Hey folks, new to the forum; I am building a new computer here and did a thorough amount of research; tracking items for the past year hoping to find the best time to buy. I'm ready to pull the trigger and hope that some of you can take a look over my components here and see if i'm overlooking any important factors; compatibility issues, etc. This computer will be mainly used for 3dsMax, photoshopping, music production and gaming - with a flexible budget of $1500 +/- $100. Item List: $266 - Intel Core i7 2.66 GHz Processor $53 - Titan Fenrir Universal CPU Cooler (Socket 1366 / 775 / AM2+ / AM2 / AM3 / 940 / 939 / 754 / K8) - (TTC-NK85TZ) $145 - Corsair XMS3 6 GB ( 3 x 2 GB ) Memory - DIMM 240-pin - 1600 MHz ( PC3-12800 ) [should I bump to 12 GB?] $212 - eVGA X58 SLI LE - motherboard - ATX - iX58 - LGA1366 Socket $232 - eVGA GeForce GTX 280 Graphics adapter - 1 GB - GDDR3 SDRAM [bump to gtx285?] $224 - Antec Signature Series 850W PSU ( SG-850 ) [bump to 950?] $206 - PIONEER BDR-203BK BDR-203 8x Blu-ray Drive (Double-layer) BD-R/RE 8x 2x 8x (BD) 16x 8x 16x (DVD) 32x 24x 40x (CD) Serial ATA Internal Black OEM $87 - WD Caviar Black 1 TB Internal hard drive - 300 MBps - 7200 rpm $128 - Zalman Tech GS1000SE Full Tower Enclosure Current Total ~ $1,553 Any critiques on items I chose and your likes/dislikes for them are welcome and encouraged. I know enough to know I don't know everything. Now I do have one additional side issue - I'm still looking for a good soundcard under $100. I record mainly acoustic guitar but would like to be able to record anything from trumpets to inputing electric guitar amps/preamps, etc. Any suggestions? I heard there was a difference between PCI-E soundcards versus external adapters of some sort? Anyone able to shed light on this? I'm also considering a relatively cheap soundcard as my 'entry' into more evolved music production and perhaps i'll get a more expensive card later. How about votes for the cheaper cards? I'd like to keep the price close to the current total, so any recommendations on downgrading some components to be able to fit the soundcard in there is appreciated as well. Thanks, guys.
I don't think you researched very hard...The cooler is fine, the hard drive is fine, and the case is OK. $268 - The cooler, HDD, and case you found $140 - CORSAIR XMS3 6GB (3x2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1333 Memory Model TR3X6G1333C7 G $189 - GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD3R Motherboard $200 - LG Blu-ray Burner Model BH08LS20 $369 - XFX HD-487A-CDF9 Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB HDCP Video Card $140 - CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX 850W Power Supply $15x5=$75 - Five (5) ENERMAX MAGMA UC-MA12 120mm Case Fans $7 - Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound $90 - HT OMEGA STRIKER 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Sound Card New total: $1478 (including the nice sound card)
Some interesting choices. Let me mention why I would disagree with most of it: First of all, I would never buy an LG product because they make nothing but garbage, from tv's to cell phones. eVGA supposedly makes better motherboards than gigabyte now. I prefer nVidia over radeon and will probably get a second 280 card in a year or two for sli. The power supply isn't modular as is my choice [from the case you can see I like organization]. I prefer the M-audio card I found for a similar price point here. Where's the cpu? that brings the total to 1,744. I appreciate the ideas but I don't see why any of those things you picked would be better than my choices. The prices are off by $20 in most cases and they are, in my opinion, mostly inferior products.
How about ideas for a good performing and aesthetically pleasing audio system? Preferably 5.1 dolby surround, under $200.
A few corrections to the suggestions already offered: Your existing list is a little ill advised, the GTX280 is an old and outdated card which is overpriced because of it. The motherboard, case and power supply you've chosen are all a little poor, the case and CPU cooler are unusual choices but not necessarily terrible ones. Killerbug's list is much better, and most of the products there are fine except for the over the top power supply, which you can save money on, and the overpriced fans, which aren't especially impressive. Demigod: Your anecdotal opinions about LG aren't really relevant, as overall the quality of LG products is reasonably good, in particularly their DVD drives, which you seem to have never tried. EVGA have merely become "not crap" in the motherboard world lately, but whatever you say about them, SLI-based boards are always to be avoided. You may prefer nvidia cards to ATIs but have not considered that ATI are pretty much hands down better value in almost every market sector at current. if you refuse to listen to other people's suggestions then there's really no point in you asking here. The inferior products are in fact the ones you posted, not what was offered latterly. I would advise against the OCZ RAM you've picked, OCZ RAM is often unreliable. This is much better stuff: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145253 As for sound, I quite like: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16836121012
