Under $1,000 tower computer?

Silent Phil · August 2008

Hey everyone, I recently saved enough money for a computer tower for college.

I already have:
-A keyboard
-Mouse
-Monitor
-Speakers
-Windows XP

I basically just need a powerful gaming PC that will last me years, be available to upgrade, and be able to run Starcraft 2/Spore/nice Pc games at the highest or high settings (I've been using terrible computers for PC gaming, I'd like everything to run smoothly and look incredible).

I have a budget of $1,000. Vista is out of the question (I don't want to shell money for an OS), but I'd like a computer that looks nice and performs great. I've been looking through newegg somewhat, but I still have no idea what parts I should buy. Can I get some legendary help from you guys?

Sideshowxela · August 2008

Someone will reply to this with personal preference and factual evidence, but since I don't really know much beyond higher numbers are usually better, I get my system information from websites that seem like they know what they're talking about. They might not! But I like to think if they sucked at building a computer, then they probably wouldn't run a popular internet website related to computing.

Tech Report is nice because they've got everything already on a wishlist you can go to at Newegg. You're like 3 clicks from a new computer showing up at your house in a couple days.
http://techreport.com/articles.x/15009/4

Ars Technica's an old favorite. They include things like $400 monitors and $100 speakers, even like $50 headsets in the totals of their computer pricing, but without those things this comes to roughly $1000, too.
http://arstechnica.com/guides/buyer/guide-200805.ars/3

Both lists are pretty similar, but Tech Report's is a little more recent (note the Radeon 4870 which has dominating benchmarks at it's price range).

Silvoculous · August 2008

This is the PC I built for just over $600:

Mobo: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L (bought from Micro Center, around $120)
RAM: 4GB A-DATA DDR2-667 (Micro Center, around $70-80)
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 2.53GHz (Micro Center, around $130)
Video: Zotac GeForce 8800GT 1GB (Newegg, around $160)
Hard Drive: Western Digital 500GB (Newegg, $80 or around there)
Optical: Some $30 shit from Newegg
Case: Went to a mom-and-pop store and picked one up for $50, didn't really care

I learned to be really exclusive with the places I buy from. My current rig can run Crysis on High, which is pretty decent, I hope.

The motherboard supports Quad Core CPUs, has four SATA ports, high-def audio, it's pretty sweet all around. I went kinda cheap for my CPU, so by all means look for something better on that part.

EDIT: With the spare money, look closer into videocards. Mine's overkill, and it runs hot.

illig · August 2008

really useful guide:

http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?sduid=0&t=553826

Desert_Eagle25 · August 2008

This is the best time! You can get a powerful system for way under $100.

Motherboard: Lots and lots of options. I'm using a eVGA NVIDIA nForce 750i FTW Mobo
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 has the longevity of a beast - mine is OCed at 4.1Ghz, easily! And its only $169.99 now.
RAM: 2gb For under $45 at Newegg....these are my sticks, Mushkin 2gb Dual Channel Pro Kit
Video: More and more options...an ATi Radeon HD 4870 is one of THE most powerful cards on the market at only $289.
Hard Drive: You can get a 500GB drive for around $85 at newegg, as Silvoculous said.
Case: More and more options. I'd suggest a Cooler Master. This is my case, got it for $85.

This entire rig will last you years and run everything at max...and it runs you just under $900.

Jeice · August 2008

List of things to build a tower:

Case: You can get a decent case for like $100 w/ it's own cooling system and PSU and looks cool. Note: if you're getting a case with a PSU, make sure the wattage is sufficient (I believe it has to be at least 500 W)

Mobo: LOTS of options here. You can newegg anything you like. It should be around 100 ish, and make sure it's sufficient to fit all your other parts.

GPU: 8800 GT, 512 MB. This can be around 200 ish.

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400. This can be around 200 ish.

RAM: is dirt cheap. Since you're running XP, you'll only need 2 GB. $50 ish
Note: haven't done much research into this, but my friend put in 3 GB of RAM into his rig w/ XP, and it screwed up, so we asked the tech guy what was up and he said that XP screws up w/ more than 2 GB of RAM.

HDD: 500 GB hard drives for $100 ish

DVD Drive: lots of options here, again newegg anything you like. Should be around $20 ish for something that just works fine.

I know I wasn't specific, but everyone has their own preferences, and you don't really need to be that specific to build a great rig for those prices. I was only specific for the CPU and GPU because that will last you a good number of years and can run anything on high.

Note: These prices are actually in Canadian, so it should fit your budget just fine. Finally, make sure that all your pieces are compatible w/ each other.

