Building a computer? Need advice/suggestions? Come here!

[InnerGoat]

Next time buy Lian-li

[Ganon]

lian li four life

[Timo]

Turns out the detachable bay is an "optional accessory" and they're terribly sorry for the mistake on the website. argh. It can only hold one hdd with screws atm as well. :F

[Amit]

Turns out the detachable bay is an "optional accessory" and they're terribly sorry for the mistake on the website. argh. It can only hold one hdd with screws atm as well. :F

Holy snap, bro. I seriously feel for you. Only able to use one hard drive? That's just disgusting.

[Timo]

Yeah it's fucking shit. I emailed them asking about it and they offered an external enclosure at a discounted price. So I emailed back asking for a full refund including return postage so I can buy a case from elsewhere. It didn't have screwless bays or a screwless side either. :| The mATX case selection from their website it pretty crap too.

[Inferno]

I'm on a budget of about 1000 bucks for just the computer. No monitors or speakers. And no, building a custom rig is not a option for me right now.
I've already decided on what processor and ram to get (i7 2.8ghz with 6gb tri channel ram) But I have no fucking clue what graphics card to get.

My current choices are:


I've heard all the Geforce GTS 200 - 220 - 240 - 260 - 280 are shit so I'm wondering if I go for the ATI cards. I've always loved Geforce cards though so I don't know if I want to jump on the Radeon series.

That will work unless I end up with the HP. Personally I'm thinking the XPS 8100 will be my best bet.

With a Intel® Core™ i7-860 processor(8MB Cache, 2.80GHz) and the ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024MB GDDR5 it comes out to about 1,100 dollars.

Need more feedbackzzzzzz.

[flibitijibibo]

Out of curiosity, what is the concern about building the machine yourself?

If you were that pressed to buy prebuilt, I guess the 5770 would be acceptable with DX11 and all.

Don't buy HP, for the love of Christ. I, to this day, have not personally witnessed any HP product that has lasted an entire year.

[Inferno]

Parents don't want me buying everything and putting it together myself.

They basically said it's too "risky". Even though I've rebuilt plenty of computers and consoles in my day.

Additionally I'm lazy and can't be bothered to do it myself.

[Cortexian]

I don't get people that would rather spend hundreds of dollars more because they're "lazy". It takes all of 45 minutes to build a computer if you know what you're doing...

[flibitijibibo]

Sorry to hijack Inferno's subthread, but he reminded me:

Building a machine for the first time, but this is actually for a friend. In fear of any Aggys:
Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129042
Board: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131393
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115056
GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130514
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227199
PSU Updated: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139003
HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136098
DVD Drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106281
Speakers: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16836121034
Mouse: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16826105026
Keyboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16823131131
No monitor anymore. Turns out he already has one.

So it now adds up to $755, which is just barely over the budget (fuck it, I'll pay the $5). My only question left is the thermal compound. Ganon says it's necessary, Freelancer says it's only necessary for overclocking. I know for a fact that he can barely find the BIOS on his own, so overclocking wasn't even something I considered when searching for parts. Can I get any other opinions on it? +rep for anyone who can shed some light on it.