Rogue's looking for his next computer

[Rogue 9]

I'm in the market for a new desktop computer with a budget of $1200 or thereabouts. I'm looking for a gaming machine primarily. I don't need the absolute cutting edge, but my current PC's inability to handle the latest graphics upgrade for Freespace 2 Open (as well as its increasing unreliability) tells me it's time for an upgrade.

Just to illustrate how much I've been paying attention to hardware advancements, my first reaction upon starting to look a couple of days ago was "Holy shit, they have six-core processors now?" So I really have very little idea what's good anymore, hence asking for advice.

I need a computer capable of running at least semi-modern gaming graphics, as well as the capacity to handle video editing in After Effects (something my current PC can do, but tends to take a long time grinding its way through). I don't play first person shooters, which is where the really graphics-intensive games tend to be; the highest detail thing I'm even considering getting is Dawn of War 2. So really my requirements aren't (I think) very stringent and I'm looking for a deal; being under-budget would be great. However, the other consideration is that this will be the third time I've bought a computer, and the last time was four and a half years ago, so I also need one that will last me awhile, since I tend to hold onto my hardware until it genuinely can't hack it anymore or it starts falling down around my ears, so I don't want to buy something barely adequate only to find out it can't handle software advancements in the foreseeable future and/or that it's a piece of crap that'll wear out two days after the warranty expires. Suggestions?

[Mr Bean]

1. Can you build your own?
2. Do you have a monitor/do you have a monitor your happy with?

Further notes, We just started hitting the point where 4 core processors are being used in games and that just barley don't worry about six cores for at least another two years. At least four gigs of ram six or eight gigs are better. At least one gig of ram on the video card, due to relaxed standards the last two years of games are all roughly equally demanding there is no Crysis level game out there except Crysis except. If you experience slow-down's it's because of a semi-bad engine (I'm looking at you GTA4)

[phongn]

Quad-core and 8GB+ of RAM should do you well for AE. You probably want at least a 7200RPM HD and a good amount of storage (2TB?).

GPU-wise, something like the Radeon 5750 or 5770 is reasonably priced and sufficient for your games.

[weemadando]

Get a small SSD for your windows drive. For $1200 American it's easily within your budget.

[Hawkwings]

Have a look at this:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/bui ... ,2735.html

Custom build for just under $1000, monitor not included. Likely to be a bit lower now that it's 3 months after the article was written. You could get some more RAM and a bigger (second?) hard drive with that.

[Hawkwings]

Here's another option: http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2 ... 896,00.asp

Without all the peripherals, it comes out to $1277, just a bit over your budget. But it's quite a beast of a machine. And you don't really need Blu-ray so you can drop that too.

[Zaune]

If you're able and willing to build your own, could you provide more information on your current machine's specs and condition? The hard drive at least should be reusable, possibly a few other bits as well.

[weemadando]

Get the best MoBo you can afford.

Future proofing through that piece of tech is wonderful.

My next upgrade will require a new MoBo to go the i7 (or whatever's next eventually) chipsets.

[Mr Bean]

Get the best MoBo you can afford.

Future proofing through that piece of tech is wonderful.

My next upgrade will require a new MoBo to go the i7 (or whatever's next eventually) chipsets.

Just in time for the next CPU switch
FYI motherboards don't come down in price until the next chipset is released. The good i7 boards are still 200$, the great ones are still 300$ and that will hold true until we have Sandy bridge.

[The Kernel]

I highly recommend you wait until January 5th when Sandy Bridge is released. Not only will you get a nice future proof motherboard, but Sandy Bridge looks to be a cool running yet extremely fast (and price friendly) chip.

If you do wait for Sandy Bridge, here would be my recommendation:

Core i7 2600: $280 (rumored, but probably true)
P67 Motherboard: ~$150
8GB DDR3: $125
120 GB SSD (Boot Drive): $200
2TB WD Green Drive (Data Drive): $99
Radeon 6870: $220
Case/PS: $120

Total: $1194

If you need a faster graphics card, you can also trade off on the boot drive or CPU side, but this would be my personal machine choice for $1200.

[phongn]

If you need a faster graphics card, you can also trade off on the boot drive or CPU side, but this would be my personal machine choice for $1200.

Only change I'd make is the data drive; AE likes IOPS.

[Rogue 9]

Thanks, guys. Posting from the new comp now. I didn't follow all the advice in here to the letter, but a lot of it helped in my selection.

Now I'm running into a different problem entirely involving Windows Easy Transfer and getting my files, but I think that's best addressed in a new thread.