Bulding a NEW Computer and Don't Know Where to Start

Slacker22 · Mar 25, 2013

Im new to the forum, and I am wanting to build a computer. I however have no idea where to even start at. I am looking the type of computer that can handle online gaming and be able to complete schooling. I am planning on hooking 2 maybe 3 monitors to it eventually, but i need something i can play games on and be able to chat with people on the other screen. I am studying to be a software programmer so i know alot about making software but not so much on the hardware or how to put it together. Please help me out.

Slacker22 · Mar 25, 2013

This might give you a little better concept of what i want
Budget- am a college student so will be putting this together as i go really, im thinking $1500 to start with, and upgrade as i need to
Resolution - Best resolution for the price, i dont have monitors yet
Games - MMO and First Person Shooters
Most software i can get pretty easy and cheep, I will be doing a lot of coding and application software
United States
I want to use Windows
Need 2 or 3 Monitors, Mouse and Keyboard, Speakers are the last thing.
I also want 4 or more usb ports and would love a blue ray player (and burner if not too expensive)
I just don't really know what the best is, I see all these motherboards and such and idk what they do...

lemon07r · Mar 25, 2013

1080p best gaming resolution because its cheap, and a great resolution. I recommend you browse through newegg all in one combos (diy full solution combos) you will save like $70, and buy the missing parts after that. To get you started quickly browsing through this one looks like a good starting point, leaves you $600 to add videocard, monitor and speakers.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1244448
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1050020

And to make life easier for you look here for combos (sorted by largest discount) with the i5 3570k (the cpu you want), and you can pick your own from here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ubCategory=343&SortField=0&PageSize=10&page=1

For speakers I dont know which is better then which because the ones would of recommended a year ago is not sold by newegg. Look here and pick the one you like best, good luck.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...eactivatedMark=False&Order=RATING&PageSize=20

Any 1080p monitor with a low amount of bad reviews will do (meaning less likely to have dead pixels) just find the cheapest one you like best.

I saw you are going to be doing some programming and application work, so I suggest you go with a nvidia card to leave that cuda option open though a amd cardw ill do just fine. If you want good bang for the buck performance in gaming get this video card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121660
$220 the asus gtx 660 is good quality, good overclocker at a good price, will max just about almost any online game without antianaliasing.
And if you want some serious enthusiast and play everything at the very best setting on two monitors at once your gonna have to burn some cash, $370 great performer the gtx 670:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127675
A amd 7950 is good too if you want one.

And todays shell shocker:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...76422&cm_sp=DailyDeal-_-24-176-422-_-Homepage $100 for a 1600x900 IPS monitor IS A STEAL, IPS means super high quality colour accuracy at a price premium, this monitor is $80 off, I suggest u grab one or two right now!! You wont be disapointed, I would much rather have a ips 900p monitor vs a 1080 tns monitor (just about every monitor and TV are TNS, they are much cheaper. One of the review for that monitor "This monitor is great. The picture is beautiful, it is lightweight, and the bezel that goes around the screen is just about nonexistent. There is only about a quarter inch of black screen that frames the picture, which would be great for using multiple monitors. I love it! And thank you newegg for the free shipping, which only took ONE day!!!" You want to run multi monitors right?

Slacker22 · Mar 28, 2013

spirit · Mar 28, 2013

Right OK:

CPU: Don't bother with the i7 3770, instead save yourself some money and go for an i5 3570K. Great CPU, is pretty much the sweet spot gaming CPU out there. You won't notice a difference between the i5 and the i7 in gaming. If you do get an i7, make sure you get the 3770K, not the 3770 - the difference is the K chips are multiplier unlocked so you can overclock them easier.

Motherboard: OK, but not the best. Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H or Z77X-UD5H would be a better choice.

Memory: You want dual-channel, so that either means 2 DIMMs or 4 DIMMs (3 DIMMs will only run in single channel, so you lose out on performance). I'd recommend you go for 8GB via 2x4GB and you want 1600MHz or faster (Corsair Vengeance is good RAM, as is G.Skill RipJaws-X).

You could go for 16GB via 4x4GB or 2x8GB, but 16GB is overkill. If this is for gaming, I'd stick with 8GB.

SSD: I used to own that SSD. It's great (but mine died after a year of use, but Crucial were very prompt in sending me a free replacement), but it's getting old now. There's faster stuff out there: notably the OCZ Vertex 4 (which is what I have now), the Samsung 840 Pro, and the SanDisk Extreme (which I also used to own). All are faster than the Crucial, so go for one of those. 128GB is big enough, 256GB would be good though.

Hard Drive: Go for a Caviar Blue or Black 7200 RPM, 1TB or 2TB. Seagate also make some good hard drives which are 1TB and spin at 7200 RPM. Caviar Reds are server drives really, so unless you plan to run them in RAID, I'd get a Blue or Black or a Seagate Barracuda.

Video Card: GTX 670 vs HD 7970: 7970 wins. If you're doing any sort of editing though, I'd probably recommend you get the 670, otherwise, the 7970 all day long.

Case: I'd actually get the NZXT Phantom or the Phantom 410. Other good cases are the Fractal Design Define R3 and R4.

Power Supply: Take the Corsair unit, but I'd go for a TX 650 V2. It's not modular, but if you get a good case you should be able to hide the excess the cables behind the motherboard.

Optical drive seems a bit expensive. If it's a Blu Ray-RW, just save your money and get a Blu Ray-ROM. When are you ever going to be writing Blu-Ray discs?

OS: Home vs Pro: I'd probably go for Pro, reason being is that Home is limited to 16GB of RAM (including RAM on the graphics card), whereas Pro isn't. So if you get or upgrade to 16GB of RAM in the future, Pro would be the better option.

Monitor: Seems good.

Mouse: Yes, good. I have the G400, it's great, the G500 is even better still.

Keyboard: Looks all right if you're prepared to spend that much. I get why people have gaming mice, but I never get why people have gaming keyboards, but if you like it, go for it.

Thermal Paste: Good.

Other Stuff: So long as you have a screwdriver, some pliers and a pair of wire cutters, you won't need any other tools, so I wouldn't bother with the toolkit.

Hope this helps!

spirit · Mar 28, 2013

lemon07r · Mar 28, 2013

All good stuff mentioned up there, yeah i7 I would avoid, though a 7950 should be enough (especially if you decide to overclock, but even if you dont still great) If you want to save some money for your college. As for case you could go cheaper for like a haf 922 or cm690 ii if you want something cheaper, I would say those are the best $80-$90 cases, and if your not watching blu rays you can save like $50 by going with a plain dvd drive (just a heads up!!! there arent any free bluray playing software on the web!!!! many people go and by blu ray drives without knowing this!!, so be prepared to spend around $30 more), and imo I think a ud3h is good enough so you can save like $50-$40 there. And if you arent a corsair diehard when it comes to psu's like most folk out there (they are definitely top notch though!) brands like xfx, ocz and seasonic make great psu's alot of other brands rebrand seasonic psu's, those are really good too so you should look out for those too, pick one based on the best deal you can find, as long as they are still a top tier psu, if you are unsure just come back here and ask.

spirit · Mar 28, 2013

Yeah the 7970 is very powerful, but the 7950 is also powerful and costs less. I should have mentioned that earlier really.

Bulding a NEW Computer and Don't Know Where to Start

Slacker22

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lemon07r

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spirit

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