I'm in the same boat as you man, and i've been researching for about a month, month 1/2... It really is easier than ya think, don't worry!
here is what I have so far:
Starting with the mobo... I picked this one because it has all the features you want in a great mobo that will last some time. Things you look for in a mobo : chipset. this one is a 890Gx, pretty current, not much better/newer. knowing what chipset it is gives a lot of info on what features it will provide but incase you don't kow this is what people look for. A) crossfire/SLI compatable. this just means you can toss 2+ video cards in there and if you want something somewhat "future proof" this is a must. B) Band width. don't know much about band width but I do know you want at least 8x/8x (It tells you next to PCI-e slot info). C) SATA 6gb/s and usb 3.0. the SATA 6gb/s just means your CPU will communicate with your HDD faster and usb 3.0 makes periferals perform better/quicker as well(ask someone else for more info on usb, dont know much about that either, just know its the future! haha) D) what speed RAM it supports (1600/1333/etc.) there is other stuff but this is taking too long (look at the features at the bottom of the specs it will tell you what else it does)
MOBO
if you have some extra cash and want something that will last you (possibly) longer check these out, it's the newest chipset, came out like 4 days ago (890fx)
MOBO 2
this one has 16x/16x bandwidth for crossfiring your GPU's(big plus, but you won't notice this improvement in any of todays games) but not 3.0 usb. luckily you can get an add-on that give 3.0 usb for like 20-30 bucks. if you want something with just EVERYTHING search for 890FX in newegg, there are about 6 or 7 boards, look at the most expensive.
now moving on to CPU's(processor)...
unless you really run intense science/math programs you should go with an AMD, they are the best price/performance wise. they just release a 6core cpu for the price of a quad core intel. people will tell you intel is better, and it is, but it's just not necessary for 95% of people
IMO a quad core would suffice for a decent while, no games currently use 6core CPU's BUT THEY WILL.. so if you want to just never think about it.. easy.. go with the 6 core. If you want to save money and not loose performance (at least for right now) go with the quad core. (the quad core is a powerful powerful CPU, i'm thinking it's more than enough for you)
edit: they have the 1055t at 200 bucks right now, that is a no brainer.. spend 40 more bucks
Quad Core
Buy me
Hexa Core BE
look at other places than newegg for deals (In-store) like Fry's, they have an insane deal for the hexa core CPU and a nice MOBO (no sata 6gb/s and no usb 3.0 though)
now for the important stuff, the GPU( graphics card)..
you will definately crossfire, no questions asked. The question is what will you crossfire? If you anticipate putting more money into the comp within the next 2 years I say fuk it, go with a Radeon hd 5970. It is the best GPU out right now, and it does just as good or better than almost all CROSSFIRED GPU's (1 of these will take out almost any 2 GPU combo) but it's expensive. If you just want to crossfire now and be done with it, go with the Radeon HD 5850's (this is what I'm doing) it will be about the same, probably cheaper, than one 5970 (depending on where you buy it). They are a real crowd pleaser those 5850's, not as big as these later models of GPU's and the perform great! ( on par and better in some cases than 1 5970). With either of these set ups you can run any game at very very very high settings and there is nothing in the forseeable future that will be even remotely difficult to run. I say go 5850's because you never know what the future holds, maybe dual core GPU's are coming soon, never know what those guys are hiding. If you have a game in mind that you want to play, just type the title and benchmarks in google and you will get a better idea of what GPU's are right for you.
5850
5970
OH BY THE WAY IF YOU GO 5970'S GET ONE OF THOSE 890FX MOBO'S YOU WILL NEED THE 16X/16X BANDWIDTH
For RAM(memory), not much to say, 4GB will do, just remember get a 64bit O.S. or you can only use 3.2GB RAM. I picked this RAM because it has good timings (the numbers that they list, 7-7-7-21) and my 890Gx mobo matches its speed, however you can put faster RAM in a mobo that doesnt support that speed, it will run at the highest supported speed. for example 1600hz ram would run at 1333 in my mobo.
RAM
Now for your HDD(Hard Drive).. 1TB will be just fine (that is 1024 GB), I picked this one because I got a MOBO with 6gb/s for a reason!!
HDD
for your PSU (power supply unit), if you go the 6core/5970 route get this
PSU
if you go the 4 core 5850's and want to safe a little money, while still being totally safe, go with this
PSU
for you optical, this will suffice. reads and writes dvd's/cd's... just about everything you will need minus blu-ray capabilities. If you want blu-ray look for yourself :p
DVD
you case.. If you went the 5970 route, no way around it, you are getting a full tower like this sexy beast
Full Tower
if you went 5850's you can get away with this, people will tell you otherwise, but this is a good case.
Case
I hope you have a good monitor because this setup, whichever route you take, is an absolute monster ( a man/bear/pig if you will ) and should not be held back by something like that! post which one you have.
If you go with an 890gx mobo, quad core cpu, 5850's, mid tower case, 650 PSU it comes out to around 1,300.
IF YOU WANT TO SAVE EVEN MORE MONEY YOU CAN (MORE THAN) MAKE DUE WITH ONE 5850. I wasn't clear about that earlier... one 5850 is more than enough for most games, you will have a ltrouble maxing out crysis however. just get the other around x-mas
WITH ONE 5850 YOU ARE AT ABOUT 1,000 ACTUALLY A LITTLE UNDER :)
here is a great site to compare CPU's and such
I went ahead and compared the i5-750 and the Phenom II x4 955 for ya. you can see it's splitting hairs and very close. all I got to say is price/performance
i5-750 vs Phenom II x4 955
. [/spoiler] If you want to make it more "futureproof" (*cringe*) you should get a psu with more PCI-E cables...
Log in to comment