Need advice, my first build.

[sdutch16]

Hello everyone! this is my first post on these forums, i am new and i have decided to make my first desktop. I was intending to buy an alienware aurora, but friends told me to make my own desktop because it can perform better, and save money. First hand though, honestly, I know nothing at all about the products and what is good or not. Anyways ill get straight to the point, I need help on pretty much every item possible.

My budget I would like to stay around is $1000.
This computer I want it to be for gaming purposes especially since FFXIV is coming out in about 10 days.

So far the things I have looked at and have been sold on is the case and processor.
I intend to get the thermaltake armor+ mx and the processor I plan to buy is the intel i7 930 bloomfield.

I can get the armor mx for about 100 and the i7 930 for about 250.

edit: btw i have not ordered the i7 930 yet, if an i5 is just as good or if i should go for the 1055T than let me know, i know nothing of this stuff and just figured the i7 was a good buy.

I still need a

motherboard, videocard, memory, hardrive, and dvd drive, am i missing anything else?

[sneekypeet]

power supply and operating system

[sdutch16]

forgot about the powersupply, but i got windows 7 my friend said he can get it for me for free from a torrent.

i have been stressing over this whole process, should i just buy the alienware aurora or am i wasting my time by looking for parts and making my own? ive litterally been up for the past 4 hours just looking at processors.

[sneekypeet]

you are on the right path with building your own over buying an OEM or OEM with extras.

Dont fret...its late for most of the TPU deal hunters, but give it just a bit of time and I'm sure the suggestions will start comming in masses.

[sdutch16]

ok , thank you, i have been searching newegg.com like no other right now. for now, i am going to look over some of the similar threads and check to see if anything catches my interest.

[n-ster]

Microcenter sells i7 930s for 199.99$ if you are near one... Fry's sell i7 950s (about the same thing as a 930) for 260$ I think

[theubersmurf]

You've done yourself a big favor by deciding to build your own system. It's an exciting process that will teach you some fundamentals of troubleshooting your hardware and as time progresses, provide you with useful tools for being much more self reliant when it comes to computer use.

You know your budget, which is a good start, you're not knowing what to buy is sort of a big hurdle, but a pretty surmountable one. I'd suggest reading articles online that provide info on modern computer components, they're various performance and functionality Every day until you actually build it. Just read everything.

It sounds like you want to build a gaming comp, since that is the sole purpose you cite in your OP. Do you need it to do anything else? Or are you just going to use it for gaming? Do you actually know how to put the parts together when you have them all littering your bedroom floor?

[sdutch16]

Thanks for the advice. and thank you n-ster, i am going to buy the 930 from where you told me because that saves me almost a hundred bucks. Anyways I was all the way until 3 am in the morning figuring out what parts I wanted and because I didn't know what to get, I just read reviews. So far this is my PC build. If it sucks, please let me know so I can change it.

CPU:Intel i7 930 199.99
VD/GC: Radeon HD 5760 99.99
PS: XFX Black Edition P1-750B-CAG9 750W ATX12V v2.2 109.99
Case: Armor+ mx / or antec 900 black steel case. both are midtowers. 89.99
Mobo: Intel P55 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard 119.99
DVD: LITE-ON 24X DVD Writer 25.99
HD: Western Digital AV-GP WD10EVDS 1TB SATA 3.0Gb 79.99
Memory: A-DATA 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 78.99

Edit: new egg gives me $60 dollars total in rebate. The total price of it all is up to 889.91 with shipping. I have not entered in a promo code yet to drop the price a little bit.

Total retail for all these products is just under $1000.
You guys think this CPU will play games on maximum settings?

[Dent1]

Originally Posted by sdutch16

VD/GC: Radeon HD 5760 99.99

Does a 5760 even exist, do you mean the 5670?

If its a gaming rig, that video card isn't going to play games spectacularly well, if you've got a grand to spend on a rig wouldnt it make more sense to dispose a bigger portion of your budget a video card than a overpriced case, psu and processor?

With your budget I wouldnt get anything slower than a GTX 460 768MB @ minimum. Ideally you want a 5850, or 5750 or 5770 in CF. With $1000 I wouldnt settle for less of a video card even if it means spending less on a facy case and or overkill PSU.

Originally Posted by sdutch16

You guys think this CPU will play games on maximum settings?

With a decent video card any modern CPU can play a game at maximum whether its a £60 Athlon II X2 or greater.

[sdutch16]

Originally Posted by theubersmurf

You've done yourself a big favor by deciding to build your own system. It's an exciting process that will teach you some fundamentals of troubleshooting your hardware and as time progresses, provide you with useful tools for being much more self reliant when it comes to computer use.

You know your budget, which is a good start, you're not knowing what to buy is sort of a big hurdle, but a pretty surmountable one. I'd suggest reading articles online that provide info on modern computer components, they're various performance and functionality Every day until you actually build it. Just read everything.

It sounds like you want to build a gaming comp, since that is the sole purpose you cite in your OP. Do you need it to do anything else? Or are you just going to use it for gaming? Do you actually know how to put the parts together when you have them all littering your bedroom floor?

Yes, my friend said he will help me put the desktop together, and yes aside from pretty much just surfing the net, this is strictly a gaming computer.

[Dent1]

This chart will help you understand the performance level of today's video cards.

[sdutch16]

Originally Posted by Dent1

Does a 5760 even exist, do you mean the 5670?

