Help getting a new computer

Well, I will have exactly $1200 tomorrow and I'm in a great need of a new computer.
There are a few things that I need for it to have/not necessary things:

1. I'm looking to get a desktop with high speed and lots of space. (For gaming/other random shit)
2. I need a monitor which either has 2 ports (1 for the computer another one for my xbox(I have the Xbox 360 VGA HD AV Cable)) or a monitor that can play my xbox without all that crap.
3. I don't need a printer cause I hardly used my old one and it just collects dust.
4. No need for speakers/webcam/other accessories.

My main use of the computer will be gaming, and I'm asking you guys to help me out because I don't want to buy an expensive ass computer like alienware where you pay extra just for the cool looks.

Thanks for helping out, ~RKD

I just priced out a $600 6-core AMD computer for my cousin which will fit your bill. After overclocking, it only gets beat by Intel's $1000 6-core processor. And if you don't want to overclock thats fine as well as under full load the processor is insanely cool never going above 30C. You may want to get a smaller caviar black hard drive for your operating system and programs and leave the terabyte drive as pure storage. The graphics card is OK but since you'll have a lot of money left over you can get a better one. As for the monitor, you can get one which has multiple HDMI inputs. And since your using it with your XBOX get a 1080p monitor as the XBOX outputs in 16:9. If there's anything else you may need I'm positive you'll find it on that site. Also, you may want to get a different case depending on your preference. I just picked the cheapest one that had free shipping for a cheap build. Some people like cases with a see-through side and fans with lights on them but thats totally up to you.

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=19999308

This monitor will work beautifully for what your doing too and its only $169! http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824254040

Also protect your investment with this UPS as it will protect against brownouts, blackouts, and power surges. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16842111031

You'll have to add all the items to cart to see the real prices. You'll also have to find the combo deals and promo codes for some of the items. Just visit their page to find them. The processor and motherboard have a combo deal as well as the hard drive and power supply. The case has a promo code too.

I'm not sure what an Intel core i7 system with triple channel memory would run but that would be the next step better after the AMD 6-core. It will probably be a few hundred dollars more though. I'll try to put something together for you as I'm bored and curious as to what it would be.

Here's the Intel one. It comes in just under $900 when take into account mail in rebates and you combo the motherboard and processor and add a promo code to the case. http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=13598485

Its really up to you but if you want to save as much money as possible but still be able to game go with the AMD build but if you are willing to spend all of your money for the best experience possible go with the Intel build.

Thanks dude. The help is greatly appreciated. But if I get all the parts, do I have to put it together myself or are they going to do that for me(sorry for a stupid question)?

I will check out all of the links and see what I come up with.



Well I was actually thinking of using all 1200 up. But that needs to cover the shipping too.

You'll have to build it yourself. I suggest getting a pair of antistatic gloves and make sure your screwdriver is NOT magnetized.

Sigh... well, I guess I would have to do that sooner or later seeing how I want to do that later on in my life. It would suck if I screw in a screw too tight and chip something.

I also will probably look for a youtube video which shows how to put them together.

Its not that hard. If you grew up with legos or lincoln logs it should be a piece of cake.

Oh, 1 more question, will it come with a working operating system or will it just be blank and I'd have to get a cd with it?

Actually I'd recommend against AMD since their current generation is at the end of its life (so upgrades would be hard to come by)...

...if only Intel wasn't in a funk just as well. Their LGA 1156 is about to be phased out just as fast as it arrived, so if you want a lasting base you'd have to go with the expensive LGA 1366. Is it worth the price tag? I'm not sure.

-Should you go with AMD's socket AM2+? This is the cheapest option, but this platform won't have any new CPUs for it in the future, so you won't be able to upgrade.
-Should you go with Intel's LGA 775? It's just as cheap as AMD, but it doesn't support the strongest CPUs, so in the end you will be a tad behind compared to AMD. The low end CPUs (Intel Core 2 vs. early Phenoms) are better performing though than AMD.
-Should you go with AMD's Socket AM3? Although new, this socket is based on outdated technology and AMD may phase it out soon. The CPUs for it are under performing compared to similar Intel models, but are cheaper and have really good over-clocking possibilities.
-Should you go with Intel's LGA 1156? It's just a tad more expensive than AMD, but it looks to be a neglected child like how the Socket 423 ended up with the Pentium4+Rambus debacle a couple of years back. On the bright side this supports the newest CPUs on the market and you should be able to upgrade it for quite a while.
-Should you go with the Intel LGA 1366? It's the most expensive and only supports the newest processors, so it could be out of your budget.

