The 1st Ever "Build Sonic A Computer" Competition

[SonicX11212]

Alrighty Folks, i've never done a competition before. So here goes nothing.

A couple days ago, i was sitting in the Minecraft rooms playing BF3 with Tim and Russo, and by playing i mean they were playing while i was crashing constantly with many texture errors and soooo much lag. Anyways, I got fed up with it and went to try to install some ram my friend randomly gave to me for my Birthday. Sadly, it was DDR3 and did not fit. This set me off on a rampage because of how much the people who built the computer charged me when they basically ripped me off on the stuff.

So i asked them to both make me a list of parts and i would compare the two and buy the one i thought was best for the lowest price. But then i now just thought, why not make it public?

So here's the contest. I want a new computer. You don't have to BUY me a computer, you just have to make a list of parts.

They must include the essentials and then to broaden that:

• A quadcore processor.

• A graphics card that is good enough to run BF3 at High settings at least. If you can go to Ultra and still keep the price down, go for it.

• 8 gigs of ram

• Windows 7 (I want to compare prices for these. If Home Premium is like $40+ less than Professional, go for Home Premium. NO ULTIMATE. Too expensive and most of the features are pointless to me.)

• 500 Gig (at least) Hard drive

The rest is up to you!

Now, believe it or not, i won't be cheap on this O) there will be prizes

To the winner:

You will recieve 1,000,000 Yes! 1,000,000 CC and a custom signature made by Smilodon. If you don't know his work, he has done all the custom sigs from the past 2 campaigns and, i do believe, made Anni his sig as well!

The sig can have anything you wish to have in it (As long as its tasteful) and will be made to suit your style!

To start off, i have Tim's entry right here

Now, this has totaled up to $985.50 USD. That is right at the limit i wish to hit. I prefer everything to be under $1000.

Now, where you get it does not matter to me as long as its durable and won't give out after less than 3 months of use. Only use trusted distribution sites to get the stuff.

Last Rule: PM Me ALL ENTRIES

So go on, Get out there and BUILD ME A COMPUTER!

 

[SonicX11212]

Here's Chuck's. He sent it Via Email:

TOTAL:$1,001.88 Including Shipping

*Current Leader*

 

[Dutchoper72]

My build is cheaper, but mine only has 4 gigs :/

 

[BeeF915]

1000$ Max that's a big wallet you've got. With some free parts(the most expensive ones) I was able to build one for under 300.

Good luck

 

[SonicX11212]

1000$ Max that's a big wallet you've got. With some free parts(the most expensive ones) I was able to build one for under 300.

Good luck

So far, chucks is still less expensive as the one i payed for and is 3x better. :crying::crying:

 

[Dutchoper72]

My comp only cost around $800 which is an i7 4 gig RAM with a Ati Radeon 6570

 

[Madvillain]

For the price, you could spend an extra 10 to 20$ and get a far better PSU and HD. I have a black widow 850 watt psu and I got it from best buy of all places on sale for like 80$.


Cut expenses on the graphics card given.. A 560 Ti would be like 50$ less than the 6950 at least, and if over clocked, it would be superior. Also, physx. Both cards are near the same performance wise. I also question the case price, but yeah I'm too lazy to post my own screenie of what I'd pick out.. maybe later on.

 

[SonicX11212]

For the price, you could spend an extra 10 to 20$ and get a far better PSU and HD. I have a black widow 850 watt psu and I got it from best buy of all places on sale for like 80$.


Cut expenses on the graphics card given.. A 560 Ti would be like 50$ less than the 6950 at least, and if over clocked, it would be superior. Also, physx. Both cards are near the same performance wise. I also question the case price, but yeah I'm too lazy to post my own screenie of what I'd pick out.. maybe later on.

The case is very pricey for a case, but i already talked it over with him and i have a friend that has one of those cases. they are amazing. if it comes down to major budget cuts, i'll mix lists and give the prizes out to the one i use the most of

 

[Madvillain]

No doubt dude. I just highly suggest thinking over the graphics card. Check out the 560 Ti as compared to the 6950, and look at the specs over all and the price comparison depending on what brand they are.

The only complaint you may possibly have is the potential loudness of the fan of the 560.. I have a 550 and it's a bit noisy but that never really bothers me I could care less. I'm near certain after some extra research that the 560 Ti would have been results after being over clocked than the 6950 would.

