How to get the most for my money.

[ravcrashes]

Approximate Purchase Date: In no hurry, willing to wait for a better deal.

Budget Range: $1000

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, web surfing.

Parts Not Required: Monitor, Case, Power Supply

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Where the deals are

Country: USA

Parts Preferences: by brand or type: Best performance for the money. I have somewhat of a leaning to nvidia, but I can be swayed.

Overclocking: I'd like to, but never have. I've read some posters on the forums saying that overclocking provides almost no benefit to gaming. I'll be using the computer mostly for MMOs and a bit of video watching, web surfing, and some school work.

SLI or Crossfire: Not at the moment.

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1200

Additional Comments: Looking to do the best I can for the money i'm spending. Too many times in the past have I bought a format or part that was quickly outdated when I could have spent the same amount of money or a little more on something with alot more staying power. I'm looking to the wisdom of this community to save me from any buying blunders.


Here are some parts I have selected. I think the processor is a solid choice as well as the card, but if i'm wrong, send the dunce cap. The ram was recommended by users here, and I feel that the hard drive was a good value, but i'm not sure i'm reading the ssd drive article right. I"ll post links to newegg, feel free to tell me where I can make changes.

Video Card
Ram
Motherboard - Here I think i'm buying more than I need, seeing as I don't plan on doing SLI and i'm only a newbie overclocker.
Processor
SSD Not sure by any means this is best value, but was using a price range of 150-200 and going by the chart on the SSD article.

Give your thoughts, feedback and suggestions. Thanks a ton in advance.

 

[shattered space]

If your just going to be playing games that graphics card will do more than you will ever need. The RAM is fine for the motherboard if you can get 2133 frequency I would. Processor is excellent I've had the same one for almost a year and it is wonderful. SSD if your going to get one I would advise get a large one, around 500GB, this is because if your a newbie to the SSD many problems can arise. And if you do get the SSD if would go with a Corsair or Kingston. However if you are dead set on the SSD and are going to get it I would advise buying a normal SATA hard drive as well, then just use the SSD for boot, which problems will still arise even then. Hope this helps.

 

[ebola28]

what PSU do you currently have? i'd hate for an offbrand junk psu to destroy your new build. and as far as ssd goes http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147134 would be a better bet in the same price range. if you are in no hurry, ivy bridge should be out in april as well as new 600 series from nvidia around the same time and the new 7000 series from amd/ati this month

 

[swifty_morgan]

Intel Smart Response Technology................... did you consider getting a 32gb ssd and a high capacity HD to take advantage of SRT ? would save a lot of money and give you a lot of storage capacity and speed.

righto........ what is the PS / specs/make-model.

 

[ravcrashes]

Well I'm actually not totally outside the realm of knowledge. The problems i've seen arise with SSDs are rather limited. I was going to buy a SATA 500gig Drive or storage. All i'd be putting on the SSD is the OS and a few MMOs. The 100ish gigs should more than cover that. I don't really do music that much as I actually don't hear very well, and I'm not big on movies in digital format, so my computer is almost purely a gaming/college machine.

My primary concern is not paying too much for the motherboard, as in the past I have bought very nice motherboards and never fully utilized them, or bought super crappy motherboards and had to deal with them. If I overclock at all it will be in the most exploratory sense. I'd love to get more out of my machine, but as long as it runs wow/swtor at max settings without hiccups i'll be happy.

What problems have you seen with running an SSD alone? I won't have storage issues, my last rig had a 500gig drive of which I never even exceeded 70gigs. Any other issues come from running a single SSD and not having a sata standing by to dump your junk on?

Thanks a lot for your time and responses.

Oh quick note, the powersupply is a corsair TX650 enthusiast series. Was on sale at newegg, should more than power this rig if I don't go to SLI, which I don't plan to unless I fall into a pool of 100 dollar bills.

 

[swifty_morgan]

with the information provided i guess what you chose will suffice as far as I'm concerned.

 

[ravcrashes]

Suffice leaves me feeling... lackluster.

Is that to say that I'm buying the best parts for my money and something that will run MMO's at max settings?

If suffice is equivalent to that, then I'll suffice all day long.


I've read in other threads that boards in the $150+ range are only for the serious/enthusiast overclocker. I've also read some members post that overclocking doesn't really provide a noticeable difference in the performance of most games. If these things are true, my questions become do I really need to overclock and is the board I'm buying too expensive?

 

[swifty_morgan]

maybe suffice is the wrong word. i see nothing wrong with your build for what you want to do. why should i discourage you ? getting a mother board because you read $150 are the "norm" is kinda lame. I don't buy by price and i never buy enthusiast boards anymore. no need for it. I try to stay between $70 and $140 depending on what my NEEDS are. you could get a cheaper one if you want. the parts you chose will work fine together. you don't need big storage and you play few games. you can always add a big HD in the future. the board/case. make sure the case you have fits an ATX board.

the action is in the processor and the graphics/ if i were building now i would get a 2600/2600k-4core-8thread. mother boards very by individual. 8gig of ram will be fine for years. getting a graphics card with 2gigs of ram is smart. an SSD is a wise move. the suggestion i made above was before i knew how much you would store on it. that's why i suggested the SRT. no need in your case. gotta get back to work now, too distracted.