OremLK · August 2008

For $1,000 without the stuff you mentioned, here is the best you can do, in my opinion, with links to the individual parts on the Egg.

Motherboard
Processor
Memory
Video Card
Sound Card
DVD Drives
Hard drive
Case
Power Supply

Specs:

Intel Q6600 2.4ghz Quad Core
4gb DDR800
GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512mb
Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer
2x DVD burners
The fastest 1TB HDD on the market
Cool, no-frills case, reliable PSU

Keep in mind that this is just what I would go for. There are things you could change, but this would probably be the most balanced build you could get without sacrificing reliability. It's important not to overlook things like the PSU, for reliability, or the HDD, for performance (the Hitachi is very fast) and space. Quad core is my preference because it's more future-proof without sacrificing much today, but you could get a dual-core if you wanted.

Anyway, this should scrape in just under your budget, so it's what I'd do were it my money.

Organichu · August 2008

brandotheninjamaster · August 2008

You may wanna give some thought to an upgraded heatsink if you plan on running a quad core. I hear they run pretty hot. A good copper heatsink can be a life saver when your shit runs too hot.

Edit: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835887016

I just remembered if you are gonna install the processor yourself then you should get some of this too.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100007

OremLK · August 2008

Yeah, that's a good point, though I'm sure if you're not overclocking (mind you the Q6600 is awesome for that) the one that ships with the retail box is adequate.

saltiness · August 2008

OremLK wrote: »

For $1,000 without the stuff you mentioned, here is the best you can do, in my opinion, with links to the individual parts on the Egg.

Motherboard
Processor
Memory
Video Card
Sound Card
DVD Drives
Hard drive
Case
Power Supply

Specs:

Intel Q6600 2.4ghz Quad Core
4gb DDR800
GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512mb
Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer
2x DVD burners
The fastest 1TB HDD on the market
Cool, no-frills case, reliable PSU

Keep in mind that this is just what I would go for. There are things you could change, but this would probably be the most balanced build you could get without sacrificing reliability. It's important not to overlook things like the PSU, for reliability, or the HDD, for performance (the Hitachi is very fast) and space. Quad core is my preference because it's more future-proof without sacrificing much today, but you could get a dual-core if you wanted.

Anyway, this should scrape in just under your budget, so it's what I'd do were it my money.

Why the $100 sound card?

OremLK · August 2008

Really down to personal preference I suppose. I wouldn't go with the onboard sound personally (it's better than it used to be but still has problems) but whether to get a cheap $25 card or a more expensive one depends how much an audiophile you are. Anyway, it fit in the budget so I thought I'd throw it in there. There are plenty of other places you could put the $60, like to get an SLI motherboard or a nicer case or whatever, that's just what I would use it for personally.

Loafgoat · August 2008

OremLK · August 2008

You don't want to get one 2gb stick but instead either 2x1gb or 2x2gb to take advantage of dual channel.

It also seems to me that $190 on a motherboard is way overkill for a $1,000 non-SLI PC.

Hamju · August 2008

I actually very recently built a computer for about $1000. I got:
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Dual Core Processor 3.0GHZ
ASUS P5Q-E
G.SKILL 2x2GB RAM
Radeon HD 4850 512MB

That all came out to under $700 after shipping and taxes. I got a case locally for under $200 (a nice hefty Antec Titan server case) and already had plenty of hard drives and XP.

I'm really happy about how this has been performing so far. CoD4 runs great maxed out, and Crysis can run on highish settings with minimal lag.

Dehumanized · August 2008

It's been said a lot already, but the E8400 and HD 4870 will provide a ton of power and future-proof your system quite well.

Loafgoat · August 2008

OremLK wrote: »

You don't want to get one 2gb stick but instead either 2x1gb or 2x2gb to take advantage of dual channel.

It also seems to me that $190 on a motherboard is way overkill for a $1,000 non-SLI PC.

Your probably right, I just have this thing against cheaper motherboards.

OP should probably get a cheaper mobo and another 2gb stick of ram.

Desert_Eagle25 · August 2008

Loafgoat wrote: »

OremLK wrote: »

You don't want to get one 2gb stick but instead either 2x1gb or 2x2gb to take advantage of dual channel.

It also seems to me that $190 on a motherboard is way overkill for a $1,000 non-SLI PC.

Your probably right, I just have this thing against cheaper motherboards.

OP should probably get a cheaper mobo and another 2gb stick of ram.

If he's on XP he should be getting 2GBx2 of RAM, since only Vista x64 runs 4GB+ of RAM.
In any case, he should run Vista over XP any ways, but to each his own.

Penny Arcade

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