Jiminez_Burial Posted November 28, 2014 Share Posted November 28, 2014 (edited) I have been planning to build a new PC for quite a long time and have looked at many options, but I wanted to get more people's opinions. The PC will be used for computer program coding and (obviously) gaming. My current component list adds up to around $1500 NZ. This includes a monitor and OS. I will be using a headset so speakers aren't needed, and I already have my mouse and keyboard. An optical drive won't be needed as I will just transfer disc files from the family laptop using a USB. Any help will be much appreciated. Case: Zalman Z1 mid tower. http://www.pbtech.co.nz/index.php?z=p&p=CHAZAL0010&name=Zalman-Z1-Front-Mesh-Mid-Tower-Case- PSU: Corsair VS650. https://www.mightyape.co.nz/product/Corsair-VS650-Series-650W-ATX-PSU/21557902 Motherboard: ASRock H97M. https://www.mightyape.co.nz/product/ASRock-H97M-Pro4-Intel-Motherboard/22875032 CPU: Intel Haswell i54460 http://www.pbtech.co.nz/index.php?z=p&p=CPUIT4460&name=Intel-New-Haswell-Core-i5-4460-3.2GHz-6MB-LGA1150- RAM: Corsair Vengeance DDR3 8G. http://www.pbtech.co.nz/index.php?z=p&p=MEMCOR33018&name=Corsair-Vengeance-8GB-(2x4GB)-DDR3-1866MHz-CL9-Unb GPU: Gigabyte GTX 760 2GB. https://www.mightyape.co.nz/product/Gigabyte-GTX-760-OC-Edition-2GB-Graphics-Card/21626335 HDD: Seagate 1TB. (as this is my first build, I won't be using an SSD bootdrive) http://www.pbtech.co.nz/index.php?z=p&p=HDDSE2104&name=Seagate-1TB-Barracuda-7200.12-SATA3-HDD-64M-CACHE- Monitor: 20" Viewsonic LED. https://www.mightyape.co.nz/product/20-Viewsonic-Widescreen-LED-Monitor/22210177 Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium. https://www.mightyape.co.nz/product/Windows-7-Home-Premium-64Bit-OEM/8174862 PS: If anyone can find an over-seas store that have the components for cheaper (after currency conversion) and have reasonable shipping, please leave information on this as well. Edited November 28, 2014 by Starfreak911 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
direcyphre Posted November 28, 2014 Share Posted November 28, 2014 (edited) Looks like a pretty decent setup overall. Optical drives are cheap all around, so I would still recommend it. Makes installing windows fairly simple. Would also recommend Win7 Pro as I recall there being some minor differences. Unfortunately even if you found an overseas retailer that would ship to your location, any savings you might gain (after currency conversion) would be lost on shipping, and you'd probably be waiting a lot longer for parts. Edit: Also noticed the monitor only goes to 1600x900. I'd at least recommend any size that would at least get you to 1920x1080. Not that you need to run games at that resolution, but everything looks better at any resolution with a larger display. Generally you can find them all in the same price range as well, it's just IPS and fancier types that get pricey. Edited November 28, 2014 by direcyphre Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taiiat Posted November 28, 2014 Share Posted November 28, 2014 ah! do not buy that Monitor. at all. it's only VGA input and it's 900p. there's no reason to buy an inferior product and feel like you wasted money. i'm sure you can find a 1080p Monitor that has any other Display Input available. you also might appreciate a Modular PSU. and if you haven't used an SSD yet, someday when you do, you're going to wonder how you lived without one. just so you know. that Motherboard doesn't support RAM at the speed that you've chosen. it supports up to DDR3 1600 according to AsRock. ----- rest of the components should be fine. i presume you chose that CPU due to availability in New Zealand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jiminez_Burial Posted November 28, 2014 Author Share Posted November 28, 2014 (edited) ah! do not buy that Monitor. at all. it's only VGA input and it's 900p. there's no reason to buy an inferior product and feel like you wasted money. i'm sure you can find a 1080p Monitor that has any other Display Input available. you also might appreciate a Modular PSU. and if you haven't used an SSD yet, someday when you do, you're going to wonder how you lived without one. just so you know. that Motherboard doesn't support RAM at the speed that you've chosen. it supports up to DDR3 1600 according to AsRock. ----- rest of the components should be fine. i presume you chose that CPU due to availability in New Zealand. I've seen a video by either tech of tomorrow or linus tech tips showing a side by side comparison of an HDD boot verse an SSD boot. 30 seconds for turning it on doesn't seem too great for me, especially when I had to wait 35+ MINUTES for my family's last PC. Thanks for the RAM info, I had switched my planned RAM in the last few days but obviously forgot to check for compatibility. Thank you to both of you regarding the monitor information, I always just assumed a larger resolution meant a relatively higher cost. Edited November 28, 2014 by Starfreak911 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taiiat Posted November 28, 2014 Share Posted November 28, 2014 30 seconds for turning it on doesn't seem too great for me ;) SSD boot times are more like... <10 seconds. <15 at worst. there's a minimum duration for the windows logo in w7 even, that adds a few seconds. on w8, more like <4 seconds. anyways, obviously a higher resolution panel costs more, that comes with the territory, but 1080p is pretty much the middleground standard now, it's super common. so there's a lot of price competition in that range. and please for the love of god make sure the Monitor you're going to use has video inputs other than VGA. DVI-D, HDMI, Displayport are all perfectly fine for 1080p. any of them will work identically at that resolution. just don't use VGA ;-; Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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