Component Selection for Your Computer

8/3/2019 Component Selection for Your Computer

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Component selection for your computer.

A lens of Electronics (be it PC or computer news), guides to building or buying your owncomputer (things to look for) My budget builds include $300, $400, $600, $900, $1000 (USpricing) builds. This'll give you a good idea of what you could do by yourself. Also how to builda computer

Table of Contents

1. Spotlight Product2. Introduction to the builds3. Step by Step to building a computer4. Basic Terms to Know.5. The Companies6. $300 Build7. $300 build stuff8. Budget Build - $4009. $600 budget10.$900 Computer Build11.Budget build for $1000

Spotlight Product

Intel i5 2500K


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Intel Core i5-2500K Processor

Amazon Price: $222.98 (as of 02/03/2012)

This product is in the spotlight because if you are in a more flexible budget or just need morecomputing power it offers great overclock-ability but also offers a quad core for a rather lowprice for how well it performs. To give you an idea, the i5 2500K performs better than an i7 950for 60$ less and a lower power consumption. As mentioned in beginning the 2500K offers greatdormant power, when overclocked to 4.6ghz (which I hear is easy and can be done with a stockcooler) it surpasses its older brother the i7 2600K and even beats the i7 980X in non multi-threadapps. Granted this processor doesn't have hyper-threading nor does it have 8 threads, It performsexceptionally well otherwise.

*ALERT* You can get this for 180$ @ Microcenters, Locally though, if there is one close toyou, check them out.

I give it a full 10 out of 10.

Pros:Easy Overclocking32nmCool and low power consumptionUnlocked overclocking vs other Sandy BridgesFor the price it performs better than competitors, IE AMD 1100T or i7 950

Con:Only 4 threads, but what more could you ask for out of a 220$ processor

Introduction to the buildsRead On!

Well say you want to build a computer to fit you budget 300 dollars, 450 dollars, 600 dollars,1000 dollars, 1500 dollars? Well here's a guide you could follow to do that. I personally like tobuild it myself, it isn't hard. Travel around Youtube and you could easily find videos showingyou how to do so. It isn't putting the parts together that's hard though. It is picking your parts.


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Knowing what you need.

1st. Why should you build your own computer/HTPC? Well for one thing it'll save you a buck ortwo. A huge buck or two. It saved me about 200$ once I looked at other pre-built manufacturers.(HP, Dell, iBuyPower, CyberPower). In most cases they don't even offer as many options as you

would have if you bought it yourself. Another thing you should know though, that I should havementioned before, for that label of Dell or HP your paying about 100$ bucks for that. The casethey usually give is really terrible and has no airflow. They also give you really crappy parts (HPand Dell) that leave no room for upgrading. So in reality HP and Dell are jipping you of about50%. For instance I saw one time iBuyPower charging 86$ for just 8gb ram from 4gb of ram tostart with. 8 gigs of ram only costs you 80$ to begin with, what were they charging you for the 4gigs? Plus they don't use brand names, so it's probably even cheaper. Anyway just a few reasonswhy you should build your own computer.

2nd. PartsMy choice for a parts in a PC is easy, here I would take advantage of what www.Newegg.com

has to offer. They have a lot of good deals and combos you should check out. They feature greatdeals because of the whole sale. But some things aren't as cheap as Amazon. One being theHyper 212+ cpu cooler in the great deals from amazon below.

3rd Cont: i5 2500K & i7 2600K (Or i5/i7 general)With these chips out the latest and greatest from Intel, they really have made every build sosimilar. And since most mid to enthusiast budget builds will include this, word of advice. If youhave a Microcenter near you locally go to it. The i5 2500K and i7 2600K can be had for I'mpretty sure for $30-$50 less than Newegg or Amazon.

4th. ResearchResearch is important, do some research on your parts before you buy them. Remember thesebuilds may not always fit what YOU want to do. Most of these builds are for people who plan ongaming. However in the future I will include a build for those of you who just want a computerto do the things for daily use.

