I am building a PC, help me decide what to get.

[J.D]

Alright, so instead of waiting for a year I'm building a PC now. My budget is $1500, including the monitor. I want an Intel Processor and Nvidia graphics. I am not planning on overclocking, as I want my PC to be as cool and quiet as possible. I am not planning on cheaping out on this PC; I need quality parts.

Sooooo, for $1500, what can that money buy me?

 

[J.D]

See my later posts.

 

[samjc3]

Looks good, Although, you should try linking to a monitor in the monitor field.

12gb of ram is overkill. 8 is plenty, and considerably cheaper.
For case, Antec 300 is it.
Get a good power supply, at least 750 watt, name brand. Dont skimp.
Fans are fans. No need to get lighted ones or anything. Dont get the cheapest ones either.
For cooling, definitely look into the CPU cooler Jelly and T_W got. It sounds amazing.

 

[XCVG]

Do you already have the parts, or are you planning on ordering those?

Hard drive is fine. SSD I would only go for if you have the money. It'll speed things up, sure, but you'll only be able to fit your OS on that 40GB- maybe a few apps. On a $1500 system? Better spent elsewhere IMO.

Can't really say much about the monitor.

You do not want 8GB of RAM on an LGA1366 tri-channel system. 6GB or 12GB, no in-between.

Processor is good, but now we face the LGA1366 vs LGA1156 conundrum. Performance is basically the same. LGA1156 supports dual-channel RAM, LGA1366 is tri-channel. Tri-channel is a little faster, but if you overclock the RAM, the difference disappears. LGA1156 CPUs and motherboards are cheaper. LGA1366 has a better upgrade path with hexacores and all, but knowing Intel you're screwed either way when the next generation comes. The biggest disadvantage of LGA1156 is that the onboard PCI-e controller only has 16 lanes. So if you run dual graphics cards, it will be slower; how much slower is a matter of debate, but most say it isn't that much. I'm thinking on a $1500 budget, you're better off with LGA1156.

Radeon HD 6870 is a touch faster than GTX 460, but you want nVidia, and the difference isn't that big.

Need motherboard suggestions? I'll need some idea of what you want first. USB3? SLi support?

I don't know much about cases, sorry. As for PSU, all I can say is DON'T CHEAP OUT! Go for a brand name one rated for at least 600W for a single card, 750W if you plan on going SLi in the future. That's with GTX 460s. If you plan on stepping up to the 470, you need a beefier PSU. Don't spend $30 on a fan unless you want dead silent, but I wouldn't go for the $3 cheapy either. I'm going to draw flak for saying this, but the stock CPU cooler is probably fine since you don't plan on overclocking. If you really wanna get quiet, though, an aftermarket heatsink is a good idea. Unfortunately I have no recommendations.

 

[J.D]

Alright, new list:

PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820145313
CPU cooler (same one TW and Jlee have): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835186134
Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product
HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822136592
Monitor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product

Same processor, monitor and graphics card. I also already have an Airport Express as a wireless card.

I need a motherboard that's...well...good and reliable. One that supports my RAM as well. This one might do: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product

 

[bic]

I generally recommend these brands:

Motherboard: Gigabyte, Asus, Intel

RAM: Corsair, Kingston

Hard Drive: Western Digital, Seagate, Samsung

Power Supply: Corsair

Case Antec 300

Edit:

VVVVVVVVV Listen to him. Cache makes a huge speed difference (one of the primary differences between Pentiums and Celerons).

 

[jleemero]

THANK YOU FOR BEING INTELLIGENT AND STICKING WITH INTEL AND NVIDIA.

For RAM, 12 is Overkill.
8 is Overkill.
4 is more than you'll ever *Can'tSayThisOnTV*ing use, DO IT ANYWAY.

As for the Cooler, the Freezer 7 Pro is FANTASTIC, ESPECIALLY FOR THE COST.
There are MUCH better coolers out there.
When it came out, you couldn't much beat it.
But that's no longer true.
HOWEVER, FOR THE COST, IT'S AS GOOD AS IT GETS!
So DO IT.

Processor...
People are retarded, and look at Cores and Speed.
These matter, big time. But they FORGET about everything else, and go with the cheapest thing that meets their Core/Speed requirements.
*Can'tSayThisOnTV*ING IDIOTS.
You know what else matters?
Cache. L2 AND L3 cache (AMD users say "Lolwut")
Wattage.

Quad-Core, get one.
No Dual-Core, no Tri (cigarette), don't *Can'tSayThisOnTV* with these new 6 or 8 core *Can'tSayThisOnTV*s, don't bother.
Quad-Core.
Get One.

Cache, bigger the better, but know this: Personally, I'd take a CPU with L2 AND L3 Cache over a processor with a BIG L2 and no L3.
But that's MY preference, others think differently.

Wattage!
LOWER IS BETTER.
"But I don't care about power consumption!"
*Can'tSayThisOnTV* YOU, YOU DO NOW.
Why?
HEAT.
Higher Wattage == Higher HEAT
Usually Manufacturing Tech/Process (ya know, 45nm, 32nm, etc) is proportional to wattage.
BUT, don't bother looking at those numbers.
Just look at Wattage.
Lower Is Better. Period.


So, keep all that in mind.
The best processor you can afford is gonna be an Intel, Quad-Core, with L2 and L3 caches, with really low wattage.
Look at your options, decide your minimum speed (I say 3.0GHz BECAUSE I SAID SO), check out which have L2 and L3 caches, then sort 'em by wattage and see what you see.

Happy shopping, "Flamboyant Homosexual".

 

[XCVG]

I both agree and don't agree. Low wattage is always good, but it's not worth it to spend more on a slower processor unless heat is a concern. Although he did mention wanting a quiet PC, so I guess it would be of concern in this case. i5-750, i7-870 and i7-950 all have the same amount of cache (8MB L3, 1MB L2).

JD: One of the motherboards you linked is an X58 based LGA1366, one is a P55 based LGA1156, and I don't see a processor anywhere. Are you going with LGA1156 or LGA1366. I'm assuming you're going with LGA1156 since you picked dual-channel RAM.

 

[J.D]

Oh yeah, my processor and gfx card.

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product
GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814121389

 

[XCVG]

I see you're going with LGA1366. You need an X58 based LGA1366 motherboard. The first one you linked seems like a good choice. But ditch the RAM you have now. You want triple-channel RAM if you're going this route. Something like this: 6GB or 12GB

 

[J.D]

I see you're going with LGA1366. You need an X58 based LGA1366 motherboard. The first one you linked seems like a good choice. But ditch the RAM you have now. You want triple-channel RAM if you're going this route. Something like this: 6GB or 12GB

Oh, thanks for the info man. I'll get the 6GB RAM, since I really don't want to pay so much money for the 12GB.