First solo build, under $1000

[axisyn]

Hi guys, around 2 years ago I upgraded my tower. About 4-5 months ago the psu died, and took the mobo and who knows what else with it.

So my wife said I could order parts with some of our tax money, and since it is micro-ATX case, I figured a full rebuild is in order with a full-size case.

I'm going to use the HDD and DVD drive I already have, and my 26" vizio HDTV as the monitor.

With the help of a friend, and the hierarchy chart here, this is the list of needed parts I've come up with, and would prefer to stick to AMD/ATI VS INTEL/nVIDEA
Basically, I'd like the communities thoughts on my choices, and ideas on where to cut back to appease my wife & wallet

Case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119227

Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130604

GPU: This could easily be dropped to whatever you guys say is best.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127588

PSU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171054

CPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103961

RAM: I tend to multitask, so picked this on my friend's advice
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231489


Thanks in advance

 

[o1die]

I recommend this power supply for the same money: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371044
I recommend the less expensive patriot gamers 2 which is what I use in one of my amd systems ($64.99 after rebate for a 4x4 gb kit; I received my rebate in about 10 weeks).
This video card should be more than adequate: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161384
This board should work great and post with your cpu without a bios flash: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157280

Use the money saved and take your wife out to dinner.

 

[tlmck]

To avoid a repeat of your last experience, you need to start with a quality power supply. Coolermaster makes excellent cases and CPU Coolers, not power supplies. And another lesson, more wattage does not equal quality. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/power-supply-specifications-atx-reference,3061.html

For your level of video card, a good quality 550 watt 80 Plus Bronze certified PSU from a trusted name such as Antec, Corsair(not Builder Series), Seasonic, Silverstone, or XFX is preferred. If you decide to add a second card later, 650 watts would be best.

Your video card choice is fine, but honestly you are wasting your money on an MSI motherboard and a AMD CPU. A core i5-2400 CPU with a decent ASUS or Gigabyte z68 based motherboard will blow it out of the water for about the same cost.

16gb ram is also extreme overkill unless you do heavy video editing or 3D modeling or something. For a gaming rig, and even heavy multitasking 8gb(2x4gb) is plenty. Gskill is good stuff.

Case is fine. I have the same one. For your "heavier duty" rig, I would recommend adding a second 120mm case fan on the rear or top. You can get a Coolermaster or Antec for about $10. I simply moved the included fan to the rear for my lesser spec rig and it does fine.

Also, if you happen to live near a Microcenter, you can get the best prices on CPU and $50 off a z68 motherboard right now. You have to buy them at the store. Just look for the location drop down at the top of the page, and the advertised specials on the right. http://www.microcenter.com/

 

[somekidxd]

Intel/Nvidia is a better for your budget as it seems your budjet is around $1000.

[CPU] i5 2400 3.1GHz

[GPU] Gigabyte Super Overclock Series GTX 570

[Ram] Kingston HyperX 1333/1600 8GB(2x4Gb)

[MB] AsRock H67M-GE(B3)

[PSU] Antec ECO 620w

[SSD] Plextor M3 Series/Crucial m4/Samsung 830

[HDD] HITACHI Deskstar 7K1000.D HDS721050DLE630 (0F13178) 500GB 7200 RPM

[DVD] Lg 22x Dvd Drive

All depends on what you do. This is good for gaming as this GTX 570 compares to a GTX 580 and the SSD will make you load maps faster.

If other than gaming, post again and what programs you gonna use.

 

[Gordon Freeman]

Intel/Nvidia is a better for your budget as it seems your budjet is around $1000.

[CPU] i5 2400 3.1GHz

[GPU] Gigabyte Super Overclock Series GTX 570

[Ram] Kingston HyperX 1333/1600 8GB(2x4Gb)

[MB] AsRock H67M-GE(B3)

[PSU] Antec ECO 620w

[SSD] Plextor M3 Series/Crucial m4/Samsung 830

[HDD] HITACHI Deskstar 7K1000.D HDS721050DLE630 (0F13178) 500GB 7200 RPM

[DVD] Lg 22x Dvd Drive

All depends on what you do. This is good for gaming as this GTX 570 compares to a GTX 580 and the SSD will make you load maps faster.

If other than gaming, post again and what programs you gonna use.

