A build for under $1K CDN

Dude! I can do nearly as good for half the price!
First, you do NOT need a 600W power supply unless you plan on installing RAID HDDs and multiple video cards. Do the math; 450W is plenty. Next, if you have an optical drive in your current computer, just move it over; you will rarely need an optical drive for your secondary PC, and any time you do, you can just get what you need from your new PC via a local area network. Third, I’ve never heard of that motherboard, but I like to use Intel motherboards with Intel chips; that’s partially personal preference and partially common sense in that it minimizes the chances for compatibility issues.

So with all of that in mind, here’s my recommendation: Newegg.com – Once You Know, You Newegg

I used all of those components in my current build that I put together in January, and it’s made me very happy. The motherboard leaves a ton of room for future upgrading, which I missed sorely in my previous machine. I did not get that version of Windows; it looks legit, but read all the fine print on the System Builder’s Edition to make sure. The video card in your post is fairly significantly better, but IMO not worth the exorbitant difference in price. The only other thing you might need is an optical drive, but like I said, just reuse an old drive if you can; optical drives haven’t changed much in the last 5 years.

Building a working computer is really rewarding somehow. Typing this post makes me want to do it again :p

Oh, I almost forgot! You can save $90 – and be more of a man – if you scratch the Windows and use Ubuntu instead :p

Processor and RAM are not included in the build according to his OP. He already has one of each.

detn8r, your most recent suggested build looks pretty solid. By now, I’m guessing you want to do some pretty serious stuff with the graphics card. Let us know how it works out 🙂

Er… ignoring the last couple of posts.

It’s true: Building a computer isn’t necessarily worth it, unless you have a specific configuration in mind. Right now I’m getting ready to build a new computer in the next week or so, and I’ve spent what seems like forever looking at different parts and components online.

Keep in mind, it’s going to be a gaming PC:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 (overclocked)
Asus PQ5 ATX motherboard
G.SKILL 4GB DDR2 1066 RAM
Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 512MB DDR5 video card
Corsair 750-watt power supply
Seagate SATA 3.0 Gb/s 7200RPM 250GB hard drive, CD/DVD writer, etc etc…

As you can see, I usually try to study up hard on good parts that will effect my performance, as opposed to hard drives and optical drives, which are things that I only spend a few minutes looking for at a budget price because they don’t usually effect graphics/processing performance. This strategy is ideal for me because I can spend more money on more vital components and then save more money on basic ones. Do I need a terabyte of hard drive space? No. 250GB will do.

I’m totally getting that same motherboard detn8r, except it’s the regular PQ5 instead of the deluxe one or whatever. (I don’t want crossfire or SLI or any of that tomfoolery anymore).

Again, it makes it somewhat difficult for me to help you because (a) You don’t use Newegg in Canada and (b) prices are gonna be different where you are. My future setup I listed above though is about a thousand bucks on Newegg.com, although with a new Vista OS, monitor, and some other peripherals – including a seperate CPU fan – it’s actually upwards of $1,500.

One big factor is: What are you going to be using this computer for? If it’s anything that involves heavy graphics or multimedia, then you’re gonna have to go for a more powerful machine. Otherwise you can save a lot of money by buying a basic machine that will do pretty much everything else.

So yeah.. do a LOT of looking. Look online for pieces of hardware that are very popular, with lots of positive reviews. This is what helps me know I’m getting a quality product that is very commonplace as well, e.g. I can quickly figure out if it will work with the rest of my setup.

Good luck man. Edit: Eh… should’ve added more info on hard drive and disc drive. Done though.

Very nice choice of graphics card, Detn8r. The Nvidia 8800GT happens to remain a great performer for a great price. As far as I know, EVGA is a reliable brand as well.

I’m not sure what kind of cases you like, but perhaps you might want to consider the Coolermaster CAC-T05 Centurion. It’s simplistic, but still very pleasing to the eye. It’s a good size, and with only a couple fans and vents it has very good airflow as well. For $50 I don’t think you can go wrong with it. It’s the one I’m getting for my new machine, and it happens to be one of the top cases on Newegg as well.

Makes me want to upgrade MY computer. It’s really showing it’s age.

I’ve done the build-your-own route before (we have a couple big Fry’s stores in southern California — and they have tons of deals on motherboards, processors, ram, and other components. It can be rewarding to put it all together (or frustrating when something goes wrong).

Last time, I did as Dave suggested and bought a preconfigured PC (a Sony Vaio). It’s served me well, although I eventually upgraded the video card. Often you can get a good deal on these as well, and they come fully equipped and fully preconfigured (that’s worth something, too).

Anyhow, let us know how the build goes and have fun with your new PC.