janelled
10-22-2005, 06:29 PM
I'm going to be preparing a machine to play a lot of newer games on, including Vanguard. My ETA on this machine is probably spring, but I might get it sooner. But, regardless, I am a firm believer that it is never too early to get part ideas in mind.
I have a budget of about $2500 dollars for this beast, and that is only including the machine, no peripherals. My reasoning for this budget is if I do decided to buy in late spring, the price will drop to about 2000 or so. Anyways, here are the components I had in mind, their price, and my reasoning for including it. I haven't built a PC in years, so many of the new hardware pieces are foreign or vaguely familiar to me. If anyone sees components that wouldn't work well, or for which their is a better substitute, please tell!
Case: Thermaltake Tsunami VA 3400BNA Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - $109
Good, solid reviews, classy, looks like it has enough room for my needs. No PSU, but I don't wanna fried box, so I am buying a seperate one, anyways.
Power Supply: Antec TruePower 2.0 TRUECONTROL II-550 ATX12V 550W Power Supply 115/230 V UL, TUV, CB, FCC CLASS B, CUL - $109.99
550W, solid reviews, good brand name. Everything looks good for this one.
Motherboard: ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - $165
Has everything I need. I plan to go SLI in the future, and will be using SATA for HDD, so I am sure that motherboard will give me everything I need. Has some negative reviews, but overall looks like a solid piece of hardware.
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Toledo 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model ADA4400CDBOX - $526
I decided to go dual core because I am a novice graphic designer and working on taking my HTML skills and moving towards CSS and .Net programming, as well as a hardcore gamer. The FX-57 or FX-55 are pricey, and I'd rather be better in more benchmarks than just games. I chose the X2 4400 because at the moment the price is great. If the price on the 4800 or 4600 drops a lot by the time I buy, ill substitute one of those in. (Comes with Nero 7 free)
Video Card: BFG Tech BFGR78256GTXOC Geforce 7800GTX 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - $509
New age graphics for the new age games. I hate ATI due to the quality of their drivers and the luck I have had in the past, so nVidia is the natural coice. I wanted the out of the box overclocked and lifetime warranty is great. Potential to double for SLI in the future.
RAM: OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Platinum System Memory Model OCZ4002048ELDCPE-K - $253.50 ($226.50 after $27.00 Mail-In Rebate)
I believe that good RAM, Video and Processor make a fast machine, so I chose this based on timings and the fact its a reasonably priced dual channel kit. I wanted 2gb because I figure most games in a year will require it.
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic 8 (7.1) Channels PCI Interface Sound Card - $126
Might as well get one of the best cards out there, my other choice would have been the gamer for the extra copy of Rainbow Six 3, anyways. Don't see anything wrong with this one, except the fact I will need better speakers now!
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $122
I'm a newbie when it comes to the fancy hard drive types, but SATA seems like the best choice. I did some research and found that the interface isnt too immportant for transfer speeds because the hardware portion of the harddrive can't handle the higher speeds that SATA and SCSI provide. The cables are cool, and the price compared to IDE isn't bad. 250GB is a must, I have two machines full of movies and MP3s to vacate before I pawn them off to my family. I might get a second HDD later, but for now this oughta work fine.
DVD: LG Black IDE DVD Burner Model GSA-4167B BK - $44.99
DVD is a staple now I guess, and the storage capacity on them is amazing. Wasn't a hard choice.
DVD-ROM: LG Black IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model GDR-8163B - $20.99
Gotta be able to make perfectly legal copies of DVD's. It's black. It's fast.
TV Tuner: Hauppauge WINTV-PVR-150 PCI Interface WinTV-PVR-150 - $91.99
Gonna be a dorm computer when September rolls around, so I might as well make it a TV, too! Friend bought a Hauppage card and was very pleased.
Floppy: NEC Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive - $7.75
Almost obsolete, but there have been occasions where it is nice to have. Cheap.
Thats the basic build for my PC, I think most of the cables will come with the motherboard, but they can be purchased easy enough, either locally or via Newegg.
All parts priced at Newegg, for a grand total of $2,135.68, with $49 for UPS Ground.
Also, for a monitor I was considering the following, but didn't want to include it in the price:
LG L1981Q Black-Silver 19" 8ms LCD Monitor - Right now its $605, but I have seen them as low as $350.
I think that is everything, so if you uber experienced gurus out there could look everything over, and tell me if I am missing anything (or should replace anything), let me know! Keep total costs below $2500 if possible, but other than that, no restrictions!
