I'm considering building another PC and am looking for some help. My price range for this particular one is ~800$ though that's subject to change; I just recently decided I wanted to embark on this journey so I haven't had time to search for parts yet. I haven't built one completely from the ground up before so some assistance would be appreciated.

Any suggestions?

US or CA? What games will you be playing? Monitor/Speakers/Keyboard/Mouse? Special requests?

First of all, are there any existing parts you are going to use instead of purchasing something new? (like monitor, speakers, keyboard, mouse, or any other parts)

edit:
lol, beat me to asking about those. You even mentioned them in the exact same order. lol

Sorry SF, I've ninja'd just about everyone so far, even got IP. I dunno if I've gotten Moose yet.

I really hope he at least has monitor/speakers as those really kill the price tag, but then again, I always go for 24" and up and 5.1 and up.

There are some 21.5" 1920x1080 monitors around $150 to $160 at the moment, though.

Btw, I have one of that size and resolution, and despite the text size being smaller than the typical resolution I used on my 17" CRT (1024x768 is what I usually used), for some reason I still usually read from farther away on it.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Jun 17 2009, 2:22 am by ShadowFlare.

800$ towards the actual tower, monitor/keyboard/mouse/speakers are after thoughts at this point, although help picking a new monitor for it would be appreciated.

US.

Ok, I got it to 830$ after tax and ship, I would've cut further, but it's a really nicely balanced build right now, and I didn't want to cut any corners. (I already cut the case down a notch.)

First off, monitor suggestion (not included in price): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236033 Large size, large resolution, low latency. Great gaming monitor, I highly recommend it.

Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119152
I have the RC690, the 590 is really the same case with a little different look and no bottom intake fan. Considering its 20$ less than the 690, you aren't losing much and you're still getting a great case.

HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136320
The WD Caviar Blacks are extremely fast, get them.

DVD Drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106276
Simpel and SATA, no ugly ribbon cables.

RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231166
4GB of G.Skill. 1066 spec with nice timings. Good for OCing.

Mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131335
Threw the normal SE version of this board in a build for DarkMarine and Darkling, they're very happy with it. ASUS is quality and it has plenty of OC options.

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037
E8400, a beast at stock, a monster overclocked.

CPU Cooler: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233003
Xigma's cooler has gotten great reviews, I know a few people who have their E8xxxs under these, very happy with them.

GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131148
I have an ASUS 4870 1GB myself, very happy with it.

PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371015
A lovely Antec PSU.

Thermal Compound: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835202006
OCZ Freeze outperforms Silver 5 and MX-2.

This is the monitor I have, btw: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236051

I couldn't say whether the picture quality is different or about the same, as I don't have the other to compare it with. Feature-wise, they look like they are similar (besides the size and the small difference in max resolution and lack of web cam).

I've been reviewing your build, Excalibur, for a couple hours and it looks pretty dang solid. I don't think I'll end up overclocking though. I also think I'll go for the monitor Shadowflare suggested. Thanks.

I'm not sure how much I want to invest in headphones, a friend suggested these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826106158, though they seem a little on the expensive side. I'm not sure how much is worth putting into headphones to get good quality, I've had terrible luck with headphones failing in the past.

Do you always discover a new thermal compound that's cheaper and better than the last one, every once in a while?

Every time I go to the Anandtech forums I learn something new.

As far as similar monitors from the same company, there are also these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236053 - Don't know if it is a newer model or older model than the one I mentioned or just another model they make. It does have S/PDIF out available for the HDMI audio.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236052 - 23.6" version of the above mentioned monitor with S/PDIF.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236049 - 23.6" version of the one I mentioned in my above post.

As far as the differences between these "2" versions and "6" versions, the "6" versions may just be ones that are some kind of "gaming versions" ? The "6" versions do say 2ms GTG for the response time in the specs instead of saying 5ms (without GTG after it). It could mean that they have some kind of overdriving to reduce motion blur in the mid-tones.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Jun 17 2009, 11:04 pm by ShadowFlare.

