First Time Build - need part critiquing/suggestions

C

Cannibal Ox

New Member
Hello! I'm planning to build this desktop in the near future, and I'd appreciate some help picking parts. The main things I'm looking for in my desktop are: longevity, performance, price and a hint of aesthetics, in that order.

Longevity is probably the most important aspect I need in my computer. I'm looking for longevity in both the durability of the parts, and steady performance over time.

For the performance aspect, I'm not looking to build a hardcore gaming computer by any means, but I would like it to be at least able to run games like Battlefield BC2 and Call of Duty MW2 on medium to slightly higher settings. I more often play games that are more leisurely, such as Black and White 2 and Portal, and I would like to have games such as these run smoothly.

Pricing should fall somewhere between $300-$450 dollars, and the lower end of $300 is preferable, however, the balancing between price and performance is difficult so if switching out a few parts for a slightly more expensive, more durable+better performing part is available, that is the more preferable option, and my final price is around $400 dollars anyway from the parts I listed. But if there are cheaper, better options (better being equivalent +cheaper or just better+cheaper), please suggest them!

The aesthetics aspect is just more of my personal vanity seeping in, and I know I could probably chop off $40-50 dollars with a simpler case, but ah what the hell, I want something pretty.

So here's what I got so far (sorry about the above reading, I just wanted to be thorough)


Total Price: ~$420 with shipping

As you'll see if you click on the links, I'm down with the rebates so if any of you find anything with a rebate that's a pretty good offer, feel free to post it! I am looking to cut the price down if an equivalent and cheaper or better and cheaper tradeoff exists. Thank you all who post in advance, and thank you readers for reading.
 
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Looks like a pretty well balanced system. Just as a side note though - your going to struggle running Bad Company 2, particularly on medium/high settings. You'll need a slightly beefier GPU. Also, what operating system were you thinking of?

Those dual core AMD's are great for just about everything though, had one for years, highly reccommend!
 
wellhellothere said:
Looks like a pretty well balanced system. Just as a side note though - your going to struggle running Bad Company 2, particularly on medium/high settings. You'll need a slightly beefier GPU. Also, what operating system were you thinking of?

Those dual core AMD's are great for just about everything though, had one for years, highly reccommend!
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Do you think it'd be possible to get the slightly beefier gpu that I need for $70 -$75? Or will it fall in the $100s? Is there any possible area in my build that I could take off some dollars to make some budget room for the video card, or do you think maybe it's not worth it? I don't plan on playing BF BC2, but if there are newer games that are released that I would like to play, I would like to be able to play them on medium-high. I used BF BC2 as an example of a newer game, but maybe there is a flaw in my logic as BF BC2 uses higher requirements than the games that I will play in the future. Is this a viable conclusion to make?

Also, I'm planning on going with Ubuntu.


bkribbs said:
Just asking because I am not sure. Is that a big enough PSU? 400W?
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I think what I'll do is get this 600W psu instead, since it's only $10 more and I think it's got the extra bang for it's extra bucks

 
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If i were you i'd stick with the Corsair PSU. Its more than sufficient.

Regarding your GPU, im running Bad Company 2 on my 8800GT - which has overall higher specs than the GT240, and i can only really play it on low/medium settings without a serious drop in FPS.

Having said that, for your budget, its a pretty good card - just dont expect to be able to play demanding games, thats all!
 
fastdude101 said:
How are you going to get FPS's onto ubuntu?
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I really have no idea, I probably should have considered that lol. Maybe I'll just go with Windows XP for the sake of convenience. I have a copy laying around. Really I just wanted to play around with ubuntu, but I'll just satiate my hunger for that elsewhere.
 
wellhellothere said:
If i were you i'd stick with the Corsair PSU. Its more than sufficient.

Regarding your GPU, im running Bad Company 2 on my 8800GT - which has overall higher specs than the GT240, and i can only really play it on low/medium settings without a serious drop in FPS.

Having said that, for your budget, its a pretty good card - just dont expect to be able to play demanding games, thats all!
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Well thank you sir! You've been extremely helpful! I'll stick with the Corsair, and I'm probably not going to be doing any demanding gaming soon, so I'll stick with the original gpu as well. I'll just upgrade it if need be. I'll have the money for it by that time, I hope!
 
Cannibal Ox said:
I really have no idea, I probably should have considered that lol. Maybe I'll just go with Windows XP for the sake of convenience. I have a copy laying around. Really I just wanted to play around with ubuntu, but I'll just satiate my hunger for that elsewhere.
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Maybe you can, (downloaded) but there's hardly a label saying "games for ubuntu" on the discs is there? ;)
 
wellhellothere said:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Games
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fastdude101 said:
Wow. I always thought you put Linux on your system either if you were short on cash, or you were a programmer :P

There's quite a few decent titles there, I can't see CoD? :)
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Hmm...maybe what I'll do is partition the hard drive and game on windows and work with ubuntu. That way I'll have a middle ground for my gaming and ubuntu fixes. Ubuntu has got a decent variety of games, but I think I'll get more gaming support from Windows, especially with titles being constantly released as they are.
 
The 400w PSU should still be sufficient. I dont really know much about ATI cards, but it looks like you dont need the 12v supply to that one. I've build a couple of system's using that 400w Corsair, and its been more than enough.
 
@cannibal - For that price [Of the GPU] you could get a 5670 with DX11 support :good:

You can always upgrade later on if you feel the need for

POOOOOWER ;)
 
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