Hi All,
I am currently in the process of putting together my first build in over 8 years. A significant amount of advances have taken place in the computer industry since my last build, so it has taken me a few months to get up-to-speed on the ends and outs of the current computer hardware market. The following is a list of components that I think would be good choices for my new build, but I am generally of the mind set of the best bang for my buck. I am sure not all of my choices fall into that description, so I am certainly open to any and all suggestions, including a reworking of my system altogether. I wouldn't mind going up to $1700, but the less money I have to spend, the better. Also, some areas like case are less negotiable. Although I have found several cases that I like that are less expensive than those I've listed below. Some examples of cases I like in addition to my top preferences include the Corsair 500R, Bit Fenix Shinobi windowed, and Fractal R3. With that said, here are the details of my proposed build.
Approximate Purchase Date: Within two weeks.
Budget Range: $1500-$1700 after rebates and not including monitor and peripherals
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, Office applications, web browsing, light photo and video editing
Parts Not Required: I need everything. I currently have an HP 22" LCD monitor at 1680x1050, but will upgrade to a larger and higher resolution screen concurrent with this build or shortly thereafter.
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg and/or Amazon. I also have access to MicroCenter and Fry's, so I would gladly take advantage of deals that can be found at these local stores.
Country of Origin: USA
Parts Preferences: I am pretty much settled on an Intel Sandy Bridge build unless AMD's Bulldozer really proves to be the best bang for the buck. I also like the fact that Sandy Bridge has been out for the better part of a year and has proven to be a great processor architecture. I am not partial to AMD or Intel, but my last build (over 8 years ago) was AMD. I am also not partial to Nvidia or AMD/ATI, although my last build was ATI.
Overclocking: Yes
SLI or Crossfire: Maybe; I have strongly considered crossfire and SLI. I like the idea of buying a single high performance card and later adding a second, but my thoughts are at that time I would likely just upgrade to the latest gen video cards.
Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080, 1920x1200 or higher. I would certainly consider Eyefinity or Surround down the road, getting a single, say, 24" 1920x1200 monitor now (e.g., Dell's U2412M) and adding two more at a later date. This is not what I want to target my build towards now, but I would like to keep the upgrade path open for the possibility.
Additional Comments: I would really like a windowed case. I want something classy, but a little flare (e.g., LEDs) is okay with me. I tend to not like the look of cases such as Cooler Master's HAF series of cases and tend to favor the design of Corsair and Silverstone cases.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prices do not include tax and/or shipping, and do not reflect any applicable rebates.
Intel 2600K Processor -$279.99 plus tax before instant rebate of $80 with purchase of Z68 motherboard
Asus P8Z68-V Pro Motherboard -$209.99 [Total processor and motherboard with instant rebate and before tax = $409.98 before tax
Corsair 600T Special Edition" -$189.99+$19.99 shipping
OR
Corsair 650d" -$189.99+$19.99 shipping
Corsair HX850 Power Supply -$164.99+$5.99 shipping
Corsair Vengeance 4 GB x 2 DDR3 1600
$51.99
HD for Storage - Samsung Spinpoint F3 1 TB - $59.99
SSD for OS, apps, and games - Crucial M4 128 GB
OR
Corsair Force GT 120 GB
Video cards - I need some guidance here.
Sapphire 6950 2 GB Dirt 3 Edition x 2 in Crossfire
OR
MSI 6950 Twin Frozr III x 2 in Crossfire
OR
MSI 560Ti Twin Frozr II x 2 in SLI
OR
MSI 580 Lightning
Other stuff:
- Need Blu-ray Burner recommendation
- Need CPU cooler recommendation - Thinking of H80 or H100 or a high performance air cooler, but then I see the CM 212+ or the new improved version thereof and think $30 for cooling sounds good. I want to get at least 4.5 GHz.
- Need suggestions on case fans particularly with the Crossfire and SLI setups.
Thanks in advance for you help!
