$2500 - Higher Enthusiast Level
In this build, the 2 4850s have been upgraded to 2 GTX 260 Core 216s and the HDD has been upgraded to the newest Intel X25-M SSD, one of the highest performing SSD on the market, having beaten the SAS drives for both performance and reliability. The major flaw in this layout is the lack of storage, an extra hard drive is essential. Excellent system for not only intensive tasks and gaming but a heavy benchmarker.
CD/DVD - LG 22X DVD Combo Drive
(US) Newegg.com (UK)
Chassis - Cooler Master HAF 932 Full Tower
(US) Newegg.com (UK) YoYoTech.co.uk
HDD - Intel X25-M 80GB SSD SATA Drive
(US) Newegg.com
GPU - 2x EVGA Geforce GTX 260 Core 216
(US) Newegg.com
Memory - 3x G.Skill 4GB (2 x 2GB) CAS 9-9-9-24 DDR3 1333mhz
(US) Newegg.com
Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 ATX Motherboard
(US) Newegg.com
CPU - Intel Core i7 920 Quad Core CPU
(US) Newegg.com
OS - Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64-bit
(US) Newegg.com
PSU - Hiper Type M 880w PSU
(US) Newegg.com
$3000 - Extreme Level
The 2 GTX 260 Core 216s have been changed out for a set of GTX 280s and the addition of a 1.5TB drive allows more storage space. More graphics power, much more power.
CD/DVD - LG 22X DVD Combo Drive
(US) Newegg.com (UK)
Chassis - Cooler Master HAF 932 Full Tower
(US) Newegg.com (UK) YoYoTech.co.uk
HDD - Intel X25-M 80GB SSD SATA Drive
(US) Newegg.com
HDD2 - Seagate 7200.11 1.5TB SATA Drive [b](US)[B/]
Newegg.com
GPU - 2x BFG GTX 280
(US) Newegg.com
PSU - Hiper Type M 880w PSU
(US) Newegg.com
Memory - 3x G.Skill 4GB (2 x 2GB) CAS 9-9-9-24 DDR3 1333mhz
(US) Newegg.com
Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 ATX Motherboard
(US) Newegg.com
CPU - Intel Core i7 920 Quad Core CPU
(US) Newegg.com
OS - Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64-bit
(US) Newegg.com
$3500 - Extreme Performance Level
This system has an added second 4870X2 so that's double the GPU processing power. Highly recommended for high resolution gaming or large scale rendering.
CD/DVD - 2x LG 22x DVD Combo Drive
(US) Newegg.com (UK)
Chassis - Cooler Master HAF 932 Full Tower
(US) Newegg.com (UK) YoYoTech.co.uk
HDD - Intel X25-M 80GB SSD SATA Drive
(US) Newegg.com
HDD2 - Seagate 7200.11 1.5TB SATA Drive
(US) Newegg.com
GPU - 3x BFG Geforce GTX 280
(US) Newegg.com
PSU - Hiper Type M 880w PSU
(US) Newegg.com
Memory - 3x G.Skill Pi 4GB (2 x 2GB) CAS 7-7-7-18 DDR3 1333mhz
(US) Newegg.com
Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 ATX Motherboard
(US) Newegg.com
CPU - Intel Core i7 920 Quad Core CPU
(US) Newegg.com
OS - Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64-bit
(US) Newegg.com
$4000 - Extreme Overclocking Performance Level
The main changes in this system, the use of a more overclockable motherboard and the upgrade from DDR2 to DDR3 make this system most suited to those who want to break records in overclocking and get the highest marks. At stock, this isnt much of an improvement in any way compared to the above system, but in the right hands, and the right cooling, it can be the most powerful system out there.
CD/DVD - 2x Samsung Combo Drive
(US) Newegg.com (UK) YoYoTech.co.uk
Chassis - Cooler Master Cosmos S Full Tower
(US) Newegg.com (UK) YoYoTech.co.uk
HDD - 2x Western Digital VelociRaptor 300GB SATA Drive
(US) Newegg.com
GPU - 2x Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 X2
(US) Newegg.com
PSU - PC Power and Cooling Turbo-Cool 860w PSU
(US) Newegg.com
Memory - 2x OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB) CAS 9-9-9-28 2T DDR3 2000mhz
(US) Newegg.com
Motherboard - Asus Rampage Extreme ATX Motherboard
(US) Newegg.com
CPU - Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650 Quad Core CPU
(US) Newegg.com
OS - Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64-bit
(US) Newegg.com
These above systems are all just guidelines, a base for building on. while they are good by themselves, no person does exactly the same thing with their computers so that's where YOUR personal changes influence the build.
