- Aug 20, 2009
- 70
- 0
- 18,630
My 5 years young Dell finally crapped out on me, so now I have the excuse I need to build the dream PC I've wanted for a long time. I don't completely understand all the in's and out's of everything, but I am pretty sure that I get the basics. I've read a lot of guides and gotten a lot of help from users, and I won't be making any decisions without several different influences. I'm not going to end up like the guy that buys a bunch of incompatible parts and 8 gigs of ram only to turn the thing on and have it burst into flames. I'm smarter than that.
I already said that I have no budget, and I want to justify that. Computers have always been important to me, ever since I was a kid and dad bought our first home system back in '95 or somesuch. Digital entertainment in general is precious to me, due to its versatility of use and the fact that I can do just about ANYTHING I could want to do on a computer. It is my prime source of entertainment, and as such, I do not mind spending extra monies on it. I'm not looking to get a megacomputer with i7 extreme and whatnot, however; I have no use at all for such power. If I can get 90% of the output an i7 extreme system does, at a much lower price, then that's the deal I want. At least for the CPU's, I am fairly certain I want the second-tier gear, like the Q9550 or the i7 920, and if that same principle of second-tier technology translates into other parts as well, then I want that too.
So anyway, what I think I'm gonna do here is just tell you a bunch of things I anticipate doing on my new computer, and you guys fill me in on whatever ideas you have for the rest of my build. I am giving you guys free reign here, with both the product and my wallet, so don't be afraid to speak up and offer any opinions you have on anyone else's ideas, but especially mine. This is an open project, and I am all-ears.
Let's get started.
Gaming. Definitely the most important part of this build. I am looking to build a gaming PC, but again not a cutting-edge super beast that makes Diablo 4 and Call of Duty 8 fall to their knees... I don't mind at all to play older and less-demanding games, like Battlefield 2142 or Team Fortress, or Fable, and I even take a big interest in older games like Warcraft 3 and even NES and GBA emulation. So tell me what you think my CPU and video card needs are especially, but keep in mind any nifty accessories as well
I love gadgets.
Music A). Output. I have music playing almost non-stop whenever I am within hearing range. I download as much as I can listen to and I even leave my PC on when I go to bed and time it to turn off an hour later, just so I can enjoy the sound while I fall to sleep. I've heard contesting opinions about whether or not built-in mobo sound is sufficient, or to buy a new card altogether, so give me your thoughts on that one. My 25 dollar Altec Lansing speakers (lol) and 5 year old store-bought Dell have served my purposes so far, though, and I have had few complaints about them.
Music B). Input. I am going to be laying down at least a few tracks with my friend, so having a PC that won't interfere with audio recording will be nice. Being quiet, but not silent, and making sure the mic and headphone jacks are SEPARATE! (Did I mention I hate laptops?)
Speed and ease of use. My old Dell may have been reliable, but boooooooy was she slow in every way imaginable. I'm ready to move past that and invest into something that is going to keep everything running smoothly, and I mean EVERYTHING from my downloads to my word processing to my gaming to my media playing to my internet exploration.
Reliability. I'm spending a lot of money on this rig, so I wanna make sure everything is working properly for the next several years at least. Cooling and neat warranties are + here.
CD/DVD/whatever burning. I burn movies and music for friends, and I want to be able to do that from now on, except FASTER and BETTER. I don't want the discs to skip anymore even though I spent 6 hours burning the damned movie. I need an up-to-date burner that supports any kind of conceivable format of both input and output. Lightscribe sounds pretty cool.
[strike]Not Vista. Need I say more? I've heard too many bad things about Vista.[/strike]
Edit: If Vista has been made more user-friendly then I may consider. I am not completely convinced yet, though.
Adaptability/versatility. I want to be able to do just about everything on this thing, and I also want it to be upgradeable in the future. I want to do favors for friends and edit their pictures and send them to them. I want to be able to add neat accessories and adjust some things, so probably having a bigger tower with lots of ports would be nice.
I may edit this sometime in the future, but that's what I've got right now.
