Challey
08-25-2012, 12:14 PM
Hi all.
I'm new to this forum and new to building my own PC, though I have done simple computer repair and upgrade tasks (replacing a dead PS, adding memory and HDD's, etc). The choice in components is staggering however and I could really use some help. My budget is in the $800 - $1,000 (less is better) range but my computing demands are relatively modest: Some photo editing, a little audio work and the usual mundane chores using spreadsheets, documents and the web. I would prefer to deal with my local computer store (they are part of a small national chain) since they offer walk-in tech support. Their prices are also roughly comparable to most of the on-line retailers. The store is presently running a CPU/MB bundle special with AMD processors and since from what I can see, there is little difference between the two at the lower levels, I thought that I would take advantage of the sale. While I don't need a video card for gaming purposes, I thought it would be a good idea to add an inexpensive one to free up the CPU and RAM that on-board graphics uses. I also thought a modestly sized SSD would be nice to handle the OS and I'd like to have 2 optical drives for a variety of reasons.
With that in mind, here is my proposed build:
MB & CPU - GA-990FXA-UD3 Socket AM3+ 990FX ATX AMD Motherboard
FX 4100 Black Edition 3.6GHz OR Phenom II X6 1045T (3 GHz)
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO RR-212E-20PK-R2 CPU fan
RAM - Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB DDR3-1600 (2- 4GB modules)
Video - ZT-84SEH4P-FSL NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS 256MB (this board is less than $10 after MIR)
Power Supply - OCZ Technology ModXStream Pro 700W Modular ATX Power Supply
Storage - SanDisk Extreme SDSSDX-120G-G25 120GB SATA 6.0Gb/s 2.5" SSD plus WD Caviar Black 1TB 7,200 RPM SATA 6
Case - Cooler Master case (twin 140 mm fans)
Adding two optical drives and the OS brings the total to just about $900 but there is nearly $100 in MIR associated with the various components, so the adjusted cost is very close to $800. Also, I've seen some negative comments about the UD3 version of the Gigagbyte MB - would the UD5 be a better choice? Would the ASRock 970 Extreme 4 be a better option (it's also offered as part of the bundled packages)?
I would be very interested in getting feedback on this tentative build and especially about using a faster quad core vs a slower hex core CPU (the price differential between the two is about $10, so that's not really part of the equation). Any and all advice is welcomed.
I'm new to this forum and new to building my own PC, though I have done simple computer repair and upgrade tasks (replacing a dead PS, adding memory and HDD's, etc). The choice in components is staggering however and I could really use some help. My budget is in the $800 - $1,000 (less is better) range but my computing demands are relatively modest: Some photo editing, a little audio work and the usual mundane chores using spreadsheets, documents and the web. I would prefer to deal with my local computer store (they are part of a small national chain) since they offer walk-in tech support. Their prices are also roughly comparable to most of the on-line retailers. The store is presently running a CPU/MB bundle special with AMD processors and since from what I can see, there is little difference between the two at the lower levels, I thought that I would take advantage of the sale. While I don't need a video card for gaming purposes, I thought it would be a good idea to add an inexpensive one to free up the CPU and RAM that on-board graphics uses. I also thought a modestly sized SSD would be nice to handle the OS and I'd like to have 2 optical drives for a variety of reasons.
With that in mind, here is my proposed build:
MB & CPU - GA-990FXA-UD3 Socket AM3+ 990FX ATX AMD Motherboard
FX 4100 Black Edition 3.6GHz OR Phenom II X6 1045T (3 GHz)
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO RR-212E-20PK-R2 CPU fan
RAM - Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB DDR3-1600 (2- 4GB modules)
Video - ZT-84SEH4P-FSL NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS 256MB (this board is less than $10 after MIR)
Power Supply - OCZ Technology ModXStream Pro 700W Modular ATX Power Supply
Storage - SanDisk Extreme SDSSDX-120G-G25 120GB SATA 6.0Gb/s 2.5" SSD plus WD Caviar Black 1TB 7,200 RPM SATA 6
Case - Cooler Master case (twin 140 mm fans)
Adding two optical drives and the OS brings the total to just about $900 but there is nearly $100 in MIR associated with the various components, so the adjusted cost is very close to $800. Also, I've seen some negative comments about the UD3 version of the Gigagbyte MB - would the UD5 be a better choice? Would the ASRock 970 Extreme 4 be a better option (it's also offered as part of the bundled packages)?
I would be very interested in getting feedback on this tentative build and especially about using a faster quad core vs a slower hex core CPU (the price differential between the two is about $10, so that's not really part of the equation). Any and all advice is welcomed.