Final Check for Well Rounded 1000$ Build

[Light Knight]

I have all my parts chosen for my first computer build! I would like someone to look over it to make sure it's all compatible please. Also, if you see somewhere I could get better for my price range, let me know. Thanks.

Approximate Purchase Date: Under a month.


Budget Range: 1000$ Including monitor; before rebates, tax and shipping.

System Usage: Entertainment (movies, shows, music), Decent Gaming (I'd like to play Elder Scrolls Skyrim and Starcraft II well). I hate a sloth computer. I want it to boot up fast, load any program very quickly, and handle some multitasking.


Parts Not Required: I'll buy my mouse, keyboard, printer, and speakers outside my budget.


Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg and tigerdirect .CA. The exchange rate from Canada to US is very small anyway, but I have to order from the Canadian sites.


Country of Origin: Canada, eh?


Parts Preferences: Bang for my buck. No Brand preference.


Overclocking: Maybe, but not really a concern right now.


SLI or Crossfire: Maybe later.


Monitor Resolution: High Definition.


Additional Comments: I'll be dual booting with Ubuntu/Win 7. I'd like my machine to LOOK nice. (Thus I'm buying a blue LED fan). I can break 1000 a tad. But not higher than 1100. Also, as you can see, I'd like my Mobo to have socket AM3+ for future upgrading.

Here are my parts; I find the PSU a tad expensive (though there is a rebate), and wouldn't mind upgrading my Vid Card by $15 or so if I can cut back on something else (but not that blue fan lol)

Case: Cooler Master RC-430-KWN1 Elite 430 Mid Tower ATX Case- http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6430030&CatId=1510 $50

Ram: Patriot Gamer 2 Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model PG238G1333LLKA- http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220597 $56

CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1100T- http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103913 $195

Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer Series HCG-620 620W ATX12V v2.3 - http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371048&Tpk=HCG-620 97

HDD: HITACHI Deskstar 7K3000 HDS723015BLA642 (0F12114) 1.5TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5"- http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145520 $65

DVD: Asus DRW-24B1ST 24X Internal DVD Burner- http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6078414&CatId=1625 $21

Motherboard: ASRock 970 EXTREME4- http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157262 $140

Graphics Card: EVGA 01G-P3-1452-TR GeForce GTS 450 (Fermi) - http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130573&Tpk=EVGA%2001G-P3-1452-TR $120

Fan : Bgears B-Ice 120mm Blue LED- http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4836211&CatId=5401 $10

Monitor: ASUS VE247H Black 23.6" 2ms Full HD- http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236112 $200

Windows 7: Home Premium 64BIT OEM- http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5213932&CatId=4622 $100
[/list]

 

[atypicallemon]

try the velociraptor HDD faster speed and quicker load times without the cost of the SSD's . Western Digital VelociRaptor WD1500BLFS 150GB 10000 RPM 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Enterprise Hard Drive -139.99
And the CPU is overkill many games are just starting to use 2 cores so you can drop down to AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ965FBGMBOX -134.99
Save $60
PSU Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V version 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC "compatible with Core i7/Core i5" Power Supply- 84.99
Save $12
You can either get the velociraptor and be $22 over budget and be a lot faster or use the money and get EVGA SuperClocked 01G-P3-1567-KR GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card -239.99 and being a total of $1101 and bring you a lot better graphics capabilities.

