Ive decided to try it out. around $1000 to spend.

[muushupork]

Hello, I am posting to get advice on a $1000 self-build. I think my main concerns are longevity, playing games that i use to play on consoles, web-surfing, and occasionally using my 50" plasma as a monitor for downloaded TV shows and/or games/streams of games. I don't mind splurging a little bit and going to $1050-$1100 if it means a huge leap in value. So far i have a shopping cart on newegg with these things that i think are a good basis, but i also could be completely wrong.


GIGABYTE GV-R787OC-2GD Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video
$299.99

ASRock H77 Pro4-M LGA 1155 Intel H77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
$89.99

Intel Core i5-3450 Ivy Bridge 3.1GHz (3.5GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2500 BX80637I53450
$199.00
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I think these work together and give me what I need, but maybe they are to much for my price range once i get everything else?

I think I could be fine with a 500gb HDD, and am interested in an SSD for faster OS booting, but i dont know what are good value brands.

I think I can get a cheap version of windows with my student discount, but don't know how I'd download it??

From what i have seen 8gb of corsair RAM would be good?

I have no clue how liquid cooling works or if i even need it??

Anything im missing??

Thanks for your help, this is my 2nd post on TH, the first one asking for pre-built suggestions.

 

[Chairman Ray]

Have you selected a PSU, case, and optical drive yet? If you get a decent case, you won't need liquid cooling, or any sort of aftermarket cooler.

 

[muushupork]

Im a bit lost on this all so no i havent. Ive looked at a 650w corsair PSU, but dont know about cases or opticals, although i would only need a dvd drive no burner or anything. Any suggestions?

 

[doomdesire86]

Don't forget you may need an OS as well

 

[muushupork]

Yeah i can get the student discount for windows but it says to download and i dont know how i would do that. Maybe its only for the upgrade and i guess thats only if you already have vista or something.

 

[Zaphod1138]

DVD burners are the same price as readers tbh, ~$20, I'd get a burner just because it might be useful.

Cases are such a personal choice IMO, do you want a cheap box, a nice box, small, large, tower, mini tower, htpc, wanna show of your internals with a window, etc etc etc.

I'm new to build-your-own and psu ratings & air flow are a couple of the things I don't really get atm but personally for a budget case with what looks like good air flow, if you like the styling, I think the NZXT Crafted Series Vulcan Black ($70) is a winner, there's so many options tho.

HDDs, $70 for 500gig vs $90 for 1tb (with twice the cache too, which someone's just recommended to me), budget allowing I'd get the 1tb

SSDs, Intel all the way they have the best rep by far & they're cheap enough now that I've got a few 60gig 330 series ($70) during the past month or 2 for various people, depending on your set up I would think 60gig is enough to cache your OS/most used programs (if SRT is supported on that MoBo), $100 for 120gig if you want more capacity.

So, MoBo + CPU + GPU + dvd +case + 500gig hdd + 60gig ssd + ~$50 for RAM, +$110 (?) for psu + $20 200mm case fan + ~$30 for a couple more 120mm case fans + $65 o/s (if you figure out the student discount) = $1095 (by my count), so just inside your budget, if I've not missed anything out... Maybe lose the ssd, or combine the hhd/ssd by getting a seagate hybrid drive, $90 for 500gig/4gig ssd cache if you wanna try and shave it a little.

Anywho, just some thought from a newbie, sorry I don't have any comments on the balance of you main components.

 

[muushupork]

That hybrid drive looks like a perfect choice!! the only thing im worried is that from what ive been reading seagate has dropped their quality standards lately. Ive actually put together what i think is a good setup and im going to post it in a few once i figure out how to do so per the forum rules (which i just found out about) if youd like to check it out and comment id appreciate it!

 

[muushupork]

Best answer selected by muushupork.