Hey everybody, I am new to PC building but from what I have read or heard, I put together the following list of parts. AMD Phenom II x4 955 BE 3.2G Gigabyte Ma770T-UD3P ST or A-DATA 2 x 2GB (D3-1600C9) WD Caviar Gren 640GB 64MB LG GH22NS 22x DVDRW HIS or GIGABYTE HD4850 Antec EA500 (500W) GTR 7041D ATX Case I won't be posting the total price since I am building it in Asia. I have never looked into cases so please let me know which ones I should avoid or look for. I am mainly using this build for day to day work plus occasionally gaming and photoshopping, and may watch a bit of HD videos. Thanks!
CPU: 8/10 - The 955BE is one of the best CPUs AMD product, but if you're after peak performance, you should really be considering an Intel Core i5 instead.; Mobo: 8/10 - Basic, but solid. RAM: 5/10 - Low quality RAM is to be avoided. Stick with Corsair, G-Skill, GEIL or Mushkin. HDD: 5/10 - WD Greens are great drives, but they're slow for Operating Systems, as they are only intended to store data. You should be using a Blue or Black drive instead. ODD: I have one, works fine. GPU: 9/10 - Outdated, but good value in most places. If you want DirectX11, you should buy an HD5750 instead. PSU: 7/10 - Not wonderful units, but sufficient and reasonably reliable. Case: Either the product number is wrong or this is rare, as it does not exist on the internet at all. You should avoid buying low quality cases for gaming PCs as they can not cool the components sufficiently.
I was considering an I5 build as well but I am afraid I won't be fully utilizing its capability and I could save a bit for the mobo. HDD - What other choices are there for HDD? I didn't see the black series available at the store. GPU - The 5750 is quite a bit more expensive, I don't game that often but I had a 9600GT on my old computer and it worked fairly well to my standard. Anything comparable I could choose? RAM - Thanks, I will look for those brands then. Case - Any specific models that are great in value? I am not looking to spend a fortune on this system.
Why would you spend more on a motherboard than a processor, unless going for an extreme overclocking build? The i5 750 isn't an expensive CPU for what it is, and reasonable deals can be had on the LGA1156 socket. As for the GPU, it's really up to you. The HD5750 is comparable to the HD4850 for performance. They will both beat the 9600GT handily, but as said, with the 4850 you don't get DX11 or Eyefinity. Whether that's of use to you with a card as powerful as the 4850, is up to you. Case is mostly personal preference, but the Antec Three Hundred and NZXT Tempest are cases I spec often.
