Building my first computer!

Hey I am going to build my first computer and I need a lot of help in picking out all of the parts. I am looking to build a gaming computer for games like Crysis, L4D2, and Starcraft 2, and also I need it to hold my music. My price range is $1000 to $1500. I don't need a ridiculous amount of hard drive space because I really don't download much from the internet. Here is what I have been thinking so far...

OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTXE120G 2.5" 120GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) ----- $220------ This will hold my OS and some of the games.

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive ----- $90-----taken over the 2TB because of higher rpm and cheaper cost than a 2TB with the same rpm.

Intel Core i7-2600K ---- $300---- great recommendation by Lilbuddy, reviews say that Sandybridge is awesome.

ASUS P8P67-M LGA 1155 Intel P67 Intel Motherboard ----- $130------- motherboard recommended by Lilbuddy Works with the processor and since I won't be overclocking, I think it should be fine.

Corsair CMX4GX3M1A1333C9 XMS3 4GB DDR3 RAM - PC10666, 1333MHz, 4096MB ---- Buying 2------- $100 ----- Great reviews, 8GB with both, and cheap enough to add more in the future if desired. Only question is if 1333MHz is fast enough.

EVGA 01G-P3-1366-TR GeForce GTX 460 SE Video Card - 1GB GDDR5, PCI-Express 2.0, Dual DVI, Mini HDMI 1.4, DirectX 11 ---- Buying 2 to SLI----$300---- Not positive on this one

Sound Card ---- ignoring for now, can be added in the future

NZXT M59-001BK M59 Gaming Mid Tower Case ---- $50 ------not sure if this case will do the job or not

DVDRW Drive ---$30

PSU ---- whatever is needed to support all of the above

Total so far $1220





So that leaves everything else, I am open to any and all suggestions on parts needed or parts that I have listed. Thanks for any help you can offer!

with that budget you can get a nice 890FX mobo, as for the ram I would said: 1600 C7 or maybe C6 if you can get it, the 1090T have a better IMC than Deneb so, that´s why I choose a diff specs of ram but always Corsair, which are the other componentes?

Thanks for the great recommendation!

I checked out the 890FX mobos you suggested and they look great, thanks for the great recommendation! I also checked the RAM that you mentioned, and I think I will go with the C7 because a couple of reviews said the C6 fan doesn't fit too well with ASUS mobos. As for the other specs, I still need preferably two video cards that will be compatible with an Asus 890FX mobo as well as an audio card. Any and all recommendations are welcome!

Dracula Punch said:

I checked out the 890FX mobos you suggested and they look great, thanks for the great recommendation! I also checked the RAM that you mentioned, and I think I will go with the C7 because a couple of reviews said the C6 fan doesn't fit too well with ASUS mobos. As for the other specs, I still need preferably two video cards that will be compatible with an Asus 890FX mobo as well as an audio card. Any and all recommendations are welcome!

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Not really a video expert but with an 890fx mobo the onboard audio is as good or better then any card you might get, there are can also be stuttering issues when adding a sound card. If your not remixing music just use the onboard.

$1,000 - $1,500 for all the parts like case, monitor, and all?

I'd look at something like the new Intel i7 2600k. You can get a combo with a board for $300 at Microcenter right now. Even if you went:

$300 - CPU & Motherboard
$80 - 6gb RAM
$230 - 120gb SSD
$80 - 2 TB HD
$30 - DVDRW Drive

$720 - Total before your case, GPU, and any extras.

Things I don't have

So I already have a monitor, in addition to what I have listed above, I still don't have the following which haven't been discussed


GPU
PSU
DVDRW
Sound Card -- I do plan to remix music so if anyone knows if the ASUS audio chip can already handle this, that would be greatly appreciated.

Also, thanks for the info on the Intel i7 lilbuddy, but unfortunately I don't have a microcenter anywhere nearby, and microcenter won't ship the i7 2600(at least according to what the website said). Also, from what I have seen, the 1090T while not as awesome as the i7, is still comparable in the gaming department. Thanks for the recommendation though, if it were cheaper I would be all over it.

Thanks for all of your replies and please keep making recommendations!

Well you can get the 2500K from Newegg for $225. A decent motherboard is about $200-300 depending on what you want on it. I'm an Intel fan though, the new Sandybridge stuff they just came out with today is pretty exciting.

As far as GPU goes I've been out of the game for so long, I'm still running a 8800GT from maybe 4 years ago and does exactly what I need it to do. I have no idea what the good stuff is now. I guess you have to decide how much you want to spend. You can get something pretty mid range for $150 or so or you can go crazy and up to $500 for the new 560 or whatever.

Do you want to OC this computer? Do you want to go all out with the OC or just turn it up a litte? These are pretty important questions you need to figure out. If you game lightly you should go with a more mid end GPU but if you game all the time and your budget allows go with a better GPU.

For the DVDRW....they are all about the same. If you want blu-ray player or blu-ray burner then you'll have to spend more and research more.

My opinion is blu-ray and SSD are still not mainstream enough to jump in yet for the extra costs. For HD I'd go with something bigger like a 2TB because the extra cost isn't much more. I'd also go for 6 or 8gb of RAM personally seeing as how you are spending $1,000+ on a computer so an extra $20 or $40 won't kill you.

You said that you wanted this rig for gaming, but are you planning on using SLI? If you are you're going to want to look at higher end power supplies as well and also if you're going to want them as modular or not. I'd recommend ABS. http://www.abs.com/
As far as GPU's go, I managed to catch a steal on two of the GTX 460's for 100 dollars a peice with mail-in rebate and then I SLI'd them and now BC2 runs smooth as butter. I was lucky when I went to Fry's Electronics that day. If you do in fact decide to SLI them, maybe not today or tomorrow but somewhere down the road, keep in mind how hot these cards get and if you overclock you're going to need an advantage on cooling. I would advise on looking at decent gaming cases, most are pretty accommodating to what you want to do, and obviously all the brilliant minds on this forum if you have any questions.
Happy Hunting!

Then I will need to pick out a different mobo

Lilbuddy, between you and some of my friends, you have sold me on the intel i7 2600. I read the stuff about Sandybridge and must say it is too tempting to resist. Also, what you said about the 2TB makes sense, so I will be changing that as well.

To answer the questions that everyone had, I don't plan to OC, if I do it will only be a little. Also I do plan to SLI. This now opens up the question of which mobo to get that will be compatible with the i7 2600. I play a decent amount of games, to the point where I do care about a high FPS and would like to run my games on the highest settings, with the exception of Crysis.

If you don't plan on OC'ing you can probably get a bit of a cheaper board like this Gigabyte http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128460 for $130.

Not to say you should get a 2TB or 8gb or Ram, both of which will cost you about $40 more each, because there is always an upgrade for $40 more that is better. I'm just saying if I was building a high end PC now I'd go 8gb for $80 instead of 4gb for $50.