Building a PC

[Hitshade]

If you want to try and 'future proof' your system stick with the i7. Better performance for high end gaming and multitasking. (Granted there is about a $100 difference in price for only a marginal increase in processing power... so... idk, flip a coin on this one maybe. My vote would be stick with the i7 at any rate).

Most stock coolers are sufficient for non-overclocked systems despite what enthusiasts will tell you to the contrary. What you would likely find with an aftermarket cooler is simply a reduction in noise, however this would be completely offset by a powerful graphics card. Intel does tend to make their stock coolers "just good enough" to get the job done and it's probably going to boil down to personal preference here. There's some very nice after market coolers available for relatively low costs, so while you could easily skip spending the money it's not going to break the bank. Looking at your case, I notice there isnt a side air intake, so if you would simply prefer your cpu running @ a lower temp go ahead and get an aftermarket piece. Just don't bother with liquid cooling, it's so not worth it.

Also yes, the 650 performs much better than the 640 so it's well worth the extra money. Although, if you don't want to upgrade anything for another 5 years, you might want to splurge here and go with something like a 660Ti or a 7870 if you can afford it.

[Crazy Diana]

future proof lmao

[Firecrest]

Thanks, Hitshade.

[CAN]

everything only fits one way building a computer, you can do it yourself

[Sanderz]

everything only fits one way building a computer, you can do it yourself

His slave, Angel, can't do it, so he's outsourcing. Southern folk don't like manual labor.

[jackslammer]

I'd recommend an i5 and not i7 since hyper-threading is for transcoding not gaming

if it's a PC for gaming then you want a better video card like a 660 ti or 670 or 7950

definitely get an SSD

go with an unlocked processor if you're going to get a decent CPU cooler like that unless you've been eating herrings

a sound card is only really needed if you're using a receiver with at least DD or DTS 5.1 or if you record live musical instruments

[jackslammer]

Just don't bother with liquid cooling, it's so not worth it.

The 510LC is like the Corsair H50; it's a cheap and close-looped system.

[jackslammer]

Lastly, I don't want to fuck with building it myself. So I'm going through a builder. The price they gave me was $1027. Is that reasonable?

WTF

Demand a better GPU and a SSD, scrap the liquid cooling, and settle at no more than $1200 and I'd say it's a decent deal.

[Firecrest]

Thanks, Jack. I was hoping you'd weigh in.

Which is better, a 660 Ti 3GB or a 670 2GB? Prices look about the same.

I'm not sure I'm sold on SSD. I need at least a 480GB, and it looks like that will run me anywhere between $400 and $600. I really want to keep the build in the $1000 range and SSD would blow like half my budget. In order to do the SSD, I'd have to scale back on the video card to like a 640 2GB. It seems like if I had to pick SSD/640 or HD/670, that the better video card would win, right?

[abecx]

670

More memory is smoother if you plan on doing that 3x widscreen bullshit


You need to be sold on a SSD, you dont buy it to replace your primary drive, you buy it in conjunction. Get a large green drive for storage and a SSD for everything else. Get a 120GB SSD for like $50-$70