Let's cut to the chase. I need a PC. I do things like 3d modeling so I need something high-end. I know a decent amount about computers but never built one before, so I'm having troubles choosing what to get. Particularly, the motherboard, video card and monitors. I just don't know what to look for really. For a budget....I'm looking for ~$2500 including dual monitors. And it needs wireless capability. And yes I've already made this topic at tested.com - I'm just looking for more opinions. So I'll list what I've kind of picked out so far, and if people could check it over and make some suggestions that'd be awesome.
Case:
EDIT - I think I've decided to go with an Antec 1200 Full-Size case for more space to work with on my first build. $161.
Motherboard:
EDIT - I'm gonna stick with the ASUS P6X58D. Seems to have really great reviews. Anymore more is a pretty big jump in price. $290.
CPU:
EDIT - I've decided to bump my CPU up a bit to the Intel Core i7-930. $290.
Video Card:
EDIT - As much as I hate to bite the cost, I might go up to a Radeon HD 5870 2GB. $480.
Memory:
EDIT - Corsair 3x2GB DDR3 1600. Still debating on if I should get two of these of not. One will put me at $175.
Hard Drive (x2):
EDIT - I'm gonna cut costs and save a bit by not getting a SSD. WD 1TB 7200rpm SATA 6Gb/s seems the way to go. Will need 2 eventually. So for two...$200.
Power Supply:
EDIT - Alright I think I've decided to go with a Corsair 750W Modular for easier cable management. $150.
Optical Drive:
EDIT - I decided to play it safe and just pay not too much more for a LG Blu-Ray reader combo. $110.
Operating System:
EDIT - Windows 7 Home 64-bit OEM version. Not 100% sure on retail/OEM differences but oh well. $100.
Monitors (x2):
EDIT - I don't have all the space in the world, and I don't know if I want to spend ~$600 for two ~25" monitors with 1920x1200. The one The ASUS 21.5" I picked out is ~22" with 1920x1080. I don't like the resolution drop, but it's also almost half the cost at $360 for 2.
Wireless Card:
EDIT - After looking through many headache-creating options, I settled on an ASUS PCI-N13 card which seems pretty decent. $27.
Keyboard:
EDIT - Cheap and basic while still being quality. Logitech Deluxe USB seems great. $20.
Mouse:
EDIT - I've used the DeathAdder for a few years now. Was thinking about the Abyssus, but I'll just go with what I know. $60.
TOTAL PRICE: $2,423. Give or take ~$75 depending on what has become or no longer is on sale by time I order.
Thanks in advance for any help. I took a lot of time creating this topic and researching everything so I'm not just another "HEY BUILD MY PC FOR ME." Hopefully this doesn't have the reverse effect and scare people away because of all the text. Since this is my first build, it's important to me that I order everything right. Please make as many suggestions as possible, even if it means basically replacing multiple parts I've chosen.
EDIT - Scroll down a bit to my 3rd post for my new questions.
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The Help TripMasterMunky Build a High-End PC Topic
Antec 900 doesn't have good cable management. I'm suggesting this one, that's what I would use, however it's only a suggestion, it's your choice.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119213&cm_re=haf-_-11-119-213-_-Product
Good choice on the mobo, the psu is the same one I have 750 watts is cutting it close incase you want to tri sli. I doubt you would, or maybe even sli, nvidia cards lately draws alot of power even if your going with ati. I'm just saying it's a good psu, however it's something to consider. However if it's only an sli mobo, you can't use two ati cards with it, only two nvidia cards. I don't know for sure about that mobo, it's something to keep in mind.
Good choice on the i7, that's what i'll probally be going with. However you need to overclock it past 3.2Ghz or high as you can like near 4 Ghz if you can. You would need to buy a good cpu heatsink, others can provide you with a better suggestion for that.
Usually ppl uses the SSD for their main drive for their operating system and get a ton of 1TB (black drive for games) or 2TB (green for storage) However those green drives is only 5400RPM which is slower and not that good for gaming.
I don't like seagate hardrives since I think they always make clicking noises and breaks down easily. Maybe go with western digital which are kind of loud. I always use samsung spinpoint hardrives, not sure if that's fast enough, that's why I don't recommend it.
For the monitor why not just get an led monitor, the samsung 23" (leds are light, hope it doesn't get bumped off the table or move around alot)
Why do I recommend a bigger monitor? I noticed over the years pc gaming with a smaller monitor, my vision got worst staring at something so close and small. I use a 40" hdtv as a monitor now, I am saying a 20" monitor is way too small, get like a 24" at least monitor if you can, you will get used to it in a few days and wondered how you could of lived without it.
