APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: This weekend if possible, really want to stop sharing a PC with my wife
BUDGET RANGE: $800 - $1500 - prefer to pay $800, but the things I want cost more!
SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Whatever I might want to do or play in the next 5 years or so, World of Warcraft, encoding DVDs from recorded TV, PhotoShop, web surfing
PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers
PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg.com is great, but just looking for the best deals
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: U.S.A.
PARTS PREFERENCES: Intel Core i-series
OVERCLOCKING: Probably going to gently overclock i7-920
SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Not in the near future
MONITOR RESOLUTION: 2048x1152
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Hoping for a quiet build, want to use some of the same parts when I build a new slightly-less-expensive PC for my wife so they're comparable reliability & diagnosing problems
[edit]Also - would prefer a "clean" look with no side window or LEDs on the case... but other than the side window I really like what I've read about the Lancool PC-K62[/edit]
I tend to keep my PC for a long time, only upgrades are typically hard drives (or new optical drives when those newfangled DVD writers came out...) My current PC is a Pentium 4 2GHz, the one before that was a Pentium-II 400MHz... In the past I've tended to buy components to "future proof" my PCs, but by the time I finally upgrade anything, everything is obsolete and I end up building a new PC.
I was happy with my GeoForce 5200 FX until my old 1024x768 CRT died, for obvious reasons I'm not as happy in games now that it's driving a 2048x1152 display.
I may buy an LED-backlit display in the future, will probably stick around 1920x1080 with the new display.
Here's what I'm thinking about so far:
Intel Core i7-920 Processor
$142 in a private deal - one of the reasons I'm going with this CPU...
Could also get i5-860 for the same price, but I'm thinking the i7-920 might keep me happy for longer, over the next few years it may be better to have more threads and more memory bandwidth
GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128423
$209.99
LIAN LI Lancool PC-K62 Black 0.8 mm SECC, Plastic + Mesh ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112239
$99.99
Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V version 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified ... - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371015
$74.99
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus Intel Core i5 & Intel Core i7 compatible RR-B10-212P-G1 120mm "heatpipe direct contact" Long ... - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065
$29.99
(Since I plan to overclock a little bit... not too aggressive since I want the system to be rock-solid stable)
OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model OCZ3G1600LV6GK - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227365
$159.99
XFX HD-587A-ZND9 Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress XT) 1GB XXX Edition 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported ... - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150456
$409.99
(It pains me to spend more than $100 on a video card... but I'm afraid I'm going to be sorry if I don't, given my monitor's resolution)
The above RAM and GPU are available in a combo if I order in time...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.326405
$543.98
Sony Optiarc 24X DVD/CD Rewritable Drive Black SATA Model AD-7240S-0B - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118030
$27.99
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3EG HD203WI 2TB SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152202
$179.99
(I currently have a 1TB drive, 200MB and 120 MB, they all have ~5-10% space free... probably another reason I'm not happy with my current PC's performance )
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116758
$139.99
(I want to be able to access via remote desktop... XP mode is good too)
Excluding the CPU, total is $1297.91, which becomes $1,433.01 with $28.02 shipping and $107.08 sales tax
Plus another $35 if I don't make up my mind before the combo expires
Will these parts work together?
Can I do better without spending more money?
Given that the only upgrades I'll probably do within the next few years are more disk space, and SSD and Blue Ray writer when prices become more palatable, am I overspending on anything?
BUDGET RANGE: $800 - $1500 - prefer to pay $800, but the things I want cost more!
SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Whatever I might want to do or play in the next 5 years or so, World of Warcraft, encoding DVDs from recorded TV, PhotoShop, web surfing
PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers
PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg.com is great, but just looking for the best deals
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: U.S.A.
PARTS PREFERENCES: Intel Core i-series
OVERCLOCKING: Probably going to gently overclock i7-920
SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Not in the near future
MONITOR RESOLUTION: 2048x1152
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Hoping for a quiet build, want to use some of the same parts when I build a new slightly-less-expensive PC for my wife so they're comparable reliability & diagnosing problems
[edit]Also - would prefer a "clean" look with no side window or LEDs on the case... but other than the side window I really like what I've read about the Lancool PC-K62[/edit]
I tend to keep my PC for a long time, only upgrades are typically hard drives (or new optical drives when those newfangled DVD writers came out...) My current PC is a Pentium 4 2GHz, the one before that was a Pentium-II 400MHz... In the past I've tended to buy components to "future proof" my PCs, but by the time I finally upgrade anything, everything is obsolete and I end up building a new PC.
I was happy with my GeoForce 5200 FX until my old 1024x768 CRT died, for obvious reasons I'm not as happy in games now that it's driving a 2048x1152 display.
I may buy an LED-backlit display in the future, will probably stick around 1920x1080 with the new display.
Here's what I'm thinking about so far:
Intel Core i7-920 Processor
$142 in a private deal - one of the reasons I'm going with this CPU...
Could also get i5-860 for the same price, but I'm thinking the i7-920 might keep me happy for longer, over the next few years it may be better to have more threads and more memory bandwidth
GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128423
$209.99
LIAN LI Lancool PC-K62 Black 0.8 mm SECC, Plastic + Mesh ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112239
$99.99
Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V version 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified ... - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371015
$74.99
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus Intel Core i5 & Intel Core i7 compatible RR-B10-212P-G1 120mm "heatpipe direct contact" Long ... - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065
$29.99
(Since I plan to overclock a little bit... not too aggressive since I want the system to be rock-solid stable)
OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model OCZ3G1600LV6GK - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227365
$159.99
XFX HD-587A-ZND9 Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress XT) 1GB XXX Edition 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported ... - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150456
$409.99
(It pains me to spend more than $100 on a video card... but I'm afraid I'm going to be sorry if I don't, given my monitor's resolution)
The above RAM and GPU are available in a combo if I order in time...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.326405
$543.98
Sony Optiarc 24X DVD/CD Rewritable Drive Black SATA Model AD-7240S-0B - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118030
$27.99
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3EG HD203WI 2TB SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152202
$179.99
(I currently have a 1TB drive, 200MB and 120 MB, they all have ~5-10% space free... probably another reason I'm not happy with my current PC's performance )
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116758
$139.99
(I want to be able to access via remote desktop... XP mode is good too)
Excluding the CPU, total is $1297.91, which becomes $1,433.01 with $28.02 shipping and $107.08 sales tax
Plus another $35 if I don't make up my mind before the combo expires
Will these parts work together?
Can I do better without spending more money?
Given that the only upgrades I'll probably do within the next few years are more disk space, and SSD and Blue Ray writer when prices become more palatable, am I overspending on anything?