Approximate Purchase Date: in around 2 weeks
Budget Range: $800 max before rebates, not including monitor and OS
System Usage from Most to Least Importance: gaming, doing schoolwork, surfing the Internet, possibly watching movies
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: I'd prefer that all parts come from Micro Center, as I'm a new builder and that would make the process a lot simpler.
Country: US
Parts Preferences: Intel processor, otherwise pretty flexible though I'd kinda prefer a Western Digital hard drive
Overclocking: No
SLI or Crossfire: No
Monitor Resolution: looking to buy a new monitor and mostly considering 1920x1080, assuming my graphics card can handle it; if not, I'm fine with something like 1680x1050 or 1600x900
Additional Comments: I'm trying to build a computer that will run modern games decently well for the next year, and that can also do other everyday computing tasks. I'd prefer an SSD for boots and a few important applications/games. If the PC was quiet and did not run up electricity bills too high, that would also be nice.
Here's what I have so far. I'm open to all suggestions.
Processor: Intel Core i3 2100 LGA 1155 3.1GHz Boxed Processor $89.99
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0359809
Motherboard: I'm stuck here...
Case: Antec Three Hundred ATX Mid Tower Computer Case $57.99
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0283272
RAM: Crucial 8GB DDR3-1600 (PC3-12800) CL9 Dual Channel Desktop Memory Kit (Two 4GB Memory Modules) $39.99
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0382101
Graphics Card: EVGA 01G-P3-1561-KR GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1024MB GDDR5 PCIe 2.0 x16 Video Card $229.99
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0356463
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 7,200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive WDBAAX5000ENC $84.99
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0347353
SSD: Crucial m4 CT128M4SSD2 128GB SATA 6.0Gb/s 2.5" Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) with Marvell Controller $119.99
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0364545
Optical Drive: LG 22x DVD±RW Super Multi Dual Layer Burner - OEM $16.99
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0382272
Power Supply: OCZ Technology ModXStream Pro 600W Modular ATX Power Supply $74.99
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0301547
Total: $715 (no motherboard)
I'm confused at this point as to whether I should drop the SSD completely or get a 64GB one (and use that money to upgrade processor/graphics card and buy mobo). Also not sure what mobo to get. For the OS, I was planning on picking up a copy of Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit and for the monitor I was looking for recommendations
Budget Range: $800 max before rebates, not including monitor and OS
System Usage from Most to Least Importance: gaming, doing schoolwork, surfing the Internet, possibly watching movies
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: I'd prefer that all parts come from Micro Center, as I'm a new builder and that would make the process a lot simpler.
Country: US
Parts Preferences: Intel processor, otherwise pretty flexible though I'd kinda prefer a Western Digital hard drive
Overclocking: No
SLI or Crossfire: No
Monitor Resolution: looking to buy a new monitor and mostly considering 1920x1080, assuming my graphics card can handle it; if not, I'm fine with something like 1680x1050 or 1600x900
Additional Comments: I'm trying to build a computer that will run modern games decently well for the next year, and that can also do other everyday computing tasks. I'd prefer an SSD for boots and a few important applications/games. If the PC was quiet and did not run up electricity bills too high, that would also be nice.
Here's what I have so far. I'm open to all suggestions.
Processor: Intel Core i3 2100 LGA 1155 3.1GHz Boxed Processor $89.99
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0359809
Motherboard: I'm stuck here...
Case: Antec Three Hundred ATX Mid Tower Computer Case $57.99
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0283272
RAM: Crucial 8GB DDR3-1600 (PC3-12800) CL9 Dual Channel Desktop Memory Kit (Two 4GB Memory Modules) $39.99
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0382101
Graphics Card: EVGA 01G-P3-1561-KR GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1024MB GDDR5 PCIe 2.0 x16 Video Card $229.99
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0356463
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 7,200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive WDBAAX5000ENC $84.99
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0347353
SSD: Crucial m4 CT128M4SSD2 128GB SATA 6.0Gb/s 2.5" Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) with Marvell Controller $119.99
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0364545
Optical Drive: LG 22x DVD±RW Super Multi Dual Layer Burner - OEM $16.99
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0382272
Power Supply: OCZ Technology ModXStream Pro 600W Modular ATX Power Supply $74.99
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0301547
Total: $715 (no motherboard)
I'm confused at this point as to whether I should drop the SSD completely or get a 64GB one (and use that money to upgrade processor/graphics card and buy mobo). Also not sure what mobo to get. For the OS, I was planning on picking up a copy of Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit and for the monitor I was looking for recommendations