The Computer Megathread

[Marcem]

It looks like you're trying to cheap out on your motherboard by going with a brand no one has heard of.  I'd suggest getting something from Asus or Gigabyte.

[Ad Bot]

[Awdax]

What about this? It's Intel.

Intel BOXDH67CLB3 LGA 1155 Intel H67 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

[Marcem]

I'd be cautious, the reviews seem to be very mixed.

[LeetZero]

ASRock Z77 Pro3 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

I personally like this one.

[Awdax]

I'd be cautious, the reviews seem to be very mixed.

GIGABYTE GA-H77-DS3H LGA 1155 Intel H77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Is this better? I've been looking at the Cons in the reviews but since building is all new to me I'm not really sure.

If you could suggest a model that'd be great! I'm willing to downgrade something if I have to, to keep the price around $850.

ASRock Z77 Pro3 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

I personally like this one.

Marcem, is this a good choice?

EDIT: There seems to be a lot of cons with "Crossfire" or something. That won't be a problem for me right?
EDIT 2: Actually. I think I'll get some parts from Amazon and some from NewEgg. Those are about the only two sites I trust.

Yeah. That's what I'm going to do. Buying the parts from NewEgg and Amazon sums the total up to $881. I'm fine with paying an extra twenty dollars in price difference to have worry free thoughts about these places.

Still, I would like to know how compatible and trustworthy these parts are. I want to keep the total around $850 so if I need to downgrade anything that's fine. I want to be able to upgrade in at least 2 - 4 years though.

Here is my new part list.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU:  Intel Core i3-2120 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($121.98 @ Amazon)
Motherboard:  ASRock Z77 Pro3 ATX  LGA1155 Motherboard  ($102.55 @ Newegg)
Memory:  Mushkin Essentials 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1333 Memory  ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Storage:  Seagate Barracuda 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card:  Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 1GB Video Card  ($164.98 @ Newegg)
Case:  Thermaltake VM600M1W2Z ATX Mid Tower Case  ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply:  Antec 550W ATX12V Power Supply  ($64.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive:  Sony AD-7280S-0B DVD/CD Writer  ($17.99 @ Amazon)
Monitor:  Acer G205HVbd 20.0" Monitor  ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System:  Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Full (32/64-bit)  ($154.00 @ Amazon)
Total: $881.45
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-08-13 15:00 EDT-0400)

[Awdax]

Alright, bumping this because now I have two options.
Alright. So I have two builds now to choose from. Now the total prices will add up to around $800, but that's for the OS and Monitor. Don't mind that, I'm focused on the components that will make up the case.

I am sure these are compatible, but I want to run it by you guys first since you know more about this than me. I also want to make sure the parts are trustworthy and reliable. I arranged these by reviews when I was choosing them to make sure what I was getting was good.

If I need to change something, let me know. I want to keep the case and parts price around $600 though, because I also have to account for the extra $254 for the OS and Monitor. If I need to downgrade something to keep the price stable, that's alright. I'm looking to upgrade this in 2-4 years. I'm looking to play games like Left 4 Dead, Blockland, and other games. So it shouldn't take a whole lot of power.

Anyways here are the builds. Which should I go with? What do I need to change about that build? Are the parts for that build compatible?

Option 1:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU:  Intel Core i3-2120 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($121.98 @ Amazon)
Motherboard:  ASRock Z77 Pro3 ATX  LGA1155 Motherboard  ($102.55 @ Newegg)
Memory:  Mushkin Essentials 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1333 Memory  ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Storage:  Seagate Barracuda 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card:  Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 1GB Video Card  ($164.98 @ Newegg)
Case:  Thermaltake VM600M1W2Z ATX Mid Tower Case  ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply:  Antec 550W ATX12V Power Supply  ($64.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive:  Sony AD-7280S-0B DVD/CD Writer  ($17.99 @ Amazon)
Monitor:  Acer G205HVbd 20.0" Monitor  ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System:  Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Full (32/64-bit)  ($154.00 @ Amazon)
Total: $881.45
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-08-13 18:12 EDT-0400)

Option 2:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU:  Intel Core i3-2100 3.1GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($116.63 @ Amazon)
Motherboard:  Gigabyte GA-Z68AP-D3(R2.0) ATX  LGA1155 Motherboard  ($87.86 @ Newegg)
Memory:  Corsair Vengeance 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Storage:  Seagate Momentus 750GB 2.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($74.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card:  Asus Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition 1GB Video Card  ($157.55 @ Newegg)
Case:  Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case  ($79.94 @ Amazon)
Power Supply:  Antec 550W ATX12V Power Supply  ($64.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive:  Sony AD-7280S-0B DVD/CD Writer  ($17.99 @ Amazon)
Monitor:  Acer G205HVbd 20.0" Monitor  ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System:  Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Full (32/64-bit)  ($154.00 @ Amazon)
Total: $878.93
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-08-13 18:12 EDT-0400)

[Legodude77]

I have a question, can two different brands of RAM sticks still work together on a motherboard?

[Awdax]

Yes, but the specifications for them have to be the same. Like the voltage, the DIMM type, the size etc. It's much easier to just get two of the same brand or package or whatever.

[The Big Bad Jellyfish]

So i'm unable to build a computer because of my parents don't want me breaking it on accident and they waste money, so I have to buy a prebuilt one, is this a good gaming computer?
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+Essentio+Desktop+-+16GB+Memory+-+4TB+Hard+Drive/5555496.p?id=1218658997014&skuId=5555496
I'm just kinda worried about that graphics card, not sure if its good or not.
(my price range is 1500 or under, if you can pay monthly by getting a card n'stuff, can be a little bit over like 100 or so too.)

[Tokthree]

To answer the graphics card question, the GTX 560's are extremely robust cards and you shouldn't have any problem running modern games with that, especially not the TI edition

[The Big Bad Jellyfish]

To answer the graphics card question, the GTX 560's are extremely robust cards and you shouldn't have any problem running modern games with that, especially not the TI edition

Thanks Tokthree, also is it just a good gaming computer in general for its price?

[Tokthree]

Thanks Tokthree, also is it just a good gaming computer in general for its price?

Well, not for it's price, you could probably find a better prebuilt somewhere else and I'm sure the guys around here will have something in mind

[LeetZero]

-snip-

You should make sure everything is compatible. Specially the Mobo.

[Awdax]

You should make sure everything is compatible. Specially the Mobo.

I'm pretty sure they are. PcPartPicker has a compatibility thing on by default, so when you choose a part, the only parts that show up are compatible. I picked the CPU, then the Mobo, then the RAM.

What exactly needs to be compatible with what? I'll try comparing the specifications on NewEgg. But I only know so much, I'll run it by you guys again when I'm done.

EDIT: Okay I think I found some incompatibility.

Motherboard
PCI Express 3.0 x16: 2 (x16, x4) (All PCI Express x16 slots conform to PCI Express 3.0 standard. To support PCI Express 3.0, you must install an Intel 22nm CPU. )

CPU
Manufacturing Tech: 32nm

Is this bad, or will it work since the nm (whatever that is) is higher?

[Tokthree]

Is this bad, or will it work since the nm (whatever that is) is higher?

I think it'd only matter if you want to have PCIE-3, otherwise the PCIE slots just act like PCIE-2 slots, not sure though since I don't have any personal experience with this stuff.
Also, nm is nano-meter, lower is smaller as I recall, meaning they get to fit more stuff on a chip of the same size