Thanks again to both of you for the help. I've been going over keyboard/mouse/speakers lastly and I believe I've got it figured out. At this point I am likely to go for the set up you've presented me with, Ex, with a few tweaks. I'm trying to be as cost effective as I can for what I'm getting; in your opinion, if I wanted to skimp where would I do it and would it justify the difference in cost to the difference in performance?

If you're willing to overclock, you could move down to an E7xxx like the E7400 with minimal performance loss. It really isn't hard to do.
If you don't mind a small performance loss you could probably do a 4870 512mb instead of a 1GB but you will see a performance hit at higher resolutions or very very intense games like GTA IV. Since the card I picked was out of stock I went with this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161269 which is a little cheaper, the http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131140 which is a 512mb is cheaper still.

You said 'a few tweaks' which worries me. Let me make a few things perfectly clear:
If you picked an NV GPU you made a mistake. Anandtech just released their GPU buying guide for June and there isn't a single NV card on it.
If you picked an Antec case, you made a mistake. Trendy shitty 'PC hipster' cases. All form, no function. Buying an Antec case is tattooing 'I know nothing about PCs' on your forehead.
If you picked a cheaper no-name brand PSU, you made a mistake. I hope you like your motherboards fried, not scrambled.

Those are common mistakes people are making in today's market. I figured I'd try and cover all the bases.

By few tweaks I meant from http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131148 to http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150394 because the former went out of stock. I was also going to get a different DVD player, but the one you posted came back in stock.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161269 is cheaper than the XFX, though the XFX probably has a better warranty.

A little follow-up- I did get this build, set it up yesterday and it is working beautifully.

Glad you're enjoying it. Maybe take some pics of the guts and such?

My friend is considering a new desktop and he sent me all the specifications. I was wondering what you guys thought of his choice and what I could suggest to him to improve it. I figured I didn't need to make an entire new thread so I'm just writing off my old one:

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115215
MOBO: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128401
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231282
HD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148445
DVD Burner: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106291
PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371026
SoundCard etc.: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102015
Monitor: Asus 21.5" 1080p 5ms
Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129061 (yeah Antec, I know you hate it Ex)
Keyboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823109069
Mouse: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826105169
Mouse Pad: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826999054
CPU Cooler: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065
GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130433
Thermal Paste http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100007

i5 systems are NOT worth the money right now. He should be doing an LGA775 build with a Q9550 and saving money until Sandy Bridge arrives. If he absolutely needs this PC now then go 775 with it. If he can wait, he really should.

From the looks of that build, he knows nothing about computers himself, only knows what biased fanboys tell him, and wastes money on things that are flashy rather than what performs well. You tell him I said that too.

Just to be nice, I'll re-do it in a less money wasting fashion that will offer the exact same real world performance if not better:
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115041 (Choosing not to waste money on a bad platform.)
Mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128359 (Choosing not to waste money on a bad platform.)
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220426 (Choosing not to waste money on a bad platform.)
HD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319 (Faster than his choice.)
DVD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106291
PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371015 (He was over powering and over paying. Fixed.)
Sound: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102015 (What a fucking waste of money.)
Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112154 (Not CM but not Antec either. For what he was paying it was easy to find a Lian Li for cheaper. And everyone knows Lian Li > every other company in the case business.)
Keyboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823109069 (What a fucking waste of money. I BET HE PLAYS CS MAN, HE'S SO HARDCORE!)
Mouse: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826105169
Mouse Pad: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826999054 (What a fucking waste of money.)
CPU Cooler: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233023 (He obviously knows dick about coolers. Fixed.)
CPU Cooler bracket: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233020
GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102849 (He is also probably an NV fanboy because I've said it before and I'll say it again: THE HD4870 1GB MAKES THE GTX260 C216 LOOK LIKE A LITTLE GIRL. 4870 IS BETTER. STOP BUYING 260s.)
Thermal Compound: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835202006 (Out of stock but an absolute must. It trounces AS5.)

I wrote an entire blog why the i5 and i7 platforms are not worth our money right now. You can read it here.

You should paste this post for your friend word for word because he obviously has no idea what hes doing, overpays on bad parts, doesn't read updated reviews, and goes with the name on the box instead of the parts inside.