Building my computer or not, 1400 $ mid gaming computer

felix202

Distinguished
Nov 25, 2009
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18,510
APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: this week or next one
SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: photo shop, illustrator, gaming (especially Dragons Ages Origins ), internet, etc.
PARTS NOT REQUIRED: mouse and speaker
PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: not to sure, I was planning of buying trough a shop, but I live in Montreal Canada, what would you guys suggest as a web site or shop if you know any !
PARTS PREFERENCES: no preference, except that I'd like to be able to upgrade in a years or 2...
OVERCLOCKING: no
MONITOR RESOLUTION: what would you suggest ??

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: ok, so I have around 1500 $ to buy a new tower, I went to a shop today here what is the guy suggest;


AMD PHENOM II X4 955 3.2G\3800\8M\AM3 NR
SATA2 500.0 W.D 7200 32M WD5001AALS
AM3 ASUS M4A78T-E AMD790GX PCIE
DVD+\-RW LG GH22NS50 SATA DL 22\22
600W ATX CM EXTREME POWER PLUS
CORSAIR 1333MHZ DDR3 4GO TWINX
ASUS PCIE RAD EAH4770 512M TVO BTE
atx std black nops case

also it comes with a 4 years warranty, windows 7 pro 64 bit that put the price 190 $ higher
and all of this for 1368.49 $ Canadian...
What do you guys think, I haven't build my own pc for about 8 years, and I don't really feel confident building this one... that's why I went to a shop called Micro Byte in Montreal, supposedly a good place...
Should I buy everything online instead ???

Also id like your advices on windows 7, is it worth?? 200 $ or should I just used my old windows xp cd ...

I looking forward for your expert comments guys !! thanks a lot

Felix
 

nofun

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Nov 5, 2009
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18,710
For photoshop, you will see tremendous performance gains from hyperthreading. An i7 core is a solid choice, and you have plenty of room in your budget. The i7-860 with the P55 mobos will be your best bet, considering you're going to want to sink some money into a GPU for gaming.

Just off the top of my head with US$ prices from NewEgg:
i7-860: $280
Hyper 212 Plus Cooler: $30
GA-P55A-UD4P: $180
G.SKILL 4GB DDR3 1333 (7-7-7-??): $105
Samsung Spinpoint F3 1 TB: $85
HD 5850: $300
Optical Drive: $35

550W OCZ Fatal1ty: $40 (after rebate)
Coolermaster 690: $40 (after rebate)
Decent 21"-23" Monitor: $170

Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OEM: $105
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Roughly: $1370 after rebates

Actual prices and combos may be a little different...