Multi-purpose computer ~1500

[deftones09867]

Approximate Purchase Date: 2-10 days
Budget Range: <$1500
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Watching movies (Blu-ray) and streaming (youtube, hulu, netflix, etc.); browsing the interwebs; Applications like Photoshop, Flash, Premier, etc.; gaming (Light gaming but I MUST be able to play Diablo III smoothly), data storage, everything else.
Parts Not Required: keyboard/mouse
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: familiar w/ newegg but i will go wherever i can get the best deal
Country of Origin: United states
Parts Preferences: Intel CPUs, i also like anything Corsair, but like i said above i'll take the best deals
Overclocking: Maybe
SLI or Crossfire: Maybe (I'm uneducated on this and overclocking, i've read up on it here but i'm unsure if i would need them)
Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080
Additional Comments: don't care about how it looks, preferably runs very silent



This is what I came up with after about 5 hours of research. My main concerns are cooling (do I need fans or anything or heatsinkamabobbers, etc) and compatibility (but I think I got it). Just want to make sure this will do what I need, if there are any suggestions for improvement, etc.

Monitor ($170):Asus ML228H 21.5" 1920X1080 2ms Full HD LED BackLight LED Monitor (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236099)
Case ($50) - Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147153)
Motherboard ($195) - ASUS P8Z68-V PRO LGA 1155 Intel Z68 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131730)
PSU ($150) - CORSAIR Professional Series HX750 (CMPSU-750HX) 750W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139010)
CPU ($220) - Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072)
Graphics Card ($255) - EVGA 01G-P3-1561-AR GeForce GTX 560 Ti FPB (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130604)
RAM ($55) - CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233144)
HDD ($65) - Western Digital Caviar Black WD5002AALX 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136795)
SDD ($90) - Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD2 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148441)
Blu-Ray Burner ($110) - LITE-ON Black 12X BD-R 2X BD-RE 16X DVD+R 12X DVD-RAM 8X BD-ROM 8MB Cache SATA 12X Blu-ray Burner (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106346)
Speakers (30$) - ALTEC LANSING VS2620 5 Watts RMS 2.0 Value Computer Speakers (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16836113026)

Total comes out to be $1,389.

 

[jmsellars1]

You don't sound like a super serious gamer so i think you could save some money here and there to get a better case, monitor and speakers since your primary usage is Blu Ray etc. If you are willing to not overclock or SLI you can save a lot of money, personally i think you wont miss them because the GTX 560Ti should handle Diablo 3 with ease.

Maybe consider this build:

Intel Core i5-2400 - $189.99
8GB Corsair Vengeance Black - $54.99
ASRock H61M/U3S3 - $69.99
MSI Twin Frozr II GTX 560Ti (Fermi) - $239.99
Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB - $59.99
Crucial M4 64GB - $89.99 (Incredibly good deal, i wouldn't miss out on this)
Corsair CX-430 430W - $44.99
Fractal Design Define R3 - $109.99
LG Blu Ray Burner - $79.99

PC Total - $939.91

Same performance in games, just without overclocking and SLI capability which i don't think you will miss. It should also be much quieter with more storage. This leaves you $400 for decent peripherals to enjoy your Blu Ray movies too.

Samsung 27'' 1ms Monitor - $299.99
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium - $119.99
Logitech Z623 - $131.99

Total including PC and Peripherals - $1491.88 before shipping and $40 rebates.

I just think you would benefit much more from a quiet PC and great, immersive sound and a nice big monitor than overclocking and SLI.

EDIT: Sorry missed a few things out

 

[deftones09867]

You don't sound like a super serious gamer so i think you could save some money here and there to get a better case, monitor and speakers since your primary usage is Blu Ray etc. If you are willing to not overclock or SLI you can save a lot of money, personally i think you wont miss them because the GTX 560Ti should handle Diablo 3 with ease.

Maybe consider this build:

Intel Core i5-2400 - $189.99
8GB Corsair Vengeance Black - $54.99
ASRock H61M/U3S3 - $69.99
MSI Twin Frozr II GTX 560Ti (Fermi) - $239.99
Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB - $59.99
Crucial M4 64GB - $89.99 (Incredibly good deal, i wouldn't miss out on this)
Corsair CX-430 430W - $44.99
Fractal Design Define R3 - $109.99
LG Blu Ray Burner - $79.99

PC Total - $939.91

Same performance in games, just without overclocking and SLI capability which i don't think you will miss. It should also be much quieter with more storage. This leaves you $400 for decent peripherals to enjoy your Blu Ray movies too.

Samsung 27'' 1ms Monitor - $299.99
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium - $119.99
Logitech Z623 - $131.99

Total including PC and Peripherals - $1491.88 before shipping and $40 rebates.

