Building new PC. Need advice

[yourbeliefs]

My 5 year old Alienware computer is truly starting to show it's age. I had no delusions that my PC was no longer top of the line, but a recent attempt to run Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light felt like watching Whitney Houston in concert, NOW. The best days are far behind, and that one moment in time is but a sweet memory.

So now I can either pay some PC company to build me a new one (no Macs) or build one of my own. I'm leaning towards the latter, as I've always been interested in building one myself, and from what I can tell it is breathtakingly cheaper. Here's something I configured on Newegg for about half of what it would cost Alienware to build me something comparable.


1 COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel , SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
$54.99

1 Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
$89.99

1 ASRock 870 EXTREME3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
$99.99

1 EVGA 012-P3-1470-AR GeForce GTX 470 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
$259.99

1 CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power ...
$94.99

1 Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model 996770
$99.99

1 D Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition Thuban 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Six-Core Desktop Processor HDT90ZFBGRBOX
$229.00

1 LG Black 10X Blu-ray Burner - Bulk SATA WH10LS30 LightScribe Support

$79.99
Subtotal: $1,008.93

As far as my PC hardware experience goes, I've basically done everything but build one. I've installed/replaced RAM, HDD, Video Cards, Processors, Optical, etc. That aside, I really don't know much about the intricacies of doing this. I'm guessing that it isn't as easy as it looks on paper because if it was, more people would be doing it especially given the price difference. Are there any snags/gotchas I need to be wary of, stuff that I don't really need/stuff I do really need? I'm really looking for this to last ~5 years like my current machine did. I just don't want to have to spend the same amount of money (~$2,200) as I did back then. Obviously with the independent video card this will be a gaming PC, but I mainly want it to be an entertainment hub, where I can watch movies and such right on my 50" Plasma at full HD resolution (as opposed to my current setup, where I can't get more than 1280X1024 via the VGA port.)

Any tips/preferences are greatly appreciated.

 

[JAG72]

The only piece that I would change is the processor and system board. If you really want a power house of a machine, I would go with an Intel i7. The AMD CPU's don't even come close to comparing with the Intel's anymore. The only thing they have going for them is the price.

 

[avg1joe]

I use this site to compare cpus: PassMark - CPU Benchmarks - List of Benchmarked CPUs

You didn't mention an operating system.

 

[SatinKzo]

Might want to check Newegg.com black friday list. It's still valid and has a lot of similar components for good prices. Even some bundled barebones stuff to add too.

 

[harshness]

The scatter gun approach is kind of expensive given the accelerating cost of graphics cards these days.

It doesn't help that the gaming community has thoroughly convinced itself that 60+ fps widescreen is an imperative.

 

[charper1]

Agree; with both Satin & Harsh

http://www.satelliteguys.us/pub-mem...any-black-friday-deals-yet-6.html#post2393447

 

[diogen]

Obviously with the independent video card this will be a gaming PC, but I mainly want it to be an entertainment hub, where I can watch movies and such right on my 50" Plasma at full HD resolution...
Any tips/preferences are greatly appreciated.

If gaming is not the primary purpose, drop the full ATX mobo and case size. Go with mATX.
Also, comparing Alienware to Apex boards isn't exactly fair. Stick to Asus or Gigabyte. There are models that have USB3, SATA III, etc.
They also have a PCIex16 slot for discrete video card.

What do you need the BD burner for?

Do you play HD through a receiver or straight to TV? What about multichannel sound?

Diogen.

 

[mdram]

i dont think a 6 core is needed, a good 4 core is plenty
i like amd and would go phenom2 955 or 965
i dont know anything about asrock, but have had luck with gigabyte mobos.
and dont buy the expensive ram, its too picky many times, id get super talent, had good luck wtih them.
you could also save a few bucks by changing vid cards to a radeon, they are not as bad as they used to be and have a good price point.
it really depends on your use

the good thing about self build is you have parts you can reuse better when you upgrade (case, psu, optical, ect)