 

[ps3hacker12]

try the velociraptor HDD faster speed and quicker load times without the cost of the SSD's . Western Digital VelociRaptor WD1500BLFS 150GB 10000 RPM 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Enterprise Hard Drive -139.99
And the CPU is overkill many games are just starting to use 2 cores so you can drop down to AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ965FBGMBOX -134.99
Save $60
PSU Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V version 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC "compatible with Core i7/Core i5" Power Supply- 84.99
Save $12
You can either get the velociraptor and be $22 over budget and be a lot faster or use the money and get EVGA SuperClocked 01G-P3-1567-KR GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card -239.99 and being a total of $1101 and bring you a lot better graphics capabilities.

the velocity raptor drives suck, they are noisy, high in power consumption, and expensive even this hybrid SSD would beat it:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148591

SSD vs hybrid SSD vs velocity raptor:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3734/seagates-momentus-xt-review-finally-a-good-hybrid-hdd

a better CPU/Mobo combo would be this:

an i5-2500K:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072

and a GIGABYTE GA-Z68A-D3H-B3 mobo:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128502

but the 1100T does well too.

i5-2500K vs 1100T:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/203?vs=288

 

[Light Knight]

Thanks guys.

I think I'll switch to that PSU Atyp, thanks.

How about the AMD 980? A tad cheaper and benchmarks slightly better than the 1100. I want a powerful CPU so I don't have to upgrade it for a while.

Would you recommend that hybird HDD over the cheap one I have? I had chosen that one because of the 6 gb/s and the big cache. But Something under 100 that beats it is great! But it needs to be 1 TB +.

Edit: Just Wondering, why have you two been suggesting 2.5'' hdds?

 

[Guest]

if i were you i would just buy the intel i5-2500k chip... If you buy an AMD now thats like 100$ + a new $200 bulldozer chip in a year = $300, but if you buy the sandy bridge i5-2500k now then you'll save $100 and have very similar performance compared to bulldozer... the 2500k will last you atleast 2-3 years of solid performance. And btw the phenom x6 has very little performance difference to the x4, and the i5-2500k scored ~20% stronger then the x6.

For the psu i would go with this: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207013 The reason why i pick this is because your case has pretty bad cable management and this PSU is modular so it will be very good with it .... (Btw xfx psu's are made by seasonic Seasonic = number 1)

I would go for the samsung spinpoints f3 1TB HDD, This is solid performance this is SATA 3.0gb/s though, but don't worry... Sata 6.0 is mainly for SSD's... HDD's can BARELY even make advantage of the 3.0gb/s speeds.... so unless you have a very high end hdd then dont bother getting a 6.0gb/s low class speed. You will see a very scarce difference.

Everything else seems well, Good luck and my tip: Do not get 2 HDD's it's kinda pointless, It's better to get one SSD and one HDD but that's expensive, You keep all your programs and os on the SSD while you store files on the HDD = very fast performance and boot up.

 

[atypicallemon]

if i were you i would just buy the intel i5-2500k chip... If you buy an AMD now thats like 100$ + a new $200 bulldozer chip in a year = $300, but if you buy the sandy bridge i5-2500k now then you'll save $100 and have very similar performance compared to bulldozer... the 2500k will last you atleast 2-3 years of solid performance. And btw the phenom x6 has very little performance difference to the x4, and the i5-2500k scored ~20% stronger then the x6.

For the psu i would go with this: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207013 The reason why i pick this is because your case has pretty bad cable management and this PSU is modular so it will be very good with it .... (Btw xfx psu's are made by seasonic Seasonic = number 1)

I would go for the samsung spinpoints f3 1TB HDD, This is solid performance this is SATA 3.0gb/s though, but don't worry... Sata 6.0 is mainly for SSD's... HDD's can BARELY even make advantage of the 3.0gb/s speeds.... so unless you have a very high end hdd then dont bother getting a 6.0gb/s low class speed. You will see a very scarce difference.

Everything else seems well, Good luck and my tip: Do not get 2 HDD's it's kinda pointless, It's better to get one SSD and one HDD but that's expensive, You keep all your programs and os on the SSD while you store files on the HDD = very fast performance and boot up.

