I have always wanted to build myself a gaming computer, having always been into computers and their workings. But after leaving for college I did not see my self doing this for sometime as I was the normal, poor college student. My current PC is now coming into its 8th year, My parents decided to give me 1000 dollars to finally build my own Christmas present. So I have been looking into the hardware for a few days now, and wanted to run this by some people who seem to know a bit more about it then I do at the moment.
I am trying to build this all, these are the pieces I have decided on but wanted a second opinion.
This is the new list. I am not going to rewrite it all out so here is the wishlist.
List
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Totaling: $1,017.19
I am thinking of taking the 500 and getting two smaller to save a little money. I don't like having just one HD. Other Question, is I noticed some of the cases had Motherboard sizes and some didn't specify, I figured the ones that are not specified are able to support a few different sizes.
Anyways please leave me any suggestions/comments about the items, or ideas to save alittle money let me know please on this thread. Thanks.
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Impossible to find at msrp? :P
Seriously though, why not a 3850? Cheaper and way better performance.
ThermalTake W0136 Would probably work fine and is like half the cost of the one you've chosen. Although not quite as pretty, I admit, but not sure if pretty is what you want.
Also, an 850watt PSU is overkill. You need only 500watts to power this build, and that's with like a 100watt buffer under load. If you want to be super-safe, go for a 600w PSU. Finally, for something as important as the PSU I'd go with the best brand available: Antec. They make the most efficient and most stable PSUs.
Oh, one more thing: for your motherboard, I usually go with Asus. They make the most stable motherboards. Gigabyte is good, but IMO not nearly as good as Asus.
Then again, if that motherboard is reviewed well by reputable sites (not customer reviews), then it should be fine. If not, I'd go with the better brand name. You'd be surprised at how much this matters with building your own computer--skimp on a few parts, and you wreck your whole build.
Also, the card won't be at all bottlenecked at x16. Even though the PCIe 2.0 architecture has double the bandwidth (or something close), you never even come close to maxing out the bandwidth on that x16 slot, so don't worry about getting a PCIe 2.0 motherboard. I suppose if you wanted to future proof your machine you could, but I highly doubt PCIe 2.0 will be at all necessary, even a couple years down the road.
Also, you're going to want the new Seagate 7200.11-based drives, as they are the current top performer and don't cost much more at all.
Also that case blows, and is overpriced as well. I've skimped on cases before and really regretted it. Get something that will last, the Antec P180, P182, and 900 are all solid choices. Lian-Li makes good cases too. You should really look at the reviews for cases, it helps a lot.
here is that power supply its 124
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139001
and put that 40 dollar difference towards case like the antec 900
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021
I was thinking about this one here. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129024
This is the Case plus the Power supply (500w) which seems to be the right size for me. This would save me a bit of money to put towards the 8800.
Also about the 8800, the PCI x32 and x16 are going to be the same thing, so I can find ethier or? I did find x16 , just not on newegg which I am trying to do to keep it all on one bill.
This was rated by AnandTech ridiculously highly. If you can afford it, you can't go wrong with it.
If you want something cheaper, look up reviews. AnandTech's Holiday Buyers Guide is a great starting point.
I found this one on the list, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128050, I like this for a mid-range. a little cheaper then the one you posted.
Also this is my updated list. I didnt want to rewrite all of this over again lol
List
I'll reiterate once more that I think you'd be better off with the RAM from that buyer's guide I linked. They recommend a bunch of sets that are cheaper and better.
Finally, you should probably update the OP just so future posters are aware of the changes.
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