Opinions and advice on new build appreciated

Benzino

Hey all, I've had an alienware laptop for the last 4 years or so and now I want to go back to a desktop

It's going to be mainly used for work, which involves programming of various types (web, desktop apps, games and rendering programs), photoshop, & 3ds max and the like. I don't play console games, but I would like it to run current games well in case I decide to get starcraft

I built my old computer about 6 years now and haven't kept up with the latest hardware. However, reading over threads here and online, I've picked the following so far:



You will notice that I'm missing 2 key things in that list, a GFX and a monitor. I have no idea what GFX to pick, I don't play PC games as I said, but I would like it to handle something like starcraft 2 fairly well if I do pick it up. Would this be good?

As for the monitor, I want 2 monitors as I find it much easier to work with, something along the lines of 19 or 22". This leads me to another question, if I have 2 monitors connected to the one pc, can I also connect a tv to it? Currently, I have my laptop connected to a 40" tv and I just switch over to it when watching a movie. I want to be able to do that with the new pc, hassle free if possible.

I already have:

• CD Drive
• Mouse & Keyboard
• Speaker System
• XP (tho im tempted to windows 7 64-bit)

My budget, well I want to keep it as close to €1,000 as possible, no more than €1,500. I know the monitors will be expensive (i don't want to go cheap on them) but I could cut back on a few things like the HDD size (I have 1 X 1TB and 1X500GB external drives). If you think any of the above is too much for my needs, great, let me know. Like I said, haven't been keeping up to date hardware-wise at all. Also, I don't mind where I buy from, it seems pixmania is recommended by alot

Thanks for reading this, your feedback is much appreciated!

gamer_Niall

my build came to 1400 but was without monitor (had one) these guys here helped me choose the parts good luck!



Cooler Master HAF 922 PC Tower Case
Cooler Master GX 750W
SAPPHIRE TECHNOLOGY Radeon HD 5970 - 2 GB GDDR5
ASUS P7P55D - Socket 1156 - Chipset P55 Express - ATX
Intel Core i5-750 - 2.66 GHz - 8MB L3 Cache - Socket LGA 1156
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
Sony Optiarc AD-7243S - Disk drive
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB
Scythe Mugen 2 rev.B CPU Cooler
Corsair Dominator - Memory - 4 GB

Benzino

Must of what you have I also chose I think I'll change my HDD tho to your one, save €30 or so. That GFX looks like great value for money!

Is the CPU cooler necessary, if you don't plan on overclocking?

massy086

well under 100 euro monitor,s many of us have these http://www.ebuyer.com/product/194670

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gamer_Niall

Benzino wrote: »

Must of what you have I also chose I think I'll change my HDD tho to your one, save €30 or so. That GFX looks like great value for money!

Is the CPU cooler necessary, if you don't plan on overclocking?

have no idea, i got the cpu today and it comes with a stock cpu cooler, but incase u decide to oc in the future i just got it

coolbreeze01

Benzino wrote: »

Must of what you have I also chose I think I'll change my HDD tho to your one, save €30 or so. That GFX looks like great value for money!

Is the CPU cooler necessary, if you don't plan on overclocking?

its not necessary if you buy a retail cpu it should come with one, you can normally do some overclocking with a stock cooler if you wanted.

Benzino

coolbreeze01 wrote: »

its not necessary if you buy a retail cpu it should come with one, you can normally do some overclocking with a stock cooler if you wanted.

Ah ok, thats alright then, thanks. I don't plan on overclocking anyway, well not in the near future anyway.

I've made a few changes, I swapped the ram for the OCZ, and gone for the Hitachi HDD. I'm considering getting this Case & PSU. I'm don't care about looks and such, so I'm going to look around a bit more for a cheaper quieter case that's not as flashy.



So that brings the total to €722.

I'm still looking around for a monitor, don't want to get a cheap one as I do a good bit of photo-editing and texturing.

A quick question, that Radeon 5750, would it be better than 2 X GeForce Go 7950 GTX?

Anyway, if you have an opinions, keep em coming

gamer_Niall

Benzino wrote: »

I've made a few changes, I swapped the ram for the OCZ, and gone for the Hitachi HDD.

guys here told me that the hitachi is a bad choice, so i went with Samsung SpinPoint F3 its around 70 euro so not a big rise in price

Sobanek

GeForce Go 7950 GTX is a mobile chipset and it will not work on a desktop computer. Instead of the HD5750 I'd recommend the HD5770

Benzino

gamer_Niall wrote: »

guys here told me that the hitachi is a bad choice, so i went with Samsung SpinPoint F3 its around 70 euro so not a big rise in price

Ah ok, it's like €5 more, I think i'll splash out lol thanks

Sobanek wrote: »

GeForce Go 7950 GTX is a mobile chipset and it will not work on a desktop computer. Instead of the HD5750 I'd recommend the HD5770

Yeah i know, but my laptop currently has 2 of em. I would like to think the new graphics card would be better than them. The 5750 is only an extra €30 alright (haha this is where you begin to upgrade your choices and slowly increase the costs isn't it )

Anybody any experience with the AMD 1055T. It was recommended to me, but reviews seem to suggest the i5 is better cause very few applications and games take advantage of 6 cores.

Sobanek

It's a very good processor if you only do 3D Rendering, Archive Compression and other stuff that is CPU intensive. Most programs don't even use 4-cores so I think you'd be better off with a Phenom II X4 965.

Benzino

Sobanek wrote: »

It's a very good processor if you only do 3D Rendering, Archive Compression and other stuff that is CPU intensive. Most programs don't even use 4-cores so I think you'd be better off with a Phenom II X4 965.

Hmm, ok that would be useful to me alright. decisions decisions