You guys at afterdawn have helped me out big time in the past, so I thought I'd ask your advice on what I should include in my new PC. Like the title says, this is my first attempt at building one on my own, so I'm not really sure how to do it or what parts I should get. I've been planning building a new one for about a year now, so I'm willing to spend somewhere around $1000, or maybe more if I need to. My goal is around $1000. I'm sure I can find a lot of tutorials on how to put it all together, but first I need some awesome components. Here's what I've been looking at so far. Graphics Card: I've been looking at the 8800. The 9800 looks awesome but is a bit pricey for me. Also, what is the difference between the GTX and the GTS? And what brands do you recommend? Hard Drive: Definitely something 1 TB. I don't know which model is best because there are so many conflicting reviews out there. CPU: Probably the Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600. I want something really fast and reliable. RAM: 4 gigs, don't know whats the best speed or brand. Motherboard: No clue, help appreciated. Power Supply: No clue Fans, Case, Cooling: No clue I'm sure you guys know your stuff and can help me out with this fun and exciting project. Thanks!
the 8800gtx is older than the the 8800gts(g92) but it is around the same performance. definately get the gts, it is cheaper and has other features like pure video for hd video. case - 85 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119137 gpu - 250 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150267 cpu - 215 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115017 ram - 85 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231145 mobo - 90 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128337 psu - 110 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005 hdd - 210 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148274 dvd - 30 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106073 the total for these parts is $1075. if you wanted to save a little money you could go for a 750gb hdd. $125 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152100 also you could get an 8800gt, it is not as powerfull as the gts but still a great card. $180 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150252
After looking at your recommendations and doing some research, everything you've listed looks great. I'll definitely go with the 8800gts. It looks like it can do everything I want it to and price really isn't a big deal. Even if I had an unlimited budget, I think I'd stay away from the 9800 series for now. I don't really want to bother with the elaborate cooling systems requited to run one of those guys. The case, power supply, RAM, and motherboard all look solid, exactly what I wanted. Do you know of any reason why I shouldn't get the 1 TB hard drive, other than the fact that it costs more? (reliability issues etc.) Because if they aren't known to be glitchy, I'd really like to say that I have 1 TB of storage I completely forgot about a DVD drive/burner! That one seems excellent, thanks! I appreciate the advice, it all looks good. I have a friend who just built a new rig a month or so ago, so I'm going to have him help me with the assembly. I'll keep you updated on my progress. One more question. For an operating system, do you recommend upgrading to Vista? or should I stick with XP professional since I already have the discs? Specifically, is there any real advantage of going with Vista?
tb drives work just fine but are a little more expensive, so go ahead and get one. also stick with xp. vista still has problems and does not perform as well as xp. also a bunch of other stuff like drm, uac, memory hog.