+1 to the 2500k build. I like my AMD don't get me wrong but 3 weeks ago I went for a new $1000 computer and ended up with the 2500k so far I am loving it. It kills my 965BE. My setup ended up looking like
i5-2500k -$220
Asus p8z68- $210
2x4 1600mhz G.Skill- $60
1tb Spinpoint f3- $65
EVGA 6950 2bg- $280
Antec high current 750w- $90
CM case- $50
CM hyper 212+- $30
Total :$1005

I am loving this setup it will beat anything you can build with AMD at the moment. If you want to save money you can drop down to a lower board (this one is one of the highest) to something around 125 asrock. you can also drop down to the 560ti to save about $50. You can also drop down to the 2500 that saves another $20. With the 170 you can get a really nice 2ms Asus monitor 23.6 in I believe and drop the CM 212+ if you go with the non-k version CPU because you won't have any need for the bigger CPU cooler saving you another $30.


But if I were going to build amd i would stick to the 965 be edition and the earthwatts 650 with the 560ti vid card this would be a lot better for your build over the 1100t with the 450.

It's all choices and they are all up to you in the end all we can do is suggest.

 

[Light Knight]

You know what? I'm going to increase my budget a bit. I'll just exclude my monitor from the $1000. So I have an extra $200.

How about this mobo/CPU (I had done all my research for amd mobos, cause I was planning on getting the phenom, so I'm unsure about this mobo):

AsRock p67
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157232

2500K
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072

With this HDD:
Spinpoint f3
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185&Tpk=Spinpoint%20f3

Suggestions for a Vid Card in the $175 range? How about : http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130571

 

[madchemist83]

Get 560 or even 560ti I bet u can squize it in

 

[Avro Arrow]

There's something that you should know. I used to work for Tiger Direct and I wouldn't spend one red cent there. I'll tell you exactly why not. Tiger Direct is a crooked company that is run by people who are more like politicians than businesspeople (or tech-geeks for that matter). They abuse their employees, have ridiculous expectations and their upper management is the most incompetent bunch of morons that I've ever seen! Their website is extremely misleading with statements like "People who bought this Radeon HD 5450 also bought this OCZ StealthXStream II 650W Power Supply.". Are you kidding me? They're trying to peddle a power supply that would run a Radeon HD 6850 with an HD 5450? Also, they are extremely Intel/nVidia centric because their profit margins are higher on those overpriced items. When I worked there I remember that we not only had to sell x dollars in product, we also had a quota on extended warranties and, of all things, some stupid anti-virus software called ca. Knowing about computers had very little to do with anything there, it was all about soaking people for the most possible money. They even monitored how many people entered the store and compared that to how much we sold. We were penalised for returns (even if they were defective returns) and the store was constantly understaffed at almost Wal-Mart levels. When a salesperson had a great month, they didn't get any reward or praise, the upper management would just increase their already ludicrous expectations. When I go to Canada Computers to buy things, I find that the atmosphere is so much friendlier and I can really tell that the employees love working there. On the other hand, when I go to Tiger Direct I can almost feel the despair that the employees there have and when I look at the websites, Tiger Direct's "deals" are a complete joke when compared to newegg, NCIX or Canada Computers. To really make a good comparison, Tiger Direct has TONS of things online but they never specify if a product is sold at one of their outlets or just online. On the other hand, Canada Computers not only sells everything online AND in stores but their website tells you how many of each item are at each location! Tiger Direct sells almost exclusively nVidia products because they have great names like EVGA, PNY and Sparkle in the stores but the Radeon names that they keep in the stores are weird, overpriced ones like Diamond and VisionTek. One can walk into a store and see ATi Rage cards made by DiabloTek that they are trying to sell for $25-$40. Are you kidding me? Those cards aren't even worth $5! In addition to that, only at Tiger Direct can you still see an EVGA socket 775 FTW-series motherboard selling for almost $300 and VisionTek Radeon X1300 cards for over $100. You know, it's a real shame because the people working there are genuinely great people and I do have some fantastic memories and friendships from my time there. There are a few sharks in the pool but for the most part the people there are honest, hardworking, knowledgeable and friendly (that includes the store manager). The problem is, upper management ties their hands with their horrible purchasing practices and corporate policies and demands miracles from them after repeatedly putting them behind the 8-ball with their incompetence. You won't find ridiculous names like Diamond or VisionTek at newegg or Canada Computers because they know that they'll never sell them at the prices they demand. Just for the record, I quit, I wasn't fired so these are not the inane rants of a disgruntled employee. I did enjoy my time there for the most part (strictly because of the people I was working with) and I did learn a great deal about the industry (like what I have posted in my laptop thread) but I just couldn't put up with the absolute BS that was constantly repeated by upper management as if the BS was a mantra to be chanted. Here's a list of gems that they have committed that I am completely sure that they did do, having known them from the inside out:
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/computers/tiger_direct.htm

