When you’re buying a computer there are a couple of things to consider.  Do you want a Mac or a PC, how much do you want to spend, do you want to build it yourself?

I wanted to build my new computer myself, because it allows me to spend more money on parts I care about, while saving money on parts I don’t.  Also, building a computer saves substantially when putting premium components into your case.  I couldn’t compete with Dell or HP when it comes to building the $200 internet browsing computer you can get at Best Buy.  But I can compete when it comes to putting some serious gaming performance into a relatively cost-effective computer.

Also, because I’m building my own computer that pretty much makes me a PC, because I can’t put OSX on a custom built system.

Part One: Let’s Go Shopping

Shopping is a little bit more fun for the custom PC builder.  It’s actually the only kind of shopping I like to do.  I went to Newegg with the express purpose of buying the components for a custom PC build. I had debated building now versus waiting until StarCraft 2 came out, but then I realized SC2 isn’t going to push the limits of any system I was going to build.

My 2 main objectives were price and performance.  I wanted to come in at a price point that was in the same ballpark as my last computer build (from almost 3 years ago, wow!) while getting a large amount of performance out of the setup.  That price was $1183.33 shipped.

The performance aspect comes pretty easy because of the processor I chose (Intel’s Core i7) because of the overclockability of it.

The parts list follows.

System:

• Case: Antec Twelve Hundred, $159.99 shipped
• Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts 650W, $79.99 shipped
• Motherboard: Asus P6T Deluxe V2, $289.99 + shipping
• Processor: Intel Core i7 920, $288.99 shipped
• CPU Cooler: Vigor Monsoon III LT, $55.99 + shipping
• Graphics Card: Gigabyte HD4870, $169.99 shipped, after rebate
• Memory: OCZ Platinum 6GB (3×2GB) DDR3 1600,$89.99 shipped, after rebate
• Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB, $99.99 shipped, after promo code
• Disc Drive: Pioneer Black 20x DVD Burner, $21.99 shipped
• Total after shipping, rebates and combo deals: $1,198.22 (One interesting note, I actually paid more for the components in this build and less on shipping than in the previous build.  So while I was $15 more expensive, I spent a good deal less on shipping than last time.)

I also got some pretty decent combo discounts by purchasing parts together, I’ll get to that in a second.  (All of the components link to Newegg, because that’s where I bought them.)

I’m only buying the main PC because I already own a good mouse, keyboard, speakers and pair of LCDs.  When building your system, often those are the parts that you take from one to the next.  I’ll also install the copy of Windows Vista that I own, and install my old copy of Windows XP on my previous box.

Now to the why’s…

————————————————————————-– Case: Antec Twelve Hundred

There are a couple of reasons I chose to go with the Antec Twelve Hundred.  I’ve read a few columns from different review sites.  High marks seemed to be given to cases from Antec, CoolerMaster and Thermaltake.

My decision came to rest between three different full tower cases: the Twelve Hundred, the Coolermaster HAF and the Thermaltake Spedo. The base price on each after instant discounts were in the same ballpark, but only the Twelve Hundred had free shipping.  Free shipping on a case, particularly a full tower case, can add $20 to the price.   Each case had a respective bundle deal, pairing it with a decent number of components.  The best bundle I found paired the Twelve Hundred with an Antec power supply, the EarthWatts 650.

Ultimately, because the reviews main detriments were price (which has come down) and the LED lights (which I actually like, but can be turned off) I chose to go with the Antec Twelve Hundred.  I look forward to building out my new computer inside of it.

————————————————————————-– Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts 650W

How much you want to cram inside your computer should ultimately dictate the size of your power supply.  In my case, I do plan on doing some overclocking and eventually I may choose to add a second video card, so I wanted to have a high quality and decent sized power supply.

(Of note, this is actually the biggest power supply I’ve ever put in a custom build system.)

Enter: the Antec EarthWatts 650W.  It had gotten some favorable reviews and was used in a pair of gaming rig guides I had seen online.

Ultimately it was price, performance, reviews and the fact that it was bundled with a nice discount that made me go with it.

I’m confident that it’ll have enough juice to power my rig, and I won’t have to worry about the quality because a component from Antec has yet to steer me wrong.

————————————————————————-– Motherboard: Asus P6T Deluxe V2

The motherboard is the hardest component to change when you’re building a custom PC, so it’s important that you pick the right one.

I think the P6T Deluxe V2 is the right board for my build.  It has plenty of room for expansion and a great number of features that will make it easier to do what I want to do (which is to say overclock the lights out of the Core i7).

The motherboard will hold upto 24GB of ram.  Even though I only plan to put 6GB on there, it’s nice to know I could add more (and I might with the way prices are trending downward).

In Anandtech’s midrange Intel system buyer’s guide, they actually recommended going with a cheaper part, the Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R.  While it was about $80 cheaper after rebate, I found that there were a couple of options on the Asus board that were worth the extra cash, and there was a nice combo deal again that narrowed the pricegap with the Gigabyte board.

The ExtremeTech guys wrote an informative article on overclocking the Core i7 and used the original Deluxe board from Asus.  Because I don’t overclock every day, the ‘auto’ feature of the Asus AI Tweaker appealed to me.

