Well, my parents finally allowed me to buy a PC, so here I am again.

I don't technically have a limited budget but I'm going to university next year and I don't need the ultimate gaming PC of the year, so I'm hoping to keep it under $1200 USD.

What I want to do with the PC: Streaming (SCBW and SCII most likely). 3D modeling, programming, some audio work. Plus the usual stuff like listening to music, internet browsing. Honestly the only thing that will really need much performance that I plan on doing is streaming SCII, as the 3D stuff will mostly never be an issue on any modern processor.

Processor
I'm guessing for what I need, an i5 2500K will do just fine. I can overclock if needed but would like the PC to not die in the next 3-4 years, and I doubt I'd need the extra processing power. But if I do I can. With that in mind, I don't know anything about cooling and heatsinks and fans and heat paste, and would appreciate being told what to get for those.

Graphics card
No idea what to get; anything that can run SCII at ultra settings or whathaveyou, while having some graphical overlays, will be more than adequate.

RAM
I multitask a lot so 8GB is probably a good target but I can always start with 4GB and see if I need more or not. No idea what to buy.

Case, Motherboard, PSU, Monitor
I don't know what to get for these. For the case, I don't worry too much about how nice it looks, just as long as it's big enough and cool enough. PSU I'm guessing 500-600W is enough. Monitor, minimum 21inch, don't know anything about resolution. I don't like really massive monitors, so 21-23inch would be more than adequate.

Hard drive
I'd like to start with just an SSD, 128GB or more. I don't currently use much more than 80GB ever, so I don't plan on getting a larger HD till I need one.

Mouse, keyboard
I don't know much about mice, and don't even know if it's worth getting a gaming mouse over an ordinary cheap mouse. For keyboards, I'll probably get a mechanical one with cherry browns or blues, but I'll work that out myself. Brand advice would be nice but I'm happy to research that myself.

Don't need speakers or headphones, I'll probably get a Blue Snowball mic for recording, and have a headset mic already. Don't need a new mousepad. I'm not a brand fanboy, so don't worry about that.

I usually source parts from http://www.pricespy.co.nz as newegg doesn't ship to NZ. Having said that, I recently found out that I can get a US "address" which is run by the NZ post office and can get items sent to that ad then sent over here; if the price of parts on newegg is cheap enough to be worth doing that then that's an option, although it is something of a hassle. I don't plan on buying everything immediately.

For graphics, I'd go with the recently released GTX 660, or if you're not a fan of nVidia, the Radeon HD 7870. They will run SC2 quite well and won't kill your wallet.

Here's some cheap RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220738

The OCZ Agility 4 (256GB, 512GB) is one of the cheapest SSDs right now. If you have something against OCZ, I haven't had any issues with my Crucial M4.

You don't really need to overclock your 2500K; I didn't notice any performance difference when I took mine up to 4.5 GHz (though it did better when benching it, of course).

Gotta go to work, but there's at least a few things to mull over.

Edit: sorry for the Newegg links; I didn't see that last part until just now.

Wow, the prices of parts in NZ is pretty high. Are those $1200 in USD or NZD?

What is the rate of international shipping if you do the second method of having the NZ post office send it to you? A quick look through the pricing tells me that you will have a hard time getting a mechanical keyboard, a good monitor, and something that runs SC on Ultra for that budget.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Oct 3 2012, 5:22 pm by Aristocrat. Reason: oops

~$1200 USD, so about $1500 NZD.

http://www.nzpost.co.nz/products-services/postage-packaging/youshop/youshop-international-postage shipping in NZD. Priced by weight, so I might be better off getting the case and monitor here at the very least. Does newegg ship everything in one package if you order several things at once? If not, I'll be paying an extra $12.50 a package before even counting the weight.

If I do need to increase my budget, I can.

Jack, a word of warning about shipping via the NZ post option, particularly for high value parts like this. If you get thins on-shipped like that, you're liable to have to pay GST + duty + customs fee when the parcel arrives here. IIRC they tend to target all packages $400 and over.

Also I don't know why you'd bother with an on-shipping service like that, when we have plenty of USians in these forums that you should be able to trust to on-ship stuff cheaper than NZ Post will do it. The other benefit there is that these USians can mark the price on the package down, or send multiple smaller packages to get under the $400 limit, as well as mark the packages as Gifts - which don't attract duty (although customs can be suspicious and charge it anyway).