5th. SalvageSalvage what you can from your old build, have a pretty usable card from the old build, use it fornow if it's working fine for you and get some better parts like the CPU. If you can salvage theCD/DVD drive do that to, save yourself 15 to 20 dollars.

Step by Step to building a computer

OK, I'll be honest this is a bit of an aged video. About two generations back. However as aged asit is, it is better than a lot of guides that I've seen. Newegg did a solid job of quickly andconcisely teaching a novice how to build their computer. By the way this is a two part, so watchthe first one I've linked below and once your finished with that, they'll have a link to the next onein those red/green colored boxes that appear. Be aware, AMD chips install differently to Intelchips, if I still remember how my motherboard looks, there is no retention bracket for AMD


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motherboards, and the CPU cooler is a bit easier to install in my opinion. That is also linked inthe video below.Build Your Own PC Tutorial + Bonus Review of Cooler Master HAF 922 Case_PART I

by newegg | video info

908 ratings | 240,684 viewscurated content from YouTube

Basic Terms to Know.

Terms.This is one thing that probably is daunting about my guide. There are a lot of terms you probablyaren't familiar of and so that may be quite annoying that your new to this and I'm not telling youwhat it is. Well here is a basic summary of terms you probably will need to know.

Crossfire/SLI - These are terms used for dual card configuration. When I say "Dual Card" I mean

that it is two of the same card. Most of the time, when you Crossfire or SLI they will begenerally the same card and model. Crossfire refers to the AMD dual card configuration. SLIrefers to the Nvidia dual card configuration.

GPU - This is a graphics processing unit, or GPU, it basically renders the video for you to see onthe screen. Think of it as your eyes in a sense.

CPU - This is the central processing unit, or CPU, it basically carries out the instructions ofprograms. Example being Windows 7 or Vista. Think of this as your brain.

Expansion Slots (on the Motherboard) - So as time goes on we will keep upgrading these slots on

the motherboard, the thing your installing the parts on. From just a few years ago we've come along way, from AGP to PCI to PCI Express. There was no particular order to those three, morecould be named but those are the main ones to know. PCI Express is the current generation andhas the largest bandwidth. PCI Express 16x 2.0 (2.1) is the current generation of video cards.Most cards releasing currently will use that slot.

One important thing about PCI and PCI Express its that they're backwards compatible. Evenfrom PCI Express 16, if you have a card using PCI Express 16x 2.0. The card will work in theslot mentioned prior. Another thing to note, when running things like two cards, be sure to notethat although a motherboard may come with two slots. It doesn't mean they run at the samespeed. Motherboard manufacturers get a lot of people here. There are 4 speeds to PCI Express

16x 2.0. There is, obviously, 16x, 8x, 4x, 1x. Most of the time when you use dual cardconfigurations the motherboard will support the full bandwidth of 16x/16x, 8x/8x, or 16x/4x.Nothing else (usually).

Something to note about this is don't think that just because from 16 to 8 there is a hugedifference that performance-wise you'd be losing a lot from 16x/16x to 8x/8x. That's not the case,you will in reality only lose about 3%. I believe 16x/4x is about 5-10% it's a variation.


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Memory/RAM - OK, now this is something many people I know get confused about. A lot ofpeople I know who know nothing about computers think that when I say memory (whenreferring to a computer) I mean the hard drive space. Although you can think like that, most ofthe time, Memory (also known as RAM) is the dedicated system RAM/Memory. It's really hardto explain this simply, but just note your basic tasks use ram, especially programs like

Photoshop, After Effects, Adobe varients, and many more. (Especially meaning they use a lot)

Tips about memory - You don't need a lot. The average user would be fine with 4 gigabytes ofram now-a-days. A more intensive user probably would be better off with 8 gigs, anymore thanthat is just absurd in my opinion. I will justify, I understand that Photoshop uses a lot of memory,but from a real life standpoint. I use 4gb of memory and run Photoshop just fine, Photoshop ismainly CPU oriented. As for programming, like programming in Java, 8 gigs would be plentyeven for larger projects. If you don't think that is enough, the most you would need is 12 gigs.

