Approximate Purchase Date: 2 weeks(ish)
Budget Range: $1000 before taxes and shipping
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming (Blizzard games, Rift, hopefully battlefield 3), Photoshop (maybe), and school work. Reliability is high on my list of priorities, as is the ability to game for long periods of time without turning a dorm room into a sauna. For this reason, I tend to shy away from the idea of overclocking...
Parts Not Required: Monitor, Keyboard, Speakers
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg. Maybe Frys, but probably just Newegg.
Parts Preferences: Intel and Nvidia. Why? I don't know. I have no logical justification for my bias.
Overclocking:Maybe
SLI or Crossfire:Maybe
Monitor Resolution:1680x1050 at the moment, hopefully 1920x1080 some time in the future.
Additional Comments: I might be limited by the case I already owned (not factoring into budget) Storm Scout
Approximate $800 build
CPU - i5 2400
Motherboard - Single PCIE 16x
Power Supply - 600 watt
4gb memory
500gb hard drive
nvidia 460gtx 768mb graphics card
Windows 7 OEM
DVD Drive
vs
Approximate $1000 build
CPU - i5 2500k
Motherboard - Dual 16x (8x) PCIE which allows me to add a second card in the future.
750 watt power supply for, again, in case I expand in the future to SLI
8gb memory
500gb hard drive same as first build
nvidia 560 ti
Windows 7 OEM same as first build
DVD Drive basically same as above. More expensive drive, less expensive shipping.
So. What do you guys think? Obviously the second build is better. Question is, is it so much better as to justify the extra $200? I'd like to save money if I can (poor college student here). Would you change anything to one build or the other? Or do you have a better idea?
I must do a new theoretical build on newegg at least once a day. Sometimes twice. This has been going on since early February. I'm starting to go nuts waiting to build this thing! I'm seriously considering putting up a couple of builds, once I have the money in hand, and allowing the community to vote on it.
Budget Range: $1000 before taxes and shipping
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming (Blizzard games, Rift, hopefully battlefield 3), Photoshop (maybe), and school work. Reliability is high on my list of priorities, as is the ability to game for long periods of time without turning a dorm room into a sauna. For this reason, I tend to shy away from the idea of overclocking...
Parts Not Required: Monitor, Keyboard, Speakers
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg. Maybe Frys, but probably just Newegg.
Parts Preferences: Intel and Nvidia. Why? I don't know. I have no logical justification for my bias.
Overclocking:Maybe
SLI or Crossfire:Maybe
Monitor Resolution:1680x1050 at the moment, hopefully 1920x1080 some time in the future.
Additional Comments: I might be limited by the case I already owned (not factoring into budget) Storm Scout
Approximate $800 build
CPU - i5 2400
Motherboard - Single PCIE 16x
Power Supply - 600 watt
4gb memory
500gb hard drive
nvidia 460gtx 768mb graphics card
Windows 7 OEM
DVD Drive
vs
Approximate $1000 build
CPU - i5 2500k
Motherboard - Dual 16x (8x) PCIE which allows me to add a second card in the future.
750 watt power supply for, again, in case I expand in the future to SLI
8gb memory
500gb hard drive same as first build
nvidia 560 ti
Windows 7 OEM same as first build
DVD Drive basically same as above. More expensive drive, less expensive shipping.
So. What do you guys think? Obviously the second build is better. Question is, is it so much better as to justify the extra $200? I'd like to save money if I can (poor college student here). Would you change anything to one build or the other? Or do you have a better idea?
I must do a new theoretical build on newegg at least once a day. Sometimes twice. This has been going on since early February. I'm starting to go nuts waiting to build this thing! I'm seriously considering putting up a couple of builds, once I have the money in hand, and allowing the community to vote on it.