Would like to get some help from the more computer savvy of you if possible.
I want a new PC and have been stalling in hopes of waiting till right before TOR to get the most bang for my buck for that game.
However last night my second computer(5year old P4)Gave off a Loud POP and i could smell smoke. After pulling it apart i found scorch marks where the square 4pin connector goes to the motherboard from the power supply.
The Small indicator lights on the Motherboard show it is still getting power, yet the system will not boot. I am going to assume it is fried, and since it would have been relegated to the closet in a couple of months anyway when i shifted my primary computer to a secondary two box/internet roll, I am going to bight the proverbial bullet and go ahead and get a new computer a few months early.
Ok background out of the way, here is what i am looking for.
I have never built a computer before, I think it is something i would like to learn to do for myself at this time.
I would like to spend 1200-1500 dollars and make a gaming system with TOR and Diablo III in mind. I am happy for now with my current keyboard/trackball, monitor and other peripherals and am looking to just build a new box.
I would prefer Intel for the chipset, Geforce for the video,Creative labs for the sound.
The system I was considering building was one I found on http://www.build-gaming-computers.com/gaming-desktop-computer.html
it is a mix of the high end and the midrange builds listed there.
Motherboard
ASUS Sabertooth P67 B3 TUF Edition ($210)
CPU
Intel Core i7-2600K ($315)
CPU Cooler
Corsair CWCH50-1 Hydro H50 CPU Liquid Cooler ($70)
RAM
Corsair CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9 Vengeance 16GB DDR3 RAM ($117)
Video Card
EVGA GeForce GTX 560 ($230)
Sound Card
Creative Labs SoundBlaster X-FI Titanium 7.1 Sound Card ($90)
Hard Drive
Seagate Barracuda 1TB ($55)
DVD Burner
Asus DRW-24B3ST/BLK/G/AS Internal 24x CD/DVD Drive ($25)
Case
Cooler Master HAF 932 Full Tower Black Case ($140)
Power Supply
Corsair CMPSU-750TXV2 Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 750-Watt ($115)
I would of course have to Get Windows 7 Home Premium $100
I would like to be able to run the operating system and games from an SSD and was looking at Kingston HyperX SH100S3/120G 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) (Stand-alone Drive)$245
TOTAL COST: $1595 (USD)
As you can see i ended up over the $1200-$1500 dollars i wanted to spend by a little bit, but it seems that the next better component kept being only $40-$50 more and as i tend to keep computers as a primary for around 3 years and as a backup for around 5, i figure it is probably worth spending a little extra now than have to worry with upgrading components later. With the exception of video cards which just keep getting so much faster and cheaper that i usually replace those about every 1-2 years.
I know that is a bit long but wanted to try to give you as much information as possible.
What i am looking for is opinions or suggestions on the build, how to tweak it, other builds. Ways in which i am overspending or areas i should probably go ahead and spend more. I know almost nothing about building computers short of installing memory and video cards so please help me make sure i don't have any compatibility issues ect.
Thank you very much for your help
Curtis
Hey Curtis! Overall, this is a pretty good build. The case is one of my favorites (love to switch to this case in fact), and the processor is the best on the market. The first thing I would suggest is purchasing everything from Newegg. I can already tell you their prices are better than what your site was quoting.
There are a couple of changes I would recommend:
First is the motherboard. I love Asus, but the P67 chipset is not what I would suggest for your i7 Sandy Bridge processor. First, it's a chipset that is getting end of lifed very soon. Secondly there is technology in the processor itself that the P67 is not utilizing, and thats the built in graphics chip. This is not like the old On-Board graphics on the motherboards that were good for word processors and family albums only. This is a powerful chip that can actually work in conjunction with your Nvidia discreet card. But not with the P67. Check out this Asus Z68 chipset motherboard which is listed for $199 at Newegg. It has solid reviews and all the latest technology thats out there.
Next up is the sound card. This is easy - toss it out. You don't need a sound card anymore. The Realtek audio chip built into the motherboard will give you everything you need at solid quality unless you plan to do significant multichannel recording and editing with a DAW suite (Digital Audio Workstation). In other words, if your not doing any studio recording on this PC you don't need anything else. The built in has full digital surround sound capable of decoding the latest DVD and Blu-Ray sound tracks. It also includes a Digital Audio Output if you want to hook it into a stereo system.
The last thing I would recommend changing is the Hard Drive. Seagate has garnered a reputation in the last few years of having very fast drives that rock performance tests but don't have good reliability or longevity. I strongly recommend going with Western Digital HD's instead. This is only referring to physical drives, not SSD's. If it were me I would put 2 WD RE4 (Raid Edition) drives in a Raid 0 configuration (actually, thats exactly what I did in my own machine). Since you plan to use a SSD for your boot drive the raid setup is not too complicated. However, if you don't feel comfortable trying to raid then use a WD Caviar Black single 1 TB drive which are WD's fastest single drives with the exception of the Velociraptors which are overkill and overly expensive.
The SSD you listed looks pretty decent. You might want to compare reviews with Kingston and Corsair drives. I would stay away from OCZ SSD's right now. They've had some problems with their Sata III versions and tend to be more difficult to setup. You do need to read up on the detailed setup for any SSD that you choose. SSD's have to be set correctly or they do not function properly (or not at all). Make sure there is plenty of either detailed instructions or online help for whatever model you choose before purchasing.
This is exactly the kind of feedback i am looking for. I made the changes to the motherboard you recomended and tweaked a few thing. I had a question on the Raid configuration. Looks to me like those drives are almost as expensive as a regular drive with twice the size? I would need at least 2 of them to set up in raid Correct?
I priced out a system on New Egg with the Caviar Black 1TB and the more i read about the new generation of SSD's the more uneasy i feel about them. I really wanted an SSD to run the OS and 1-2 games off of, but with the OS running around 15gb and the footprint for STOR looking pretty large i am not sure if anything less than 80 gigs would be a good buy in an SSD. I had considered perhaps just going with an Intel 320 series instead. They are only SATA II but seem to be a lot more reliable than any of the new SATA III drives. I was thinking about an 80gb Intel This would be slower and smaller than the Kingston or Corsairs but from the looks of things far more reliable and would save me about $85.
This is the link to my wishlist on newegg
As you can see the price has crept up on me to around $1750 so i am definitely thinking about either axing the ssd altogether or at least downsizing a bit to the intel.
Would love your opinion on this and anyone else that is knowledgeable about computer builds please know i would welcome your input.
Thanks again
I would kill the SSD. Better price on SATA II and SATA III. And they have been working just fine for awhile now. SSD will come down but they are pretty new relative to the SATA.
