Gonna order parts for my first build soon! How does this look to you guys?

[ribozyme]

BYE BYE DX8 ;D

This is going to be my gaming and general use computer.  My number one concern is that everything is compatible, but if you guys have any other suggestions I would love to here em. 

A few things to note: Keyboard and OS are already covered.  PSU is a little bigger than I need, but should allow room for upgrades plus it gave me a good deal on the graphics card.

Final pricetag will be around $1200 USD.

[zaneyard]

I'm still under the impression that Intel is not the way to go right now because they are making a new socket type every ten days.
Aside from that everything looks fine, although personally I love my Samsung display.
My biggest concern is that you might have problems fitting that GPU in that case. Spend the extra 50 bucks and get a nice Coolermaster case. You'll thank yourself during the build, and you'll thank yourself when your computer stays frigid cold.

[Vlambo]

or Antec. Rosewill is not the best name when it comes to cases.

I have this one myself. It stays hella cool and has plenty of room

[KarthXLR]

got an i5 myself and love it, I'd stay with it.

[Eightball]

It looks fine, my only comment is that you seem to be spending more than you need to. Here are some alternatives to some of your parts, consider them and keep in mind that I'm a complete idiot and don't know what I'm talking about.

For your PSU, spending $115 for 750W seems a wee bit high. This one is $50 cheaper for 700W, and seems to have as good of a track record. Then again, there are many more options too, I'm guessing you chose the one you did for a reason. I personally always thought PSUs were too expensive.

Your memory, hard drive, and processor all seem fine (though I know nothing about i3 and i5 processors). I don't know jack shit about what makes a good mobo so Imma say you're fine there too. I'm pretty sure you can get cheaper DVD burners but at this point you'd only be saving a few bucks, so whatever.

Your video card seems pretty high-end. I personally like to cut back on video cards a bit when I build new rigs, since they're the part that will become outdated the fastest and will therefore be the first part you replace. Plus, once you get above about $200 in cost, the performance increase per dollar spent really drops. I would recommend something in the range of $150-200, maybe something like this? I recommended a similar card to Liquid not too long ago. For reference, I only spent ~$175 on my graphics card when I built my current computer (total build cost of about $1400), and it's holding its own against any game I can throw at it--max resolution (1680x1050), maximum graphic settings and maybe 2x or 4x antialiasing. You probably don't need to spend $300.

Dunno what to say about your case, it's entirely preferential and I know people (other than versus) that completely eschewed a case. It looks fine.

[[fr31ns]Karrde]

It looks fine, my only comment is that you seem to be spending more than you need to. Here are some alternatives to some of your parts, consider them and keep in mind that I'm a complete idiot and don't know what I'm talking about.

For your PSU, spending $115 for 750W seems a wee bit high. This one is $50 cheaper for 700W, and seems to have as good of a track record. Then again, there are many more options too, I'm guessing you chose the one you did for a reason. I personally always thought PSUs were too expensive.

Your memory, hard drive, and processor all seem fine (though I know nothing about i3 and i5 processors). I don't know jack shit about what makes a good mobo so Imma say you're fine there too. I'm pretty sure you can get cheaper DVD burners but at this point you'd only be saving a few bucks, so whatever.

Your video card seems pretty high-end. I personally like to cut back on video cards a bit when I build new rigs, since they're the part that will become outdated the fastest and will therefore be the first part you replace. Plus, once you get above about $200 in cost, the performance increase per dollar spent really drops. I would recommend something in the range of $150-200, maybe something like this? I recommended a similar card to Liquid not too long ago. For reference, I only spent ~$175 on my graphics card when I built my current computer (total build cost of about $1400), and it's holding its own against any game I can throw at it--max resolution (1680x1050), maximum graphic settings and maybe 2x or 4x antialiasing. You probably don't need to spend $300.

Dunno what to say about your case, it's entirely preferential and I know people (other than versus) that completely eschewed a case. It looks fine.

You throw Metro 2033 at it? ;P

[ribozyme]

Karrde link=topic=4683.msg156753#msg156753 date=1275979619]
[quote author=Eightball link=topic=4683.msg156750#msg156750 date=1275979226]
It looks fine, my only comment is that you seem to be spending more than you need to. Here are some alternatives to some of your parts, consider them and keep in mind that I'm a complete idiot and don't know what I'm talking about.

For your PSU, spending $115 for 750W seems a wee bit high. This one is $50 cheaper for 700W, and seems to have as good of a track record. Then again, there are many more options too, I'm guessing you chose the one you did for a reason. I personally always thought PSUs were too expensive.

Your memory, hard drive, and processor all seem fine (though I know nothing about i3 and i5 processors). I don't know jack shit about what makes a good mobo so Imma say you're fine there too. I'm pretty sure you can get cheaper DVD burners but at this point you'd only be saving a few bucks, so whatever.