More tips - When buying RAM, it was like it used to be a year ago. Memory/RAM is so "cheap"now that 4gb that used to cost 100$. Only costs 40$ and 8gb that used to cost $150+ only costs

80$ now. Let me be clear, you do not need to spend anymore than $100 on memory, most of thebudget should be put towards that actually make a huge difference. That being the GPU andCPU.

Power supply - This is basically the component that supplies the power to your system. Cleverlynamed. Think of it as the food you eat, the carbohydrates.

Hard drive - This is where your computer stores all the files and data.. Think of it as the capacityof your brain.

The Companies

As it says, the key players in the component industry

Well here is the explanation of the key component players. Meaning the big names, like Intel,AMD, AMD Radeon (Formally known as ATI Radeon, Nvidia.

CPU brand namesWell there aren't just these two companies in the world that produce CPUs for the computers weuse. There are many more out there, however these two are main ones. Intel and AMD. Now I'min no way a fan boy. I justify each company by the needs of the user or the pricing. Well here wego.

AMD (Advanced Micro Devices)This is a company that was formed/incorporated in 1969. They are the 2nd largest semiconductordesigner in the world. During 2006 they acquired ATI which during the course of last year AMDhas retired the name ATI. But their graphics cards still hold the name Radeon. AMD is a greatcompany for budget builders below $800-$900. However with the recent release of Sandy Bridgeit is hard to justify any AMD build above 1000$ because the performance is just not there asapposed to the Sandy Bridge chips.


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IntelWell you guessed it, Intel is the largest semiconductor designer in the world. Intel was founded ayear before AMD in 1968. They actually at one point at slacked behind AMD in performance,however during around the time of 2002 they started to catch up and finally beat AMD in overall

performance in a CPU. To this day they still do with many of their higher end CPUs. That istheir CPUs above i5 2500 (220$) can beat out any AMD equivalent or just the AMD line up ingeneral. I would recommend this company for any budget above $1000. Later this year, Intelplans to release the LGA 2011 platform which will be backwards compatible with Z68.

Main GPU companies

AMD Radeon (Formally ATI) - For the sake of distinguishing AMD's graphical department fromthe CPU department, I will just include Radeon into the mix. I'll start with the history, ATI wasincorporated in 1985. They made huge advancements and in 2006 they were bought by AMD. In2010 the name ATI was officially retired. There were times of cards that sucked from ATI but

there were many times that ATI cards were fantastic. AMD Radeon and Nvidia really have noseparation anymore because if AMD hasn't filled that price point, Nvidia has it covered, ifNvidia doesn't AMD does. AMD has great budget cards however, below 120$ AMD cards havethe advantage. The 54xx series is used a lot in HTPC builds and the 6790 offers greatperformance at the $130 price point. Above that, its toe to toe from AMD to Nvidia.

Nvidia - Nvidia was founded in 1993, it's not a really old company. It originated in Santa Clara,CA. Nvidia has many positives, they have the benefit of CUDA (It can be thought of as anotherprocessing unit other than your CPU). I would recommend Nvidia in spots where AMD doesn'tfill. But downfalls of Nvidia mainly were during the Fermi release. The 480 and 470 were kindof a fail because of their huge power consumption and massive amount of heat production. Thelater releases (GTS 450, GTX 460, Current 5xx generation) have all tried to patch over thatmistake. The 570 and 580 revise the 480 with the same power consumption but betterperformance/watt. As mentioned above, Nvidia has great cards for spots AMD doesn't cover viceversa. Nvidia's Quadro cards are much better for people using things like Blender, Maya andother rendering software.