————————————————————————-– Processor: Intel Core i7 920

For me there was only one real option when looking at processors.  I knew I wanted to buy a chip from Intel’s Nehalem line, because everywhere I’ve read says that this is one of the most friendly overclocking processors to come along in years.  I also knew that I could afford to buy only the 920 variant.

The Core i7 has three different offerings, the 920 which I selected, the 940 (listed at $570) and the Extreme Edition 965 (listed at $1000).

For me, the choice was clear when I saw benchmarks saying the 920 could overclock to speeds above the EE 965’s base clock by a very large margin.  (For reference, the 920 ships with a 2.66Ghz clock and the 965 with a 3.2Ghz clock).  You could overclock the EE 965 and get even better performance, but I didn’t have that kind of scratch.

One of things I’m most looking forward to in this build is seeing just how much juice I get get out of the Core i7 920 that I selected.

————————————————————————-– CPU Cooler: Vigor Monsoon III LT

I’m not a professional system builder.  So I turn to the professionals when they talk about the heat put out by the Intel Core i7 line.  In Anandtech’s system building guide they talked about how the stock cooler included with the Core i7 920 processor is barely adequate for running at stock speeds.  Seeing as I wanted to overclock, a new CPU Cooler had to be included in the mix.  The Anandtech guide listed the Vigor Monsoon III LT as a cooler to get the job done.

Fortunate for me, the cooler was also part of a combo deal at Newegg with the processor I was already buying, so I got to save a bit more.

I chose not to go with a more elaborate water cooling system because I wasn’t confident in my own abilities to set it up right.

————————————————————————-– Graphics Card: Gigabyte HD4870 1 GB

This selection, more than any other, gave me pause before clicking the ‘buy’ button when staring at my shopping cart.  Both AMD and Nvidia have just released some new parts in the $250 dollar range, the exact price point I was looking at going for.  But, by releasing those parts the two companies also pushed down the price on the previous generation of cards and in my case quite substantially.

The Gigabyte HD4870 that I chose to go with was 40% cheaper than the HD4890 part I was looking at.  The performance loss was only about 10% in most reviews I’ve seen comparing the two cards.  It just wasn’t cost effective to spend that much extra on the newer card and not get the same amount of performance out of it.

Also, I can still choose to buy two cards (which I might do when the prices come down even further) and at that point I’ll better the performance that I would have gotten out of the 4890 series because of the CrossFire Support.  (CrossFire basically links the two cards to increase performance output).

————————————————————————-– Memory: OCZ Platinum 6GB (3×2GB) DDR3 1600

Memory was a somewhat easier choice for the system.  Prices are down dramatically compared to when I was building a system three years ago.  In addition, everywhere I looked seemed to recommend some sort of OCZ memory.  In the past, I’ve been partial to Corsair and Crucial but couldn’t ignore the recommendations.

The main decision between 3GB and 6GB was over quickly, because I could get 6GB for less thatn $100 bucks shipped.  It was just too cheap not to grab the extra amount, plus it’d feel like I was stepping backwards if I went with 3GB because I have 4GB (albeit slower memory) in my Home Theater PC.

The decision between OCZ’s Platinum and Gold came down to recommendations in system building guides and the similar prices between the two.

————————————————————————-– Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB

————————————————————————-– Disc Drive: Pioneer Black 20x DVD Burner

The final two components I bought came down to a pair of factors.  How ‘cutting edge’ did I want to go?  How important is speed?  Can I save money?

I could have spent a good deal more by choosing a VelociRaptor hard drive that would have outperformed the Caviar Black.  At the same time, I could have gone with a much smaller hard drive to save even more.

I ultimately chose to go with the drive I did because I have a tendency to fill drives up and the performance reviews I’ve seen on the Caviar Black were pretty favorable.

As to the disc drive, no part of me wanted a Blu-Ray player in my desktop PC.  If I’m going to put one anywhere, I’ll toss the $100 reader into my HTPC, but I’m not interested in having one on my desktop.  If prices continue to creep down, it might be an option.

When looking at the gaming industry though, it was painfully slow to make the switch from CD to DVD for games, I can only imagine that the transition to the slower adopted Blu-Ray will take even longer. (In the PC realm at least)  Additionally, game distribution in an increasing number of cases doesn’t involve discs at all.

As for other components, as stated above, I already have a pair of monitors I like.  I own the Sidewinder X6 Keyboard and Razer Lachesis Mouse that I’ve reviewed.  I also have a set of Klipsch speakers that are absolutely ancient (having come through now 4 builds with me) but that I still like when I don’t have a headset on.

More To Come:

Save Your Money: Build A PC continues!  I’m not going to just list the parts and leave it at that, no!  Follow my Twitter updates to be updated the second the order actually ships from Newegg.  And make sure to come back for part two: The Build!  If you’re a novice to the aspect of building a PC, it could be a good read.  I’ll be sure to include pictures from the build.

As always you can leave your comments in the section provided, or shoot me an email at matt(dot)schuler(at)woodtv(dot)com.

Tags: 1GB, 4870, 6GB, 920, Antec, Asus, Caviar Black, Core i7, EarthWatts, Gigabyte, Intel, Monsoon, Not Made Of Wood, OCZ, P6T Deluxe V2, PC, Platinum, Twelve Hundred, Vigor, Western Digital