much IMO. So my plan is just to use this cheapy drive and when prices on writable Blu Ray drives drop into the 200$ price region, I will add one to the computer.
So that is my build. Opinion, questions, or comments are welcome. As I said, this is my first build and I have done a lot of research. But I defer to the experts for your input and I look forward to any and all replies! Thanks guys!
1 - Case - Antec Nine Hundred Mid Tower Gamer Case (Retail) (100$)
I like the look of this case, especially with the tray on top for my iPod and such along with front USB support and the clear windows on the side.
1 - CPU - Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q6600 2.4GHz (250$)
I want a quad core processor and the Q6600 seems like it will be good for a while to come and the price point is about what I was expecting a CPU to cost me.
1 - Mobo - GIGABYTE GA-EX38-DQ6 ATX Motherboard (260$)
I like this board. It may be a bit more than I was expecting to drop on the mobo, but I plan on getting into PC gaming in the future and would like a board that will support crossfire for my PC gaming. I also needed a board that has support for front side ports on my case and it seems like this mobo has what I need to support the case I am buying.
1 - HDD - Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1TB ST31000340AS SATA-II 32MB Cache (240$)
I am going to need a huge hard drive because I will be buying a Black Magic HD capture card and will be recording HD video to my PC (XBox game capturing). This seems like a good hard and has the 1TB I am desiring. Would 2 500 HDDs be better than 1 big HDD though?
2 - RAM - Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2-1066 CL5-5-5-15 Dual Channel Kit Retail BL2KIT12864AA1065 (85$)
RAM is RAM, but this is a good brand. I know that intially anything over 3 GBs is overkill being that I will only be using a 32 bit OS, but when the driver support is there, I would defintiely like to move to a 64 bit OS.
1 - Graphics Card - Sapphire ATI Radeon HD3870 512MB DDR4 2DVI/HDCP PCI-Express Video Card (200$)
This was on Tom's Hardwares March guide as one of the best graphics cards for your money, so I went with this. If I come across games in the future that are more graphics intesive than this card can handle, I can always upgrade or the mobo I selected is crossfire compatible.
1 - PSU - Gigabyte GE-S800A-D1 ODIN GT 800W Software Control Power Supply (180$)
This may be a bit overkill, but I LOVE the cable management system and if I ever go to crossfire, I will need the extra wattage. Everything about this PSU seems to impress me, but maybe I am missing something as I know very little about PSUs.
1 - DVD Drive - SONY NEC AD-7190A-OB BLACK DUAL DVDRW CDRW EIDE COMBO DRIVE (45$)
This was the downer. I wanted a Blu Ray writable drive but they are too much IMO. So my plan is just to use this cheapy drive and when prices on writable Blu Ray drives drop into the 200$ price region, I will add one to the computer.
So that is my build. Opinion, questions, or comments are welcome. As I said, this is my first build and I have done a lot of research. But I defer to the experts for your input and I look forward to any and all replies! Thanks guys!