So I'm going to buy a new computer...

[tomoya-kun]

The question is, do I build one or buy one prebuilt?

The budget stands at around $4000

If I build one, what is the difficulty of completing the task?

Can someone give me a good configuration of parts for that price range?

[datora]

.
Jesus.  You can build 2 monster systems for that.  How many monitors & what res. you gonna run?  What else you gonna use it for?  Games, duh.

You could put 2 x $1000 graphics cards in, just to be silly.

What does the budget need to cover?  Just the box, or more?  What sort of storage solution do you envision?

Of course SSDs, possibly in RAID.

Sound reqs?  Other peripherals?

Strongly suggest you build.  It will be challenging, but very worth it for the system you get & your ability to manage & tweak & maintain it in the end.

(P.S. -- could you send me your old system?  Mine was cooked by lightening yesterday.   )

[raandomer]

if its only for the box my advice is to use around ~1.2k now and used around 800 to upgrade it later on. that should last most normal people for ~4yrs.
If your looking to get a full system (monitor, box, etc) I'd up that budget to 1.5k if you want a single display or 2k if you want a dual display happening.

something sensible would be like:
2500k
6950/560ti
650w psu (850w for sli/xfire)
asrock pro4/asus sabertooth/gigabyte ud4
120gb vertex 2 (or any other decent ssd)
1-2tb storage hdd
dvd optical (or bluray)
cm hyper 212

fully decked would be:
2600k
6990 + 6970 xfire
850w (1000w if your going to oc agressively)
asus m4e/gigabyte ud7
240gb revo 2
2tb wd black storage
thermalright silver arrow (or if your savvy enough go get some waterblocks/pump/etc)
level 10 case (for the lolz really)

[kitamesume]

start reading the other threads, theres a ton of "help me build" threads here, one at 1000$ budget too.

(click to show/hide)

he meant a dvd read/burner XD he already picked the samsung F3.

CPU: i5-2500k ✔
Motherboard: Asus - SABERTOOTH P67 ✔
RAM: Corsair CMZ8GX3M2A1600C8 8GB 1600MHz CL8 DDR3 Vengeance Memory Two Module Kit [£84.29] ✔
GPU: Asus 2GB ATi Radeon 6970 ✔
BootDrive: OCZ 120GB SSD Vertex 3✔
Storage Drive: 1TB Spinpoint F3✔
PSU: OCZ Fata1ity 750w semi moduler✔
OS: Windows 7 64 bit OEM
CD/DVD read|write & Blue-Ray?: Samsung?
CASE: Undecided.

for the case i got two options for you.
OPTION1 : [£50.81] Thermaltake Mid Tower M5 case
OPTION2 : [£52.48] Antec Three Hundred Midi Case
For Teh Lulz : [£505.20] Thermaltake Level 10 Full Tower (ATX/MicroATX) Case

tag out the i5-2500K for an i6-2600K
get two sets of the ram kit and the video card.
and others.

to give you some head start:

[Prices are from newegg]
[315$] intel i7-2600K
[400$] MSI Big Bang-Marshal (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 (B3) & Lucid LT22102
[300$](2x150$) G.SKILL Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600  CL7
[774$](2x387$) ASUS EAH6970 Radeon HD 6970 2GB 256-bit GDDR5
[300$](2x150$)[RAID-1 or RAID-0] Western Digital Caviar Black WD2002FAEX 2TB 7200 RPM SATA III (HDD)
[540$](2x270$)[RAID-1 or RAID-0] OCZ Vertex 3 VTX3-25SAT3-120G 2.5" 120GB SATA III (SSD)
[170$] CORSAIR Professional Series AX750 750W
[190$] COOLER MASTER HAF X RC-942-KKN1 Black Steel/ Plastic ATX Full Tower Case
SUM : 2989$ without rebates.

QUAD crossfire? then you`ll need a better PSU 1000Watts wouldn't be enough too as each card already eats 200ish watts. ftw to overclock as well.

note: place the SSD raid on the sataIII that the Z68 hosts.

now invest on monitors and other I/O like mouse and keyboard and maybe stack up some more HDDs?

For Teh Lulz : [1,200$] Dell UltraSharp U2711 Black 27" 6ms 2560 x 1440 [pixel pitch 0.23]

[datora]

.
If you're gonna run dual video cards (esp. performance as expected for this rig), power supply should be no less than 800 W; 1000 might be more in line once the actual cards are decided on.

Also, if you might run 4 or more mechanical drives for mass storage, a little extra juice might be good for comfort.  Imagine 4 x 2TB Western Digital Caviar Blacks, for example.  Might even have the 3TB models out by end of summer ...


[ EDIT: @kitamesume - 750 is a thin margin.  Might work, but we're still missing a good bit of info on build specs.  I stand by my estimate until more exact hardware list is known.  This is l33t rig, I'm expecting our boy to be pushing its limits; probably 3 x monitors @ extreme res & frame rates, if I know tomo ]

[kitamesume]

hmmm considering a HD6970's max power draw is 300watts(200watts peak power draw). 750watts would be enough for two cards IF he doesnt overclock.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/Radeon_HD_6970/27.html

edit: true its abit of a thin margin

@ OP

Pros of building your own:
you get to pick your stuff
more options to pick from
you know what parts you're getting
warranty on each individual part
the fun of building it
boast it around!

