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I'm Going to Build a PC. Suggestions?

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MilesOhToole:
Hey everyone!  It's been a while since my last post but I've occasionally lurked around.  Matter of fact, last time I posted, you guys helped me buy my dream PC.  Here's that thread.

I had that PC built for me but I've learned quite a bit since then and want to build my own this time.

As last time, I'm going to be buying (nearly) all my parts from Global Computer, since I'll get a discount from ordering through my employer.

First thoughts and opinions/suggestions are quite welcome:

*I think I'm going to go with a quad core processor, thinking dual-core will soon be as obsolete as single-core.

*I have a crashed 500 GB Seagate HDD that I will send back for a replacement, under warranty, saving money.  I laugh at the HDD shortage of 2012!

*My wife is in college and I'm going to try to buy a student discounted version of Windows 7 Professional 64bit.  I don't know how that works, as of yet.

*I want a fairly competent gaming PC.  If my PC can run games reasonably well, I figure it can do darn near anything else with ease.  Plus, I like games!

*I have an approximate budget of $1000.00.

I know all that is still pretty vague.  Basically, I'm wanting a gaming PC for $1000 and I want to build it, not only to save money but for the learning experience.

One other thing I learned from my subscription to MaximumPC is that the AMD GPU's doesn't support PhysX that's included in cool games like Batman:  Arkham City.  So, I guess I'll go with nVidia.

Any preliminary suggestions?

Thanks to the wonderful folks who helped me buy my current PC.  I can't believe it's been six whole years ago!  Other than a few HDD failures (and a replaced PSU, which I suspected as the culprit) it continues to be a wonderful machine.

Thanks to Mouser for a wonderful site.  By the way, I still have that PM you sent me to donate to your site.  I apologize for never getting around to it.  It will be done shortly, I promise.

Thanks, everyone.

Carol Haynes:
Horses for courses with graphics cards.

AMD cards support more than two screens and some games are written specifically for AMD.

For what its worth I have an AMD card and Arkham City is just fine.

db90h:
One thing: If possible, try to go with passive cooling on your graphics adapters. That may not be possible since you want a gaming system. In my case, not needing heavy duty GPU stuff, passive cooling was an option. The GPU fan always seems to be the first to go out on me, and often the loudest, but maybe it's just my dirty air ;p. So, I have been very pleased with passively cooled graphics adapters.

Ath:
Buy a Systembuilder Windows license, together/bundled with a mainboard, it'll save you around $75 to $90 from a full retail license.

4wd:
One other thing I learned from my subscription to MaximumPC is that the AMD GPU's doesn't support PhysX that's included in cool games like Batman:  Arkham City.  So, I guess I'll go with nVidia.-Carol Haynes (March 25, 2012, 09:59 PM)
--- End quote ---

An nVidia GPU isn't required for PhysX - it's only required if you want to offload some of work to the GPU rather than have the CPU do it.

With current model GPUs and CPUs I doubt whether you'd notice any appreciable difference.

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