Building a computer?

[Purplecat]

I know what parts a computer is made of. But I have no clue which brands and such I should go after. All I know is that I probably want some "Intel Core i7" processor of some kind, unless something similar/better is around for cheaper/same price.

Suggestions?

(And yes, my current rig seems to be breaking :/)

Edit:
Sal was nice and recommended me to get:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814102864 and
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819115202

[Kyle]

How much money do you have set aside? That will ultimately determine what kind of parts you should get.

For CPUs, Core i7s are indeed pretty powerful (although I'm running a C2D E7400 just fine). If you don't have ~$300 for a CPU, you might consider the newer Core i5 line, which is a budget dual-core version. There's an even cheaper Core i3, although I don't know much about it.

For GPUs, I'm told that ATI's Radeon HD5xxx series is better than most anything offered by Nvidia. Really, though, I don't think the difference is that huge, so either brand would be fine. Make sure you have at least 512MB of video memory, probably 1GB if you'll be running high end games. I'm sure a lot of other people around here have more specific suggestions.

The motherboard you get will be dependent on what kind of CPU you want. I really don't know what brand is best in this case. Things to consider, though, include how many SATA and PCI-e ports there are, how many slots are available for RAM, and the fastest memory supported.

I think you'll want to spend more of your time thinking about the hard drive. This is typically the slowest part of your system. If you have a lot of money to blow, consider the Intel X-25M solid state drive - they are considerably faster than conventional drives. Obviously, they're much more expensive, and they don't store a lot of space yet. For conventional drives, Seagate/Western Digital are considered the most reliable brands. I'd get something from them with at least a 7200RPM spin rate and 32MB of cache - watch out for the 'green' lines, as they're typically slower.

Hope that helps a little!

[WolfMacLeod]

Not sure if this will help but I've been slowly thinking about upgrading my gaming system since 80gb hard drive single core doesn't do much anymore.

http://kb.wisc.edu/showroom/page.php?id=4927 found that a while back which describes a bunch of the current processor types and describes their purposes.

[Fox Vert]

As that other guy** said, when it comes to building a PC ultimately budget is key.
i7 processor ~ £230
motherboard for i7 processor ~ £130 - 200
GPU worthy of such a rig ~ £180 -£220 (I was thinking HD5850 or GTX 285)*
DDR3 memory ~ £25 per 1GB 1600MHz stick or about double for 2GB sticks
Don't forget a good after-market cooler to keep that quad-core behemoth nice and cold ~ £40 (Tuniq Tower 120 Extreme)

There, I've spent about £700 (or Swedish equivalent) without case, hard drive, power supply (the GPU and quad-core CPU will need a fair bit of juice) or operating system.
I recommend GPUreview.com for comparing GPU hardware. They have the technical specs, comments and links to reviews.

*Seriously, I like the look of the HD5770 as an upgrade from my crappy 8600GT but if I was spending about 400 quid on a motherboard and processor I'm not sure it's good enough. I know you said you're worried your current system is on its last legs, but if it can hold on NVidia are releasing some new cards in March (I believe) so there might be some deals around then.

**80GB hdd and single core processor, sounds like my old PC.

[iller]

I just upgraded my computer finally (i know, rite!!? hell freezing over yet?) and am getting ~60fps on full 34mans now... I only even mention this b/c you are literally about to spend the same amount of money on just a processor, that I spent on my entire upgrade (new card, memory, board, CPU, supply, & DVD)

[Purplecat]

I just spent around 1 614 USD (including tax) on hardware. Better be worth it.

Yeah, unfortunately hardware is expensive around... but at least I got the parts I wanted. (Admittedly I probably overdid it with my choice of GPU and memory, but oh well ;9)

[Fox Vert]

I hope you're not planning on leaving me in suspense here; I'm ever so curious to know what you've bought.

[Zareth]

go over to Tom's Hardware and check out the sheets and things, lotsa good stuff there.

Sapphire is an excellent choice for cards, I've been using them for almost 3 years now.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product

CPU that i use. not a fancy quad by any means, but its cheap and very, very good for the money. Hasn't given me a problem and L4D 2 doesn't even chug on that monster.