Custom Computer Case and Computer...

[sox 06]

I got this thing built yesterday. I'm going to use it as a DVR/media computer.

Gigabyte board
Core i5 2400 Quad-Core processor (3.1GHz can be turbo boosted to 3.4GHz and overclocked beyond that)
8GB DDR3 RAM (board supports up to 32GB )
1TB HDD
Radeon HD 5450 graphics card with 1GB DDR3 RAM (for now)
500W power supply

[knapplc]

The only thing that red and black case is missing is a Husker sticker. Other than that, it's perfect.

[sox 06]

Nice floppy drive.

Bye, bye floppy drive slot! I used some Bondo, sanded the living you know what out of it, sprayed on a couple coats of primer and then color. The white spots are just from the flash on my camera.

Before


After

[Lofunzo]

Nice job.

[jfg]

Funny, I was just going to make a thread asking about building a computer and this was bumped after a year. So, I'll just piggyback on this one.

I'm building a computer for the first time and I think I've found the parts I want to get, but I wanted to get some opinions first before I buy it. Two main goals- Home theater PC, and to be able to play any current game and would like to be able to go a couple years without upgrading anything and still be able to play almost anything at acceptable specs. It doesn't need to be max recommendations for resolution since I'm plugging it into a plasma. It's going to be on almost all the time so I don't know if I have a need for a solid state drive although I might upgrade that down the road. I have a lot of space in external drives so that's why I'm keeping the internal low. Here's what I have:

Case: Antec Three Hundred ATX Mid Tower Gaming Computer Case
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-970A-UD3 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 AM3 3.4Ghz 512KB 45NM 125W 4000MHZ
GPU: PowerColor ATI Radeon HD7770 1000 MHz 1GB DDR5 PCI-Express 3.0 x16
RAM: PNY Optima MD4096KD3-1333 4GB Dual Channel Kit DDR3 1333 MHz PC3-10666 Desktop DIMM Memory Kit
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500 GB SATA III 7200 RPM 16 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive - WD5000AAKX
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts EA-380D Green 380 Watt 80 PLUS BRONZE

Thoughts? Upgrades I can make while keeping it around my $500 price range? Right now, I'm looking at about $496. I have a working knowledge about specs, but all of my information has come from hours of research on the internet looking at reviews and benchmarks. Any help is much appreciated!

[GiantsFan14]

http://slickdeals.net/

if you're on a budget i'd go there with an idea of what i want but be open minded and just look for deals. i've built some pretty nice computers piece by piece by just doing that. also helps a lot of you have a fry's or especially a microcenter nearby.

that said, depending on how much you store on your computer, you might be better off going with a SSD than a HDD. personally i don't have a ton of music or video i store, so i prefer the smaller but faster SSD. you're also probably gonna want more than 4GB of RAM. also, i don't think that power supply is big enough. i'd be looking for at least 500W, the graphics card requires 450W minimum. other than that, i'd be pretty flexible and look for good CPU/Mobo combo deals.

also just happened to see this on the front page, looks like a good deal if that's the graphics card you want.

http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/77156/newegg-gigabyte-radeon-hd-7770-ghz-edition-1gb-pci-express-3.0-video-card-gvr777oc1gd

[jfg]

I do have a Microcenter nearby. I've gone to their website though and Newegg and Amazon are usually cheaper or the same price. Are there better deals in store?

I do need to check out Slickdeals. I have to sell a couple things first before I can start ordering parts, I wish I could get that 7770 right now because of all things that seems like the best bet for me. Hopefully, if you saw one right away they show up on sale pretty often. The nice thing is it that I'm going to have to buy parts over a few weeks to be able to afford it so I can definitely just buy what is on sale that week.

Thanks for the info on the power supply, none of my friends caught that.

[sox 06]

I built this computer to be used mostly as a DVR so it is basically a media PC. I agree on getting more than 4GB of RAM. You'll see a much greater improvement in performance with 6 or 8GB of RAM and a regular HDD than 4GB of RAM and an SSD.

I actually installed a 32GB SSD in this computer a few months ago. I have Windows installed on and most of my software. I have it setup to send my recordings to the 1TB regular HDD which I originally put in there. I like having two HDD in it because I can put all kinds of stuff on it and not really worry about running out of space. The programs that will benefit from the SSD the most I have installed on it and the others I just install on the 1TB. I like the SSD because the computer runs much smoother, quicker, quieter (my Western Digital 1TB is VERY noisy) and SSD's will run a bit cooler too. I don't think they're worth what they're selling for now though.

I personally don't feel comfortable with anything less than a 500W power supply for a media PC. I have a Thermaltake 500W power supply in mine and I've been very happy with it. The price ($59.99) isn't too bad either. Here's a link to it on Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817153113

Good choice going with the quad core processor. The processor in mine is a quad core and I love it.

I've also been happy with my Gigabyte board. It has some fairly nice software that comes with it that makes overclocking nice and easy.

Overall though yours should be a pretty good PC. Remember that you can always upgrade later on.

[GiantsFan14]

I do have a Microcenter nearby. I've gone to their website though and Newegg and Amazon are usually cheaper or the same price. Are there better deals in store?

I do need to check out Slickdeals. I have to sell a couple things first before I can start ordering parts, I wish I could get that 7770 right now because of all things that seems like the best bet for me. Hopefully, if you saw one right away they show up on sale pretty often. The nice thing is it that I'm going to have to buy parts over a few weeks to be able to afford it so I can definitely just buy what is on sale that week.

Thanks for the info on the power supply, none of my friends caught that.

in-store microcenter deals can get crazy good, especially processor/mobo deals. they do not have the same deals on their online site as they do in store.

if that's the graphics card you want, i'd definitely just buy it now if you can afford it. slickdeals does have a constant stream of deals, but you won't necessarily see the same graphics card on there multiple times. if you're open to other graphics cards then it's not as big of a deal to let this one go.

[jfg]

Cool, I'll go check out the store this weekend. I always tell people to go there who don't like shopping online because I know they are better priced than Best Buy, but I've never actually been in the store. It is about a 40 minute drive, but it's in an area with a place I like to eat at so we'll make a day of it.

Thanks for your help guys.