I want to repeat that this is very important to me, so likewise is your advice and opinions. I am all-ears here. Tell me ANYTHING you think should change, anything you want to add or take away. I only have one real request, and that is that you qualify your recommendations; like if you want to contest an idea of my own or that of another user, please tell us why so that I can, ultimately, make the decisions I need to.
Thanks a lot, guys. I know this'll be fun.
I already said that I have no budget, and I want to justify that. Computers have always been important to me, ever since I was a kid and dad bought our first home system back in '95 or somesuch. Digital entertainment in general is precious to me, due to its versatility of use and the fact that I can do just about ANYTHING I could want to do on a computer. It is my prime source of entertainment, and as such, I do not mind spending extra monies on it. I'm not looking to get a megacomputer with i7 extreme and whatnot, however; I have no use at all for such power. If I can get 90% of the output an i7 extreme system does, at a much lower price, then that's the deal I want. At least for the CPU's, I am fairly certain I want the second-tier gear, like the Q9550 or the i7 920, and if that same principle of second-tier technology translates into other parts as well, then I want that too.
So anyway, what I think I'm gonna do here is just tell you a bunch of things I anticipate doing on my new computer, and you guys fill me in on whatever ideas you have for the rest of my build. I am giving you guys free reign here, with both the product and my wallet, so don't be afraid to speak up and offer any opinions you have on anyone else's ideas, but especially mine. This is an open project, and I am all-ears.
Let's get started.
Gaming. Definitely the most important part of this build. I am looking to build a gaming PC, but again not a cutting-edge super beast that makes Diablo 4 and Call of Duty 8 fall to their knees... I don't mind at all to play older and less-demanding games, like Battlefield 2142 or Team Fortress, or Fable, and I even take a big interest in older games like Warcraft 3 and even NES and GBA emulation. So tell me what you think my CPU and video card needs are especially, but keep in mind any nifty accessories as well
I love gadgets.Music A). Output. I have music playing almost non-stop whenever I am within hearing range. I download as much as I can listen to and I even leave my PC on when I go to bed and time it to turn off an hour later, just so I can enjoy the sound while I fall to sleep. I've heard contesting opinions about whether or not built-in mobo sound is sufficient, or to buy a new card altogether, so give me your thoughts on that one. My 25 dollar Altec Lansing speakers (lol) and 5 year old store-bought Dell have served my purposes so far, though, and I have had few complaints about them.
Music B). Input. I am going to be laying down at least a few tracks with my friend, so having a PC that won't interfere with audio recording will be nice. Being quiet, but not silent, and making sure the mic and headphone jacks are SEPARATE! (Did I mention I hate laptops?)
Speed and ease of use. My old Dell may have been reliable, but boooooooy was she slow in every way imaginable. I'm ready to move past that and invest into something that is going to keep everything running smoothly, and I mean EVERYTHING from my downloads to my word processing to my gaming to my media playing to my internet exploration.
Reliability. I'm spending a lot of money on this rig, so I wanna make sure everything is working properly for the next several years at least. Cooling and neat warranties are + here.
CD/DVD/whatever burning. I burn movies and music for friends, and I want to be able to do that from now on, except FASTER and BETTER. I don't want the discs to skip anymore even though I spent 6 hours burning the damned movie. I need an up-to-date burner that supports any kind of conceivable format of both input and output. Lightscribe sounds pretty cool.
[strike]Not Vista. Need I say more? I've heard too many bad things about Vista.[/strike]
Edit: If Vista has been made more user-friendly then I may consider. I am not completely convinced yet, though.
Adaptability/versatility. I want to be able to do just about everything on this thing, and I also want it to be upgradeable in the future. I want to do favors for friends and edit their pictures and send them to them. I want to be able to add neat accessories and adjust some things, so probably having a bigger tower with lots of ports would be nice.
I may edit this sometime in the future, but that's what I've got right now.
I want to repeat that this is very important to me, so likewise is your advice and opinions. I am all-ears here. Tell me ANYTHING you think should change, anything you want to add or take away. I only have one real request, and that is that you qualify your recommendations; like if you want to contest an idea of my own or that of another user, please tell us why so that I can, ultimately, make the decisions I need to.
Thanks a lot, guys. I know this'll be fun.
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