I'm gonna get/build a new computer! HELP!

So, I has a job and it's one I'm familiar with. Which is good news, because I missed having an income, and I won't get fired or grow tired of it. It's been too long, and my current computer is dying. Which means I need to save a portion of the money I make every month and put it towards building a computer in three months time.

There is a problem. One such problem is that I barely remember anything I learned in the Computer Maintenance course I took my sophmore year in high school, and if anyone is wondering, the hot shit of the time was 64-bit processors from AMD and Hyper Threading from Intel. As such, I need some advice on what's good. I'm looking to spend about $1500 on a new computer. I would prefer someone else build it for me, but there aren't any local computer shops that would do so beyond BEST BUY.

So, in total. I need recommendations from you, the glorious Computers & Technology forum, on what would be feasible with a $1500 budget, and how I should go about procuring such a computer if I did not want to risk burning all the components I want in it to a crisp? I would be using it for Photoshop, 3d modeling, and gaming. I do not need to hack any government network, y'know? Please help.

The someone else route:
A. http://www.pugetsystems.com/ they seem to be good from what i heard.
B. buy a barebones kit at tigerdirect.com and take it in to a shop.. they can build it
C. Buy a system at a store or company.. dell/hp/gateway/alienware and update what you want... choose a good mobo and CPU before ordering.

The self build route:
A. newegg.com
B. tigerdirect.com

Processer: i5 or amd x4
Tera HHD
At least a 1gb GPU
6GB RAM
500Watt psu or 700watts if gaming is your life.
Good mobo.

the rest is person taste and comfort.

1500 should be more than enough to get you a mid-high end computer suitable for your needs, you'd even be able to browse lolicon images easier!

animefreak's suggestions are good, you could shave off 2GB of ram and invest that in a better PSU.

Hell! I could even harass lolicon fans in a more efficient manner too!

These prices are pretty loose* so you should not pay more then this...
if your having trouble use Amazon and Google shopping, maby Tigerdirect

Processor: AMD Phenom II X6 (black) ($200)
Motherboard: Asus Crosshair IV Formula ($230)
Graphics: Radeon 6950 ($300)
Memory: 2x4G Corsair Vengeance ($100)

Then you would need to a get the other stuff... with the other ~$600

For me this stuff would cost around $400 but not more
harddrive
power supply
heatsink
tower
maby a DVD Dual Layer drive

maby a monitor,keyboard,mouse if you need

you can pm me if you would like links or something

I would avoid an AMD chip right now because the AM3 platform is about to see the end of its days when AM3+ motherboards and chips come out, but there are a few AM3 boards that will be able to use an AM3+ chip, but without the power saving features. If you want AMD I would wait for those AM3+ motherboards to come out so you have some future-proofing.

I personally go something like this if you wanted to build something yourself RIGHT NOW. (Prices on components are assuming you buy from Newegg in the United States)
- Intel i5 2500k ($225)
- ASUS Sabertooth P67 motherboard ($220)
- 2 x Radeon hd 6950 1GB (~$230 each, $460 total for the 1 GB versions; unless you game at a resolution higher than 1080p then the difference between the 1GB and 2GB versions are minimal and won't justify the price difference at all)
- 1 TB Samsung Spinpoint F3 drive ($65)
- NZXT Tempest Evo case ($110)
- CORSAIR Enthusiast Series CMPSU-850TX 850W Power Supply ($135)
- CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 RAM ($95)
- ASUS 24x DVD Drive ($22)
- Scythe SCMG-2100 Mugen 2 CPU Heatsink ($40)
- Windows 7 64-bit ($100)

To total will be about $1470 for the whole thing, and will perform and game like a champion.

$1500 you can buy almost all of the top of line hardware out there just make sure everything is compatible by posting it back here or consulting a professional. And don't forget to hardware match too( AMD matches with AMD and ATI, and Intel matches with Intel, and NVidia is usually compatible but requires more research)

I agree with this. Im not totally sure about crossfire though in the photoshop and 3D modeling applications. Can photoshop and...(insert 3D rendering program here) use both GPU's?

Photoshop relies more on CPU than GPU, but if he decides we wants an nVidia card, he can use CUDA to enhance his performance in Photoshop (I think nVidia's cards are really overpriced right now though). Crossfire or SLI wouldn't really help in Photoshop much, if it even does at all; It's more for gaming purposes. If he wanted to use the cards solely for workstation purposes like very high quality 3D modeling then he would grab something like a Firepro or Quadro card, and those are very expensive and have terrible performance in things such as games.

