I've been an off and on reader in these forums for a few years now, though without too many posts. I built my first system about 3 years ago, and now I want to do it again. I've been out of the hardware-know-how scene for quite a while, so I'm not sure where things stand as to what's the best, and what's the best value.
This rig will mainly be used for gaming, though I do a bit of CAD work and want to pick up some 3dSmax practice before our design course clobbers us with it. Oh, and I watch movies. Lots of movies. Performance is important, but I'm also going to want to keep this puppy *quiet*. All within a non-infinite budget.
I guess I should make some headings and update as we go along:
case/psu:
HUGE problem last build. I went for flashy instead of functional, and ended up with a Noblesse, which wasn't horrid, but was big and heavy. The door hinge also broke early on. I've heard nothing but bliss from Lian-Li, and it seems a lot of people also use Antec. What are some of the quieter/better psu's right now? I guess I'll go with ~465w, just to be safe. Advice appreciated.
cpu:
AMD, all the way. Was looking for a good cost/performance tradeoff, somewhere 3000+ and up. It seems the 3000+ has gotten a lot of traffic over at newegg, but perhaps some people have high opinions of a 3200+ or such, something before the price/perform. ratio skyrockets.
mobo:
no clue! this was the hardest part of my last build as well, though settled out for the 8kha+ which treated me well. I haven't oc'd before, though I'd like to dabble if time allows this year.
sound:
i used an audigy before and didn't really have any outstanding problems with it, though the software package was annoying and hard to make disappear. I figure an audigy 2 or sorts this time around, though does anyone have experience with turtle beaches?
video:
Has 256mb become necessary yet? I believe I had an nVidia 4200gt with my last build, but my brother ended up ganking it and left me with some gf3. It also seems that a lot of builds these days are going with Radeon. If you think I can get away with a 128 model, looks like newegg has a Gigabyte 6600gt for a good price. I don't want to spend more than $225, $250 on this, most preferably <$200.
RAM:
Looking at 2x 1gig sticks of something. Last time was nothing but crucial, but now I see lots of OCZ around. Advice?
optical drives:
I loved my old Plextor, though it seems LiteOn has taken the spotlight. Cheap and good, but loud, they say. Is this ALL the time loud, even when just playing a movie?
I plan on keeping this very updated, so please, all advice is greatly appreciated! I'd like to order all this within the next couple days. Oh, and advice on a good ~19" lcd would be great too (the 193p+ seems to be a TOP pic, but if there's anything more budgetable, please advise!).
This rig will mainly be used for gaming, though I do a bit of CAD work and want to pick up some 3dSmax practice before our design course clobbers us with it. Oh, and I watch movies. Lots of movies. Performance is important, but I'm also going to want to keep this puppy *quiet*. All within a non-infinite budget.
I guess I should make some headings and update as we go along:
case/psu:
HUGE problem last build. I went for flashy instead of functional, and ended up with a Noblesse, which wasn't horrid, but was big and heavy. The door hinge also broke early on. I've heard nothing but bliss from Lian-Li, and it seems a lot of people also use Antec. What are some of the quieter/better psu's right now? I guess I'll go with ~465w, just to be safe. Advice appreciated.
cpu:
AMD, all the way. Was looking for a good cost/performance tradeoff, somewhere 3000+ and up. It seems the 3000+ has gotten a lot of traffic over at newegg, but perhaps some people have high opinions of a 3200+ or such, something before the price/perform. ratio skyrockets.
mobo:
no clue! this was the hardest part of my last build as well, though settled out for the 8kha+ which treated me well. I haven't oc'd before, though I'd like to dabble if time allows this year.
sound:
i used an audigy before and didn't really have any outstanding problems with it, though the software package was annoying and hard to make disappear. I figure an audigy 2 or sorts this time around, though does anyone have experience with turtle beaches?
video:
Has 256mb become necessary yet? I believe I had an nVidia 4200gt with my last build, but my brother ended up ganking it and left me with some gf3. It also seems that a lot of builds these days are going with Radeon. If you think I can get away with a 128 model, looks like newegg has a Gigabyte 6600gt for a good price. I don't want to spend more than $225, $250 on this, most preferably <$200.
RAM:
Looking at 2x 1gig sticks of something. Last time was nothing but crucial, but now I see lots of OCZ around. Advice?
optical drives:
I loved my old Plextor, though it seems LiteOn has taken the spotlight. Cheap and good, but loud, they say. Is this ALL the time loud, even when just playing a movie?
I plan on keeping this very updated, so please, all advice is greatly appreciated! I'd like to order all this within the next couple days. Oh, and advice on a good ~19" lcd would be great too (the 193p+ seems to be a TOP pic, but if there's anything more budgetable, please advise!).