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So, I'm building this computer for college, see.
Here's what I've got so far
I don't need a new keyboard/mouse, so ignore that for now.
My budget is $1000, but I'd like to stick reasonably below that if possible. The computer's primarily going to be used for both high and low-end gaming, as well as Internet browsing and the usual staples. Suggestions/criticisms?
-EDIT- Oh, and plus OEM Windows 7 home premium.
I don't need a new keyboard/mouse, so ignore that for now.
My budget is $1000, but I'd like to stick reasonably below that if possible. The computer's primarily going to be used for both high and low-end gaming, as well as Internet browsing and the usual staples. Suggestions/criticisms?
-EDIT- Oh, and plus OEM Windows 7 home premium.
Comments
If you have tight budgetary constraints, you can save some cash by going with AMD for your CPU. Sure, Intel's CPUs offer better performance per watt, and AMD can't match their high-end offerings, but AMD is still better for performance per dollar, and the motherboards tend to be cheaper.
There is no reason to get a separate heatsink and thermal grease. All Intel retail CPUs come with a standard heat sink that is more than adequate, and more importantly, silent. You don't need anything different unless you overclock, and you shouldn't overclock.
There's no reason to use an HDMI cable, use a DVI cable, which will come with your Dell Ultrasharp monitor. You should only use HDMI if say, you wanted to connect to your television. If you did, you should buy your HDMI cable from monoprice, where it will cost you less than $2. You could get 6 or 7 HDMI cables for the price of the one you are buying there.
What the heck brand of motherboard is that? It doesn't exactly have glowing reviews. Here's a tip on Newegg. You can't go wrong buying products that have little golden trophies next to them. How about this? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128437
As for the monitor, Ultrasharps be expensive. Get a nice normal one. I've got a second hand LCD with VGA only and it's suited me fine. At that time in your life, the money is much more important.
I rather think Scott is exaggerating the advantage of 8-bit panels here. Sure, they're better, and worth it if you've got the money, but for day-to-day use and gaming it won't matter much. Plus, TN panels have the advantage of faster response times when it comes to gaming. If you were going to do some kind of graphics work I'd definitely say 8-bit or bust, but that's not the case here.
Is $309 really that expensive? Back in the olden days I paid like $550 for a 17" LCD because it was the only one with a 12ms refresh rate, and thus was the only one that didn't have the ghosting effect while gaming. None of the other monitors at the time were even close. Here is the same exact Dell I currently have on eBay for $180.
And if you think that the screen makes no difference, consider this. Why are Apple displays basically super amazing compared to any others, and even normal people can tell? They're all IPS, even the iPhone. If I VNC from my computer to a Mac, it looks just as visually stunning. Then if I drag the VNC window over to my old non-IPS screen, it's night and day.
Ok, I'll be away for a while, gotta head over and help Churba pack, see you all in a day or so.
If you are going to sit around and play Counterstrike for 3+ hours daily, you may want to spend a more on a monitor. How much money you set aside for luxuries and what you spend them on is your choice.
From my perspective, if you are lacking in the financial department, then it is even more important to buy something that is high quality, especially if it something you care about.
For example, let's say you're really into photography, but the $1000 DSLR is a lot of moneys. So you opt for the $500 camera. It ends up being inadequate. $500 is still a lot, and now you are stuck with something that isn't quite enough. So now what do you do? Do you suffer with the inadequate camera? Do you sell it and then buy the DSLR? That's more money than it would have been to just buy the DSLR in the first place.
Building a computer is especially important to get some quality, because there could be breakage. You don't have much money, but a computer is very important for you. You save up a bunch, and then you cut a bunch of corners to build a PC. Let's say you get the price down to $1,000. Those corners you cut might be a cheaper PSU or a crappy hard drive or mobo. The result could be a computer that breaks, forcing you to spend more later. It could mean suffering with a lower quality computer for years. If you had just saved a little more and spent $1,250 or $1,500 in the first place, you would have something far more reliable and higher quality.
Think of it this way. A rich person can buy a $500 computer and not care if it's shit because he can just replace it with another $500 computer. A poor person can't afford to have it break or be shit because they can't afford to replace it. Their dollars are more valuable. Even though the numeric price is the same, the poor person is effectively paying a higher price for the same product. The rich person wouldn't even consider paying for insurance on such a thing. For a less rich person, a cheap insurance policy wouldn't be such a bad idea. Think of buying the better computer not as being wasteful and anti-frugal, think of it as cheap insurance. Buying a machine for $1,250 instead of $1,000 is like getting insurance for $250.
Also think about how college kid only needs to make it long enough to replace their PC when they have full-time job money and said money isn't such a big option. An ultrasharp for a college income doesn't seem like a very wise choice. Same goes for Macs if you're capable of keeping a PC in order.
8-bit vs 6-bit only really matters when you're viewing static images, because you get the chance to look at the detail enough that dithering and FRC used by 6-bit panels would be noticeable. For gaming and watching movies, the contrast ratio is a much more important specification.
See here for a demonstration of how a 6-bit panel displays 8 bits of colour (this will only work if you have a 6-bit panel, though they do have .gifs approximating the effect). On my laptop screen I can see that all of the black squares except every fourth one are noticeably noisy, but that kind of effect is negligible for non-static images.