I just think you would benefit much more from a quiet PC and great, immersive sound and a nice big monitor than overclocking and SLI.

EDIT: Sorry missed a few things out

Thanks very much for the response. I wasn't sure if I was overkilling or not, I'm glad I was because I'd much rather have a nice monitor and sound. I have just a few questions about your suggestions:

1) Micro ATX motherboard - i see that they are still compatible with ATX cases, but would the decrease in size be worse for cooling/airflow? Also, I should have mentioned it, but I will also need more PCI Express slots (Graphics Card, Sound Card, Wireless Adapter). Sorry, should have mentioned it.
2) 3GB SATA - compared to a 6gb mobo/hdd, what will i be missing out on?
3) 430w PSU - PSUs scare me xD You sure that's enough wattage?

Anyways, thanks again, i really appreciate the help!

 

[jmsellars1]

1) Some say it's actually better for airflow because there is less to get in the way of the air, whether that's true i dont know. Either way it is not going to make a significant difference.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130609

Theres an ATX board with pretty much the same specs for $10 more.

2) You will only see the benefit of SATA 6GB/s on some of the fastest SSD's, with your HDD it really doesn't matter at all. With a SSD i would recommend it though. That motherboard i linked has that and USB 3.0

3) Yes it should be enough, get the CX-500 if youre still uneasy. Don't get more than 500W though, that would be a waste.

EDIT: I would pick up that Crucial M4 at that price while you can, it's a great SSD and that's a great price.

 

[jmsellars1]

Just remembered the GTX 560Ti is dual slot and will cover up one of the PCI-e x1 slots, let me think of a solution.

EDIT: This looks like it allows enough space between the PCI-e slots.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157246

 

[deftones09867]

1) Some say it's actually better for airflow because there is less to get in the way of the air, whether that's true i dont know. Either way it is not going to make a significant difference.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130609

Theres an ATX board with pretty much the same specs for $10 more.

2) You will only see the benefit of SATA 6GB/s on some of the fastest SSD's, with your HDD it really doesn't matter at all. With a SSD i would recommend it though. That motherboard i linked has that and USB 3.0

3) Yes it should be enough, get the CX-500 if youre still uneasy. Don't get more than 500W though, that would be a waste.

EDIT: I would pick up that Crucial M4 at that price while you can, it's a great SSD and that's a great price.

Yeah I just now went ahead and purchased the Crucial M4
I'll trust you on the PSU, just wanted to be sure. Thanks.

Just remembered the GTX 560Ti is dual slot and will cover up one of the PCI-e x1 slots, let me think of a solution.

EDIT: This looks like it allows enough space between the PCI-e slots.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157246

I would never have even thought of that. Thanks again!

 

[jmsellars1]

No problem at all

 

[jmsellars1]

One last thing, if you put the computer together and it is disappointingly loud don't worry. The loudest thing in the case is bound to be either the CPU cooler or the graphics card, if the PC is loud you can turn down the CPU fan in the BIOS (dont worry it will go back up again when the CPU heats up) or you could buy a cheap, quiet CPU cooler like a Scythe Shuriken. Then i would download MSI Afterburner and set your GPU fan so that it is at around 40% fan speed when idling then goes up to 50-60 in games. That should make the PC really quiet.

 

[deftones09867]

Gotcha. So with all your help, my setup is as follows (already bought the SSD):

Monitor $180 - ASUS VH242H Black 23.6" 5ms HDMI Full 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 1000:1 (Keeping the price down despite the allure of the one you posted. My desk might not even fit a 27")

Case $80 - COOLER MASTER Storm Scout SGC-2000-KKN1-GP Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case (Free shipping saves $20, also a $10 rebate, also $30 less than the other case, and good reviews saying it is quiet)

Mobo $85 - ASRock H61ICAFE LGA 1155 Intel H61 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

CPU $190 - Intel Core i5-2400 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz (3.4GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W

Graphics $240- MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16

PSU $60 - CORSAIR Builder Series CX500 V2 500W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply (heh)

HDD $60 - SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive

Blu Ray Burner $80 - LG Black 12X BD-R 2X BD-RE 16X DVD+R 12X DVD-RAM 10X BD-ROM 4MB Cache

RAM $55 - CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)

Sound Card $50 - SIIG IC-510111-S1 5.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Express x1 Interface Sound Card (Again keeping the price down)

Speakers $83 - Logitech Z523 40 Watts RMS 2.1 Speaker System

All for a total of $1123.47 after shipping + rebates. Planning on making the purchase tomorrow or saturday. Final comments appreciated.

 

[jmsellars1]

Looks like a nice build, fair enough on wanting to save some money. I do think those speakers are worth the extra though to be honest. It's up to you.

