1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
Just shooting for a usable gaming and every day machine that'll last me for a few years. I've had my current PC for about 4 years with light upgrades and its just getting long in the tooth (it also sounds like a helicopter). I'm far more concerned about it being quiet, really as near to silence as possible, than bleeding edge performance. Considering most of the PC gaming I do these days is relegated to WoW, this will probably be easy to meet. I would like to be able to play new games at reasonable settings if I do so desire, though.
2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread
$1500, give or take $200. If I can get by with less I'll certainly be happy with that.
3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
USA. I've used newegg quite a bit, so probably from them.
4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc, etc, etc, you get the picture.
I guess intel for obvious reasons and I tend to prefer nvidia and WD, but I'll go where the price/performance ratio is best.
5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
Nothing, besides keyboard/mouse and I'll relegate my current monitor to second screen status.
6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.
I've looked around a bit, checked out the sticky recommendations mainly. I pretty much stopped keeping up with hardware the day I built this one though, so I'm feeling a bit lost.
7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
I'll overclock if I can while staying quiet. Otherwise its stock for me. (This machine is overclocked, so I do have some minor experience doing it)
8. WHEN do you plan to build it?
Within a week or two.
Parts:(I've stolen all of these from the sticky)
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor or any similarly recommended quadcore if it will really extend longevity of the machine appreciably. How quiet are the included retail coolers?
MB: ABIT IP35 Pro LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
GPU: I'm thinking I should wait for the new models, at this point? Budgeted for $300.
Case: I liked the reviews I've seen of the COOLER MASTER COSMOS 1000, but I'm not sure if I really need such a gigantic case. Any recommendations here would be greatly appreciated. I budgeted about $200 here.
HD: Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache (Is this suitably quiet?)
Memory: CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
PSU: PC Power & Cooling Silencer PPCS500 500W
Monitor: 22inch would be nice, especially if it can hook up to my 360 (VGA or component, I don't have an HDMI capable 360). $300 budgeted here.
I'm at $1472 with all this. I'll likely be buying Vista as well, unless someone talks me out of it so that'll put it into the $1500s. How's this look? I welcome any critiques or recommendations.
Just shooting for a usable gaming and every day machine that'll last me for a few years. I've had my current PC for about 4 years with light upgrades and its just getting long in the tooth (it also sounds like a helicopter). I'm far more concerned about it being quiet, really as near to silence as possible, than bleeding edge performance. Considering most of the PC gaming I do these days is relegated to WoW, this will probably be easy to meet. I would like to be able to play new games at reasonable settings if I do so desire, though.
2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread
$1500, give or take $200. If I can get by with less I'll certainly be happy with that.
3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
USA. I've used newegg quite a bit, so probably from them.
4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc, etc, etc, you get the picture.
I guess intel for obvious reasons and I tend to prefer nvidia and WD, but I'll go where the price/performance ratio is best.
5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
Nothing, besides keyboard/mouse and I'll relegate my current monitor to second screen status.
6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.
I've looked around a bit, checked out the sticky recommendations mainly. I pretty much stopped keeping up with hardware the day I built this one though, so I'm feeling a bit lost.
7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
I'll overclock if I can while staying quiet. Otherwise its stock for me. (This machine is overclocked, so I do have some minor experience doing it)
8. WHEN do you plan to build it?
Within a week or two.
Parts:(I've stolen all of these from the sticky)
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor or any similarly recommended quadcore if it will really extend longevity of the machine appreciably. How quiet are the included retail coolers?
MB: ABIT IP35 Pro LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
GPU: I'm thinking I should wait for the new models, at this point? Budgeted for $300.
Case: I liked the reviews I've seen of the COOLER MASTER COSMOS 1000, but I'm not sure if I really need such a gigantic case. Any recommendations here would be greatly appreciated. I budgeted about $200 here.
HD: Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache (Is this suitably quiet?)
Memory: CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
PSU: PC Power & Cooling Silencer PPCS500 500W
Monitor: 22inch would be nice, especially if it can hook up to my 360 (VGA or component, I don't have an HDMI capable 360). $300 budgeted here.
I'm at $1472 with all this. I'll likely be buying Vista as well, unless someone talks me out of it so that'll put it into the $1500s. How's this look? I welcome any critiques or recommendations.