Building new system

Status
Not open for further replies.

rake1

Posts: 11   +0
I am thinking about building a new system and am no pro at this but think I can do it. What I need is some suggestions on what to put in this, I have a monitor and keyboard. What do you suggest I put in this? I am not a gamer but want something reasonable fast and able to watch video on my computer. Would like to spend less than $1000.00 on this system. I live in Canada so I assume I would buy all parts here. Can someone help build this system and suggest where to buy the components.
 
Hi, I'll give it a shot
CPU:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115215 -Intel i5 750 retail ($220)
Motherboard
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128401 -Gigabyte P55-UD3R ($150)
Memory:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277 - 4Gb (2x2Gb) G.Skill Ripjaw DDR3-1600C9 ($99)
Graphics card:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127460 -MSI HD 5750 1Gb ($148)
Power supply:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341010 -OCZ StealthXstream OCZ600SXS 600watt. ($75)
Harddrive:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136320 - Western Digital Caviar Black 500Gb WD5001AALS ($75)
Computer chassis:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133058 - Thermaltake M9 ($80)
Blu ray/DVD combo drive:
http://www.onhop.ca/catalog/product/10666001 -Lite On iHES208 ($123)
Total cost : $870
Add speakers :
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16836127010 - M-One Studiophile AV 30 2.0 ($119)
Just need to add a cheap optical mouse

It's not the cheapest build but it has quality components that will work well together.
 
Thanks very much this is what I am asking and really appreciate the reply. I have been looking at Newegg but didn't know what was compatible with what. Do I need a Blue ray and can I add it later? I haven't burned anything in a year and don't watch movies on my computer directly. My next question is do I buy these components now or buy them as they go on sale? And if I wait for sales do I pay for waiting because of the shipping charges associated with multiple shipping ?
All other suggestions are also welcome.
 
Thanks very much this is what I am asking and really appreciate the reply. I have been looking at Newegg but didn't know what was compatible with what. Do I need a Blue ray and can I add it later? I haven't burned anything in a year and don't watch movies on my computer directly. My next question is do I buy these components now or buy them as they go on sale? And if I wait for sales do I pay for waiting because of the shipping charges associated with multiple shipping ?
All other suggestions are also welcome.


Answers:
1) If you don't watch movies on your PC you don't need a blue ray drive - and yes you can add one later as long as you have a decent video card that can do the decoding for you ( the HD 5750 dividebyzero recommended is a good pick for this).
2) These are pretty good prices, i would decide on what you want and then make most of the order at once. Try adding everything to your cart on newegg and see what the shipping is for the whole set at once.
3) it does really depend on what you plan on using the PC for, but i would probably skip the expensive speakers and opt for a nice new monitor. I just got a 24in widescreen dell ST2410 for $180 that i am very pleased with (http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...etail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=320-1070) this will make a much bigger difference in your overall computer experience (so much so you might want to keep the blue ray drive around so you can watch movies ;-) ).
 
Well, if you want the system to be "reasonably fast and watch video" then you'll do better with a much cheaper setup. First consider an AMD Athlon II X4 620 for your processor. It'll be plenty fast and cheap. A core i5 based system would be unnecessary in your case.
 
THanks guys I just got the weekly specials and am now trying to make something up that is the same as was suggested dividebyzero I will come back after I try to SAVE some money with a couple replacements see what you think.
 
Ritwik7 - this is true, but we were trying to give him the best possible system within the $1000 price range quoted. The system requirements are not very high so he could easily be served by getting a branded HP or Dell system.

Dell Studio Desktop -$399
http://configure.us.dell.com/dellst...&c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&kc=desktop-studio-mini

or how about a HP Pavilion Elite e9200z series (AMD Athlon(TM) X4 620) - $599
http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/s...p/psg/desktops/High_performance/e9200z_series

Under $1k with no need for gaming is really where a pre-built system is your best deal. Plus i didn't see anyone mention the cost of a windows license as well. If you are building a new system you really should get one that runs Win 7 (buying a prebuild system from Dell or HP, etc. . will give you that the cheapest). *as a note - don't count on being able to upgrade a pre-build system with a new video card without having to replace the power supply as well. Other upgrade you want to make later (like adding a blue ray drive) is a piece of cake though (as long as you don't get a supper compact model).
 
I followed dividebyzero advice the only thing I changed was the power supply for $9.00 I can go to 700 watts from 600watts,will this new power supply fit the case ok?
N82E16817341019 power supply OCZ Stealth 700watts $84.99 $9.00 more for 100 more watts
 
I would go with 64 bit. With a new system you arn't going to have really any driver issues. I am running 64bit win7 home premium and havn't had any issues.

You can purchase an OEM license of Win 7 64 bit home premium for $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...116754&cm_re=win_7_oem-_-32-116-754-_-Product

Only be aware that OEM licenses can not technically be transferred to another computer (MS's definition of a new computer is a new motherboard), so if you build another computer 4 years down the road you couldn't use the disk you bought. You can get them to re-activate your license if your motherboard dies and you replace it though so that isn't really an issue.

The system that dividebyzero recommended is a better deal then the dells you are looking at. Basically if you are going higher end processor (core i7) then it is best to build yourself. If you don't care about gaming and are fine with a prior generation processor (which sounds like you could be), then you can get a better deal with a Dell or HP (particularly if you already have a monitor you can re-use).
 
Not knowing any better, the dell has a i7 the one I am building on newegg has a i5 the dell also has an operating system installed for about 50.00 more. Can you please explain what makes the Newegg one is better. The i7 on Newegg would bring my cost up an extra $300.00
Thanks for all your help on this.
 