If its a gaming rig, that video card isn't going to play games spectacularly well, if you've got a grand to spend on a rig wouldnt it make more sense to dispose a bigger portion of your budget a video card than a overpriced case, psu and processor?

With your budget I wouldnt get anything slower than a GTX 460 768MB @ minimum. Ideally you want a 5850, or 5750 or 5770 in CF. With $1000 I wouldnt settle for less of a video card even if it means spending less on a facy case and or overkill PSU.




With a decent video card any modern CPU can play a game at maximum whether its a £60 Athlon II X2 or greater.

Whats the best video card for the price that you suggest? And do you think I should downgrade my PSU to a 1055T or the intel i5 to save money? What are some good cases that aren't soo expensive? I looked a lot of them up on newegg, but many of the cases that are around $60 had loose parts and didn't get great reviews. The antec I posted above is 89 bucks with rebate and it had thousands of great reviews.

[Millennium]

Also, isn't P55 s1156 (wrong socket) and you will need 3 ddr3 dimms (not ddr2) with an i7 processor.

[sdutch16]

Originally Posted by Millennium

Also, isn't P55 s1156 (wrong socket) and you will need 3 ddr3 dimms (not ddr2) with an i7 processor.

lol im such a noob at this stuff, should i change motherboards? or should i just downgrade to the i5 proccesor?

[Millennium]

I like my i5 but if i was in your shoes I would try and wait for the newer intel sockets as the current big 2 are end of life now. Just my 2 cents

[sdutch16]

same thing my buddy told me, he said to wait for the i6 or w/e it is. personally though, id rather have my computer built sooner rather than later.

[Millennium]

Then unless you need 6gb instead of 4gb the i5 760 is a good choice. You don't really need i7 hyperthreading for gaming after all.

[Dent1]

Originally Posted by sdutch16

Whats the best video card for the price that you suggest?

Considering your massive budget, the best price/performance IMO is:

Single card:
ATI 5850 1GB
Nvidia GTX 460 768/1GB

Multiple cards:
SLI GTS 250 1GB
SLI GTS 450 1GB
Crossfire 5750
Crossfire 5770
Crossfire 4850/4870

You should read reviews on video cards and make your own decision based on your interpretation of the results and then come back here to make sure its a sound choice.

Originally Posted by sdutch16

And do you think I should downgrade my PSU to a 1055T or the intel i5 to save money?

You mean CPU, there is nothing wrong with the i7 930 you had if you can afford a i7 and a decent video card. But if you can not afford both I wouldnt be affraid to drop down to a lower class of i7 like the i7 920 or even a i5 because gaming performance isnt going to be dicatated by the processor because all the mentioned CPUs are pretty powerful in there own right. The 1055T and i5 route will obviously be the two cheapest routes as they have cheaper motherboards to select from.

Originally Posted by sdutch16

What are some good cases that aren't soo expensive? I looked a lot of them up on newegg, but many of the cases that are around $60 had loose parts and didn't get great reviews. The antec I posted above is 89 bucks with rebate and it had thousands of great reviews.

If you can afford the Antec get it, but I'm saying do not buy a good case at the expense of components which will dictate whether your games will even play, i.e. video card and CPU. If you can afford the Antec and a good video card + CPU fine, if not scale back the case to a $40 one and put the money elsewhere.

[sdutch16]

Originally Posted by Millennium

Then unless you need 6gb instead of 4gb the i5 760 is a good choice. You don't really need i7 hyperthreading for gaming after all.

I just figured that the i7 930 for only $200 is a deal you really cant pass up. I just dropped my 5670 radeon and my motherboard from my cart, im going to have to look into upgrading them since its a gaming pc. Im not sure what motherboard is good though because there all realtivly around the same price.

[n-ster]

No offense, but you are very underinformed about comps, would you like some private help? after a chat session or PM session, we can build you a good PC without running into problems, I'll be happy to help

[Dent1]

Originally Posted by sdutch16

I just figured that the i7 930 for only $200 is a deal you really cant pass up.

That isnt a good deal, its a average deal, its not going to improve performance much at all over the cheaper alternatives.

Originally Posted by sdutch16

Im not sure what motherboard is good though because there all realtivly around the same price.

The motherboards brand and features are not going to matter much in your case. You have to match up the sockets.

i.e. i5 processors need LGA 1156 socket motherboard. The i7 need LGA 1366 and Phemom IIs need a socket AM3.

[sdutch16]

Originally Posted by n-ster

No offense, but you are very underinformed about comps, would you like some private help? after a chat session or PM session, we can build you a good PC without running into problems, I'll be happy to help

no offense taken at all, i already know I do not know much about computers. and sure whatever program you have help would be great!

[n-ster]

You have msn or something? we can chat tonight and I'll suggest compatible parts that would suit you best and get the most bang for your buck

Just Private Message me your msn e-mail or aim if you have that

[CJCerny]

I'm gonna be the first one to speak up and say that stealing the OS via a torrent is indeed stealing. You should budget for purchasing the OS legally.

[sdutch16]

Originally Posted by CJCerny

I'm gonna be the first one to speak up and say that stealing the OS via a torrent is indeed stealing. You should budget for purchasing the OS legally.

he has it already downloaded onto a disc. yea its stealing, but if its already at his house on a disc, id rather put the money towards my hardware to make my performance better. anyways he did it lol not me.