I really do not know anything about computer hardware and would appreciate any help in what are the best parts (and all that I would need) to create a solid custom PC.
And I would be installing Windows 7 because I do not know computer languages, so Linux would be out.
I appreciate any advice you can give, tyvm.
(I already have a keyboard, speakers, screen, and mouse set :p)|||budget is the big factor here, as it will dictate what is "best" . Also, are you going to use it as a media center, or just a gaming PC?
I would definitely suggest a 22" (or larger) monitor, with 2ms refresh (ideally, 5 ms is acceptable).
i7 processor- speed determined again by budget
cpu cooler, I like this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835227006, Noctua is good for air though.
Motherboard (you don't really want to have to upgrade this, so get the best you can afford - make sure it is proper socket for i7)
6-8 gb of ddr3 (the faster, the better obviously)
Case - other than fitting your components, this is personal choice, I like the Antec 902 or 1200(monster)
Sata HDD of sufficient size 250GB is fine for me, but if you have a ton of music/movies, you may want 1 or 2 TB
Video card - you can wrap up a lot here, I would say something in the 200-300 range should be fine, SLI/Crossfire if budget permits/desired.
Power Supply - don't skimp here, I would recommend 1000W or better, my brand of choice is Silverstone, OCZ is good, as are several others.
DVD/BluRay - totally depends on use/budget, you most likely aren't going to want a BluRay burner, but you will want at minimum a dvd drive.
Built in sound is usually good enough for most people, but you might want to opt for a surround sound setup - HT Omega and Turtle Beach are good, and Creative makes some good ones.
Think that covers the basics...
Newegg has a wishlist setup, I use that, get the best you see on the wishlist (savable if you create a free account there), then shave it down until it fits your budget.|||Thank you for the reply. I am going to use it for both gaming and media. You listed some, but are there general brand names I should look at if I want to go a bit cheaper?
I was thinking budget around $1500. So, I can buy all the required stuff, and then put enough memory and RAM to play GW for instance, then just put more in later for like specs associated with games like Crysus?|||If price does not matter, and you want all out performance, the i7 will do fine. Otherwise you might want to consider an i5 or a Phenom II X6.
For the cost of an entery level i7 you can buy a very nice Phenom II x6 1090t system and I mean everything.
If you are looking for the best bang for the buck; check out Tom's Hardware monthly Best articles. http://www.tomshardware.com/us/ Each month they do a best Video card and best processor for the buck. These articles are focused on budget gamers.|||yeah but for $1500 you can easily afford an i7.|||Sweet - I told myself once I'm done with my thesis, I'd celebrate by building a computer to replace my 9 years old dinosaur. Nice information and links.|||For 1500$, the i7 is just great. The i7 920 is still a great performer, especially when it comes to games, and it's not too expensive. The i5 750 and 760 are also great when it comes to games, but are slower than the i7's for other heavy computing stuff. The Phenom II X6 is also great, having 6 cores (which imo is still overkill these days). AMD tend to be cheaper, but offer good price/performance ratio. Intel are usually the performance kings though, and are generally better at overclocking.
As for graphic cards, the best price/performance card on the market atm is the GTX460 1GB. If you want more power, the HD5870 is a very good performer, but the GTX480 takes the crown when it comes to performance. However, the GTX480 comes coupled with a high price, high power consumption and lots of heat.
When looking for motherboards, make sure you get the right socket for your CPU. Socket 1156 for i5 (and i7 8xx), 1366 for i7, and AM3 for the Phenom II X6.
Don't settle for a cheap Power Supply, you should really get a good quality PSU. Make sure it has at least an 80+ Bronze award, modular cable management is also very nice (but not a must). Corsair, Antec, Thermaltake make some very good PSU. For future upgrades, make sure it has enough connections and preferably 700+ Watts (if you want to go with SLI or Crossfire). The PSU is the heart of your PC, so make sure it's a good and strong one.
RAM isn't much of an issue, any make of DDR3 is good enough, the faster the better. 6-8GB RAM should be no problem for your budget.
As Nochtflamir said, you might also want a good case with good airflow. The Antec 902 and 1200 are excellent in that department (I have a 902 myself). Coolermaster CM690II is also very good. If you want a bigger one, try the HAF932.
For cooling, I can only recommend the Scythe Mugen II rev.B. Excellent CPU cooler and unbeatable at that price. The Prolimatech Megahalem is the best though, but it's more expensive. I won't recommend Water Cooling unless you really want to overclock.
