Starting from Scratch

[Raekin]

Hey all,

I'm looking to replace my 5 yr old computer with something a little more up-to-date. The computer I have now will stay as a work/school computer, so this new one is for my multimedia center.

Things I don't need:
Monitor (will be buying 42" LCD TV for this)


Looking to spend around $1k-$1.5k for the best bang for the buck computer that can run my games, and play movies, etc. I might be able to push it to $2k if the extra money is worth it. A smaller case/tower would be nice to hide, but not a necessity. Not a fanboy of any type, so recommend anything and everything. I built my last computer, so i can put all the components together easily, I just haven't been keeping up with the latest and greatest technology.

Thanks, and I appreciate it.

Justin

 

[whizler]

My advice is to look through the many posts here from people listing out specs for a new system. Practically any system will run movies, but what kind of games do you play?

 

[teclis1023]

Hey Raekin,

Sounds like a fun project, to start. Some of my thoughts (in no particular order!)

Go Quad-Core. The Intel Quad-Core processors are inexpensive to the point that you'll probably regret not spending the extra $100 if you don't get one. You can get a 1.8GHz DC for $180, or for $280 you can get a 2.4GHz quad.

Stability is the best thing around. I currently am using an eVGA 680i Motherboard, and as much as I love the robust BIOS, sometimes I wish I had bought the D975xbx2KR board from Intel. That being said, I do love my board! Get something that's going to be stable for the years to come.

Memory is very inexpensive at this point in time. 4GB of RAM is less than $200, and that's the DDR2-800 series! I recommend springing for the 4GB now so that as you move to the future, you'll be able to utilize it later if you move to an x64 motherboard.

I have long used Antec Powersupplies, but lately I've been reading some information about quality control issues. Because of this, I've shifted to Seasonic. Their series 1 line was fantastic, and they just released their Series 2 line, which is currently being revised. Check 'em out. They're a no-flash sort of company, but they've got it where it counts.

The Centurion 5 Case is butt-ugly, but it's nice and small and very sturdy with great airflow. I've seen mixed reviews on the new CoolerMaster RC690 case, which I think is pretty nice looking. ALso, the Tuniq case got decent reviews, if you want something a bit more stylish. Lian-Li has some sub-$100 cases which should do the trick if you want an all-aluminum setup.

I'm not a big proponent of SLI, mainly because I'm poor. Because of that, I recommend getting a nice powerful graphics card that won't require you to SLI it in order to handle tomorrow's games. The 8800GTS and GTX should be dropping in price soon with the upcoming release of the 9x00 series GeForce cards, so watch out for those. You can buy Radeon x1950s for $150 now and GeForce 7950s for $180. Unless you're really going to be playing mega games, either of these should fit the bill.

Go all SATA. Get rid of any IDE HDDs and Opticals!

Well, there's my list at the moment!