Ideas on a new system

[Chuchurocket]

Heya all!

Im looking long term into building my own PC. The first hurdle being getting a job but looking past that hitch id be looking to build something for around 900-1000 mark, that can cope with gaming and also video editing, preferably be able to do Eyefinity if i ended up with 3 monitors But yeah any suggestions into what sort of gear id be looking to get?

Also is there any good websites that have advice or instructions on assembling PCs??? Any help would be awesomesauce!

 

[thatbloke]

First of all, what do you already have that does not need to be inculded in that budget? Is that budget for JUST a base unit, or are you wanting things like a monitor, mouse/keyboard, headset and/or speakers, etc. too?

 

[Chuchurocket]

Originally i was thinking for the base unit but i think a nicely sized monitor too. Got the other peripherals already

 

[Traxata]

What are your size requirements of a monitor.

I personally have 2x 1680x1050 monitors which are both (same units) 20.1" LG Flatrons.
If I'm watching something like a movie or TV show or iPlayer I've got a 32" LG LCD TV that accepts DVI input (somewhat flakily) over HDMI so I can watch things in 1920x1080.

How large a screen would you be wanting?

If you had a 32" Monitor (not a TV) they can go upto the sorts of 2560 x 1600 resoultions.

 

[Chuchurocket]

Nah 32" would be a bit much for it, was thinking more along the lines of this or even a 24" for near the same price.

With regards to more specifics id want the ability to run Eyefinity in the future so im guessing that means 2 Radeons of that calibre. Enough RAM to not need an upgrade for a while (6Gig maybe?) CPUs i have no idea about but something with plenty of power, quad core prehaps. 1TB of hard drive space, I seem to see WD Caviars a lot, would they be a good choice? (Had problems with an WD External which put me off them)

Motherboards is where i really have little clue even after reading several buying guides so any info or recommendations you can provide on that would be lovely. A case, probably this and a DVD writer but those are easy to pick up these days. If i have missed something shout.

[mod]fixored zee b0rkend linkz kthxbai! Haven[/mod]

 

[Iron_fist]

so using multiple sources i'm a few pennies over your budget but came up with this monster:

ebuyer
CPU: Phenom II X6 1055T
Mobo: nice Gigabyte thing
HDD: Samsung 1TB (currently with promo code)
DVD drive: Basic Burner
W7: HP 64bit

scan
RAM: 4GB Corsair Dominator
Case: Antec 902
PSU: 600W Quiet PSU
GPU XFX 5870 XXX

inculding the monitor from ebuyer in the post that'll come to around £1010, a little more if you don't choose the free shipping from Ebuyer

you could save more pennies by going for a cheaper Motherboard or a cheaper case, or both, but still it's 6 cores at 2.8GHz that easily overclock well over 3ghz for around £1k

 

[Chuchurocket]

Wow thanks for the very in-depth reply fist, thats helped muchos! That graphics card looks pretty beastly

 

[Iron_fist]

that it is

i went for the single card as crossfire doesn't give you double performance over a single card so you'll get a little more bang for buck out of that than a pair of 5770, plus you can throw a 2nd one in at a later date for an even more gpu power.
also 4GB or RAM is generally enough at the moment, but you also have a couple of spare slots for another 4GB later if needed.

only thing i haven't really addressed in that build is cooling. you may want to look at some sort of aftermarket heatsink as although the packaged one is alright, there are better options if you're willing to spend a little more.

 

[Chuchurocket]

I came across this last night, is this the kind of thing you were talking about or have i not understood? here

 

[Iron_fist]

yeah, that is infact the new version of the cooler i'm using. i have a 125W dual 3ghz and it cools the chip enough when idle to turn off the fan on it completely