Thanks in advance for your time and input!
I have a budget of about $2500 dollars for this beast, and that is only including the machine, no peripherals. My reasoning for this budget is if I do decided to buy in late spring, the price will drop to about 2000 or so. Anyways, here are the components I had in mind, their price, and my reasoning for including it. I haven't built a PC in years, so many of the new hardware pieces are foreign or vaguely familiar to me. If anyone sees components that wouldn't work well, or for which their is a better substitute, please tell!
Case: Thermaltake Tsunami VA 3400BNA Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - $109
Good, solid reviews, classy, looks like it has enough room for my needs. No PSU, but I don't wanna fried box, so I am buying a seperate one, anyways.
Power Supply: Antec TruePower 2.0 TRUECONTROL II-550 ATX12V 550W Power Supply 115/230 V UL, TUV, CB, FCC CLASS B, CUL - $109.99
550W, solid reviews, good brand name. Everything looks good for this one.
Motherboard: ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - $165
Has everything I need. I plan to go SLI in the future, and will be using SATA for HDD, so I am sure that motherboard will give me everything I need. Has some negative reviews, but overall looks like a solid piece of hardware.
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Toledo 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model ADA4400CDBOX - $526
I decided to go dual core because I am a novice graphic designer and working on taking my HTML skills and moving towards CSS and .Net programming, as well as a hardcore gamer. The FX-57 or FX-55 are pricey, and I'd rather be better in more benchmarks than just games. I chose the X2 4400 because at the moment the price is great. If the price on the 4800 or 4600 drops a lot by the time I buy, ill substitute one of those in. (Comes with Nero 7 free)
Video Card: BFG Tech BFGR78256GTXOC Geforce 7800GTX 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - $509
New age graphics for the new age games. I hate ATI due to the quality of their drivers and the luck I have had in the past, so nVidia is the natural coice. I wanted the out of the box overclocked and lifetime warranty is great. Potential to double for SLI in the future.
RAM: OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Platinum System Memory Model OCZ4002048ELDCPE-K - $253.50 ($226.50 after $27.00 Mail-In Rebate)
I believe that good RAM, Video and Processor make a fast machine, so I chose this based on timings and the fact its a reasonably priced dual channel kit. I wanted 2gb because I figure most games in a year will require it.
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic 8 (7.1) Channels PCI Interface Sound Card - $126
Might as well get one of the best cards out there, my other choice would have been the gamer for the extra copy of Rainbow Six 3, anyways. Don't see anything wrong with this one, except the fact I will need better speakers now!
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $122
I'm a newbie when it comes to the fancy hard drive types, but SATA seems like the best choice. I did some research and found that the interface isnt too immportant for transfer speeds because the hardware portion of the harddrive can't handle the higher speeds that SATA and SCSI provide. The cables are cool, and the price compared to IDE isn't bad. 250GB is a must, I have two machines full of movies and MP3s to vacate before I pawn them off to my family. I might get a second HDD later, but for now this oughta work fine.
DVD: LG Black IDE DVD Burner Model GSA-4167B BK - $44.99
DVD is a staple now I guess, and the storage capacity on them is amazing. Wasn't a hard choice.
DVD-ROM: LG Black IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model GDR-8163B - $20.99
Gotta be able to make perfectly legal copies of DVD's. It's black. It's fast.
TV Tuner: Hauppauge WINTV-PVR-150 PCI Interface WinTV-PVR-150 - $91.99
Gonna be a dorm computer when September rolls around, so I might as well make it a TV, too! Friend bought a Hauppage card and was very pleased.
Floppy: NEC Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive - $7.75
Almost obsolete, but there have been occasions where it is nice to have. Cheap.
Thats the basic build for my PC, I think most of the cables will come with the motherboard, but they can be purchased easy enough, either locally or via Newegg.
All parts priced at Newegg, for a grand total of $2,135.68, with $49 for UPS Ground.
Also, for a monitor I was considering the following, but didn't want to include it in the price:
LG L1981Q Black-Silver 19" 8ms LCD Monitor - Right now its $605, but I have seen them as low as $350.
I think that is everything, so if you uber experienced gurus out there could look everything over, and tell me if I am missing anything (or should replace anything), let me know! Keep total costs below $2500 if possible, but other than that, no restrictions!
Thanks in advance for your time and input!