So I've been researching this until my head hurts and think I'm finally ready to pull the trigger but wanted some additional input into this as I haven't built a PC in almost 7 years and wanted to get back into PC gaming (Thanks 5 dead Xboxs!).
I've based this off Tech Reports 2011 Summer Guides 'Utility Player' system, with some modifications due to budget and my own past part biases. So starting with the Stickied Form -
1. What
YOUR PC will be
used for. That means what types of
tasks you'll be performing.
Moderate gaming, mostly RPGs and hoping for a system that plays Diablo 3 well.
2. What
YOUR budget is. A
price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread
approx $1000 shipped.
3.
What country YOU will be buying
YOUR parts from.
Canada.
4. IF
YOU have a
brand preference. That means, are you an
Intel-Fanboy,
AMD-Fanboy,
ATI-Fanboy,
nVidia-Fanboy,
Seagate-Fanboy,
WD-Fanboy, etc, etc, etc, you get the picture.
Not really.
5. If
YOU intend on
using any of
YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
I have an X-Fi XtremeMusic, but will probably replace it in build for ease of front jack usage.
6. IF
YOU have
searched and/or
read similar
threads.
Yes, here and elsewhere.
7. IF
YOU plan on
overclocking or run the system at
default speeds.
Most likely stock to start, moderate OC eventually to compensate for aging system.
8.
WHEN do you plan to build it?
This Month.
9. What
resolution do you use?
1680x1050, would like to upgrade monitor to 24"-27" Dell Ultrasharp at X-Mas time.
Parts List: - CPU : Intel Core i5 2500K ($209.69)
- Main board : ASUS P8P67 LE REV3.0 ($122.72)
- Memory : G.SKILL Ripjaws X F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL 8GB 2X4GB DDR3-1600 CL9-9-9-24 Memory ($55.08)
- Power Supply : Corsair Builder Series CMPSU-500CXV2 500W ($52.48)
- Case : Antec One Hundred ($49.69)
- Graphics : ASUS Radeon HD 6870 DirectCU ($183.53 - $20 rebate)
- Sound : ASUS Xonar DG 5.1 ($24.96 - $10 rebate)
- DVD : ASUS 24X Internal Super Multi DVD-RW ($24.96)
- Hard Drive : Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA3 6GB/S 7200RPM 64MB Cache ($79.69)
- OS : Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64BIT DVD OEM ($111.30)
- Keyboard : Microsoft Wired Keyboard 600 English Black USB ($11.64)
Total : $927.84 Taxes $120.61 = 1048.45 with $30 MIR. Free Shipping.
This price is based of DirectCanada's website at the moment - I've put basically the same system through every other Canadian retailer and DC wins by around $100 except for NewEgg.ca which it beats by roughly $50.
Any comments Parts, Pricewise, or one choice of retailer would be very appreciated.