I have an Antec Sonata Designer 500 with an included 500w earthwatts psu and it's fantastic. It's basically an Antec P150 with a few bonuses. I paid $88 with the psu, and I'd say you really can't go wrong with a simple, well-made case that doesn't have computer-ricer garbage like underglow, windows, a fish tank, or whatever ugly pointless shit they are including in "gamer" pc case designs these days.

FYI: Newegg is currently running a combo special on the Athlon II X3 435 + Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3P mobo. That's an extremely solid CPU + mobo combo for just $135 (minus an extra $10 MIR).

Just looked at it, pretty good all around. I just want to add that theres a range of CPUs comboing with that board. For example a Phenom 2 X4 940 3Ghz for $180.

The problem with a 940 though is that you're limited to AM2+ motherboards... and that's an AM3 board.

Fail combo.

Ouch, I didn't check into the specifications. My bad for assuming DDR2 support because a combo popped up.

Yeah, Newegg's combos are sometimes lulzy like that.

I just built my own computer, and I can say that just the feeling of having a computer which I built is worth it. Then there is the fact that I myself got to pick all the parts, and that I chose pieces so that I can upgrade parts of my computer later. That REALLY saves money. I just wish this thread had been here before I started to purchase things. I might have made some more informed decisions.

And, just so you can pick my choices apart, here are my specs:

Athlon II X4 620 (2.6ghz)
Asus M4N78 motherboard
4 gb Ram of which I am uncertain of the specifications.
XFX Radeon HD4890
Cooler Master 922 H.A.F case
Corsair VX 550W PSU
Samsung Spinpoint F3 500gb
2x Samsung Spinpoint F1 1tb (old disks)
Creative SB Audigy SE
Lite-On DVD+RW burner IHAS124-19

I must say that what I'm most satisfied with, and most dissatisfied with at the same time, is the case. The H.A.F stands for High Air Flow. And boy, has it a high airflow. It is actually cooling me down when I sit next to it, and I'm worried I might get sick sitting in a constant draft... It also makes a lot of noise. But otherwise, it's a great case. Good looking, mostly toolless and very cool. My videocard hasn't had its fans on high once since I installed it, and my processor idles at 22 C.

If you plug in the fans to the motherboard header it may slow them down a bit. Otherwise theres not much you can do. All said, a great computer you put together. Its pretty similar to one I just built, except its got an HD 5870 and a Phenom 945 3.0Ghz instead as I wanted more performance in the CPU.

Very informative thread! Thank you!

I'm thinking about building up my own PC and didn't really know where to begin. Atleast now with this thread I have more of an idea of what components I'll need. The Motherboard and cases had me clueless. This PC would be used for mostly everything (Internet browsing, 3D rendering, level creating and max setting gaming mostly.

I have put together a list of components that I would like for my PC. Stuff like the Hard Drive and Optical Drive were just quick google searches.

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD3L LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard
CPU: Intel Core i5-750 Processor
Case: LIAN LI Lancool PC-K7B Black Aluminum/ SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case (Not to keen on it)
GPU: ATI RADEON HD5850 (Maybe Another one at a later date. SLI)
RAM: Crucial memory 4GB Kit (2x2GB) DDR3 Ballistix PC3-8500 RAM 1066MHz CL = 7 Unbuffered NON-ECC 1.5V 256Meg x 64
Hard drive: Samsung SpinPoint F3 Desktop Class 1 TB Internal hard drive
Optical Drive: LG CH08LS10 Super Multi Blue (Blu Ray drive)
PowerSupply: ?
Operating System: Windows 7 64-BIT.
Wireless Card: EDIMAX EW-7128G IEEE 802.11b/g PCI Wireless Card

I would appreciate it if someone could point out any potential errors with this set up and advice on what could be made better (within a similar price bracket). I'm not sure on which power supply to go for so any recommendations would be greatly appreciated (Lets pretend I have 2x HD5850'S).

I'm not to sure on the PC case either, with all of this under the face plate I'd like a case that screams "I'm Powerful!" prefably black and has enough space to house all of the above. I can do without all the flashing lights . Again I don't know where to look.

Thanks all!

A couple of really important points first.

1. The 1156 pin (p55) boards do not run crossfire/sli particularly well as they don't have two full lane PCI-E 2 connectors for graphics cards. So if you want to run two GPUs either you'll have to get an HD 5970 (2* 5850 already) or upgrade to a 1366 pin based X series motherboard and CPU or sidegrade to an AMD system.

An AMD system would be something like an AM3 motherboard with a Phenom 2 965 Black edition. Maybe you ought to check the relative price of a motherboard and cpu locally? I don't know of which site you're using to get your prices from in the U.K so I can't help here.

2. Running two graphics cards in tandem is extremely hot so you'll have to make sure you have a large case and plenty of cooling. However this can be noisy and the system can easily be twice as loud with two cards as with one. You'd need to make sure the system was at least a mid tower, probably a full tower as you'd have to route a lot of cabling around.

As for your component list, it looks pretty good. If you're not happy with Lian Li you could consider an Antec P183 as an alternative, its quite quiet. I have one myself and its great. It looks very professional and striking. I've fitted an HD 5870 into it to check and whilst I had to remove a HDD add-on bay, im not going to use more than 4 HDDs. http://www.silentpcreview.com/antec-p183

I would also change the wireless to N specification. Its got twice the bandwidth and its on a less contested frequency so that ought to give you much better performance.

Your PSU choice depends on what graphics card you end up with, so I suggest that you make it the last component you decide upon.

Your GPU needs depend on what kind of monitor set up you'll be using. How many and what size. 30"/24"/22" etc.