Matrox - This company doesn't make GPUs that are for the average joe. They make them forworkstations, so Matrox GPUs compete with the AMD FirePro series and Nvidia Quadro. Igenerally disregard Matrox as a company because as of late, they really haven't done muchexcept do lawsuit after lawsuit to try and grab money. I'm sorry I dislike this company, but it isthe truth.

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The video editing debacle - Here would be the time for professional users to read up. Nvidia isgreat for video editors with the usage of CUDA. The new Fermi's (Series GTS 450 and GTX 4xxor series GTX 5xx and above) has great CUDA performance and in most cases it speeds uptrans-coding rate. However here is where it gets interesting. Although this is the case, videoquality tests have also been done. CUDA does speed up transcoding, but it also lowers the


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quality of the video. You're better off with a high end CPU rather than depending on CUDA todo the job for you. That's just me.

Continued - Now where do you say AMD comes into the mix? In things like Hi-Def playbackand just things involving visual quality. AMD prevails here. AMD in many of its cards beat out

the Nvidia cards in a newly released Blu-Ray HQ benchmark. In things like Anti-Aliasing andjust crispness of the picture AMD wins in most cases. Nvidia's higher cards like the 460 don'teven compare to the much cheaper 5670 in some cases. However there is still a downside toAMD as well. Although Nvidia's visual quality is lower, AMD hasn't exactly perfectedtranscoding either.

The visual quality of AMD is really nice, but during transcoding it is kind of a draw GPU-wise.Both Nvidia and AMD do make mistakes it and it all depends on the program you use totranscode. The safer bet however for transcoding is just CPU transcoding, most of the time thiscomes out with the best quality.

One thing to note - Lets say you are using Premiere, you should probably look at an Nvidia card.The CUDA will greatly benefit you because Adobe specifically wanted to utilize CUDA and sothe Mercury playback engine helps utilize it. Here is the only case where CUDA would be yourbest bet in my opinion. Be aware, though, that After Effects and Photoshop and others likeIllustrator do not utilize CUDA.

$300 Build

HTPC/Office Computer

Well, I've noticed that I can't exactly use my 450$ buildas a build for just office usage or just as a HTPC. One being that case makes your HTPC looklike a computer more than a media center, and frankly. I just wanted to update the site. Lets getto it shall we.

1. CPUWell here, the cheapest CPU wouldn't matter since this computer really only needs to do officework or just do some media center management. So even a dual-core would suffice here. TheAMD Llano A6-3500 would be my choice here running at about $90. It really is a great bang forthe buck because for such a cheap price, the reason being it packs a punch giving you theperformance of a Athlon II X3 and a little bit more but also gives you a low TDP by integratinggraphics on the die but also having the new 32nm fab which gives the chip only a 65w TDP.


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2. MotherboardAsrock A75M-HVS, well suffice to say that this board will basically do it all. At about 70$, ithas all the things a motherboard needs to function. Plus it has USB 3.0 and SATA 3 which futureproofs the board, and it's one of the cheapest FM1 boards out there. The board also has HDMIwhich for all those HTPC users would allow for the audio and video to be transferred through

that.

3. MemoryWell here it was basically a no brainer with RAM/Memory so dirt cheap now-a-days. DDR34GB ram could be picked up pretty easily at a low $20 range. And so I chose the Geil Value Plus4GB DDR3 1600 , it's cheap ram that does the job for only $25. What more could you ask for.You could easily go for 2gb, but with 4GB being the main target/requirement for most futureapps, I think you might as well get the 4 gigs now.

4. Power supplyHere any cheapo power supply would do it. But since it is a HTPC build or an office computer,

the 80+ might be necessary to save you some money on your power bill. Granted it won't savemuch. So I chose the Seasonic SS-300ET 300w 80+ bronze PSU at $40. It's a OEM powersupply, but a darn good one at that. It'll do the job for most office workers or media centers, butdon't plan on upgrading to any high powered video cards on this power supply. Oh anotherreason for this power supply is compared to most, it's pretty quiet.