There are blue ray drives that reads blue ray, however writes dvds. I mean if you have a blue ray movie, you can watch it on your pc with vlc media player or whatever else ppl uses. I say it's a good suggestion, I would get that, I don't think a blu ray writer is necessary thoiugh, not everything can read the data.
Lachesis sort of sucks btw, it's really unconfortable, it depends on your hands. Maybe the razor imperator might be good, maybe logitec mouse like the G9 (heard the grip does wear out over time) or whatever they use these days like the G500.
The gpu isn't cheap, however cheaper nvidias stuff, even if I like nvidia more, it does product alot of heat. You will be missing features like cuda and physX which I really like. However with such power, you don't ever need to worry about framerates and the heat is okay, same with power consumption.
| Part | Build |
|---|---|
| Motherboard | ASUS Maximus III Extreme |
| Processor | Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition 975 Processor - 3.33GHz |
| Ram | Corsair 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz |
| Graphic | XFX Radeon HD 5970 |
| PSU | AXLE ATX PC Computer Power Supply 700 Watt |
| Hard drive | Transcend TS32GSSD25-M 32GB 2.5 Inch Internal SSDMLC (IDE) + Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1.5 TB 3.5-inch Hard Drive (7200 RPM, 32 MB Cache) |
| DVD drive | Lg Gh22np20 Auaa50b 22x Dvdrw Bare Black |
| Case | CM Storm Sniper case |
| Total | €2,321.58 give or take current exchange rates |
MB: ASUS boards are solid. Good call. I have a Rampage 2 Extreme; I was debating a P6.
CPU: Core i7 920 is solid. I've had it, and it's great. Far better than the Core 2 Quads. And I haven't had good experiences with AMD.
GPU: NVidia is again falling behind on the GPU race. While I have a GTX 260 in my own, I'd highly recommend the ATi 5000 series cards right now. Hitman is describing SLI, which is Nvidia's multi-GPU system. ATi has an equivalent in CrossFireX.
RAM: You won't need more than 6GB for a long while. Trust me. I overshot to 9GB myself. And my computer has yet to run at that capacity.
HDD: Dump the SSD. It's meaningless on a desktop, because the likelihood of you destroying your computer is negligible. With little space, little reason and ridiculous cost, just buy regular HDDs. You should know, anyway, when your HDD is dying, and that'll take a while anyhow. And I've never been a personal fan of installing the OS on a separate drive. I use multiple drives for backup and long term storage/archiving.
PSU: 750W should carry this. My computer is similar, and has only 500W (yes, I'm in the market for a new one). Unless you're SLI/Crossfiring, you don't need more.
BD Drive: Simple. Do you have a PS3? If yes, then no. If no, then yes. But if you have spare money, yes.
OS: This is obvious. If you have lots of legacy applications (95, 98, 2000, XP only), I'd get Professional; if not, just get Home Premium. Pro has XP embedded, so you shouldn't have legacy issues. OEM is fine, by the way. Unless you feel like buying retail to move the installs around.
Monitors: I have that exact one. It does the job.
Wireless Card: Go with the Asus USB-N13. I had a tough time finding an internal card, and just gave up. One of my friends was ridiculously unsatisfied with his internal N-card, and told me to go USB. I've had no problems since.
Keyboard: I have a Razer Arctosa. It's excellent. But I'm cheap. If you want a better one, I'd recommend their classier model. I'm blanking on its name, but search their website.
Mouse: Razer's products are reliable, so I'd assume their mice are good to. I have a crappy OEM Dell optical mouse from an old PC on mine, which is in urgent need of replacing. If not, Microsoft's wireless mice are pretty good too.
Okay, I'm just going to give general comments rather than a specific build so I hope that's okay with you.
Case: If you want something with " plenty of space to stick my hands in there assembling my first PC" you need to go with a full tower. Mid tower cases are quite cramped in my opinion and unsuitable for most higher end builds. Fan favorites are the Antec 1200 and Cooler Master HAF 932 (or alternatively, the HAF X which was just released). To give you a point of reference I'm using a micro ATX board in a HAF 932 and I still find some parts relatively hard to reach.
Motherboard: Isn't really that important unless you're going for extreme overclocking. Just make sure it's from a good company and it's compatible with what you want to work with. USB 3.0 and SATA III don't hurt if you're getting a new mobo either, though they're not really that necessary yet. Make sure it works with your processor, has enough PCIe 2.0x16 lanes, the correct memory slots etc.
CPU: Intel Core i7 920 or 930 are solid choices for any productivity or gaming task. I believe the higher ones just have higher multipliers, which isn't that important unless you're overclocking.
