Margo Builds a City

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29 March 2012 @ 02:36 pm

Skillz

So, after talking to the lovely tech help people at MTS, I've decided to turn my gaming woe lemons into computer self-building lemonade! Crrrazy!

Here are my specs at the moment. If anyone has any feedback/suggestions/tips, please do share!

CPU: Deciding between the i5 2500K ~~or i3 2100. (The 2100 is $90 cheaper, and I'm not sure I would notice the difference since I don't really play games besides the Sims... Maybe the new SimCity when it comes out?~~ i3 processors are apparently not great for TS3. That makes that simple!
Motherboard: GigabyteGA-Z68AP-D3 or ASRock H61M/U3S3 (The H61 is $20-30 cheaper, depending on rebates, has USB 3.0, ~~and may be fine especially if I go with the 2100 CPU?~~)
PSU: Corsair Enthusiast TX 650W — PURCHASED!
GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 — PURCHASED!
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB-1333 — PURCHASED!
SSD: Samsung 830 Series MZ-7PC128D/AM 2.5" 128GB — PURCHASED! (Holding off on a HDD at the moment while waiting for prices to go down. In the meantime, maybe just reuse the 250GB from my current desktop since I doubt I'd be able to sell it?)
ODD: LG DVD burner
OS: Windows 7 — purchased (Can't get overly excited about Windows since really most of my computing heart belongs to my aging MacBook Pro.)
Monitor: ASUS PA238Q 23" LED IPS panel — PURCHASED! (Picked up an almost new one from a neighbor for $200! Yay! So, so, so much nicer than my little old IBM LCD.)

The other major decision still up in the air is the case. I think I've got it narrowed down to:

The NZXT Source 210 Elite White. $50 and love the look—kind of a mod, '60s plastic-era thing going on, and it looks like a scaled down version of the Corsair Graphite Series 600T that I'd been really taken with. At less than a third of the price. Since it's cheap, I'd probably want to add some dust filters and maybe a few other little things; but this is currently the top contender. (Maybe???)

The Fractal Design Define Mini or

The Fractal Design Arc Mini
Both of these run $106 and would require a micro ATX board. Fractal Design has a Scandinavian pedigree, and the quality of these cases is supposed to be very good. Twice the price of the NZXT, but I wouldn't feel like I had to add anything to them.

THOUGHTS?

On the cases especially, since those don't really require technical knowledge, but on anything else if you have experience. Honestly, 5 days ago, this would all have sounded like a jumble of letters and numbers and dollar signs to me, but I've learned a ton and feel so much more computer literate now!

This is obviously absorbing most of my computer energy these days, so it may be a little while before I have sim updates. But hopefully when it's all done, Ste-Margo will be back in a big, big way!

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Tags: learning curves, tech

7 comments | Leave a comment

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lvstndhrt.livejournal.com on March 29th, 2012 09:00 pm (UTC)

Looks like a nice upgrade! I definitely agree on waiting for HDD prices to come down, I'm in the same boat on that one. I like the top case, it certainly is the nicest looking one of the three. I personally don't like the big door on the front of the middle case. I hope this will help, I can't wait to read more of your updates. :)

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kaygirl1144.livejournal.com on March 29th, 2012 09:37 pm (UTC)

So wait, are you making like a frankenstein computer from scratch? If you are, that's awesome! (i hope you aren't offended with the 'frankestein' thing, i mean since you're choosing everything invovled in it)

And for choosing the case thing, I like the third one. It looks somewhat industrial ^_^

How much did all of this cost to make your own computer? (if you dont mind me asking)
As you can see, I'm not very computer/technical stuff literate lol.

Edited 2012-03-29 09:38 pm (UTC)

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mswn.livejournal.com on March 29th, 2012 09:57 pm (UTC)

Yep! Going to be ordering and putting together all the part by myself! It's exciting. Total build, including $100 for Windows and $200 for the new monitor, comes to ~$1100-$1200 depending on rebates and which specs (case, etc.) I end up choosing. So if you have an OS and monitor already, that's an $800-$900 build. We were comparing it to a similar pre-built model from a site like Maingear, and it ended up being around $350 cheaper to do it myself, and of course now it gets to be customized to have exactly what I want! Which is both fun and a little exhausting—so many decisions!

I was also completely in the dark about computer stuff a week ago, and the thought of building one myself just sounded impossible and scary. But it's really not if you just spend a little time reading online. There are so many articles (and even better, videos) about building your own PC, and they explain everything about what parts you need, how to choose them, and how to actually put everything together. And also there are many forums full of people who will answer ANY little question you have and help you make decisions. (I think a lot of techie people just love to share their opinions, and are very quick to do so!) Granted, I haven't actually done it yet, but after this experience, I think just about anyone could do it if they had a little time (seriously, it's been under a week!) to devote.

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psychosim.livejournal.com on March 30th, 2012 03:20 pm (UTC)

If you played with Lego as a child, you can build a computer. :) The hardest part is chosing the right parts so everything works well together.

As for cases, I think the first one is the best looking one, after that comes #3.

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mswn.livejournal.com on March 30th, 2012 09:42 pm (UTC)

Thanks for the input! I'm currently bouncing back between #1 and #3 myself (doesn't help that there's a Fractal Design Case Club (http://www.overclock.net/t/838683/fractal-design-case-club) forum full of cool mods that I can drool over——or does it?!).

Hope you're right about the build part, too. Not only did I go to Legoland as I child, I went to THE Legoland in Denmark. Less impressive when you consider we lived in Germany at the time, but still!

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psychosim.livejournal.com on March 31st, 2012 12:02 am (UTC)

Hey, the original is the original! I've been there more than once, actually. Well, our family holidays went to Denmark almost every year.

If #1 and #3 are equal, let the price decide? You could spend the saved money for an ergonomic mouse (I've seen one that you hold like a pencil) or a good office chair. :) Good specs are one thing, ache-free hand and back another.

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mswn.livejournal.com on March 31st, 2012 02:08 am (UTC)

My latest obsession is mechanical keyboards, like the IBM Model M (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujd6l_9TUmU)! Want!

Edited 2012-03-31 02:09 am (UTC)

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