For HDD, I'd go with an SSD with 60GB (or more if you can afford it) on which you install your OS, and 1-2 TB standard HDD (Samsung make excellent HDD). Hard Disk Space is dirt cheap atm, the more capacity you buy, the cheaper the price per MB/GB will be. Installing the OS on the SSD will make your PC lightning fast when booting up and running programs.|||Alright, the time has come for me to get a new computer: I have learned a whole lot of stuff researching (what a rewarding experience), and have come up with the following build:
i7-990X Extreme Edition
Asus ATX P6X58D-E Motherboard
Corsair HX Series CMPSU-1000HX
EVGA 01G-P3-1366-TR GeForce GTX460
Seagate Barracuda 7200 1.5 TB ST21500341AS (X2)
12GB RAM Corsair XMS3 HX3X12G1600C9 G
LITE-ON 24X DVD Writer Black SATA Model iHAS424-98
HAF 932 RC-932-KKN5-GP Tower
It is no more a gaming computer (but should play GW2 and D3; all I care about), but an audio studio. There is no sound card listed as I am still researching a good AUAI that records 96khz+ to substitute; all to be hooked up to Pro Tools 9 (Windows 7, 64 bit); for heavy multi-tracking. Right now I am figuring between the cooling case and the obligatory fans from the CPU, etc. that things should cool smoothly? Or will I be needing a devoted fan extra?
Please rip this sucker apart and hit me with what doesn't work (or better alternatives).
Thank you,
-C|||Nice build.
Oh and badass case. <3|||You'd probably want something like this for gaming:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/827/buildb.jpg
I have most of these components in my system except for the bigger case, more drives, and 6990, and that system is a beast.
Works flawlessly.
Here's the breakdown:
Cpu - with the water cooler (H50), it runs perfectly fine at 4.6GHz, and stable too. Minimal effort required to overclock. You basically set the multiplier to get desired speed and you are good to go. One should be able to get 4.6 - 4.8 easy with these chips.
Ram - fastest supported by the motherboard, I don't think you really need more than 8GB for gaming.
Motherboard - I haven't had any problems with this board, it runs very cool and it's very stable with overclocking. Supports 4x 3Gb/s sata and 4x 6bB/s sata. Also, you want to adjust the memory timing according to the spec of the memory in bios.
Sound card - you want an X-Fi card or a clone. As far as I know, this is the only brand that supports virtual 3d sound through headphones. And 3d sounds w/o having to use 5-7.1 speakers for gaming is a must. The 3d effects are very nice with my Sennheiser 595, and the sound quality is much better than any speakers you can buy.
HDD - I picked for you one of the fastest large capacity x2 for Raid 0 (pretty much a must for any high end system).
Case - the bigger and more expensive the case, the better the system :)
Power Supply - you want a high power and good voltage regulation. I use the same one in my box. Down the road, you can add another video cards for crossfire.
Video card - I'm running 6990, having switched from Nvidia 2 generations ago (5970 before that). Cannot complain. Drivers are stable, and third party support with Radeon Pro is very nice.
UPDATE:
Quote:
Alright, the time has come for me to get a new computer: I have learned a whole lot of stuff researching (what a rewarding experience), and have come up with the following build:
i7-990X Extreme Edition
Asus ATX P6X58D-E Motherboard
Corsair HX Series CMPSU-1000HX
EVGA 01G-P3-1366-TR GeForce GTX460
Seagate Barracuda 7200 1.5 TB ST21500341AS (X2)
12GB RAM Corsair XMS3 HX3X12G1600C9 G
LITE-ON 24X DVD Writer Black SATA Model iHAS424-98
HAF 932 RC-932-KKN5-GP Tower
I think the new sandy bridge combo is superior to i7-990x, it runs cooler, costs way less, and it's actually faster because 2600k overclocks almost automatically to 4.6-4.8GHz, whereas 990x will only do about 4-4.2 GHz. Plus it's newer - better upgrade options.
Quote:
UPDATE2
On the other had, the six-core cpu will be faster in multithreaded apps than the four-core. Plus, I didn't catch the 990x. I was thinking 980x. So I don't really know how well 990x overclocks.
Even if you aren't buying a dual gpu card, cosider getting a 1200W psu for crossfire/sli - one of the easiest ways to upgrade for gaming.
Gtx 460 is kind of slow for modern games. I would invest another 200-250 dollars for the 6970. It's something like twice faster. Or just get a gtx580 and be done with it (though dual 6970 would probably be faster at $200 premium compared to 580).
If you can afford it, get dual SSD for raid 0. Modern SSDs can read/write at the speeds far exceeding 7200rpm hdds. Something on the order of 500MB/s read, 300MB/s write. Compare it to something like 100MB read/write at best for 7200rpm hdds.
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