They have modules for stuff like that to run with cuda? that's pretty funny.

Yep, they really do. Here are some of the performance gains. It makes me wish ATI Stream is being picked up by some of these programs too.

For self build, I'd reccomend Pccasegear.com It's pretty good, I go there for quotes lots (i get bored and want to see what my money will get me)

What I'd probably go for:
Cpu: Intel i5 - 760 ($219.00) OR AMD Phenom II X4 975 Black Edition ($199.00)
Gpu: ATI 5770 ($129.00) OR GeForce GTS450 ($129.00)
Ram: 4gb DDR3 (twin stick kit) Probably Rip jaw, Not really sure... ($65.00 that was for G.Skill Ripjaws F3-12800CL8D-4GBRM (2x2GB) DDR3)
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black 1tb WD1002FAEX ($95.00)
Dvd Drive: ASUS DRW-24B3LT 24X DVDRW LightScribe ($45.00) OR Lite-On iHBS212 12x Blu-Ray Disc Writer with LightScribe if you want blu-ray ($125.00)
Mobo: For intel: Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD4-B3 Motherboard ($215.00) OR for amd: Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H Motherboard ($159.00)
Case: Probably an Antec Nine Hundred ($119.00)
Psu: CoolerMaster Silent Pro Gold 800W ($199.00)

So AMD + ATI + DVD Lightscribe (not blur-ray) + AMD compatible mobo = $1010
Obviously the other items would make it more expensive.. but that's what i'd stick to :D

I have no idea how much that would all cost, but i'm assuming somewhere under 1,500.. I don't know if i've missed anything, but that's what i'd go for.. something like that :D

this makes me wonder if you already have monitor, keyboard and mouse.

I have to say, this is a bad idea if he wants to future-proof his build. The LGA 1156 platform has already been replaced by LGA 1155 and Intel themselves said they will not offer any more new chips for LGA 1156. If he were to go Intel then an LGA 1155 is the way to go with something like an i5 2500k. Also the LGA 1155 platform will be able to use some (high-end) Ivy Bridge chips when they come out, if he is interested in doing that. On top of that it would be about the same price if we went with LGA 1155 instead of LGA 1156.

The graphics cards you mentioned are fine except for that nvidia card, please stay away from that as the price you get is not worth the performance for that gts 450. The only real winners I see from nVidia right now are the GTX 460, GTX 560 (if he overclocks it), and GTX 560 Ti.

Ohok, Yeah I'm still pretty new to this >.> I had been wondering what the 1155 chip set was like.. I would have stuck with the amd one i posted anyway hah. I don't know why, but it seems like better value for money

Yeah it does seem to be a better value for the money with me too. I would actually avoid the AMD chip too right now for a similar reason though, early next month AMD will be releasing their AM3+ "Bulldozer" CPUs, which will be the biggest redesign of their CPUs since 2003, and AM3+ chips can only be used on AM3+ motherboards. There are a -few- AM3 motherboards that can use the AM3+ chips, but without the ability to use the advanced power saving features on the CPUs. Also Bulldozer will include 8-core CPUs that (based on a leak from leak from ASUS) will be able to reach speeds of up to 4.2 ghz without overclocking it yourself for (confirmed) $320. I don't know about you, but I'd be excited to get a 4ghz octo-core processor.

Same here actually... I did here something about the six cores not using all 6 cores unless being overclocked or something close to that.. I don't know exactly, But I was thinking it may happen with the 8cores perhaps but maybe not..

Also, I'm assuming the am3+ chips would go onto the new fusion mobo's? or are they just new am3 ones? I didn't get far enough to actually find out what they were..

Is getting two video cards really necessary? I'm running every game I play on max settings with just my Raedon 5770.

im not gonna go so far as to tell you the specs that is going to help you run your computer like as fast at lightspeed and is essentail for any game, it wouldnt fit your budget of $1500 lol. But heres the thing, in short if you want a computer that can handle many processes at the same time. Get a computer with a high amount of ram lets say 4gig of ram, and an intense video card that supports gaming, and maybe a quad core processor to support the heavy loads of processes.

Thanks for all the help, guys!