Advice on my 1st custom build; $750-900 budget

qwertymatrix

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Jun 19, 2011
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Approximate Purchase Date: Within the next 2 weeks

Budget Range: $750 - $900 (Before rebates)

System Usage (i want everything working flawlessly):
Before i list some things that i use the computer for i will mention i like to run multiple programs at the same time and as i am writing this post i have about 80 firefox tabs open

more or less listed in "most important to least" but as i said w/e i do i want it to work well
multi-tasking, *gaming,, heavy web browsing,
emulation,virtualization, photoshop, CAD programs/engineering, development, watching HD movies, data management

* Gaming - I would like to play all modern games with the most eye candy i can afford (playing games on one 1920x1200 screen)

+ also I consume lots of data that i like to save on my harddrive(s); having something to allow me to move upwards of hundreds of GB of data around is a plus

Parts Not Required: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS
the above listed i will mostly consider as upgrades; for the OS i plan to use Linux, will start with the upcomming LTS release of Ubuntu ; will get windows later and run as a virtual machine

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: I'm open to shopping at any established and legitimate site; only one i have ever been at though is newegg but have only bought 3 computer parts before

Country: im in the USA

Parts Preferences: What ever gets me the best bang for my buck and does the most i can get on my budget. I hear AMD might be what im looking for

parts with awesome standard warranties gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside

mobo with support for alot of harddrives and connectors for fans/internal cooling

The following two i know nothing about but would like to know more and they be viable options i would like my system to support these options.
Overclocking: Maybe
SLI or Crossfire: Maybe

Monitor Resolution(s): I will have a few monitors - 1920x1200 (main screen; will be gaming alot on this screen) other two i had in mind where 1x 1920x1090, 1x 1280x1024

I am thinking of starting with 3 monitors, eventually maybe scaling up to 8 monitors (likely to be all diff sorts of resolutions). purpose of these monitors is to multi-task

Additional Comments: I want the best bang for my buck; the system has a strong base and foundation to be upgraded later (if iirc im thinking of the mobo here right?)

without upgrades i would like all the hardware to last at least 5 years iirc right this would be requirement of good cooling and a quality psu?

Some minimum specs i had in mind where:
CPU: Quad Core @ 3.2 GHz
Memory: 8GB
Case: can house lots of harddrives (ex able to house ones used for main system and a second set as the backup drives.)

more of a bonus but..
Case: lots of expansion slots to have cool toys on external bays and window to be able to see through the case for the "bling" factor

just in case it would play into gaming performance I will be running windows as a virtual machine rather than the host OS.

think thats it right now.. I appreciate all the help i can get in guiding me in the right direction to make my new computer a reality :)
 

g-unit1111

Titan
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8 monitors??? :ouch:

Well I can post my $900 - $1000 build and see what you think:

Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 - $59.99 ($10.00 MIR)
PSU: Seasonic M12 II 620W - $89.99
Motherboard: Asrock Z68 Extreme 3 Gen 3 - $121.99
CPU: 3.30GHz Intel Core i5-2500K - $219.99
Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo - $34.99
RAM: 8GB Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 1333Mhz 1.5V - $42.99
HD: Samsung / Seagate Spinpoint F3 500GB - $79.99
Optical: Lite On DVD Burner - $17.99
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 - $359.99

Total: $1.027.91

A little over budget but the 7870 is a *GREAT* GPU and is more than capable of running 3+ displays with no problems whatsoever.
 

obsama1

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Are you near Microcenter? If so, get the i7 2600K for $200.
Get the build gunit suggested. a great build, but like I said, the i7>i5(not by much though), and if you're near a MicroCenter, don't hesitate to buy it over the i5.
 

qwertymatrix

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Jun 19, 2011
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where i live im 100 miles away from the nearest airport, walmart, night club, liquor store or university (am not exaggerating)
so like 100 miles away from civilization, literally lol; so all shopping is done via online.

also if i can ask why is a lower spec'd intel proc recommended over a higher spec amd that costs less?
 

g-unit1111

Titan
Moderator


The FX is a terrible choice - it has so many issues with it from installation to BIOS and BSOD problems that it's hard to recommend it, go 2500K - you will not be disappointed.

The 7850 isn't the same as the 7870 - check out the benchmarks here: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7870-review-benchmark,3148.html

Hyperbole, LOL. I'm not too familiar with multi-monitor setups, but the bezel on a 8 monitor setup sounds terrible, haha.

I think it'd have to be custom made wouldn't it?

Get the build gunit suggested. a great build, but like I said, the i7>i5(not by much though), and if you're near a MicroCenter, don't hesitate to buy it over the i5.

Why? Hyperthreading isn't needed if gaming is the primary focus. If it isn't and you're using additional applications like CS5, etc then I can see where it's needed.
 

qwertymatrix

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Jun 19, 2011
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As Im doing my shopping research im taking in new posts here to help with my search queries; one thing i am wondering right now though, AMD nomenclature seems fairly straight foward to navigate unlike Intel but have some grio on it now but what i want to know right now is when im looking at intel processors and i want a minimum of quad cores @ 3 GHz would i want to look at any other species than the i5 and i7 families?