The power supply you picked out is much better, and the video card is about 10 times more powerfull then the default dell card. You are also getting a blue ray drive and 1GB extra ram then the dell. Most of the part you buy on your own are going to be higher quality then the ones you get in a prebuilt system as well (although you don't get the 1 year full system warentee).

The dell does have the better processor. The motherboard you picked doesn't support the Core i7 900 series as they are different sockets but you could upgrade to the core i7 860 which has almost identical benchmarks as the 920 for ~$60 - core i7 860 on newegg is around $280. (basically the 900 series supports tri-channel ddr3 where the 800 is only dual-channel. The 800 series runs cooler and uses less power for just about the same performance though).

If i got a system right now i would build one with a core i7 860 processor as i believe it is the best performance/cost tradeoff and do some heavy image/video editing so i will use it. For your usage, you don't really need a system this good, so it depends on what you want to do with your money. I think you would be very happy with a $500-600 HP/Dell system. If you have the money to spend and want to get a slightly higher end system, then I would probably build it.
 
Not to confuse your decision any more, but cyberpowerpc (I have no personal experience with them, but one of my friends got a very nice computer through them). Has a full built system with very similar specs to what you had priced on newegg (with windows 7) for $930
http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Gamer_Infinity_8800_Pro/ they currently have a special so this comes with liquid cooling system as well. Cyberpowerpc has much more reasonable prices on upgrades that you select on your system (dell and hp soak you horribly if you try to change the configuration), so you could get the i7 860 processor here for $80 more as well.
 
Thanks I am a bit confused but that is how you learn. PS The price I mentioned at Newegg didn't include the blue ray.I don't buy computers very often so I want one that will last me a while. Does the Newegg one I priced have have a modem connection for my fax and what about a wireless internet card. Also I am in Canada so I have to look at CDN sites.
 
Neither have a modem for fax usage or a wireless internet card (all will have a wired LAN card though). Is a telephone fax line a requirement? Check out some of the internet/email fax services) that you can get : http://www.savetz.com/fax/#cweb unless you have high monthly page count you can get a fax service for $10-15/month.

A PCI wireless card is fairly inexpensive - you can add one on cyperpowerpc or get one on newegg for $50 or so (http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833314305)
 
No I looked closer I don't need the modem for fax or the wireless my fax-printer is usb.I will worry about the wireless later.
 
Something that may help you is to list out all of your requirements (something we should have suggested earlier on), along with "nice to haves" and your budget constraints. That will help determine the specs of the computer you need and/or could get.
 
Hi,
I see you've had a little more input since I've been away- bit problematic keeping up with the thread being 18 hours out of sync with Canada.

I tossed in the blu ray (and the speakers) solely because you mentioned that you weren't a gamer and wanted to watch video on your computer- that usually implies that the computers use would lean toward multimedia. A regular DVD optical drive would suffice along with standard satellite speakers.
Bear in mind that I picked componentry mainly from one vendor (newegg) for simplicity in ordering and combined shipping. I personally would buy from any source that offered the best price (including shipping option) regardless of how many different orders I placed.
For instance, in Canada -with a little help from Google.....
CPU : Core i5 750 Retail (Free shipping, $215)
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4959973&Sku=I69-0750
Motherboard: Gigabyte P55-UD3L ($130 + shipping)
http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=47336&vpn=GA-P55-UD3L&manufacture=Gigabyte
RAM : G.Skill 4Gb DDR3-1600 Ripjaw CL9 ($99)
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277
Graphics card: Powercolor HD5750 1Gb ($126.88 + $9.99 shipping)
Power Supply: Corsair TX650w ($89)
http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=11180AC2550&vpn=CMPSU-650TX&manufacture=CORSAIR
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500Gb ($52.55 + $9.99 shipping)
http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=14120DR8025&vpn=ST3500418AS&manufacture=SEAGATE
Chassis: Thermaltake V3 Black Edition ($49.99 + shipping)
http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=46894&vpn=VL80001W2Z&manufacture=Thermaltake
OS : Windows 7 Home Edition x64 OEM
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5213932&CatId=4622
Optical Drive: Sony Optiarc AD-7024S-0B SATA CD/DVD ($32.49+shipping)
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118030
Mouse: Microsoft Silver Comfort optical mouse 3000 ($27)
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826105286CVF

Total cost : $842 +shipping on 5 components

Dependant upon where you live you may also have access to retail.
You should also be able to access etailers that don't come up in the first few hits on Google. You will also have access to specials and stock that is eligable for rebates-whether you actually get the rebate is another matter entirely.
If you have no interest in gaming at all, then purchasing a last generation graphics card such as http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102854 is an option which would save you $60-70.
 
Great info thanks I know a guy (not well) who builds computers and have now ask him with the help of your suggestions. I am waiting to see what he says for cost before I make up my mind.
 
Best wishes, you really can't go wrong with any of the recommendations we have given. You don't have super hi requirements (which is good), and means that any decent new system will last you a while and perform well for you. My last recommendation again is to read the https://www.techspot.com/guides/buying/ . If you have money left over consider a small (60-80Gb) SSD drive as your boot device - this is probably the single biggest thing you can do at this point to improve system responsiveness and program loading speed.
 
Best wishes, you really can't go wrong with any of the recommendations we have given. You don't have super hi requirements (which is good), and means that any decent new system will last you a while and perform well for you. My last recommendation again is to read the https://www.techspot.com/guides/buying/ . If you have money left over consider a small (60-80Gb) SSD drive as your boot device - this is probably the single biggest thing you can do at this point to improve system responsiveness and program loading speed.

What will this do for me and how does it work sorry for the lack of knowledge but I guess I am behind the times further than I thought.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back