 

[Sebax]

I will post and pm you a build tomorow, but i'll detail the parts here. As i have to go sleep soon i can't do it now. I'll just leave some tips/reviews of what chuck recommended.

I recommend you not to get a Zambezi, they're not really good for gaming I have the 4100, and i can do pretty much everything, but i bet that other processor would be better. If care to spend a bit more money, buy an i5 They're the best proccesors for gaming out there. The i7 doesn't have any more advantages over the i5 at least in gaming matter

Nice case chuck recommended there! Same as mine, but red.

About the Radeon Card, I don't know much about AMD cards, but i do about Nvidia. The 560 TI is probably the best GPU for the money available, but get the ASUS one. It comes with 2 so it will stay cooler. I know that it can run BF3 on ultra with not much problem. About the Fans, they're not that loud, but they are a bit. I have a GTX 580, which has bigger fans, and i can tell you that they don't sound like two jets of a plane.

550W PSU, in my oppinion could be less than what you need. I'd recommend you a 650W or 700W PSU. Mine is 700 watt, and it runs everything good.

A Hard Drive is fine, but a SSD is ten million times better. Both is just heaven.I have one on SSD for only for The OS and minecraft, This baby can boot Windows in 15 seconds.
For any HDD you get, make sure it is a 7200rpm one, they're just better and faster

Can't complain on RAM, all rams are pretty much the same, just make sure you get compatible ram for your Mobo and CPU

Good mobo, don't know the specs of it, but it's ASUS and ASUS is good stuff, but as i said, you shouldn't go FX, if you do want to go AMD. Find a Phenom II which is supported by this mobo, so you're good if you do want ADM otherwise you need a new mobo for Intel.

 

[wewo]

You should copy this to the tech forum, those guys will give you some more options/suggestions.

 

[MoistTowelette]

http://cpubenchmark.net/

That site might help you decide on a CPU.

I also just built a computer for a friend with that case. It's nice and easy to work in but if you're looking to cut back on something, that might be an option.

Another hard drive option would be to get a SSD. You can probably get around 120g drive for around $150 and you would probably notice a difference with something like that. You can always use a drive out of a previous machine for storage.

Another thing to consider is nVidia just release the GTX680 series video cards. You will probably see a price drop in the 500 series cards. You might be able to spend a little less money for the same level card or maybe even better. But then again, I've never really been a fan of Radeon cards.

Hope that might help you some and good luck on your search.

 

[Tango v1.0]

Meh, i've given up building gaming rigs, as gaming laptop have come down in prices...
two years ago i bought an asus g73j (quad, 8 gig, 2 x 500gig, ati hd5870) (paid $1700)

and i've never looked back

 

[SonicX11212]

This was Chili's. I like the fact that he pointed out the differences in the things. I understand a lot about computer parts but just some things i'm not 100% all knowing about. Thanks for that:

TOTAL:$1,069.92

Hm...The things about this are good with the performance but some things about chuck's i still like better. I'll check em out later on and compare them with someone more experienced in these things

 

[SonicX11212]

Ok, posted about it in Tech Forum. The Tech Junkies Cometh Forth

 

[Muffs]

Here ya go

Total got clipped off but here it is:Subtotal: $1,047.91

Plus the mail in rebates! And on two of the pages there are codes for 15% and 10% the products. And two mail in rebates for 10 each

Highlights: 8gbs of kingston ram
2 pcie slots
2 gtx 460's, stock clocks are around the higher end cards, easily run games on ultra
free $80 software Corel VideoStudio Pro X4 - System Builder - OEM

 

[Sebax]

Ok, i am going to post the first of the two builds i'll submit. This time for an Intel Build.

 

[Sebax]

I will actually PM you with the Intel build and you may post it if you'd like to.

AMD build coming tomorrow

 

[SonicX11212]

Here's Sebax's Intel Build (I really like the way you described everything for me. It gave me the assurance that this really will last me.)

Intel Build

Case: NZXT Phantom

I can not find any other case that is best looking than this. Its price may be a little too high, but you are paying for extremely good Cable management and good looks. If you do not like the colour, there's many to choose from: YOu can get colours from Pink, to Plain Black.

Main Features:
*Good Looking
*Many Colours to pick from
*Very Good Cable Management

Price: $129.99


Motherboard: ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3

This motherboard seems to be just nice enough for a LGA 1155 Socket. It has a fair amount of features and i bet that it is just enough for what you need in addition, it is an ASUS motherboard, and ASUS stuff is Good. It might not be cheap though, but you are paying for good features and quality.

