I've finally decided to take the plunge and build my first PC. Up until now I've made do with multimedia laptops for my gaming needs, and have never run a game on more than medium settings. I've done a bit of research and ended up with the parts below.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks
CPU: Intel Core i5-3570 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($212.78 @ Memory Express)
Motherboard: ASRock Z75 Pro3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($111.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Memory: Patriot Gamer 2 Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($45.36 @ Vuugo)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($78.38 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($106.25 @ DirectCanada)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card ($305.98 @ Memory Express)
Wireless Network Adapter: Rosewill RNX-N300X 802.11b/g/n PCI Wi-Fi Adapter ($33.58 @ Newegg Canada)
Case: Corsair 400R ATX Mid Tower Case ($95.18 @ NCIX)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($100.78 @ Newegg Canada)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($20.14 @ Newegg Canada)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($100.18 @ DirectCanada)
Monitor: Asus VS229H-P 21.5" Monitor ($173.58 @ Newegg Canada)
Other: Ducky Zero DK2108 Mechanical Keyboard (Shipped) ($89.72)
Total: $1473.89
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-03-12 01:16 EDT-0400)
All prices include tax @ 12%.
Now, I have a few questions about this potential build:
Thanks in advance!
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks
CPU: Intel Core i5-3570 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($212.78 @ Memory Express)
Motherboard: ASRock Z75 Pro3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($111.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Memory: Patriot Gamer 2 Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($45.36 @ Vuugo)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($78.38 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($106.25 @ DirectCanada)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card ($305.98 @ Memory Express)
Wireless Network Adapter: Rosewill RNX-N300X 802.11b/g/n PCI Wi-Fi Adapter ($33.58 @ Newegg Canada)
Case: Corsair 400R ATX Mid Tower Case ($95.18 @ NCIX)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($100.78 @ Newegg Canada)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($20.14 @ Newegg Canada)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($100.18 @ DirectCanada)
Monitor: Asus VS229H-P 21.5" Monitor ($173.58 @ Newegg Canada)
Other: Ducky Zero DK2108 Mechanical Keyboard (Shipped) ($89.72)
Total: $1473.89
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-03-12 01:16 EDT-0400)
All prices include tax @ 12%.
Now, I have a few questions about this potential build:
■ I'm not planning to build until late April, after exams are finished. Is it worth waiting for Haswell on June 2? I'm understandably excited, but I think I can stick it out if the performance boost is big.
■ I know that the common advice is to wait until near build time and then buy everything at once (for warranty purposes) unless a part goes on sale at an amazing price. What are the guidelines for "amazing price", so I know when to snag a deal if there happens to be one?
■ Is there anywhere I can save money on the build? I don't want to sacrifice power, but more just wondering if I'm out-and-out wasting money anywhere. It's a bit more than I wanted to pay, but if I exclude the monitor, OS, and keyboard, it doesn't seem much more than regular builds I see around. I don't have any of those things because I've never had a desktop PC before.
Thanks in advance!