@Glenn: I said I was paranoid but I'm not THAT paranoid O_o;; I do back up important files to my external drive however.

@Ultimate Dev'r: as amazing as that looks, I don't think my 'rents are too keen on spending over $2K on a computer. That is definitely duly noted for if I ever win the lottery

I might pass on the Blu-ray though....


[edit]I say "though" too much. Fixed.

He said his parents were paying so I threw it in there (also it's an LG blu-ray burner, not Sony).



Ask them how high they're willing to go then; $2K is a pretty good price for a computer.

If need be I can find you some cheaper parts.

My parents are willing to spend about around $1,500 for this computer, which is fair. I appreciate the parts list, but I've pretty much figured out what all I want and I've already started buying some of the stuff.

Oh, and sound card... what should I do about that? Anything I need to know there?

K; just wanted to give you an idea of what you need to put into a computer

As for the soundcard, onboard surround sound should be good enough (Unless you do heavy recording, then you'd probably want a separate card to handle sound like an X-Fi or something).

Sony owns the patents, so yeah its Sony's fault.

You're an idiot. DVD burners were every bit as expensive back in the day. Blue lasers are still hard to manufacturer, and prices have dropped *MUCH* faster than they did for DVD burners.

Also, Sony doesn't set the price and Sony also doesn't own the patents.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc_Association

@UD: Adding TIC was a complete waste of money Also, Core i7s are wicked fast - definitely worth the premium over the C2Qs which really aren't much cheaper.

@Tari: PCP&C haven't really improved over the years. They've stood still and have been passed up by several companies. PCP&P is still a safe choice, just no longer a *good* choice.

Anyway, if I had ~$1500 this is what I'd do with it:

Cooler Master COSMOS case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119138 (or whatever you like - there are good and bad cases, but its largely a personal choice)
WD Caviar Green 1.5 TB drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136351 (or 2, or 3 )
XFX 4850: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150337 (will still handle most games at 1920x1200 without a problem)
Corsair 750w: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006
OCZ 6GB DDR3: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227375
Asus P6T SE: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131386
Core i7 920: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202
LG BR & HD-DVD burner: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136137
Asus VH242 23.6" monitor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236052
Mouse & Keyboard: Whatever you want

Subtotal is $1,515.91 with $60 in MIR (which should just about cover the cost of the mouse & keyboard, keeping you right on budget )

If you want to legally run windows, add another $100 for Vista SP1 Home Premium 64-bit. But honestly, I'd just get the (free for now!) Windows 7 RC. It'll work for about a year or so.

Ooh, nice
What the heck do you need 3 to 4.5 TBs of HD space for, though? Because you can? I have a 60Gig internal drive on my laptop and a 232Gig external drive and only ~35 gigs of stuff between the two XD

I plan on installing the Windows Seven RC. Free is good

Huh, and to think I spent £400 on my PC two years ago and have only spent £80 on it since (adding a Blu-ray reader and new video card). What exactly are you guys doing with these super-machines?

You're buying prefabricated. Real geeks build their computers from scratch

What exactly are we doing with these super-machines? Taking over the world, duh! What ELSE is one supposed to do with a super-machine?

If it drops temps then it's not a waste of $5 Also the Core i7 is not "wicked fast". And yes, C2Qs are cheaper than the Core i7 and IMO aren't worth the premium.





porn. And the occasional software project or 2.

I've got 2.3 TB of hdd space on my desktop. Its over half full. Easy to fill them up. Modern game installs take up 5-15 GB of space per game, and a good HD rip is 10 GB per movie.



The difference between the bestest TIM and mediocre TIM amounts to 1-2C with an excellent cooler. Using a stock cooler, a better TIM won't do jack.

The cheapest C2Q is about $100 cheaper. But the Q9550 is about the same price as the 920 and is slower. The 2.66 ghz 920 performs about the same as a 3.2ghz C2Q (which cost more). I would definitely say the i7 is worth the cost. It isn't that expensive to begin with.

Look at my list again; I included an aftermarket cooler so the thermal paste *is* worth the overwhelming expense of a footlong sandwich from Subway.

Also, the LG drive in your list isn't an HD-DVD burner

I missed the cooler in there. Interesting choice. Looks like they took a TRUE, slapped on one of their fans, and called it a day

That said, the TIM that good coolers come with is generally just as good as the "high end" stuff. But it is still handy to have around if you ever need to reseat it or something.

Unless Keith is going to overclock (doubt it), I'd just stick with the stock cooler. They work well enough.



Reads and burns Blue-Ray, reads HD-DVD. Who would want to burn HD-DVD anyway? Dead format and it stores less.

I read a ton of reviews and have decided not to get the Core i7 Quad processor.... yet.... There were enough bad reviews of the processor and of the motherboards capable of supporting the processor to convince me to wait a while longer before getting on the i7 bandwagon.

So, I'm settling on a nice Core2 Quad for the time being. I probably wouldn't notice much a difference between the Core2 Quad and i7 Quad anyway. I don't really do much of anything that's CPU intensive.

Maybe my next computer will sport an i7....

Nonetheless, compared to the four computers in this house (2 dual core laptops, a dual core desktop, and a pentium IV desktop), this custom one is still a beast

The X58 is easily Intel's best chipset. If you heard anything bad about i7 motherboards, its because *THAT* specific motherboard model was bad. There are some incredible i7 motherboards.

I'm not sure what reviews you read, but the 2.6ghz i7 is comparable in performance to a 3.2ghz C2Q (which costs more). I have no idea how you can perceive a faster, cheaper CPU as being "bad".

I would encourage you to get i7 as the C2 line is dead. This is the end of its life. You won't ever be able to upgrade it. The socket is dead, the chipsets are dead, the design is dead, even the RAM is dead. i7 is easily the superior choice for your budget.



Then why get a Quad at all?

Because I can?

Yeah, it was probably mostly mobo issues. Some examples I've read about are heating issues and the mobo just failing hardcore to actually do anything. While sure, there are probably great mobos out there for the i7, they're all rather expensive as it's recent technology. My parents are starting to get a bit ... iffy... on the whole $1000+ computer thing so I didn't really want to spend too much on the mobo. Knowing my parents, they could easily say "screw it! this is too expensive!" and end this thing there.....

Also, I don't really do much upgrading. The only upgrading I've ever done is doubling the RAM in my laptop. Even if the entire thing is obsolete, I won't care much because I probably won't ever be prying open the case once I get everything together and working.

Meh....
Knowing my luck, this thing will probably explode on boot up anyway.... >.>

Seriously? Look, I'm all for people building their own computers, but this may just not be for you. In all honesty, you may be better off just buying a nice computer from a retail company. You can get good warranties and tech support and such. Building a computer yourself can be stressful, and if you don't enjoy doing this kind of stuff, you may have better options.

Go to CompUSA and buy a computer; you are unworthly of building your own.

Excuse my ignorance, but didn't all the CompUSAs go out of business? I thought they went out of business nationwide, not just the ones in New York City...

You're thinking of Circuit City.