I am starting this in order to reduce the amount of "help me build a gaming computer" and other posts like that. Lets start of with a very basic, non gaming computer (check email, surf the web etc) for under $500 this is the ideal budget PC Optical drive- a very basic CD DVD reader with no ability to burn a CD or DVD. Newegg.com - SONY Black 18X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model DDU1681S-0B - CD / DVD Drives $20 Case- a basic yet sturdy Newegg.com - Thermaltake Strike Mx VI6001BNS Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases $30 CPU- a dual core AMD will work perfectly Newegg.com - AMD Athlon X2 7550 Kuma 2.5GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache 2MB L3 Cache Socket AM2+ 95W Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops $50 Hard Drive- 160GB should be more than enough for basic needs Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600AAJS 160GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives $40 Ram/Memory- 2 gigs at 800 speed it ideal for basic needs Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600AAJS 160GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives $21 Power Supply- Pc Power and Cooling 370 watt you need a good power supply. Newegg.com - PC Power & Cooling Silencer PPCS370X 370W ATX12V 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies $45 Motherboard Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-MA74GM-S2 AM2+/AM2 AMD 740G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards $55 Windows Xp/Vista etc $100 Total $360
Gaming PC for under $800 Optical Drive- Ability to burn cd/dvds Newegg.com - SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 22X DVD±R DVD Burner LightScribe Support - CD / DVD Burners $30 Case- Big case with alot of airflow for maximum performance Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel , SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases $45 CPU- Dual core, it overclocks better and is better for gaming Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops $170 Hard Drive- 500GB enough to store all the games Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops $70 Memory/Ram- 4 gigs is enough and 800 speed is good Newegg.com - OCZ 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2P8004GK - Desktop Memory $52 with $10 MIR Power Supply- 750 watts for room for future upgrades and no chacne of becoming under powered Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Power Supplies $110 $10 MIR Motherboard- What can I say? it will work Newegg.com - ASUS P5QL PRO LGA 775 Intel P43 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards $87 Video card- powerful radeon 4850 great for any game Newegg.com - XFX HD-485X-ZDFC Radeon HD 4850 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards $120 Windows Vista $100 Total $785
Now, the multitasking machine- Who is it good for? People who need video editing, photo shop, etc other demanding programs like that. This computer will be also seen as a high end gaming computer. Also to the best of my knowledge you will be able to run calculations on it but not sure. (CAD etc) Optical Drive- Burn DVDs Cd etc Newegg.com - SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 22X DVD±R DVD Burner LightScribe Support - CD / DVD Burners $28 Case- Big and alot of airflow Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases $80 CPU- 4 cores for multitasking Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 Yorkfield 2.66GHz 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops $185 Hard Drive- 500gb plenty of room Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives $70 Ram- 6gb so you can get all the possible speed Newegg.com - OCZ XMP Ready Series 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model OCZ3X1600LV6GK - Desktop Memory $100 $10MIR Motherboard- Supports DDR3 for max speed and performance Newegg.com - Foxconn BlackOps X48 LGA 775 Intel X48 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards $120 Power Supply- Enough for it all! Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX 850W ATX12V 2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies $140 $20MIR Video Card- Best you can get great for gaming! Newegg.com - HIS H489FT1GP Radeon HD 4890 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Turbo OC Edition - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards $225 Operating System $100 ~$1050
Now, lets do an i7 build. Please not these can get pricey because if you don't put the right parts in, it will bottleneck the CPU seeing how and i7 is the best out at the moment. Case- With all these high end parts there is going to be heat so you need alot of airflow. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133074 $95 Hard Drive- 640GB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319 $75 Cd Dvd burner http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151188 $30 CPU-4 cores, great speed and multitasking ability http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202 $280 Motherboard- x58 ddr3 memory http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188049 $240 $20 MIR Power Supply- 850 watts alot of power, room for upgrades http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139009 $140 $20 MIR Video Card- GTX285 great card, alot of power will not be bottle necked http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130496 $440 Memory- 6GB fast speed http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145222 $110 $20 MIR Operating System $100 Total ~ $1500 Like I said it will be pricey but worth it.
Wheres the hardware Raid controller dude? in Raid 0 configuration a must have on a core i7. I would recommened one of these badboys Perc 5i. Proper hardware raid not fake raid has it's own ram slot, cpu, chipset. http://pn.lamicrogroup.com/images/products/large/DELL_PERC_5I_1.jpg the price is bang on generally a proper hardware raid will cost you £300+. Instead of writing to system ram, it writes to the hardware raid controllers ram and its cpu processes it, instead of the system cpu processing it. Will make a massive difference to your core I7. The core I7 920 good chip can easily be overclocked to 4GHZ. Good motherboard, you not thinkin of upgrading to the Evga x58 Classified has an excellent N200 chip located near the northbridge I/O chip and it runs all three Pci-Express x16 slots in true x16 mode the 4gb/s bus speed. Good graphics card one of the best on the market good choice, But if you've got crazy money to spend the Asus Mars Gtx 285x2 4gb card is the best in the world right now nothing can beat it.