- OakenGoby
I am currently in the process of putting together my first build in over 8 years. A significant amount of advances have taken place in the computer industry since my last build, so it has taken me a few months to get up-to-speed on the ends and outs of the current computer hardware market. The following is a list of components that I think would be good choices for my new build, but I am generally of the mind set of the best bang for my buck. I am sure not all of my choices fall into that description, so I am certainly open to any and all suggestions, including a reworking of my system altogether. I wouldn't mind going up to $1700, but the less money I have to spend, the better. Also, some areas like case are less negotiable. Although I have found several cases that I like that are less expensive than those I've listed below. Some examples of cases I like in addition to my top preferences include the Corsair 500R, Bit Fenix Shinobi windowed, and Fractal R3. With that said, here are the details of my proposed build.
Approximate Purchase Date: Within two weeks.
Budget Range: $1500-$1700 after rebates and not including monitor and peripherals
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, Office applications, web browsing, light photo and video editing
Parts Not Required: I need everything. I currently have an HP 22" LCD monitor at 1680x1050, but will upgrade to a larger and higher resolution screen concurrent with this build or shortly thereafter.
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg and/or Amazon. I also have access to MicroCenter and Fry's, so I would gladly take advantage of deals that can be found at these local stores.
Country of Origin: USA
Parts Preferences: I am pretty much settled on an Intel Sandy Bridge build unless AMD's Bulldozer really proves to be the best bang for the buck. I also like the fact that Sandy Bridge has been out for the better part of a year and has proven to be a great processor architecture. I am not partial to AMD or Intel, but my last build (over 8 years ago) was AMD. I am also not partial to Nvidia or AMD/ATI, although my last build was ATI.
Overclocking: Yes
SLI or Crossfire: Maybe; I have strongly considered crossfire and SLI. I like the idea of buying a single high performance card and later adding a second, but my thoughts are at that time I would likely just upgrade to the latest gen video cards.
Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080, 1920x1200 or higher. I would certainly consider Eyefinity or Surround down the road, getting a single, say, 24" 1920x1200 monitor now (e.g., Dell's U2412M) and adding two more at a later date. This is not what I want to target my build towards now, but I would like to keep the upgrade path open for the possibility.
Additional Comments: I would really like a windowed case. I want something classy, but a little flare (e.g., LEDs) is okay with me. I tend to not like the look of cases such as Cooler Master's HAF series of cases and tend to favor the design of Corsair and Silverstone cases.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prices do not include tax and/or shipping, and do not reflect any applicable rebates.
Intel 2600K Processor -$279.99 plus tax before instant rebate of $80 with purchase of Z68 motherboard
Asus P8Z68-V Pro Motherboard -$209.99 [Total processor and motherboard with instant rebate and before tax = $409.98 before tax
Corsair 600T Special Edition" -$189.99+$19.99 shipping
OR
Corsair 650d" -$189.99+$19.99 shipping
Corsair HX850 Power Supply -$164.99+$5.99 shipping
Corsair Vengeance 4 GB x 2 DDR3 1600
$51.99
HD for Storage - Samsung Spinpoint F3 1 TB - $59.99
SSD for OS, apps, and games - Crucial M4 128 GB
OR
Corsair Force GT 120 GB
Video cards - I need some guidance here.
Sapphire 6950 2 GB Dirt 3 Edition x 2 in Crossfire
OR
MSI 6950 Twin Frozr III x 2 in Crossfire
OR
MSI 560Ti Twin Frozr II x 2 in SLI
OR
MSI 580 Lightning
Other stuff:
- Need Blu-ray Burner recommendation
- Need CPU cooler recommendation - Thinking of H80 or H100 or a high performance air cooler, but then I see the CM 212+ or the new improved version thereof and think $30 for cooling sounds good. I want to get at least 4.5 GHz.
- Need suggestions on case fans particularly with the Crossfire and SLI setups.
Thanks in advance for you help!
- OakenGoby
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