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Resolved Question

Advice on parts for an affordable new PC build

Mar 6, 2015 4:30AM PST

Here's what I want to do:
I have a new 700watt power supply that's been sitting in the corner, along with an old graphics card, and my current PC has an overload of mixed Ram inside it.

So I'd like to build a new PC (for the first time) incorporating the parts I already have to make things very low cost.

What I already have:
-AMD HD 7870 Graphics Card (may upgrade to nvidia in the future)
-8GB of Corsair Vengeance 2x4GB 1600Mhz
-Brand New 700 Watt Power Supply

What I need: (please give your recommendations)
-Motherboard
-Case
-CPU
-Cooling Fans?
-DVD/CD Drive
-Hard Drive / SSD (I'm a gamer with a TON of games on steam, so at LEAST 1TB of space)
-OS (I'm a bit clueless on how to get a new OS working on a new build or what I'll need)

I'm hoping to spend ~$300 but I'm willing to go above or below if it's worth it.

Also, I'd like it to be relatively easy to assemble, and for all the parts to work well with one another. If possible it would be nice if the PC was fairly quiet, compact, and that the motherboard had a simple way to overclock in the future. I only plan to use 2 drives at most so I don't think I need a huge tower.

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DesolaterIV has chosen the best answer to their question. View answer

Best Answer

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Thanks for the lists
Mar 6, 2015 4:46AM PST

Thanks for the info, but....it doesn't help me much because as a noobie at this it's hard to tell the differences between the parts.

Could you pick out one from each as to what you might use if you were wanting to build something similar?

(Also, I know Seagate is GARBAGE, I went through two of their 3TB external drives, the first one broke within a month, and they wanted to charge me a $35 restocking fee, the second one has slowed down dramatically)

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For me, I'd pick the best sellers at say Amazon.
Mar 6, 2015 5:01AM PST

For a case I may start with #1 today at http://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Electronics-Computer-Cases/zgbs/electronics/572238

I don't splurge on cases.

I don't use small board and since this is gaming: http://www.amazon.com/MSI-Motherboards-Z97-PC-MATE/dp/B00K23BW70/ref=zg_bs_1048424_8 (in the top 10 again.)

Toms write this long ago:
"Our tests demonstrate fairly little difference between a $225 LGA 1155 Core i5-2500K and a $1000 LGA 2011 Core i7-3960X, even when three-way graphics card configurations are involved. It turns out that memory bandwidth and PCIe throughput don't hold back the performance of existing Sandy Bridge-based machines. "
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-4.html

First i5 on the top sellers is:
http://www.amazon.com/Intel-i5-4590-BX80646I54590-Processor-Cache/dp/B00J2LIFBY/ref=zg_bs_229189_7

At this point our 300 is spent so what HDD we have might have to suffice.
Bob

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Thank you so much!
Mar 6, 2015 5:06AM PST

Exactly what I needed to know!!! Thank you very much you have helped a ton!