LOL what a biased thing to say Intel/Nvidia is not better for all budgets and Radeon makes as good cards as Nvidia and even better value/performance ratio. Most people dont use the extra horsepower of an Intel CPU anyway so they are better severed by an AMD and GPU is really a matter of brand loyalty and price cause Nvidia and Radeon makes = GPUs. LOL and a GTX 570 does not compare to a GTX 580 LOL

 

[Gordon Freeman]

OP your wasting money needlessly on the ram id you are just gaming and entertainment etc 4gb is good and 8gb is ample for the future resilience. I would definatly drop that ram get a good 4GB or 8GB kit and put the saved money into a better PSU the one you chose is WACK get something from Corsair, Seasonic, XFX, Antec for a PSU and try and go for a Gold certified one.PS AMD CPU are just fine for gaming dont listen to the fan bouys trying to get you on an Intel i5/i7 its a waste for playing games.

 

[skullysquirrel]

I'm a heavy gamer and a heavy multi-tasker also, and 4gb of ram isn't enough for me. I'd recommend at least 8gb, and also, I'm running a AMD phenom ii 955 @ 3.8ghz and can play all games at 1920x1080 at normal to high settings with out any problems.

If you don't mind spending over 100$ for a great mid tower case, then get this. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112239&Tpk=lian%20li%20lancool%20pc-k62 You won't have to worry about a case for a while. It has great air flow, and looks good also.

 

[Gordon Freeman]

I'm a heavy gamer and a heavy multi-tasker also, and 4gb of ram isn't enough for me. I'd recommend at least 8gb, and also, I'm running a AMD phenom ii 955 @ 3.8ghz and can play all games at 1920x1080 at normal to high settings with out any problems.

If you don't mind spending over 100$ for a great mid tower case, then get this. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112239&Tpk=lian%20li%20lancool%20pc-k62 You won't have to worry about a case for a while. It has great air flow, and looks good also.

The only game that I heard uses more than 4GB Ram is BF3 and I don't even know or think this is true for a fact cause all other game does not eat more than 4GB ram and if you need more when gaming your PC is probably all (( ** Bunged ! ** )) from viruses and porn and other unnecessary background programs and processes running at one time when it is needed for the game app.

 

[axisyn]

Thanks all, gave me some great ideas.
I'm gonna using this rig as my primary computer @ home in place of my laptop. Which is an MSI GT640, which I'll still use as a mobile platform. It has 4GB of ram atm, which isn't enough, so I'm maxing it to the 8GB the board will handle.

Back to the tower though, I understand Intel CPUs give a better performance, but comparison-wise the AMD FX-8120 8 core should equal some of the i7s out there and better then most if not all the i5s because of the hyper-threading/virtual cores vs actual physical cores?

For uses will be gaming, not hardcore but Runrescape(don't judge me >_<)on best settings Primarily, using SSF (a Sega Saturn emulator (normally while playing Runescape), and MegaMek(a java-based program for playing battletech campaigns), I don't do many fps's, but might pick up Skyrim, Fallout: New Vegas, Starcraft 2 or a few other resource heavy games. As well as web browsing, word processing and other school junk.

edit: I'm also gonna run Folding@home on this, if not all the time then probably most of it.

 

[Gordon Freeman]

Thanks all, gave me some great ideas.
I'm gonna using this rig as my primary computer @ home in place of my laptop. Which is an MSI GT640, which I'll still use as a mobile platform. It has 4GB of ram atm, which isn't enough, so I'm maxing it to the 8GB the board will handle.

Back to the tower though, I understand Intel CPUs give a better performance, but comparison-wise the AMD FX-8120 8 core should equal some of the i7s out there and better then most if not all the i5s because of the hyper-threading/virtual cores vs actual physical cores?

For uses will be gaming, not hardcore but Runrescape(don't judge me >_<)on best settings Primarily, using SSF (a Sega Saturn emulator (normally while playing Runescape), and MegaMek(a java-based program for playing battletech campaigns), I don't do many fps's, but might pick up Skyrim, Fallout: New Vegas, Starcraft 2 or a few other resource heavy games. As well as web browsing, word processing and other school junk.

None of the tasks you mention use 4GB Ram and the only reason why some guys are running 8GB ram or more is because it is cheap but you will never use more than 4gb ram exception being maybe BF3.