Cons of building your own:
abit of a hassle to build it
less discounts
you need to research first
troublesome for the beginners


Pros of buying a prebuilt:
discounts
almost hassle free
boast that you bought a prebuilt?

Cons of buying a prebuilt:
you dont know what parts they used
limited choices
limited upgrade path
limited warranty

[Freedom Kira]

The budget stands at around $4000

(click to show/hide)

[Xtras]

The budget stands at around $4000

I'm just going to make sure and emphasize what everyone else mentioned. There could be something completely different out in a few years that renders anything no matter how expensive now obsolete.

4000 is an absurd amount to spend on one computer, and the more money you dump into a single system at once, the less you get for each additional dollar. Diminishing returns.

[kitamesume]

lol, we were assuming the whole 4000$ rig includes 3monitors, a super keyboard, a super mouse, a studio headphone, a 7.1 sound system and a rig for 2000$.

OR this alone.

[Prices are from newegg]
[315$] intel i7-2600K
[400$] MSI Big Bang-Marshal (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 (B3) & Lucid LT22102
[300$](2x150$) G.SKILL Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600  CL7
[774$](2x387$) ASUS EAH6970 Radeon HD 6970 2GB 256-bit GDDR5
[300$](2x150$)[RAID-1 or RAID-0] Western Digital Caviar Black WD2002FAEX 2TB 7200 RPM SATA III (HDD)
[540$](2x270$)[RAID-1 or RAID-0] OCZ Vertex 3 VTX3-25SAT3-120G 2.5" 120GB SATA III (SSD)
[170$] CORSAIR Professional Series AX750 750W
[190$] COOLER MASTER HAF X RC-942-KKN1 Black Steel/ Plastic ATX Full Tower Case
SUM : 2989$ without rebates.

note: place the SSD raid on the sataIII that the Z68 hosts.

For Teh Lulz : [1,200$] Dell UltraSharp U2711 Black 27" 6ms 2560 x 1440 [pixel pitch 0.23]

2989$+1200$= 4189$

PS: a LGA1366 (i7-980X) rig costs around 4,000$(cpu alone is 1,050$ and mobo around 560$)

Edit: ok this looks sweet!
[1,900$] SAMSUNG MD230X3 Black 23" 1920 x 1080 (each) 8ms (GTG) Full HD Height Adjustable Multi-Display LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 DC 150,000:1 (3,000:1)
but all it has are bad reviews -,- plus its smarter to make your own multi-display setup.

a Lulz to make a 4000$ budget look small:
[3,840$(was: 5000$)] NEC Display Solutions MD213MC Black 21.3" 12ms(GTG) LCD Monitor for Medical Professionals 400 cd/m2 750:1

[vuzedome]

Splurge your dough on the monitors, yes it's more than one.
Heck, I'd build two systems with that budget.

[bloody000]

build a single 30-inch system with 2000 dollars and blow the rest on a high-upload Internet plan.

[raandomer]

build a single 30-inch system with 2000 dollars and blow the rest on a high-upload Internet plan.

I doubt 2k would get you a 30' system, a u3011 alone is around ~1.3k.

a dual u2711 is really nice, was using it for a few weeks and was bloody impressed. The ag coating isnt too big of a problem once its settled/your eyes get accustomed to it. I would recommend at least a 6970 as a bottom line if your going to run those. xfire 6970 runs as smooth as butter.

or something that you can try is a single 27' and 2 17' in potrait. though you'll need to work with it heaps to get it running perfectly

[Tatsujin]

(P.S. -- could you send me your old system?  Mine was cooked by lightening yesterday.   )

Did you have a surge protector? I'm wondering not doubting you.

[Lupin]

Ugh. Another one of those build me a computer threads

The budget stands at around $4000

Buy a prebuilt one with at least 3 years warranty.

[nstgc]

4k...wow. I could do a lot with just 2k.

[xShadow]

My major question is whether or not you're going to have money to upgrade it later, or if this 4k is a one-time thing.

If it's the latter, make a computer that runs you about 1500$. That should futureproof it considerably for reasonably long time. Then, later on, you have plenty of money to spend on any worthwhile upgrades.

In my opinion, splurging even half of all of that at once is just beyond retarded. You get much more than what you need.

[bork]

I think you have been trolled.

[xShadow]

I didn't make a long-ass post where I researched parts, so not much lost there. I type quite fast.

But yes, if I remember what age he was correctly (I believe he mentioned it in one of these topics), him having that much money is highly unlikely. I had that in mind before I made my post.

In the unlikely instance in which he actually has that much money, my question still stands.

[nstgc]

In my opinion, splurging even half of all of that at once is just beyond retarded. You get much more than what you need.

I don't think so. 2000 seems to be the limit. After that the only good you'll get is benchmarks. I just spent $1100 on parts and that is exluding RAM, which never seems to go bad, and a case. I could have easily purchased a better video card (or better two). Given how I'm OCD about data (and hatred of load times) I could have purchased a dedicated RAID card as well. right there we are talking about a $300-$1000 jump.

I think you have been trolled.

What makes you say that? I'm really bad at detecting trolls so I don't know.

[JoonasTo]

Or you could just buy a car...