Don't believe anyone who says that you should go with Intel or AMD. Decide for yourself after some investigation.
AMD will need more expertise as although cheaper to get your money's worth you'll need to tune the system yourself.
Intel tends to just work, however it is more expensive and it doesn't facilitate over-clocking as well as AMD does.

...and beyond these general platitudes you have the debacle with slots and what not.

This deserves some pondering.

It won't come with an operating system so you'll have to get one yourself. If your getting Windows I suggest Windows 7 Professional 64-bit as it will have everything you'd need and nothing extra. If you have a student email I think you can still get it for $30 from digitalriver. If not then you'd have to either buy it for full price ($140 for an oem disc) or steal it off thepiratebay. The only other alternative is to get one of the Linux distros which may not run the games you want to play - even with Wine.

A word of advice: if you're like me an use a system for 10 years (in one capacity or another), don't be frugal on motherboard and the PSU.

It's important to buy a quality motherboard as it will last longer and give you later options to upgrade and expand your system. Something better than gigabit ethernet may come out in 2-4 years. USB 3.0 is here...

...having at least a handfull of slots to expand into is a must IMHO. For a gaming PC I wouldn't be frugal with this, instead I'd buy a budget CPU & GPU and upgrade (...and maybe sell the old stuff) when the high-end models become cheap. (Paying more than 100-150$ for a GPU or 100-200$ for a CPU is a WASTE OF MONEY. Buy what's in your range and upgrade in 2 years).

A good PSU is a MUST. Buy a good brand. If you buy something cheap, you're risking your 1000$ investment for spending 100$ less. All the PCs I've seen killed in the last 4 years were usually killed by a cheap PSU.

Yeah I agree with that. In both builds I gave him both had a quality Corsair PSU which is top-rated. I even suggested him a line-interactive UPS for extra safety. Both motherboards are name-brand and shouldn't give him a problem. Your also right about USB 3.0. Also SATA-3 is out as well. I found an Intel board which has them (but only 2 slots for each) for $15 more: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157189

I do have a student email, so I guess it will cost me only 30 dollars, thanks.

Flaser does have a good point, that I want my computer to last, but I only need it to last for about 3-4 years at which point instead of upgrading, I'd just buy a new one(at least that what I hope to do). Well, I have to get ready for work right now, so I wont be able to reply for about 8 hours. It would be great if you guys could work together and pick out parts that will work well together/last more than a year.

Again, this is greatly appreciated, thank you both.

Ok I made a 6-core AMD-based machine with good shit.

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=19999308


The pic is kind of messed up. They threw in a free 4GB USB drive and it shows up like that when I emailed the cart to myself. In the actual cart on their site it shows up as free.

Overall its a hell of a lot better than what I had built earlier. Most of the stuff has free shipping and if you combo it like shown in the picture you will save like $80 as well. Also a lot of it has mail-in-rebates which bring the total down to around $689.

All the pieces are top-notch. I have basically went around and found the best deals and ended up with this which surprised me at how good it is for how little money it costs.

