First Build HELP!!

Thoughts on first build

  • Wow, great first build!

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Decent starting point.

    Votes: 2 66.7%
  • Way too much!

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • This is horrible!

    Votes: 1 33.3%

  • Total voters
    3

Joygirl

New Member
I recently decided to build my own computer. Below is a link to all of the parts that I think I will purchase, but I wanted to see if anyone with experience had thoughts/comments/suggests. Manually calculating the price, these parts come to ~$804 including $40 of MIRs.

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/joygirl/saved/1Ugv

One caution the site gave is that my case does not have a front panel 3.0 USB port and my mobo has an onboard USB 3.0 header. Simply fix is to get an adapter... Any suggestion for other cases maybe? I know there is debate about top vs. bottom mounted PSU's. I've already considered this and talked to someone I trust who has experience with computers. Bottom line, if my PSU goes bad, it's one of the cheaspest components to replace.

Now you may be asking "well, what are you going to use the computer for?" Haha, well, honestly mostly grad school. Maybe watching movies and I occassionally get into online gaming, but really nothing serious atm. So yea, I know this might seem like a bit much.

I also still need to get a WiFi card, mouse, keyboard, and speakers. Suggestions? Anything else? I already have Microsoft and Windows 8.

Any suggestion on reducing the cost without reducing quality?
I've considered the Crucial M4 vs M500, but that only saves $10 and the M4 is outdated now. Also downgrading to a 1TB instead of 2TB only saves $15. Downgrading to the CX500 PSU would only save $5. Together tha's a savings of $30... Is it worth it?
 
MSI is regarded as a pretty good brand. Why do you say that? Asus has RMA problems, and MSI and Gigabyte are pretty good IMHO.
 
http://pcpartpicker.com/user/PCunicorn/saved/1GSn (get a SSD also and remove Windows)
This build is much better. And no, USB3 headers cant be adapted. You would just have a useless USB port on the case. And, 5400 RPM Drives are bad.
Is your Windows copy pirated? Or has it been used on a PC already, and is it OEM?

I mean that if I need USB 3 connection on my case I can install a header. I already purchased a license for windows 8, so I wont need to buy it again. Why exactly do you say 5400 drives are bad? I appreciate your suggestions. I'm not much of a gamer though so I'm not sure why you are suggesting a graphics card that is better and twice as much as the one I chose. I may give AMD a second thought, but since I'm not a gamer, I really only considered it for half a second when choosing a CPU.
 
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I would get rid of the msi motherboard and go for a gigabyte or asus.

Why do you say that? Suggestions are useless unless I know your thinking behind them. Or if you actually give specific comparisons. I'm not interested in personal preferences unless there is an actual reason you prefer one brand over the other.
 
I mean that if I need USB 3 connection on my case I can install a header. I already purchased a license for windows 8, so I wont need to buy it again. Why exactly do you say 5400 drives are bad?

5400 RPM drives are slower by a fair bit then 7200 RPM and not much cheaper. The build I recommended has a similar CPU, better GPU (by a TON) and similar other parts.
 
5400 RPM drives are slower by a fair bit then 7200 RPM and not much cheaper. The build I recommended has a similar CPU, better GPU (by a TON) and similar other parts.

I modified my previous comment... I'll look into the 7200 RPM HDD, really I found a super cheap deal on the one I picked ($70 for 2 TB) is why I picked it.
 
Trust me, with a awesome PC changes are you will get into gaming. If you really are not interested, you could just get a $600 build, or even $500.
 
I mean that if I need USB 3 connection on my case I can install a header. I already purchased a license for windows 8, so I wont need to buy it again. Why exactly do you say 5400 drives are bad? I appreciate your suggestions. I'm not much of a gamer though so I'm not sure why you are suggesting a graphics card that is better and twice as much as the one I chose. I may give AMD a second thought, but since I'm not a gamer, I really only considered it for half a second when choosing a CPU.

Another question: the memory you chose in the linked build is virtually the same... would there be any benefit to having 2 x 4GB as opposed to just 1 8GB? Any benefit to filling all RAM slots instead of just one?
 
Trust me, with a awesome PC changes are you will get into gaming. If you really are not interested, you could just get a $600 build, or even $500.

Lol, that's why I wanted something at least semi decent. But at the same time I do not want to build a full out gaming computer because I'm way too busy (60 hour work week + classes) to get caught up in gaming.
 
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