Oh yeah, and NEVER trust their mail-in rebates!

 

[atypicallemon]

CPU/Ram: I5-2500k/CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)-270
Mobo: ASUS P8P67 PRO (REV 3.1) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard-179.99
The one you picked out is fine but you won't be able to run sli in the future. This is probably the best board for the cheapest price that runs 2xpciex16 (x8x8 sli mode)
Case: Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case-60
or you can choose any that you like in this price range
PSU: Antec High Current Gamer Series HCG-750 750W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V v2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Certified 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply-90
Vid Card: ASUS ENGTX560 TI DCII/2DI/1GD5 GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card-265
HDD: Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive-65
CPU cooler: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact" Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU Cooler Compatible Intel Core i5 & Intel Core i7-40
You only need this if you decide to overclock and with the ASUS mobo I picked out its as easy as clicking a couple of buttons.
CD/DVD ROM: LG DVD±RW SuperMulti Drive 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model GH22NS50 Bulk - OEM-19


Total: 989
Don't think I left anything out but if you want to save some money you can go with the board that you originally picked out that should be fine and save you some money but if you go that route I would suggest going with the i5-2400. You then can also lower the PSU to 550 watts because 750 is recommended for dual video card setup.

 

[Light Knight]

So this is what I have now.

Let me know how it is everyone:

Case : http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6430030&CatId=1510
Ram/CPU : http://www.newegg.ca/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.694851
Cooler : http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065
Power Supply : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371049&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=4176827&SID=jrz3pwdh12w0
HDD : http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185&Tpk=Spinpoint%20f3
DVD : http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6078414&CatId=1625
Motherboard : http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131771
Graphics Card : http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121424


I chose Can Direct for the case and DVD, sorry Avro. I'm loyal to my wallet before any company. But, now that I know how bad you were treated, I'm sure to rather neweeg.

Ok, thanks guys! Although researching and choosing the parts is fun, I hope I'm near the end lol.

 

[Guest]

^^ Everything seems awesome good lucko with the buildo

 

[Light Knight]

Just a little thought, if I wanted to buy a small SSD to put my OS and programs on would something like this be worth it: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211478

 

[Guest]

Just a little thought, if I wanted to buy a small SSD to put my OS and programs on would something like this be worth it: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211478

No, A-Data isn't a good company and has bad ratings, Wait for next year and buy an OCZ one, prices will slash in half by 2012 summer

 

[Light Knight]

The PSU I had chosen was on the American site and is 30 dollars more on the Canadian. What would be a good 750W on the .ca site for around $90?

 

[Guest]

^^ You don't need modular... right?

Well to fit your specifications:

Non-Modular:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207015

Modular:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153127&Tpk=thermaltake%20xt%20775

^^Those are the CHEAPEST power supplies from good brands that i could find. The Modular is pretty hard to find at a high wattage for cheap.

 

[Light Knight]

I'll just get the 550W one you recommended earlier or the 620 antec one I had at first, I doubt I will buy a second GPU. Thanks.

 

[ps3hacker12]

theres this:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182067

review:
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story4&reid=60

but i would reccommend either of these too:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341049
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341041

 

[Light Knight]

Great. Thanks everyone! I put my order in, and am looking forward to my first build.

I'm sure you'll hear from me again haha.