Main Features:
*ATX Form Factor
*Two PCIe x16 Slots and enough space for SLI (If you want to buy 2 GPU's)
*4, Faster SATA 6.0 GB/s Ports
*4 SATA 3.0 GB/s Ports
*6 USB 2.0 Ports
*2 USB 3.0 Ports
*1 eSata Port
*
Price: $194.99



CPU: Intel i5-2500K

Best Gaming Processor. Some might say the i7 is a better processor, it might be for some stuff, but not for gaming.
I can assure you that this processor will never fail you and it can run absolutely every game smoothly along with the GPU at the highest settings.

Main Features:
*Quad Core
*3.3 GHz Clock Speed
*95W Power Consumption


Price: $219.99

GPU: ASUS ENGTX 560 TI

This Nvidia Video card can basically run Battlefied 3 In Ultra at somewhere near constant 40 FPS, 150+ FPS on source games and more.
This model in specific is slightly factory overclocked than the normal version, and i choose ASUS, because it comes with two fans that help keep the card cooler.

Main Features:
*900 MHz Core Clock (Higher than the normal Version)
*1GB Memory Size
*Mini HDMI port (May be a downside if you use an HDMI Monitor as the adapter seems to be bad, but not in image quality, in the fact that it might fall or break)

Price: $239.99

Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws

This is exactly the same memory Chuck recommended, I chose it because it has a good price, it has good reviews and i believe that is is compatible with the i5 processor and the Motherboard.

Main Features:
*8GB (4GB x 2)
*Dual Channel
*DDR3 1333

Price: $41.99

I had chosen a different RAM for this build though, but it was a little bit more expensive as it's frequency is a bit higher, this RAM was the CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB It is 8 dollars more expensive, but this little amount of money can actually make a difference.



Power Supply: CORSAIR Gaming Series GS700 700W

This 700W gaming power supply is just more than what you need for you computer, meaning that you won't have to worry much if you plan to overclock or if you are worried if your parts won't recieve enough power, because they will.

Main Features:
*700 Watts
*Gaming Series
*12 Volts
*80 Plus Certified


Price: $109.99


Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Blue

I just realized this is the same Hard Drive Chilli posted, but i had this in mind since i started thinking for a hard drive for you. The performance versus energy consumption and noise might not be the best, but it is a very good hard drive i can tell you. 500GB is enough for more than 20 games and the fact that it is a 7200 RPM HDD makes it very attractive.

Hard drives were really expensive last year because of the floods in Thailand, but this hard drive tells you that the prices are finally going down.

Main Features:
*500GB
*7200RPM
*SATA 6.0 GB/s
*3.5"

Price: $84.99


Operative System: Windows 7 Home Premium OEM

Do i have to make any comments on this? Best OS for gaming, good, expensive but this OEM version is as cheap as you can get it. OEM means that you just get the CD and the box with the cods, and that you can only install it on one motherboard (Yes,Motherboard)

Main Features:
*Good For Gaming
*64 Bit
*OEM

Price: $99.99

***OPTIONAL***
Solid State Drive: SAMSUNG 830 Series 64 GB

SSD's are amazing, they are mostly used to install OS' on them. Believe me when i tell you that you really should get this, it will cost a bit more, but it will be worth it. I have one where i installed Windows and Minecraft. from the moment when i press the power on button to the moment when i can start using the computer, only 15-20 seconds have passed and this not only applyes to Booting, moving large items will take a lot less time than moving them on a HDD. SSD's are a good choice, but their space is much less than that of the HDD's and to get more space you need to pay more money.

Main Features:
*64 GB (Just enough for Windows(20-40GB) and probably one application/game)
*SATA III
*Super fast

Price: $109.99



Grand Total Without SSD: $1,121.92

Grand Total WITH SSD: $1,231.91

The prices do not include shipping as it is calculated depending on the location

The build may have surpassed the $1000 budget for about $100 or $200, but those extra dollars will make sure that you have a great PC that will run every game smoothly and with lots of frames per second

Here are the links to all the components listed:

Case

Motherboard

GPU

Power Supply / PSU

Proccesor / CPU

Solid State Drive

Memory

Hard Drive

Windows

 

[Ph?bus]

What is your monitor's resolution?