» Sun Jul 03, 2011 8:57 pm Right now I'm looking at $1,000 for this computer, and I'd prefer to go as cheap as possible.
Main components:
-Processor: Intel Core i5-2500k
-8 GB DDR3-1600 Corsair RAM (could have went 4 GB, but did 8 to be safe)
-Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti - 1GB - EVGA Superclocked - Core: 981MHz - Single Card
-700 Watt Power Supply (no major brand)
-750 GB HARD DRIVE -- 32M Cache, 7200 RPM, 6.0Gb/s
Sound Card: Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Audio
Zeno Pro Gaming Network Card
My problems are that I'm too busy to game a lot nowadays, and the only games I'm really interested in are Skyrim and Diablo 3 as well as some older games that are PC-Only. I'd prefer to play most games on my 360 since all of my friends use consoles. Also, this is going to double as a family PC and who knows what kind of crap they'll download onto it. To be fair, the $1,000 did come from all my family contributing toward it.
I'm considering a less expensive graphics card and 4gb of ram instead of 8, which should significantly decrease the total cost. I figure these are easy enough to upgrade on my own down the road if I choose to. The problem is I don't know if I could max out Skyrim with these downgrades
Main components:
-Processor: Intel Core i5-2500k
-8 GB DDR3-1600 Corsair RAM (could have went 4 GB, but did 8 to be safe)
-Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti - 1GB - EVGA Superclocked - Core: 981MHz - Single Card
-700 Watt Power Supply (no major brand)
-750 GB HARD DRIVE -- 32M Cache, 7200 RPM, 6.0Gb/s
Sound Card: Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Audio
Zeno Pro Gaming Network Card
My problems are that I'm too busy to game a lot nowadays, and the only games I'm really interested in are Skyrim and Diablo 3 as well as some older games that are PC-Only. I'd prefer to play most games on my 360 since all of my friends use consoles. Also, this is going to double as a family PC and who knows what kind of crap they'll download onto it. To be fair, the $1,000 did come from all my family contributing toward it.
I'm considering a less expensive graphics card and 4gb of ram instead of 8, which should significantly decrease the total cost. I figure these are easy enough to upgrade on my own down the road if I choose to. The problem is I don't know if I could max out Skyrim with these downgrades
Unless you intend to do CG or audio work on this computer, 4 gigs is sufficient. What you can do there is check the motherboard specs; make sure it has 4 memory slots, then get 2-2gig sticks. That way you can upgrade at a later time if you need to, or simply find a deal you can't turn down.
The GeForce 460GTX is cheaper, and still a full Direct X 11 capable video card. The overclocked video cards are favorites among the speed demons, but just keep in mind that you are flirting with roasting the overclocked part. It may be fine as long as everything works right, but a fan fails, or dust bunnies cut the airflow, you are going to be more likely to kill the OC'ed hardware than normally would happen.
Power supply is -probably- ok. Just remember that current video cards require a power feed; you simply can't force the current through motherboard traces that upper end cards need to be stable. If you are getting an 'Uncle Lee's Special', the parts inside might not be the best, and you could find your system is unstable.
Keep the sound card. All the goodies like integrated sound require drivers.....and they are not the best quality. They also shove audio processing onto the CPU. And while you might not notice the difference for general sound effects, you will on things like music. On board codecs simply do not have the upper and lower end cleanliness of a separate sound card....and that card is going to last a =lot= longer than the mobo chip will.....
You -shouldn't- need the Zeno card; 95% of the motherboards made in the last 7 years have had an integrated NIC. If the board being used =doesn't=, then find out exactly who the maker is. Those boards tend to be very cheaply made, and you can expect nothing but trouble from them. The Zeno card is for online monkeys, not basic internet access. You don't do MMO's or go for lots of online play, it's just added expense.
