I havn't built a PC in 3 years and I need one ASAP. Any help is great.

[rs2k]

Hello,

I'm in a little bit of a fix and I need to get a PC built by Monday or I'm going to have to buy one.

I want it to be able to do some gaming but business is the primary goal of this build.

My business apps use a ton of RAM and CPU so I am looking for a good CPU/Mobo/Ram combo. Hard drive space and speed is of little importance and I have extra hard drives I can use anyway.

I need to be able to use four large monitors at once. I can go with cheap video cards now and upgrade those later. I want something that is AT LEAST as good as my Radeon 3850. Since I will be getting 2 of them I want them to be able to work together in video games. I also have a copy of XP Pro I plan on using with this PC.

CPU
Mobo
Ram
2x video cards
Case
Sound


I'm sorry to ask such a basic questions. I've been out of the pc building loop for some time I'm not familiar with the new technology.

 

[hyperjoe]

What's your budget? That's fairly important to know when it comes to pricing a PC

 

[Transmaniacon]

CASE - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042&Tpk=antec%20300

PSU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006&Tpk=750TX

MOBO - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128362

CPU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202

CPU COOLER - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103055&Tpk=v8

RAM (12GB) x2 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231225

GPU x2 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102770

This comes to $US1400, not including an OS (64-bit), an Optical Drive (I assume you have one if you have hard drives and whatnot).

Alternatively, you can save money by not going with Intel i7, but it seems you need to CPU horsepower, so the i7 is a good choice.

 

[hyperjoe]

I'd suggest these for RAM/Mobo/CPU

Mobo:
GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail $135
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128358

CPU:
Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 2.33GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80580Q8200 - Retail - $169
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115055

or

Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale 3.16GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8500 - Retail - $188
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115036

RAM:
CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X4096-8500C5 - Retail - $60 (AFTER MIR)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145214

 

[battlemarz]

If you want to use 4 monitors as well as game I would suggest a 4850x2.

 

[average joe]

Anything you build or buy is better than anything you had 3 years ago. It's impossible to make a mistake. Unless you had a great video card back then and go with the worst one or integrated this time. I don't mix business and gaming on a single PC. You don't want your business data put at risk on an over clocked hot running gaming rig.

 

[rs2k]

I know it's not good to mix gaming and business, but this is a home PC and I do both on it. All the business data is stored remotely so there is no chance of data loss. I use networked hard drives over a gigbit network and make excessive use of Remote Desktop (Hence the multiple monitors).

I do a lot of testing and data crunching on this PC as well as gaming. I'm constantly maxing out my CPU on my dual Xeon proc machine.


I'm looking for a more budget PC... Maybe 500 - 800 or so range. I have hard drives and optical drives. I also have a 32 bit OS. Maybe it will be worth upgrading to 64 bit.


The two CPUs I've been looking at our the AMD Phenom II X4 920 and the core i7 920.

I was also looking for 4 GB of ram.

I'm just not sure what mobo and video cards I should get. Integrated video is not an option, but integrated network and sound would be A-OK.

 

[captaincharisma]

if its budget your looking for then go for an AMD build with a midrange graphics card. do you have any parts you can salvage from your broken PC? besides the monitor? also there are some cheap dual channel 4GB ram kits available out there but that is if your going with DDR2 ram and not DDR3

 

[Transmaniacon]

CASE: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042&Tpk=antec%20300

PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005&Tpk=650TX

MOBO: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128358

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115041

RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231209

GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102813

This is about $US850, still strong performance, plenty of overclocking ability with a great Motherboard and low voltage RAM. The GPU allows you to game, and still use all four monitors, and you have the option of adding another one later on, or replacing it for better cards in crossfire.

 

[dirtmountain]

^ sensible build, looks good for what OP wanted.

 

[battlemarz]

If you can squeeze even more out of your budget go for the 2GB 4850 X2 instead of the 1GB transmaniacon used. Four large resolution monitors would benefit from the higher memory size. But it is another $50.

 

[Transmaniacon]

Yea +1 to the 2GB model, I put down the 1GB 4850x2 because you were reaching the higher end of your budget, but it would be the best $50 you can spend on your build because as battlemarz stated, high resolutions require more video RAM.

 

[rs2k]

What if I were to go to an i7 processor?

 

[Transmaniacon]

CASE - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042&Tpk=antec%20300

PSU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006&Tpk=750TX

MOBO - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128362

CPU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202

CPU COOLER - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103055&Tpk=v8

RAM (12GB) x2 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231225

GPU x2 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102770

This comes to $US1400, not including an OS (64-bit), an Optical Drive (I assume you have one if you have hard drives and whatnot).

Alternatively, you can save money by not going with Intel i7, but it seems you need to CPU horsepower, so the i7 is a good choice.

This is an i7 build I posted earlier, you can save a little money by dropping down to 6GB of RAM, and swapping the 2 HD4850s for 1 HD4850x2.