CPU: 6-core AMD. Ranks up there with the core i7s on most CPU benches for half the cost. http://www.guru3d.com/article/phenom-ii-x6-1055t-1090t-review/12
GPU: NVidia GTX 460. Very good price on it. Extremely competitive with ATIs cards and it allows use of Physx which a lot of games currently implement and CUDA is good too for certain niche applications.
MOBO: ASRock 870 Extreme3: USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gbps support. Manufacturer has been recommended by Tom's Hardware in the past. Overall awesome board.
RAM: OCZ Special Ops Edition DDR3 1600: 2x2GB of RAM for 4 Gigs total. You may want to buy 2 more sticks for 8 gigs total but that is up to you. My rig running win7 64 bit and 2 gigs of RAM is like bare minimum and I sometimes find myself maxing out all the RAM I have available so you may want to do 8 depending on how you will use the computer. Anyways this RAM is very good and easily overclockable if you should choose to do so.
PSU: OCZ ModXtreme Pro 700W: 80+% efficient power supply with enough juice to handle what you got. 2 12v rails which equal to 50 amps total which is plenty of power for your computer. Also its voltages are steady as a rock.
Case: Rosewill Challenger: I basically searched for a case with free shipping (as cases can cost up to $30 to ship) and then searched for the cheapest one and ended up with this. Rosewill is a respectable brand and the case has multiple fans on it for good airflow. You should be very happy with it.
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB. Very good brand and the drive performs very well. You may want to buy an additional 1 Terabyte drive and have the 500GB drive solely used for your operating system and program files and the terabyte drive act as a storage drive for your music, videos, and documents.
DVD-RW drive: Lite-On CD/DVD burner: I just basically searched for the cheapest SATA DVD burner out there and this was it. I can't comment on how good it is because I've never had a problem with one before. Hopefully it should work fine.

Here's the Intel-based system:

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=13598485



Comes in around $930 with the exact same parts as the other one once you take into account the mail-in rebates. This one has 2GB more RAM though in order to take advantage of the triple channel memory. The motherboard has similar specs to the AMD version: USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gbps capabilities. Processor is a quad-core with hyperthreading which effectively makes it an octo-core. And triple-channel memory makes your read/write speeds on the memory jump through the roof. If you have the money this one isn't a bad deal either.

Basically if you are extremely tight on money go for the AMD and if spending $241 more for the latest and greatest is ok with you then go with Intel.

Also your monitor and UPS are $169 and $70 for $239 total so the intel system + that is just under your $1200 budget at $1169

The way you described all of them gave me an orgasm, if you don't mind, I'd like to hear at least 1 other person's opinion about these components before I buy it, thanks for taking you time on me. + rape for you.

I would personally recommend current-gen ATi cards over the nVidia ones, but otherwise I don't have much of a problem with Nachbar's suggestions.

What would the price be if I did what tegumi said?

Well that GTX 460 costs around $230. It has DirectX 11 and Physx capabilities.
The ATI Radeon 5830 has the same performance and DirectX 11 and costs $200.

You'll have to decide whether or not $30 is worth it to you for Physx effects in games. http://www.nvidia.com/object/physx_new.html is their Physx page. Its stuff like the papers flying around, objects exploding and bouncing off of walls and other pieces of itself.

I personally find it worth it but some people don't. You also have to factor in that while the Nvidia card has to render Physx effects, the ATI doesn't so the ATI card will get better frame rates. But on the same note you can just go in the Nvidia Control Panel and disable Physx as well and now they are even except the ATI being $30 cheaper.

Up to you.

Well, 30 dollars isn't that big of a deal, and because you pay newegg with a credit card I'd have enough time to get more money(but I'm still sticking with the around 1200 budget). So yeah, if you can make the wishlist with that card it'd be awesome. Also, is there a way to know that 2 parts are compatible with each other?

I will probably revive this thread when the parts get here to ask how to start putting it together. It's a good thing I have a relatively good camera.

The GTX 460 is already on there. Look at the picture for the setup and make sure you combo accordingly to get the best deal.

What I use for graphics cards is the latest hierarchy chart from Tom's Hardware: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-radeon-hd-geforce-gtx,2676-7.html

The GTX 460 is actually more powerful than the 465 so you can at least put it on the same rung as it. After that you basically look at both cards and compare clock speeds and how much RAM it has on it.

As for the rest you can look at benchmarks to gauge how good they are. http://www.guru3d.com has some good ones.

Alright, I have ordered the parts along with the monitor and the power thing. Thanks a lot for your help. I'll give you another +rape later on tonight.

Sorry for the stupid question, but how does the mail-in-rebate work?