Project 1 - Buying a computer

Well, I like customize-ability so rather than straight up buy a stock computer and list reasons, I'm going to go part by part. I'll be using Newegg.com listings for prices, ect. The links to everything as I accessed them on 8/28/2010 will be posted at the bottom in the order discussed. Prices do not include shipping or any taxes not included in the listed price. $0.99 has been rounded up to the next dollar.


Well, first off the motherboard. I decided to go with the ASUS 890GX to start the build off. This will give compatibility with DDR3 RAM, and an AM3 socket, and costing 140$ it's not so bad. Since it's an ASUS board we'll be looking at AMD cpus, which come around as better for gaming, my primary purpose for this computer. Another reason for this choice is that ASUS/AMD/ATI equipment tend to be cheaper than their Intel/NVIDIA counterparts.

Now when I say AMD cpus tend to be better for gaming, the reason is the newer Intel processor's biggest thing is hyper-threading, something the vast majority of games (and many programs) ignore, and having it will do you little to no good.

So, for the processor I went with the Phenom ii 965, it's a quad-core 3.4ghz processor, and so will do nicely for running games, with a few background programs I often like to keep running. It also comes with a nice stock heat sink according to the feedback comments on Newegg, however should it prove inadequate another could easily be purchased to take its place. Coming in at 166$ it's a little steep, but well worth the price.

Next up: RAM. OCZ Obsidion DDR3 1600 2x2GB. It will run fast enough for most games, and should the need come up for additional RAM, the motherboard supports 4 slots and another pair can be bought. Coming in at 84$ it's a nice price for RAM.

Now a big part for gaming, the video card. The Radeon 4870 should more than suffice with power, and is compatible with direct x 10.1, compatibility with dx11 isn't so much of an issue right now, as very few (if any, none to my knowledge) require dx11 graphics support. This comes in at 130$, a fairly nice price.

Now a very necessary component: the hard drive. For the sake of never running out of space and having about the fastest consumer hard drive: Samsung's 1TB hard drive coming in at 60$. I think this is fairly self-explanatory.

The CD/DVD drive,  a Lifes Good black drive. 20$, again self-explanatory.

Now for the show off piece, the case. Antec's 900 Black steel tower with 650w EA650 power supply, the psu is more than enough to cover the machine, and the tower looks cool. The bundle comes in at 150$, nice and low for two pieces.

The monitor now, ASUS has a good rep for those so let's go with the ASUS VW266H, it's a 25.5" monitor with a recommended resolution of 1920x1200. Very high resolution, very good looking, very good gaming. This piece comes in at 290$.

Now keyboard and mouse, I'm going to go with a Razer bundle on the pair, the mouse has 5 buttons, very good and the keyboard is showy, also nice. This pair comes in at 125$

Of course, one cannot forget the Operating system Windows 7 Home Premium should do to top everything off, coming in at 100$

This all comes out to 1265$.

MotherBoard
Processor
RAM
Video Card
Hard Drive
Dvd Drive
Case/PSU
Monitor
Combo Keyboard/Mouse
Windows 7 Home Premium