Video Card: The 5870 is pretty much the overall best choice for a high end video card right now. But keep in mind Nvidia cards have CUDA technology so look at what you want to work with first before purchasing. Also, basically, VRAM is just dedicated RAM for the video card, yes. At the current moment 1GB is enough for most applications but I would opt for the 2GB version, especially if you're doing 3D modeling. More often than not games and applications choke on memory more than anything else when running at high resolution or with high resolution textures. For instance, the GTX 295 suffered from this problem prominently; though being the fastest card of its time, it often dropped to very low framerates or didn't work at all at higher resolutions due to its relatively small 896MB memory buffer.
Memory: You don't need to spend much money for normal everyday applications and most games. You do need a lot of memory for 3D modelling type work. For instance the 6GB DDR3 on my system is easily saturated when I open protein folding applications; high-end productivity tasks require ALOT of memory. I would go with 8GB or 12GB depending on what platform you'll be running it on (LGA 1156 or LGA 1366, respectively). Also keep in mind that LGA 1156 requires dual channel DDR3 RAM while LGA 1366 requires tri-channel DDR3 RAM.
Hard Drive: SSDs are a tricky choice right now, even if you have the money. The main problem is it's a technology in its infancy and both speed and storage can easily double or triple within a year's time. Your current firmware could also become outdated quite quickly. In general, SSDs only shave some time off of loading times as their primary draw, so if a few seconds or minutes a day is valuable to you then you can buy a small one for OS and main programs. For me personally, I'm a storage hound so I would much rather buy an extra TB or two rather than spend the money on an SSD. In regards to failure rates, all HDDs have similar MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures), which is about 10 years, so any difference between high and low capacity HDDs is negligible. You should definitely get at least a 1TB Drive for backup regardless of your configuration though.
Power: 750W is adequate for 99% of the systems out there, and certainly for a system running only one graphics card. Corsair is pretty much the best brand in power supplies, so going with one of their TX or HX models is a safe bet.
Optical Drive: Just get a normal DVD/CD Read/Writer and buy a PS3 :P
OS: Basically the OEM version is just without the packaging. At least that's been my experience.
Monitor: There's quite a lot of good TN monitors out there at that size and resolution, but you may consider one with an IPS Panel instead. You will get superior viewing angles and color uniformity. I'm not sure how important image quality is to a 3D modeller, but just in case it is I would recommend the NEC EA231WMI 1080p IPS monitor.
Wireless card: I'm not as familiar with wireless tech so I'll let someone else help you with that.
Keyboard: Not that important, almost any $20 one from Microsoft or Logitech will do. If you want one with a bit of bling, go with the Saitek Eclipse II.
Mouse: All mice, even the most expensive and high end ones, have their flaws. Look for one with a lot of positive critic or user reviews and go with that. The main companies you should look for are Logitech, Microsoft, Razer and Steelseries. For particular models you could consider the Logitech MX Revolution or G500, Microsoft Sidewinder X8, Razer Imperator or Mamba, or Steelseries Xai or Ikaru.
Damn, I just realized all of my links never copied over right. Sorry about that. I just fixed them all so it's a lot easier to see what I was talking about. And thanks for the people breaking down suggestions by category, that's really helpful and exactly what I was looking for.
@HitmanAgent47: Oooh, very nice case. I might actually be learning more towards that one now.
@Aus_azn: Hmm maybe I'll just stick with 6GB RAM for now. I can always upgrade easily. As for as internal wireless cards (now that I fixed the links) - have you seen that one? Seems legit. I guess I'm not opposed to USB devices but I just assumed an internal would be better. I'll still check it out though.
@Geno: Alright, I'll stick at looking at full tower cases. The HAF posted above looks nice as well as the Antec 1200. Hard to choose. I kinda like the subtlety of the 1200. And yeah I was basically just look at an SSD for faster boot and start times for applications. Maybe I'll think about dropping it though. Could save me $200 that I could put towards the video card instead. I'll definitely look at a card that has 2GB of memory then instead of 1GB.
Internal wireless cards, as far as my experience goes, do not seem to get great reception or transfer speeds. My USB one is consistently at 270.0Mbps, which is enough for me to do what I need to do. When travelling, I use it over my laptop's internal card, and have no problems holding onto a signal at range.
Depending on your graphics needs, you might want more GPU RAM. When I built my computer, I was contemplating the GTX260 or the 9800GT(X?), the latter having 1GB while the former had 896MB. I have honestly noticed no difference when compared to my buddy's 9800. Since you are seeking a multi-monitor setup, GPU RAM may become a concern. I still have no problem running dual 1080p monitors on my 260.
And one last question. On my motherboard, for the 3 PCIe slots, I noticed in the picture one of them is white. What does that mean?
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