Your video card seems pretty high-end. I personally like to cut back on video cards a bit when I build new rigs, since they're the part that will become outdated the fastest and will therefore be the first part you replace. Plus, once you get above about $200 in cost, the performance increase per dollar spent really drops. I would recommend something in the range of $150-200, maybe something like this? I recommended a similar card to Liquid not too long ago. For reference, I only spent ~$175 on my graphics card when I built my current computer (total build cost of about $1400), and it's holding its own against any game I can throw at it--max resolution (1680x1050), maximum graphic settings and maybe 2x or 4x antialiasing. You probably don't need to spend $300.

Dunno what to say about your case, it's entirely preferential and I know people (other than versus) that completely eschewed a case. It looks fine.

You throw Metro 2033 at it? ;P
[/quote]

nVidia cards handle it better from everything I've read.


And yeah you are right Eightball, the PSU and graphics card are the two things I agonized the most about.  I ended up choosing that PSU because it is $50 dollars off if you buy it with that graphics card, but I guess that's moot if you can get a similar one for $50 cheaper.

More agonizing! 

[zaneyard]

got an i5 myself and love it, I'd stay with it.

It's not that it's not a nice processor or anything; it's that Intel seems to be pulling out a new socket for each new line of processors. What good is a motherboard that doesn't have any capability to be upgraded?
I could be wrong, but I thought I read somewhere that one of the socket types is a dead end for the most part.

[KarthXLR]

[quote author=Karth del Top Hat link=topic=4683.msg156749#msg156749 date=1275978587]
got an i5 myself and love it, I'd stay with it.

It's not that it's not a nice processor or anything; it's that Intel seems to be pulling out a new socket for each new line of processors. What good is a motherboard that doesn't have any capability to be upgraded?
I could be wrong, but I thought I read somewhere that one of the socket types is a dead end for the most part.
[/quote]
i guess that my view on it is that my processor is hopefully the last thing I'll need to replace on my computer. As Eightball said earlier, the GPU is what's outdated the fasted and most likely the first upgrade.

But also, for build noobs, the i5 was stupidly easy to install. After I had finished, I said "Wait, that's it?".

[Didzo]

My AMD CPU was stupidly easy to install, aside from the force needed to get the cooler on. AMD is also more upgrade friendly as far as motherboards go and gives you more bang for the buck.

Also, I would like to second the concerns over the case. Get a CoolerMaster case instead. The Antec cases seem to be good as well.



Stick with the graphics card unless if money is an issue.

You want nice graphics now, drop the cash and stick with it. No use going from a mediocre card now to another mediocre card n two years saying "but it'll just be obsolete next year so why spend money" and end up with mediocre graphics FOREVARRRRRRRRRR.

[Versus]

go intel unless you're planning on spending less than $800 on your comp, which is obviously not what you're doing. i've gone amd my past two builds and regretted it

You want nice graphics now, drop the cash and stick with it.

max resolution (1680x1050), maximum graphic settings and maybe 2x or 4x antialiasing.

that sounds like nice graphics

edit: not necessarily disagreeing with didzo, that 5850 looks pretty nice. definitely don't cheap out on a case. either spend $0 on a case or spend...well, more than that rosewill, jesus christ.

[Didzo]

1980x1080 > 1680x1050

[copulatingduck]

dont buy a raidmax psu theyre complete turds

this one is only $95, $80 after MIR with promo code EMCYTYW39

[Dtrain323i]

1980x1080 > 1680x1050

I <3 my 1980x1080 monitor

[Darklink]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as..._-24009222

ya, but the viewsonic is only like $50 more than the one you chose and way better:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...-_-Product

[zaneyard]

go intel unless you're planning on spending less than $800 on your comp, which is obviously not what you're doing. i've gone amd my past two builds and regretted it

I've gone AMD on my past three builds and have not regretted it

[quote author=Didzo link=topic=4683.msg156768#msg156768 date=1275988384]
1980x1080 > 1680x1050

I <3 my 1980x1080 monitor
[/quote]
I love my 1920x1200 samsung display

[Surf314]

I went AMD and it is ok except for memory controllers. Intel can handle much faster RAM speeds than AMD even with the newest chipsets. Some mobos can cover the gap though.

[copulatingduck]

ive also been on both sides of the intel/amd fence before, and all i have to say is that zaneyard is an idiot. when is the last time someone tried to upgrade "just the processor." The socket argument is kind of dumb, just because by the time peeps need a new cpu, they need a new everything, thereby nullifying that sad excuse to go amd

[[fr31ns]Karrde]

The only quasi valid anti-intel socket arguement that I can find is if you need more than one PCIe 2.0/2.1 device at x16.  But chances are if you're doing that, you're going to be spending more than the average user anyway and could afford an LGA 1366 situation.

[zaneyard]

ive also been on both sides of the intel/amd fence before, and all i have to say is that zaneyard is an idiot. when is the last time someone tried to upgrade "just the processor." The socket argument is kind of dumb, just because by the time peeps need a new cpu, they need a new everything, thereby nullifying that sad excuse to go amd

You know what, duck is right. The processor is the most under-utilized thing in a computer unless you're encoding video/audio.
Might as well just get a dual core.

Here's an argument for AMD
Not only does the 965 perform better in benchmarks, it's cheaper, and the motherboard (high end asus) was cheaper.