5. Hard DriveThe WD Blue 250GB is $44 at NCIX.US

6. CaseOffice Case: For Office, you want just a normal looking desktop. Well the Antec VSK-2000 ispretty solid asthetically. Plus as such a world wide company, it should have similar pricingeverywhere. Which is about 45$. It doesn't have flair, but hey, that's most offices for you.HTPC Case: For HTPC, don't want a desktop looking case, so I decided that it the case shouldlook rather nice asthetically. I found that the Silverstone Grandia GD05B looks rather nice. Iwouldn't mind it being near my TV. It'd just look like another DVD player in the set. Well thiscase offers the basic fans, it looks nice asthetically, plus it's a solid brand. Though, it costs themost, running at about $85.

Office build total: $314HTPC build total: $354

$300 build stuff

Stuff from the 350$ build.


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AMD A6-3500 APU with AMD Radeon 6530 HD Graphics 2.1/2.4GHz Socket FM1 65W

Triple-Core Processor - Retail AD3500OJGXBOX


Seagate Barracuda 7200 500 GBSATA 6.0 Gb-s 16 MB Cache 3.5-Inch Internal Bare

Drive ST500DM002


Corsair Memory 4 GB Memory for Intel and AMD 4 Single (Not a kit) 1600MHz (PC3

12800) 240-Pin DDR3SDRAM CMX4GX3M1A1600C9


SilverStone Aluminum/Steel Micro ATX HTPC Computer Case GD05B (Black)


Lite-On LightScribe 24X SATA DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Drive IHAS424-98 - Retail (Black)


Budget Build - $400


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1. CPUHere AMD regains the title, on a low budget Llano offers solid performance. Llano is AMD'snew Fusion lineup offering the GPU on the die of the CPU. The A8-3870K comes in @ $145 butalso comes with a 6550D which is plenty capable of handling your basic games, it'll play just asgood as a 5670 in most cases. Also it has a low TDP, of only 100w for the CPU+GPU so that'sanother sweet plus. The CPU is comparable to the Phenoms but closer to the in between of a 925and a Athlon X4 640. However since it is a quad-core it'll multi-task better than the 2100 andperform pretty close.

2. MotherboardSo with Llano entering the game, obviously that brings in a new socket too. FM1 is the newsocket to sport Llano. I recommend the Asrock A75M-HVS, which should run about $70, it hasUSB 3.0 and SATA 3 which will future proof, but also it gives you one PCI 16x 2.0 slot to allowyou to use a dedicated card in the future if you need, or just Hybrid Crossfire with the A8-3850

3. RAM or MemoryFor this budget the Geil Value Plus 4GB (2x2gb) DDR3 1600 ram. It's only $25 off Newegg, andwill probably be cheap in most places too. The thing about this ram is that it also has some heatspreaders to cool down the ram. Also it's one of the cheapest DDR3 1600 ram out, however from1333 to 1600 it isn't a huge difference, however when running Llano, it does matter.

4. Graphics CardNot needed, the graphics is on the die of the A8-3870K, and the performance is really good. Waybetter than the i3 2100's Intel HD2000, it'll run games very well and currently drivers are beingrevised to offer Crossfire to the 6550D+Dedicated card (Lower end) the performance is actuallyalready not bad such as games like Metro 2033, but that's only one game. The rest suffer

performance loss and in most cases is ready to be used. However the 6550D by itself is aGPU/APU to reckon with.

5. Power SupplyFor this I didn't exactly have a huge budget at this point, I'd go with the Corsair CX430 V2power supply. It is a decent PSU with good efficiency and for the low price of $45 (Newegg) it'sa pretty decent deal versus competitors of the same wattage. Although it does seem like a badPSU, reviews have shown me that it is quite close to the 80+ efficiency mark so with that being


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the case, it's a solid choice especially since it can supply a pretty good amount of power.

