Suggest Parts for Chthon's New PC

I looked, but it seems like the old thread with parts lists for 3 price ranges has died. So, I'm fishing for suggestions on what parts to put into my new PC.

Some general criteria:

• I'm located in the US, so links to US merchants (ie Newegg) would be appreciated.
• Probably doing a whole machine, so I anticipate looking at:
  • MB
  • CPU
  • RAM
  • Hard Drives
  • Video Card
  • Video Capture Card
  • Power Supply
  • Case
  • Heatsink & CPU Fan
  • Case Fans
  • Blue Ray Reader/Burner
  • DVD/CD Reader/Burner (last I checked, DVD burning is not compatible with Blue Ray burning, correct?)
  • Monitor
  • Speakers
  • Keyboard
  • Mouse
  • Webcam + Mic
  • Did I forget anything?
• I'm price neutral. I'll spend whatever needs to be spent to get good performance (and meet my other goals below). That said, I'm not interested in having the "very top of the line" and paying obscene amounts for a marginal performance increase over just plain "top of the line."
• Forward Compatibility I keep machines a looong time. Usually several years. I'm much more likely to upgrade parts several times than replace the whole machine. So, I do not want to get stuck with the 2010 equivalent of an AGP slot.
• Longevity. A related goal is a machine that will last more or less indefinitely without repairs or replacements. I don't want to wake up one day and discover that my first-generation solid state drive has run out of write cycles or had its speed degrade all to hell because it doesn't implement TRIM properly.
• I'm aiming for a machine that will run GW2 and D3 on high settings (yeah, I know, benchmarking against things that don't exist...) tomorrow, and do a decent job of running whatever the great game of the day is two or three years from now.
• Plan on running windows 7, maybe dual boot to Linnux if I ever find the spare time to mess with it.

OK, open for suggestions now:

Do you play any games other than RPG/MMO types? Do you do any encoding or photo/video editing? When you say you are price neutral, does that mean the thought of spending 2-3k on a complete Computer System is ok by you? I don't want to put a list together and waster my time because you were thinking 1-1500 instead of 2x that.

Depends on my mood. RTS is also likely. Maybe FPS. In general, video card should tend towards the high end so that it can play tomorrow's games acceptably well.

Yes, quite a bit. Mostly GIMP and Avisynth, respectively.

Yes, that would be OK with me. Obviously, I'd prefer 2k over 3k, but 3k is acceptable if the resultant computer is significantly better for it.

And thanks for your help!

I'll put something together tomorrow, although I'll say right now that I would suggest waiting about 2 weeks for the AMD 6900 series (maybe GTX580 too) to be released and see what they are capable of; I'm expecting some nice things from them and at the least they will lower prices on current GPUs.

Hmmm.... waiting 2 weeks may not be an option since I've pledged to repurpose my current PC in about 2 weeks. I suppose I could always run VGA off the MB in the interim...

Monitor: I like Asus Monitors allot, if you prefer a different brand I suggest Samsung (although they are usually pricey). You didn't mention size, but if you have space for it, get this baby.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824236047

Motherboard & Memory: All the features you need to be as future proof as possible and some decent Overclocking features as well should you ever feel the urge to turbocharge anything. 2x the memory you need right now most likely, but it ought to last a long time too.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.533049

Processor & Cooler: A little more money than an i7860 for similar speed, but the 1366 chipset is more future proof and offers triple channel memory, so in your case I think it's worth a few extra dollars. The cooler is considered one of the best, a must if you ever choose to OC this bad boy (4ghz is a very realistic goal btw).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.374134

Case & PSU: Since you may at some point have a pair of super power hungry GPUs, I picked a Power Supply that can handle anything you throw at it. The case is the same one I have personally and I love it. Of course the looks of a case are purely subjective and you may hate it, if so, just find another name brand case with similar dimensions and you will be fine.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.523899

Hard Drive (Storage) & Card Reader: The F3 gets rave reviews and if you think you need more storage space just add another one... or two. The card reader is basically just a generic card reader, I've used that one before and not had problems, but it's hard for me to get excited about it either.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.409805

SSD (OS): This is what I want for XMAS. Put the OS and your favorite editing programs on here and watch it fly!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227542

BlueRay Burner/Combo Drive: All you need for under $100 and from a reputable brand too, what's not to like?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827136181

PRICE THUS FAR = $1577.58

Now you may want to wait for a video card or you may want to get one right now. If I could not wait, I would get the best single GPU on the market right now and get the following, with the option of adding a second one down the road (unless you play allot of Metro 2033 & Crysis, you won't need a second one anytime soon).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127502

*If you feel the need for a separate PhysX card, I'd suggest a GTS 250 or something allong those lines, they can be found for under $100 at just about anytime now.*

Grand Total comes to just a hair over $2000.00 after rebates. You can choose your own mouse, keyboard, and speakers. There are several nice ones out there and it's 90% personal preference, so you will have to research that one yourself.

Hope that helps.

He'll need a fan with that cooler Elder, as it doesn't come with one. Also, slight change to your SSD recommendation...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231378

Or the 60GB model of it if price is an issue.


Oh, and that motherboard/memory combo is gone. Might want to post what you had before or something really similar.

bleh - it's November and most of those combo deals are gone now ---- If the OP didn't get a chance to look it over before, I'll post em again.

I'd go with the Agility 2 over the Phoenix myself, but that's more due to familiarity than due to any disregard for G-Skill products.... either one would be a great product. imo

Shoot missed all the combos. Could you repost the parts? And thank you for the help.

Ok, here's the PSU & the Case I picked, sadly they don't have a combo deal right now:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817171049

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-160-_-Product

Here's the Motherboard & Memory I would get right now, esp. since it has the same SSD & CPU in the combo deal:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.548105

I think that was all that needed to be changed.... I would still recommend the same CPU cooler, although if you don't plan to break any new world OC records, you could easily save $20-25 and get a cheaper cooler.

Thank you all for the help. Parts or on order. I'll post an update once system is up and running... or down in flames.

I would suggest a hexacore amd and a HD6770 or GTX465 for best value

Why on earth would you need a 1000w for a GTX 480?

I thought that was made clear.

I wanted a future-proofed machine. If I decide in a couple of years that I want to replace the video card, or go SLI, or both, I don't want to have to replace the PS too.

If you can return the GTX 480 and pick up a GTX 580, I'd highly suggest doing so. They are 10-20% better on performance, run SIGNIFICANTLY cooler and quieter, and use a bit less power.