[The_Shadow_630]

I have about $1700-$2000 to spend on a new build. Primarily need it for general use, but some gaming would definately be nice. Does not need to run the major high performance games, but at least some of the upper end of them if nothing else. What suggestions do you guys have. I have not worked on a parts list for it yet, just hit me with some things that you think would be good for this price range. Thanks for any and all suggestions and help.

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Core 2 Duos are definately the way to go
1GB of ram is a must - 2GB if you can afford it
300GB of Hard Drive space should be suffiecient,
and practically any $200 graphics card can play new games on medium.
id say a 500W minimum PSU, 600W if you can afford it. As you upgrade components, it's likely they will become more power hungry.
DVD/RW Drives are practically a must, and are very handy when you need them...

Obviously any size monitor is fine, but its up to you - of course! I've always knocked dell, but maybe you should build a custom system with them. They are VERY good quality and support is brilliant.

[SuperSam]

Core 2 Duos are definately the way to go
1GB of ram is a must - 2GB if you can afford it
300GB of Hard Drive space should be suffiecient,
and practically any $200 graphics card can play new games on medium.
id say a 500W minimum PSU, 600W if you can afford it. As you upgrade components, it's likely they will become more power hungry.
DVD/RW Drives are practically a must, and are very handy when you need them...

Obviously any size monitor is fine, but its up to you - of course! I've always knocked dell, but maybe you should build a custom system with them. They are VERY good quality and support is brilliant.

[The_Shadow_630]

I did consider going the Dell route, but the person for whom I am doing this build, or helping with I should say, is wanting to learn how to build it, from scratch, so that he not only knows exactly what is there, but can also work on it and with it easier in the future if he must. He said his plan was to save about $1700-$2000 over the summer and work on the build from there. I told him that we should be able to easily build a system to meet his requirements on that budget.

[SuperSam]

Of course, it's easy to do that, but you have to remember to use the legal license keys + a genuine copy of XP. You also have to know there is no support if something messes up. For a novice I wouldn't recommend building unless you are entirely confident.

[jrm20]

I did consider going the Dell route, but the person for whom I am doing this build, or helping with I should say, is wanting to learn how to build it, from scratch, so that he not only knows exactly what is there, but can also work on it and with it easier in the future if he must. He said his plan was to save about $1700-$2000 over the summer and work on the build from there. I told him that we should be able to easily build a system to meet his requirements on that budget.

Well talking about after summer that will be like what 5-6 months away by that time newer stuff will be out like newer video cards etc but a core 2 duo would still be a good choice. I wouldnt permanently make my mind up on a video card yet because like I said there will be better and greater video cards out by then in 5-6months time. The R600 video cards by ATI will be out within a couple months.


Its really to early to pick out every item for the pc but 2gb of ram is A MUST. 1gb of ram isnt enough this day in time especially if you end up getting Windows Vista and want to play the new directx10 games coming out in 4 months or so.

You can very well build a complete system for that price range even under it.

Get a good brand of memory like Corsair, Mushkin, Kingston, Crucial, the GSkill lower latency ram is good even but the lowest priced GSKILL isnt as good because they are made by 2 diff manufacturers I think believe it or not.

Im not a fanboy of just 1 manufacturer anymore I get what has the best performance / good reviews for the money. Although Corsair is my favorite. On Nvidia VS Ati get whatever has the best performance for the price it doesnt matter both cards work fine.. I used to be an nvidia fan only but I have changed on that aswell. Dont get all hyped up on a certain brand just get whatever is HIGH Quality with good reviews and the best price to performance ratio. DONT get an OFF brand unherd of memory though. On a motherboard dont skimp out on that either get a High quality board. For the Conroe mobos about $200 is the price range for the High end quality of a mobo that has all of the options, accessories and all of the goodies. You can get a good board in the $150 range also for the Conroe. For a powersupply DO NOT SKIMP OUT ON THIS!! Get a Truepower Power supply from a KNOWN manufacturer that is HIGH quality. DO NOT get a cheap $40 700W power supply for example because it will not have the true 700Watts of power and the amps on the 12 volt and 5volt rails will be weak.