6. Hard DriveWestern Digital 250GB off NCIX US is only $44 at the moment.

7. CaseOnce the PSU was selected, the budget was basically nothing so I suggest getting the NZXTM59. Actually even at only $50, This case is pretty good for the price. It comes with 2 fanswhich most cases at $50 don't have and can be bought almost everywhere, If you do live in theAmericas though or can be delivered by Newegg. I suggest getting the Rosewill Destroyer(which comes with 3 fans 120mm and has pretty decent air flow) and for the same price it reallycan't be beat. Another option is the Challenger which offers the same great performance. Youcould also get the NZXT Gamma which is $35 and that'll save some cash.

Total: Fluctuating between $358, you still have to buy a DVD drive though so it'll run you about$378

$400 build stuff

Things that are cheaper than or equal to Newegg pricing

AMD A8-3870K APU with AMD Radeon 6550 HD Graphics 3.0GHz Unlocked Socket FM1

100W Quad-Core Processor - Retail - AD3870WNGXBOX


ASRock MB-A75MHVSSocket FM1/ AMD A75 FCH/ DDR3/ SATA3&USB3.0/ A&GbE/

MATX Motherboard


Corsair Memory 4 GB Memory for Intel and AMD 4 Single (Not a kit) 1600MHz (PC3

12800) 240-Pin DDR3SDRAM CMX4GX3M1A1600C9


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Corsair Builder Series CX V2 430-Watt 80 Plus Certified Power Supply Compatible with

Intel and AMD Platforms - CMPSU-430CXV2


GAMMA Classic Series ATX Mid Tower Interior Steel Chassis (Black)


$600 budget

My personal choice for parts

1. CPU - Well, sad to say AMD has lost the lead in value here. The i5 2400 is a solid chip at$190, a little on the expensive end but it beats out the majority of AMD's CPUs. TBH past the$600 budget, Intel is probably king.

2. Motherboard - I recommend the Asrock H61M/U3S3 @ $75. It's fairly decent performingboard and has USB 3 as well as SATA III. It'll future proof you for a long time.

3. Ram or Memory - PNY Optima DDR3 1333 8gb (2x4gb) $32 Well 8GB is so cheap now, youmight as well get it. It'll prepare you for the future, if you ever need that much RAM. But thecommon misconception with ram speeds (1333/1600/1866/xxxx) is that it makes a hugedifference, from 1333 to 1600 it actually isn't even noticeable at all in performance.

4. GPU or Graphics Card - I'd recommend the 6870, sitting at just about $160 it's a great bang forthe buck. Solid performance in games at 1680x1050 and pretty decent at 1920x1080. Nvidia

really doesn't have good options around the $150 mark for cards. The GTX 560 no Ti, sits atabout $180, that's a bit steep for a small performance gain.

5. PSU - Power SupplyThe PSU I recommend is the Antec NEO ECO 520w 80+ Certified from Antec. Great PSU for abudget builder cheap and one of the better PSU's at the price of $60

6. Hard Drive


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With HDD prices inflated, check out NCIX, they have the Western Digital Blue 500GB for only$44. I'd strongly recommend it.

7. CaseI recommend the Antec 300 or Antec 300 Illusion mainly because of the sturdiness of the case

and how nice it is. The Illusion is a bit more expensive but comes with more fans and blue litLED fans. So if your into the blue lighting that is the case for you. 70$ for the Illusion and 60$for the normal 300. You could also go for the Rosewill Destroyer which I hear to be a prettygood case, has a blue LED fan in the front and offers fairly decent stock air flow. The Destroyeris cheaper at 50$. So take your pick.