Reference:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/7664484/Buyers-can-face-hefty-tax-bills-on-online-deals
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/4793280/GST-and-duty-wrangle-heats-up-as-threshold-stays
http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/4370332/GST-review-threatens-tax-free-online-imports

Hmm, good point. Although the stuff from newegg would have to be fairly significantly cheaper to be worth shipping from overseas anyway.

I got you covered Jack.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD A8-3870K 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($109.98 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-A75-D3H ATX FM1 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($46.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial M4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($79.99 @ Microcenter)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($75.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Asus Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB Video Card ($244.98 @ NCIX US)
Sound Card: Asus Xonar DS 24-bit 192 KHz Sound Card ($60.34 @ Abes Of Maine)
Case: NZXT Gamma Classic (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 520W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($72.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS90 DVD/CD Writer ($16.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Asus VH236H 23.0" Monitor ($139.00 @ NCIX US)
Other: BitFenix Spectre All Black 120mm Case Fan ($9.99)
Other: BitFenix Spectre All Black 120mm Case Fan ($9.99)
Total: $997.20
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)


Did this as an AMD build. Although a lot of people in this section have been talking a lot of shit about AMD, I just got a job doing retail PC sales and repair at a store. And honestly, the AMD APUs are about what I expected from them. The prices are a lot lower and although they don't have Intel level performance they're still solid chips.

I can always re-do the build as an Intel one if need be, but i like it as it is.

Also I tried to do it on PCPartPicker for NZ and it kept erroring out on me. Maybe you'll have better luck.

Well, except for the case and monitor, I'll most likely be buying the parts in the USA and getting them shipped to either someone on SEN or one of the two American friends I have, and then get them to ship it to me via USPS. It's cheaper that way.

Anyone want to volunteer to be my shipping company?

I would if no one else would~
The nearest UPS is 2 minutes down the street. If you want it shipped by FedEx or another Postal Service, I can't help you.

Congrats on getting a 'proper' job.

He needs USPS, not UPS.

If you actually know the American friends it might be safer to do it with someone you would already trust (unless I am misunderstanding the situation, or you know them better than to do that). It might also be a good idea to send them to someone who can test the parts to make sure they aren't defective. It's a looot of time and money this way, and having to ship it back and forth probably wouldn't work out too well.

USPS*

This, and I won't put my hands on your expensive equipment, so I retract my offer

That's the same problem I'm having in considering this. xD I don't want that level of responsibility.

One of my friends probably wouldn't know enough to test the parts, and the other one definitely wouldn't. Sorry Generalpie but I don't know you well enough to trust you with this. Probably Ex is most qualified and trustworthy enough for me to be happy with, and I have a couple of other online friends who might be happy to do it.

This.
(Also yeah lol, tipped over a cup just now, thank god I have an absorbent mat on my workstation. All confidence lost x3)

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Oct 3 2012, 10:43 pm by Generalpie.

If you feel like covering the shipping costs Jack, I'd be happy to help. I have a car and all that so it'd be no trouble. I could build it, test it, tear it down, re-box it, and ship it off to you.

Get 2 separate disk drives. Pref one HDD and other an SSD.
Graphics above a 6870. Buy to fit an arbitrary budget.
ATI will perform better on most 3D modeling software, but only because nVidia gimps your performance on 3d modeling and GPU computing with Geforces.
Get a big monitor. I recommend getting a catleap, but I'm not sure how that works in NZ. I got mine for $310 and haven't gotten any surcharges yet.
Just an HDD, onboard sound, and perhaps some RAM.

I would almost certainly want to buy everything from NZ though.

SSD - http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=974936
PSU (price mistake??) - http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=449430
PSU - http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=538597

Why would you buy in NZ over the US, if I can get stuff cheaper if I ship it from the US? Safety?

Catleap is a bit expensive for what I need.

The NZXT Gamma is $109 NZD, including shipping. I can buy that now unless there are a few similiar alternatives that might be worth looking at for better prices.

Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on Oct 4 2012, 9:07 pm by Jack.

Honestly the Gamma was recommended because although it comes with like no fans, it has space for them, and is a cheap, solid case.

http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=759251
This Antec will do just fine but you'll need to throw some fans in it.

http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=199651
The Lexa has three in it already.

http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?e=807665
My best recommendation looking at pricespy, little pricey, but includes the fans, and Fractal makes some nice cases. I have the R3 and I love it.

Case fans in NZ seem to be very expensive for what they are. Not sure if that's the situation in the US or not though.