 

[deftones09867]

Just made the purchase, and I manned up and got the fancy schmancy soundcard and speakers. can't wait to put it together, been dreaming of this since I was 16 (now 19).

 

[jmsellars1]

Haha nice! You won't regret it, it's going to sound awesome.

 

[jmsellars1]

Be sure to let me know how you get on.

 

[008Rohit]

The GTX 560Ti requires two PCIe power cables and the CX430 provides only one. Using a molex adapter isn't a reasonable option as he's not short of money to get a better PSU.

Processor: Intel Core i5 2500K $220
HSF: CoolerMaster Hyper 212+ $30
Mobo: Asrock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 ATX $130
RAM: Gskill RipjawsX 2x4GB 1.5V CAS9 1600Mhz $55
GPU: HIS IceQ Turbo H697QT2G2M Radeon HD 6970 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 - $370
HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB 7200rpm $60
SSD : Corsair Force Series 3 60GB 2.5" Solid State Drive $80
Optical Drive : LG Blu Ray Burner - $80
PSU : CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 - $110
Case : COOLER MASTER HAF 922 BLUE RC-922M ATX Mid Tower : $100

Total : $1235

No need of Crossfire. That HD 6970 alone can handle any games out there at highest settings at 1080p.

* You can overclock the processor upto 4.5Ghz with the Hyper 212+ if you need. Basically turbo boost does its job pretty fine, still, if you are an enthusiast or freak then....

* The motherboard offers PCIe 3.0 slots. SLI/CF at x8/x8 dual mode.

* The RAM being 1.5v is ideal for Sandy Bridge.

* The GPU comes with special HSF from HIS. Highly overclockable, it can maxx out BF3 at 1080p alone.

Feel free to ask me if you have any questions in your mind.

 

[jmsellars1]

Oh wow sorry for that with the power supply, good thing you bought the CX-500 in the end.

EDIT: I fear you missed the point a bit though 008Rohit. It needs to include a decent monitor and speakers really because his main use is Blu Ray and streaming etc. Also he is not such a heavy gamer, Diablo 3 isn't likely to be very demanding and the GTX 560Ti is really good.

 

[008Rohit]

So, a monitor is required.

Processor: Intel Core i5 2500K $220
HSF: CoolerMaster Hyper 212+ $30
Mobo: Asrock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 ATX $130
RAM: Gskill RipjawsX 2x4GB 1.5V CAS9 1600Mhz $55
GPU: HIS IceQ X Turbo H695QNT1G2M Radeon HD 6950 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 - $240
HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB 7200rpm $60
SSD : Corsair Force Series 3 60GB 2.5" Solid State Drive $80
Optical Drive : LG Blu Ray Burner - $80
PSU : Antec Neo Eco 620W - $49.99 after mail in rebate
Case : COOLER MASTER HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower : $60

Total : $1005 after rebates. Spend the remaining cash on the monitor.

 

[deftones09867]

thanks, but i already bought it.

so... i won't have a problem with my graphics card and my cx500 psu?

 

[008Rohit]

No, you won't.

 

[jmsellars1]

^ He's right you won't, sorry for recommending the 430W. Didn't realise it didn't have the right connectors.

 

[deftones09867]

^ He's right you won't, sorry for recommending the 430W. Didn't realise it didn't have the right connectors.

no problemo. thanks.

Just bought win7 ultimate B)

 

[deftones09867]

Got all my parts and built the computer yesterday, using it right now, and my god am I happy. Big thanks to jmsellars1 and 008rohit, this is fantasssticcccc.

Only thing is I had to RMA the sound card since I only have access to 1 PCI-E x1 slot since the other one is cramped by my graphics card. However, it's no big deal because I am more than happy with the speakers and on-board sound (I was just afraid it would sound like my laptop).

My SSD is coming tomorrow, though, and while I'm installing it I'm going to redo my cables and organize them better. Here are some pictures:

I don't like my computer being so caged in and I want a bigger desk anyway, so I'll probably be purchasing one here in the next couple weeks.

 

[jmsellars1]

Nice to hear it went well and youre happy with it.

Your speakers might sound better with one either side of the monitor and the sub under your desk too be the way. Might sound a bit strange all coming from one side.

 

[deftones09867]

Nice to hear it went well and youre happy with it.

Your speakers might sound better with one either side of the monitor and the sub under your desk too be the way. Might sound a bit strange all coming from one side.

touche, then i'd also be able to put my printer on my desk.

 

[deftones09867]

Best answer selected by deftones09867.

 

[008Rohit]

I have to say, very poor cable management inside the case.

Glad that you're happy with it. but whenever you plan to overclock the processor, get a Hyper 212+