Total: $611

Stuff for the build above from Amazon

Things from Amazon that were a good price for the $550

Intel Core i5-2400 3.10 GHz 6 MB Cache Socket LGA1155 Processor


ASRock H61M/U3S3 Intel H61 Micro ATX DDR3 1333Motherboard


PNY Optima 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) PC3-10666 1333MHz DDR3 Desktop DIMMs Memory Kit

MD8192KD3-1333



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SAPPHIRE AMD Radeon HD 6870 1GB GDDR5 PCIE Graphics Card


EVGA GeForce GTX 560 1024 MB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 2DVI/Mini-HDMI SLI Ready

Graphics Card, 01G-P3-1460-KR


$900 Computer Build

Well with the $600 build over, here is my parts guide to amore expensive, and better performing $1000 build. In my opinion this should probably be themax an average user needs to use and for that matter a $1000 computer could probably handlemost games at a decent resolution, say 1680x1050 or maybe a 1920x1080 resolution. But lets getdown to the parts.

1. CPUHere with this expanded budget we can now implement more stronger CPUs into our budget. As

in my Amazon recommendations above, the i5 2500K is perfect for this budget. The 2500K is abit more than the standard 2500 for only $220. But the extra $15 is well worth the price. Theextra money will allow for any person to, if they want to in the future, overclock to a VERY highclock rate. With that in mind, if you want to overclock ever, get the Hyper 212+ I have in thedeals above, cheaper than Newegg and w/ free shipping. Not only that this processor performs tothe level of the older i7's beating them in most cases. In fact for a $60 less than an i7 950.

2. Motherboard


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For the motherboard, as of now I would recommend the Asrock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3. At theprice of $125, at the time of this post, it's a solid board that offers a lot of the features that boardsat its price do not offer. For instance the ability to run SLI and the ability to run 3 cards at8x/8x/4x. Another great thing about the board is that it uses Z68 so for all you editors out there,it'll allow you to switch between discrete and integrated graphics allowing for the usage of Quick

Sync. Plus you can still overclock, oh and you get PCI 3 for future proofing.

3. Memory - RAMI'd suggest the Wintec One 8GB DDR3 1600 $41, they are one of the cheaper heatsink'd ram kitson Newegg that are fairly cheap for the price but offer solid timings nad voltage. The largememory is good for future proofing. Photoshop and other programs don't really notice CL ormemory speed as much as the amount you have. The CL or memory speed make only around a1-2% difference which isn't noticeable. So 1333 8GB is actually great enough to supply yourmuti-program running, video/photo creation, or programming needs.

4. Graphics Card

Here I'd suggest the 6950 2GB ($250) or the 6950 1GB ($240) or 560 Ti ($210) both are greatcards. The 560 Ti is defiantly a beast with the factory overclock (See MSI Twin Frozr II) it'llplay just the same if not VERY close to the 570 GTX. It defiantly handles much better than the6950 2GB being quieter and cooler. However, The same can be said for the 6950 2GB, itperforms better at higher resolutions such as 1920x1080 (or higher) but loses in resolutions suchas 1680x1050 (or below). The 6950 2GB can be unlocked to the 6970 which gives it areasonable argument as well. But only the reference design coolers can do it. ANY CUSTOMCOOLER CANNOT UNLOCK! But all of the 6950 2GB's with voltage tweak should overclockquite well. All are a valid choice. The 560 Ti can be found quite cheap now as they have rebatesso it may even be cheaper than $210. So can the 6950's.

5. Hard DriveSame as in the $600, I recommend the WD Blue 250GB from NCIX US/CA Only $44.

6. Solid State Drive - SSDFor this budget, I'd go with the Corsair Nova 2 60GB $90, some may say the SF controllers havegone bad. But a recent firmware update has proved otherwise. I personally have the older versionSF controller in my Vertex and it's fine.

7. Power SupplyI recommend the OCZ ZS 750w at only $100 it's a solid PSU for the money and you have achance for a pretty hefty rebate depending on when you've purchased it.

8. CaseFinally for the case I recommend the HAF 912 ($60) from Cooler Master. The great thing aboutthis case is it is very spacious. The cable management holes also make it easy to hide clutter andincrease the flow of air. Also a lot of room for expandability and their is a lot of tool-less design.

Total: About $890

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Component Selection for Your Computer