Make sure the powersupply has 18-20Amps on atleast one of the 12 volt rails if you get a high end video card. If you want SLI get a powersupply that has atleast 2 12 volt rails with 18-20 amps on each rail. For SLI on the 8800gts's you can get by with a 650W powersupply from a high end manufacturer with the 18-20 amps on the 12 volt rails I told you. So 650w minimum for 2 8800gts's in SLI to be safe. For 2 8800gtx's you might need 700W. Remember this is all depending on what else you have on your pc aswell.

Antec trio 750W psu is a great psu and its around $130 from newegg.

the antec 700W and above psu's are good for these new machines that demand power

Hiper makes a 580W psu that is high quality with solid rails and its easy on the wallet quite cheap in price, it can even handle a 8800gts quite well with no problems.

Tagan 700W and above has good power supplies

PC power and cooling makes great power supplies

OCZ has good power supplies

Corsair has good power supplies

Thermaltake 600w and above is good



Watch out for FSP psu's they have low 12volt rail amps I wouldnt get one.

Remember just look at the amps on the overall rails of the psu.

[The_Shadow_630]

(SuperSam) I am not a complete newbie to building, I have built a couple of my own, I was just here asking for suggestions due to the new tech out there and I have not been keeping up with it as much. I was planning on going with at least a Dual Core processor, but preferrable a Core 2 Duo seeing as they are the hottest thing on the market and they seem to be performing well. Thank you for the fair warning though.

(jrm20) I realized that it was too far out to start picking all the components now, especially video cards. You gave me alot of the information that I was after though. I was ot completely certain on the PSU or Memory brand. I have bought Ultra Memory in the past, but i was thinking of going with something a little higher end for this build, per the request of the person I am helping (though he did not know that was what he was requesting). Thank you very much for the PSU advice, that will come in very handy. I know from past experience not to skimp on the PSU. I am not one to save all my money there, I actually will often spend alot more money on the PSU just ot make sure that the computer is protected like it needs to be. I am going ot be changing the PSU in my personal computer soon due to increased power demands due to upgrades and after a better quality PSU.

As far as memory, I do not think I am going to go with the high speed memory too much. This guy will not be needing it and will not be doing and OC or anything, so I will probably go with one that is good for general use, probably Dual-Channel, just so he has a good performance for a decent price. I like Crucial and Corsair, so I will probably advise those for him, depending on what is running for a good price at the time.

Any suggestions on brands of CPU fans that you have found to be dependable?

[h_mike]

I really want to get me a Intel Core 2 Duo Extreme, I've never actually built my own PC. I do here its a lot of beneficial to build your own, and its cheaper in the long run. Also taking the "build your own PC" route, keeps you from having preloaded junk software, such as Norton, etc.

[The_Shadow_630]

That is very much true. Now, the thing with the price is not always true. Alot of mass producing dealers can build their systems for cheaper because of contracts na purchase rights and things of that nature and can thus offer them cheaper to the consumer. The benefit to building your own though outweigh the negatives in my mind. If you build your own, you know exactly what is in it, all the part numbers and everything if you keep records, exactly what upgrades you can get, exactly what is available to you in the future. Also, you know that you have good parts if you ask questions nad shop around. The cheaper part usually comes in with you knowing about your machine and thus not having to take it in for work to be done, you can do it at home and thus save on tech. fees and as well you can buy upgrades on your own and install them rather than paying someone to do it for you. That is where the price breaks are. The junk software is another benefit because you can just install the OS and install it where you want and how you want rather than a manufacturer doing that for you.

[SuperSam]

I didn't realise Shadow, I'm sorry. I just assumed you hadn't built one before. Nevertheless, if you can build one and are confident you should definately go it. Doing it yourself is the cheapest option and I quite enjoy doing it TBH.

[The_Shadow_630]

No offense taken sam, I probably would have assumed the same thing. Thanks for all the help everyone. I really do appreciate it.