- Dec 25, 2012
- 101
- 0
- 10,710
Approximate Purchase Date: Early February (hopefully)
Budget Range: $600 - $700 after shipping and before rebates
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Internet, watching movies, light gaming
Are you buying a monitor: No
Parts to Upgrade: Everything but a monitor
Do you need to buy OS: Yes
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg, NCIX, Amazon (note that I have to pay 8% tax on Amazon purchases)
Location: Yakima, WA (No Microcenter outlets within 1000 miles)
Parts Preferences: Full-width [9.6" / 244mm] ATX motherboards from Asus, Gigabyte, and MSI; Cooler Master cases; DDR3-1600 RAM with blue or black heatspreaders.
Overclocking: No
SLI or Crossfire: No
Your Monitor Resolution: 1280x1024 CRT (may get a 1920x1080 LCD down the road).
Additional comments: I think I finally nailed down a final configuration. Checked the memory compatibility lists, read the reviews, checked prices. The reason that I picked a Z77 motherboard despite going with a non-K CPU is because I didn't like the configurations/layouts of the B75/H77 boards available. That being said, I also don't need more than 1 PCIx16 slot as I'm not ever going to do a 2-card rig.
I did not include a video card because I'm betting that the HD 4000 graphics will be sufficient for my light gaming needs (indie RPGs, simple games like "Angry Birds", previous-gen console emulation, etc.) I see the $20 premium that the i3-3225 holds over the i3-3220 as a 8-to-1 wager that I won't need a discrete gaming card. If I'm wrong I've only "wasted" $20, but if I'm right I've saved a net of $130 (assuming I would've bought a $150 card otherwise.) Of course, I'm hedging my bets by getting a 550w PSU in case I do need to get a decent low/mid-range card...
CPU: Intel Core i3-3225 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor ($127.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H (Rev. 1.1) ($114.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 2x 4GB DDR3-1600 Memory (9-9-9-24 @ 1.5v) ($47.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 64mb Cache 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Cooler Master CM 690 II Advanced (USB 3.0 Version) ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Rosewill Hive 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified Modular Power Supply ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On IHAS324-98 DVD/CD Writer ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $635.92
Budget Range: $600 - $700 after shipping and before rebates
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Internet, watching movies, light gaming
Are you buying a monitor: No
Parts to Upgrade: Everything but a monitor
Do you need to buy OS: Yes
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg, NCIX, Amazon (note that I have to pay 8% tax on Amazon purchases)
Location: Yakima, WA (No Microcenter outlets within 1000 miles)
Parts Preferences: Full-width [9.6" / 244mm] ATX motherboards from Asus, Gigabyte, and MSI; Cooler Master cases; DDR3-1600 RAM with blue or black heatspreaders.
Overclocking: No
SLI or Crossfire: No
Your Monitor Resolution: 1280x1024 CRT (may get a 1920x1080 LCD down the road).
Additional comments: I think I finally nailed down a final configuration. Checked the memory compatibility lists, read the reviews, checked prices. The reason that I picked a Z77 motherboard despite going with a non-K CPU is because I didn't like the configurations/layouts of the B75/H77 boards available. That being said, I also don't need more than 1 PCIx16 slot as I'm not ever going to do a 2-card rig.
I did not include a video card because I'm betting that the HD 4000 graphics will be sufficient for my light gaming needs (indie RPGs, simple games like "Angry Birds", previous-gen console emulation, etc.) I see the $20 premium that the i3-3225 holds over the i3-3220 as a 8-to-1 wager that I won't need a discrete gaming card. If I'm wrong I've only "wasted" $20, but if I'm right I've saved a net of $130 (assuming I would've bought a $150 card otherwise.) Of course, I'm hedging my bets by getting a 550w PSU in case I do need to get a decent low/mid-range card...
CPU: Intel Core i3-3225 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor ($127.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H (Rev. 1.1) ($114.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 2x 4GB DDR3-1600 Memory (9-9-9-24 @ 1.5v) ($47.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 64mb Cache 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Cooler Master CM 690 II Advanced (USB 3.0 Version) ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Rosewill Hive 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified Modular Power Supply ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On IHAS324-98 DVD/CD Writer ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $635.92
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