Thinking about building my next computer and trying to decide on a cpu, motherboard, video card, and case. I'll be doing some medium gaming and video editing so I want it to have some power. My budget is around $800 and definitely less than $1000. What do you guys suggest. I'm most interested in those 4 components but if you have the time to recommend all of them I'd appreciate it.
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I reject your reality and substitute my own. -
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It's been a while since I built a system, but I found several web sites which provided good info: Sharky Extreme, AnandTech, and Tom's Hardware.Comment
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I should add that the total does not include the hard drive. Already have 1 ssd for the main and 2 2-TB hard drives.I reject your reality and substitute my own.Comment
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Mac Mini with BF savings...Comment
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I should add it has to be a windows based PC. Saw this on slickdeals. What do you think? Dell also has a promo of get $75 gift card when you buy a $400 or more gift card. And supposedly it's stackable. So buying 2 $400 gc = free $150 gc. I'll want to change the video card but with the savings it's still well in my budget. Base price before gift cards is $700.
http://configure.us.dell.com/dellsto...Cfw0_0_0_0_m2h
3rd Generation Intel Core i7 3770 Ivy Bridge Processor 3.40GHz
8GB DDR3 1600
1TB 7200RPM HDD
1GB AMD Radeon HD 7570
16X DVD+/-RW
Dell Wireless 1703 802.11b/g/n
Bluetooth v4.0+LE
Windows 8
Inputs
4x USB 2.0
2x USB 3.0
HDMII reject your reality and substitute my own.Comment
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It's really, really, hard to beat the pricing on Tiger Direct barebones bundles. Figure out generally what you want, then watch their site daily for the best deal. They will drop prices on one of them every week or so, and sell a bundle for 60% or so of what you would pay for the parts if you shopped carefully.
I would definitely get an SSD for the main drive, the speed difference is substantial, both in boot time and operation time. Read the reviews to help select the type and volume of SSD - there are significant speed differences within the category.
Keep in mind, too, that for gaming and video, it's all about the GPU and video card, the CPU is almost immaterial. IF the applications you are using have been rewritten as parallel code to use multiple cores, a multi-core processor may be to your advantage. If not, single cores are faster per processor than multi-cores, so you might want a faster single core.
For multi-cores, AMD has a significant architectural advantange in their Bulldozer processor, resulting in significantly higher performance. However, Intel intentionally tweaks their compilers to degrade performance of their competition, so whether you will actually see the performance boost depends on what compiler the programmers who developed your applications used, and whether they are aware of and motivated to fix this constraint. In addition, the specific operations the application uses can have a huge impact on performance and cause one processor to achieve higher throughput than another. If you do want more detailed analysis, see Fog's website, but be aware it is very detailed and written for computer experts.
If you are not and don't want to become a computer expert, the best thing to do is find benchmarks for the specific applications you will be using, ideally benchmarked over different processors. That's the easiest way to assess the real impact of processor choice for your applications.
Once you have the system, there are a number of parameters that can signficantly affect performance, such as ganged/unganged memory, etc. Tweak the settings carefully.--------------------------------------------------
Electrical Engineer by day, Woodworker by nightComment
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My computer building experience has taught me a few things:
1. It is easy to eat up a budget very quickly with this part that is $5 more and that part that is $10 more.
2. It is unfortunate that those $5 more and $10 more parts often do improve the computer.
3. The motherboard is one of the biggest factors. When you build it yourself, you can always upgrade parts, but if you upgrade a motherboard - the processor and memory often need to be upgraded with it at the very least.
What do you use your computer for? I have not built a computer in a few years, but I've always kind of leaned toward AMD products - they seem to always come out cheaper for equal power chips, or slightly more powerful chips. I think Intel has more cutting edge stuff, but I have never needed it. It's been a few years and last I knew Intel was really pulling ahead of AMD on things - so this may not be the case anymore, I don't know.
It sounds like you have a budget that will allow for a pretty awesome setup, since it doesn't include the harddrives - but I would buy the best motherboard you can and build from there. By best I don't necessarily mean most cutting edge. I mean you should find something that is the most stable board you can find with built-in room for upgrades.
Again, I don't know what the current hardware specs are, but a good example is when they first come out with a new chip. The newer chipset may offer a little less power than the older chipset in a price range, but I'd go with a board with the newer chipset and processor with slightly less processing power so that I could have upgradability through the life of the new chipset rather than buying into a design that is soon outdated. (I hope that makes sense.) The one exception to this gets back to your use - if you absolutely need the processing power, then you gotta have it....
Finally, buy a good case and power supply. For most people's uses, not including hard-drives, I could build a pretty stable, reliable and fast computer for $400-500 that would be great for them. A very good case and power supply are often overlooked - but they can be reused if they are of quality and will limit you in upgrades later on if they are not of quality.
Oh, and of course - don't forget the operating system usually costs a little over $100.
*Edit - ignore my questions about use - I see you have clearly stated that in your original post. I sometimes have comprehension issues
F#$@ no good piece of S#$% piece of #$@#% #@$#% #$@#$ wood! Dang. - Me woodworkingComment
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Look at Tigerdirect.com and take a peek at their Core i7 Barebones offerings. You can get an awful lot of computer these days for a grand. Heck you can get a lot of computer for $500.00!Please like and subscribe to my YouTube channel. Please check out and subscribe to my Workshop Blog.Comment
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Pricewatch is
A good site to go to for pricing.I am in shape. Round is a shape!Comment
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No body mentioned the power supply or a cooling system.
I am not knowledgeable enough to recommend one over another but I do know that if you choose either an inadequate power supply or an inadequate cooling system all of your potential savings are lost.Comment
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The barebones boxes will provide ample power supplies for the task. However if replacing, or wanting to build a silent box for say Audio studio work, I would start with an Antec Sonata III case,
OEM cooling fans / heat sinks are often controlled by a fan speed controller on the main board now, meaning quiet operation under normal conditions. The heat sinks are optimized for the chip, so no big deal there.
FWIW, my Windows XP box is old now, running an original Antec Sonata case w/ Antec 500w silent power supply, and I believe it is a Thermaltake heat sink with a speed controlled 120mm fan. I built it way back when for recording through my M-Audio duo USB. But tech has changed a LOT since then. You just don't see too many AGP slots any more you know?
Anyway, that box has been running cool, and quiet since 2003, I probably ought to replace it, just haven't wanted to yet...Please like and subscribe to my YouTube channel. Please check out and subscribe to my Workshop Blog.Comment
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There are a lot of prebuilt computers that will play games, especially with a power supply and video card upgrade. You will get a better pc if you build it yourself, to around the recommended specs of the game, to get the settings you want. It is a matter of justification of cost verses use, and what graphics settings you will accept.
I have three games I would like to play. No time to do it and I don't plan on spending the money for the little amount I might (bought Guild Wars years ago, and probably have played it less then 10 times, Not sure since the second one is out, if it is still playable or not)She couldn't tell the difference between the escape pod, and the bathroom. We had to go back for her.........................Twice.Comment
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I'm a fan of PC Power and Cooling http://www.pcpowercooling.com/products/
Not cheap, but I've never had a failure with one of their supplies.Bob
Bad decisions make good stories.Comment
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