You have your own preferences and probably need a system to do something in particular.
If you are low on cash and want to game, you can probably take whichever build fits closest to your budget and work it into something you feel better suits you.
For example, you want to game but only have $1100-$1150 for a new tower, you got a couple options, you can either go with the $750 higher entry level model and buy a couple graphics cards to crossfire or get the $1000 mainstream model, spend less on the OS and get a second HD 4850.
It works like that, lets say you want tons of storage and a decent graphics card to watch HD movies, you wont need all that much CPU power if the GPU can handle the load.
so you have the budget of $1000
you take the model for mainstream and decide to go with a cheaper dual core as well as drop from DDR2 1066 to DDR2 800, you then have enough money to upgrade from a 500GB 7200.11 to a 1TB (1000GB) 7200.11
So just for a bit of visualization, you start with this:
CD/DVD - Samsung Combo Drive
(US) Newegg.com (UK) YoYoTech.co.uk
Chassis - Cooler Master Centurion 590
(US) Newegg.com
HDD - Seagate 7200.11 500GB SATA Drive
(US) Newegg.com
GPU - Sapphire Radeon HD 4850
(US) Newegg.com
PSU - PC Power and Cooling Silencer 500w
(US) Newegg.com
Memory - OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB) CAS 5-5-5-15 2T DDR2 1066mhz
(US) Newegg.com
Motherboard - Asus P5Q Pro ATX
(US) Newegg.com
OS - Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit
(US) Newegg.com
CPU - Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4GHz LGA775
(US) Newegg.com
EXACT Price $978.91
and come out with this.
Samsung Combo Drive
(US) Newegg.com (US) YoYoTech.co.uk
Chassis - Cooler Master Centurion 590
(US) Newegg.com
HDD - Seagate 7200.11 1TB SATA Drive
(US) Newegg.com
GPU - Sapphire Radeon HD 4850
(US) Newegg.com
PSU - PC Power and Cooling Silencer 500w
(US) Newegg.com
Memory - G.Skill 4GB (2 x 2GB) CAS 4-4-4-12 2T DDR2 800
(US) Newegg.com
Motherboard - Asus P5Q Pro ATX Motherboard
(US) Newegg.com
CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo E7300
(US) Newegg.com
OS - Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit
(US) Newegg.com
EXACT price $993.91
so the end result is a slightly slower system with double the storage capacity of the original design. perfect for movie and music hoarding!
1TB will take quite a while to fill so thats a lot of entertainment.
Your system is done now and ready to order, but if you feel like you need a bit more help or a clearer picture of what you will be doing, simply take a look at this guide: Building a PC: Step by Step Guide
So now you got your basic setup, your tower is completed and ready to run, but you may want to look at some additional cooling for your new computer.
First and cheapest way to better cool down your CPU is simply buy some high quality thermal paste:
Thermal Paste - OCZ Freeze Thermal Compound
(US) Newegg.com
next you may want to get some good, quiet fans to further cool your system....
These case fans are 140mm fans with 120mm fan mounting holes, they can be used almost anywhere a 120mm fan can be used very silent.
Case Fan - Scythe Kaze Maru 140mm 500RPM Fan
(US) Newegg.com
Case Fan - Scythe Kaze Maru 140mm 1200RPM Fan
(US) Newegg.com
Or you dont have to have a quiet system if you dont want to....
Case Fan - Scythe Kaze Maru 140mm 1900RPM Fan
(US) Newegg.com
lastly, you can get a quality CPU cooler and cool down the CPU by a great amount
CPU Cooler - Scythe Ninja 2 Cooler
(US) Newegg.com
CPU Cooler - Scythe Orochi Cooler
(US) Newegg.com
CPU Cooler - Cooler Master Hyper Z600 Cooler
(US) Newegg.com
The Scythe Orochi cooler can have its cooling power increased by using 1-4 of the above Kaze Maru fans and these fan clips:
Fan Clip - Scythe 120mm Fan Clip
(US) Newegg.com
Cooling is the first step to successful overclocking; even if you don't overclock, a system running well under its temperature limits is bound to last longer than a system running at its limits or higher.
last thing, i will post coupon codes for newegg (or any other site if i can find them) so that you can save money! saving money is always good right?
Newegg.com Coupon Codes
