I'm a total novice at building a computer. The most I've done is upgrade memory and video cards. I'm a pretty quick study, though. I'll definitely look into it. I've got a couple friends that have done it so maybe they can give me some pointers.

If you are going to be editing film and/or gaming, then you should probably get the best graphics card you can afford, and a lot of good quality RAM as well. With your budget, you should be able to get a system that fits your needs.

If you have done memory and video cards and are comfortable with that, they you should be able to build with no problem. Just take it slow, and use a very methodical approach, and double check everything before you fire it up. :thumb:

With the film editing, you might want to look at a six core. Those extra cores tear it up on encoding.

With that budget, six cores would be no problem. Either that or get a quad core and a motherboard that will unlock the other two cores, that would save some cash and get you similar results as well.

Hadn't considered this. Link to a reasonable six-core CPU?

My processor:

AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition
It's a good overclocker too, if you are into that sort of thing.


From this post:
http://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showp...29&postcount=4

In this thread:
http://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showt...ix+core+phenom

Not sure what you consider to be reasonable in terms of price, but the most expensive six core newegg has is $189:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103913

and on the lower end of their pricing is this one at about $160:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103851

The first one is a black edition, and those are more open to overclocking and tinkering, etc, so it would be worth the extra 20 bucks if you can swing it.

If you are looking at Intel, the price goes up real quick
This one is about $600;

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116402

Cool. I am considering building a new rig as my desktop in getting long in the tooth, but I need to build on a budget if I do.

But Intel has the advantage of the huge memory bandwidth.

Jeez, why are Intel's six core CPUs so expensive?

I'm better off buying that Phenom six core than an intel 4 core, then?

Probably, unless you have a huge budget. Like Loochy said above, the Intel's have huge memory bandwidth, and that does make a difference. Whether that is worth an extra 400 bucks depends on the user.

Hey Loochy, how would you rate your motherboard so far? The one you have is one I have been looking at. Any complaints at all?

Hmmmm....I'm thinking this and this?

mobo


CPU

No complaints. Everything worked smoothly on the first install. I haven't done any overclocking yet, so I don't know how well it does at that. It's got all of the controls in BIOS that you'd need. The reviews on Newegg say it's a great overclocker. It also has the core unlocker, so you could try one of the quad cores and open up 2 of the cores if you were so inclined.

Also, a lot of the reviews on Newegg mentioned RAM compatibility issues if you don't buy compatible sticks, but I had no problems.

Summary: no problems whatsoever so far, but I haven't really stressed it or anything yet