New Box Advice?

Hey all. My current computer is rapidly nearing lost cause status. Thinking of building a new one as 1) I've never done so, and 2) Want to really keep the $ down. I was just wondering if any of you folks who are knowledgeable and enjoy creating systems would be willing to get me started.

I'm shooting for a system around the $1200 - $1400 range (for hardware). I want a decent well rounded machine, it doesn't have to be ubergamer. Good sound / video / FX.

Also, as to an OS, any opinions on whether to bite the bullet and snag Vista, or try to hold out for Win 7?

I understand the basics, but I get lost in dual/quad core this and that etc, and I don't want to go to unusual lengths (read: things like water cooling ) I'm completely ignorant of what is compatible with what and that sort of thing.

Any good recommendations for power supply, mobo, vid card, sound card, memory recommendations, any nifty fans to look at etc?

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You can get windows vista now and a free upgrade to 7 when it comes out. If you want to spend 1200-1400 and not be an uber gamer you might want to check out www.gotapex.com for deals on dells. You can get a pretty nice prebuilt system for that amount of money. If you want to build yourself three things

get the best power supply you can afford - corsair or antec
get the most memory you can afford - 64 bit is the wave of the future invest now (and memory is cheap)

For power supply - Corsair is probably your best bet. Antec as well.

Video card - if you plan to stick with COH get an nvidia one - 260 or 275 gtx.

Sound card - most motherboards these days have really good onboard sound (HD audio spec).

Memory - meh name brands - corsair, crucial, OCZ, Geil - memory is pretty cheap right now.

Just a quick trip to newegg.com you can put together a

amd Phenom II x 955 3.2 Ghx quad core
Gigabyte ma790xt motherboard
4 GB corsair ddr3 memory
corsair 750 watt psu
sparkle 275 GTX video card
640 GB WD hard drive
samsung dvd bruer
and a copy of win vista home premium sp1 64 bit for a little over a 1000 bucks.

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oh and a coolermaster 690 case included in that price.

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Will you be needing a monitor/keyboard/mouse/speakers?

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Thanks B_W. So your preference is to go with onboard sound rather than a card? Or was that a cash saving recommendation? Gamma: Nah, more interested in the guts atm. Will likely snag a new larger flat screen at some point, and I can scrounge peripherals for now. Although if anyone is really fond of a particular writable CD / DVD and has a suggestion for the software package to go with it, I'd love to hear it.

Also, the reason I asked about Vista vs Win 7 is I'd rather not start out with outstanding upgrades required. I'm not too great at installation (frustrated easily ) so if I can do a single install and update, I'm all for it. And I know Win 7 is due in three months or so, so it's not a ridiculously long wait for it...

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You can also scope out my $1200 rig parts list in my sig. It's undergoing a bit of revision at the moment (finally added a quad core) but it's a good place to start.

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Father Xmas - Level 50 Ice/Ice Tanker - Victory
$725 and $1350 parts lists --- My guide to computer components

Tempus unum hominem manet

Hey Father X, thx for linkies. I read your component guide, good read. I checked your 1200 rig. Any thoughts on the incompatibility mobo/ram comment? Do you personally run the 1200 rig, or is it just a wishlist / template? I'll keep checking back at your 1200 rig to see what updates you make.

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Here's a basic suggestion for an $1100 system, sans monitor.

[ QUOTE ]
Vista or Win7?

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My personal preference is XP still. But that may not be feasible for you. Part of it will be "when are you building?" So if you're building in the next couple months, likely the answer will be "Vista, unfortunately."

[ QUOTE ]
Dual-core vs Quad-core

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CoX will use 2 cores max right now. However, if your system is doing other things under the hood, you won't be able to utilize ALL the resources of both cores merely for CoX. With a quad-core system, your system can offload to the other two cores while CoX monopolizes two for itself.

You don't need to worry about watercooling either. Properly installed, air cooling is sufficient if you're not overclocking.

And, if you don't have a nice flat-panel monitor already, I'd recommend you use the remaining money for that.

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[ QUOTE ]
Hey Father X, thx for linkies. I read your component guide, good read. I checked your 1200 rig. Any thoughts on the incompatibility mobo/ram comment? Do you personally run the 1200 rig, or is it just a wishlist / template? I'll keep checking back at your 1200 rig to see what updates you make.

[/ QUOTE ]
That's a very old comment from someone who didn't know what they were talking about at the time anyways.

That wishlist gets updated multiple times a year as the technology changes and the prices drop. I first created it Jan 28, 2008 and linked it in my sig May 24, 2008 and it has been changed five times since then and a time or two between it's creation and sig linking. The only thing the same from that build in May of last year and the current one is the power supply and the tube of Arctic Silver. Changed the RAM once (not for compatibility but questions on if it interfered with the 3rd party CPU cooler, it was very tall RAM with their own heatpipe to heatsink), motherboard twice, CPU twice, videocard twice, sound card once, CPU cooler once, case once, hard drive twice and the DVD burner twice.

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Father Xmas - Level 50 Ice/Ice Tanker - Victory
$725 and $1350 parts lists --- My guide to computer components

Tempus unum hominem manet

Personally I use a Plantronics usb headset which is it's own sound card. My GF appreciates not hearing my games and music go figure - so I never really cared to much about sound cards. If your an audiophile then I would look at Creative or Asus Sonar (the latter being a tad expensive but amazing sound).

on X-mas's 1200 dollar rig - I would say drop the 260 and get a 275 or even a 285. Not in COH but the 260 is going to be starved if you run above 1650 (I run 1920x1080 with it and in COH it can stutter with a lot on screen).

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just bought a clearence rig at microcenter,850 ish with tax, i7 with 6 gigs ddr3,640 gig hd,dvd burner,a 512 ati 4670 video card and vista home premium 64 bit,with free upgade by dell to win 7, have been playing for 2 days on the computer,the only thing i do not like is the keyboard, soft click and a bit mushy

microcenter.com,only problem is instore pickup only

sorry its 799.00 at microcenter the same at dell is 1199

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Next piece: Monitor (as mine just blew out :-P ) On the assumption I'm going to get an ok (non-uber) gaming / multimedia system, any recommendations on:

maximum resolution
Dot Pitch
Vertical/Horizontal Frequencies

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