Building a compy compy.

[Odjn]

I'm looking to build a PC with enough umph to play games and not suck while doing it. I cobbled this together- I'm looking to see if this is ok and if it's possible to cut prices any more. I'm not looking for cutting edge, just something that can play most anything on medium settings.




Case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147111
29.99

Motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130275
99.99


Power supply http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182173 49.99

Processorhttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103851
199.99

Videocard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121339 54.99

Hard drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136218
69.99

DVD drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204 23.99


RAM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148221
46.99

[Eldezar]

The case and power supply you got cost around 80 bucks together. This case/power supply combo (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811162037) is 50 bucks but has 100 watts less in the power supply. That is the only combo for a 600 watt+ combo between $25 and $50, the next step up is between $100 and $200 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007583+600029807+600006353+4017&QksAutoSuggestion=&ShowDeactivatedMark=False&Configurator=&IsNodeId=1&Subcategory=7&description=&Ntk=&CFG=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=). Everything I see between $100-$200 will give you better cooling as well as expansion for future upgrades, though are not entirely necessary if that is not what you are looking for.

Also the case you have chosen is micro-ATX while your motherboard is ATX. I forget if an ATX fits into a micro case, but unless someone else confirms it or you look it up it would be safer to go with an ATX case.

Although Western Digital has very good hard drives, Seagate Barracuda and Hitachi are top competitors. This seagate drive (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148433) spins at the same RPM, has double the cache and is 1 TB all for $10 less. This Hitachi drive (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145304) does all that the Seagate does for the same price as the WD, but Hitachi is known for pioneering some stellar cooling techniques for their hard drives and newegg says this one is also eco-friendly. You also want lower latency, and the Seagate is the only one of the three which labels it meaning they think it is low enough to highlight. If a hardware manufacturer doesn't list a spec for the nitty gritty it is normally because that spec is below average.

I recommend getting a 4GB stick with a heat spreader (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231310). You'll pay twice as much but you are getting twice as much capacity in one stick. One other reason for that RAM is it lists timing (http://www.techpowerup.com/printarticle.php?id=131) (see previous remark on why manufacturers don't list a spec). We can assume by the latency of 9 that the timing may be similar, and for 10 bucks less this RAM (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231307) will give you better latency and timing than both, though you sacrifice speed. There are disputes as to whether or not it is better to have greater speed or lower latency/timing which I have not done enough research on.

Anyways, having a 4GB stick for your system also aids in future expansion. It is also a good idea to keep all RAM the same model and speed, and since each slot can support up to 4GB, might as well get the max you can since you are just about guaranteed to want to upgrade alter anyways. The 4GB will also ensure you can handle pretty much any current game on the market at medium settings.

Your processor will be able to handle pretty much anything, but you will save money by downgrading to a quad-core. 6 cores are still fairly new technology and aren't really necessary unless you want to future-proof (even moreso than quad-core does). I'm still running a four-year-old dual-core and I run TF2, L4D2 and Alien Swarm on fairly high settings. This page (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100006519%2050001028%2040000343&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&ActiveSearchResult=True&CompareItemList=343%7C19-103-809%5E19-103-809-TS%2C19-103-727%5E19-103-727-TS%2C19-103-808%5E19-103-808-TS%2C19-103-851%5E19-103-851-TS) compares the six-core with three different quad-cores, which I would recommend any of them, just depends on what you want to spend.

No qualms about the motherboard or video card.

Finally, not only does every item hav a combo deals section where you might be able to save some money by combining specific items but many of them have rebates. You can save a lot if you make sure to take advantage of every one of them.

[Azisien]

I'm looking to build a lower-end multimedia PC for a friend. It needs to run Photoshop and other video editting software well, with a budget of about $500. Do you think something approximating Odjn's build will do this?

I've never built a PC before without going nuts on the budget, so I actually need some advice here. (I've also never used photoshop or video editting programs).

[Eldezar]

Odjn's computer, with or without my recommendations, is a bit more powerful than my machine. I can run Macromedia Flash CS4, GIMP 2.4 and Magix Movie Edit Pro 14 with no known problems thus far. Again I can also run many current games at medium-high settings with with little to no issues. My newest games are L4d2, The Orange Box, Alien Swarm, Oblivion and Overlord II.

I also just remembered monitors. The cheapest monitor on Newegg with HDMI support (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824254049) is $129.99. If you want to take advantage of 1920 x 1080 resolution, then the cheapest is either 149.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824112017) without HDMI and 174.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236051) with HDMI.

All of these monitors have a response time of 5ms or less. 10ms is the maximum recommended for high-end gaming, and anything below 6ms becomes so fast that it is hardly distinguishable to the human eye.

They also have DVI which is the current standard about to wipe out VGA and is the predecessor to HDMI. Basically HDMI support is more "future-proofing" for your machine.

HDCP (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-bandwidth_Digital_Content_Protection) is a (somewhat) new thing regarding copyrighted digital content (DVI or HDMI only). It hasn't completely flooded the market but it basically means if you don't have a video card and monitor with HDCP support than you can't play certain copyrighted content. The $149.99 monitor I posted does not have it but the other two do.

They are each 20"-21.5" which is plenty, but you will definitely love the experience if you bump up to 24" monitors (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007617%20600012357%20600029504%20600030619&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&ShowDeactivatedMark=False&CompareItemList=20%7C24-009-167%5E24-009-167-TS%2C24-009-202%5E24-009-202-TS%2C24-009-208%5E24-009-208-TS).