I just realized my current machine is 3 years old, so I figured I might go ahead and build a new one. My video card died awhile back and I replaced it with some $30 piece of junk, so I've been missing out on the recent PC gaming eye candy. I gather from IRC discussions that some of you have been in the midst of upgrading or crafting new builds, so give me some suggestions. I also know that some of you masturbate over your methodically crafted and sadly-never-to-be-realized Newegg.com system builds. Please share your Newegg.com (or other vendor of choice) porn with me!

Notes: Looking to spend no more than $1500. I don't need a monitor nor a Blu-Ray writer/reader or any of that. I intend to play games at 1920x1200. I don't need an immense amount of storage. You can try to sway me on SSD if you choose.

I noticed that FatBastard started a similar thread back in October 2009 and he ended up buying a telescope. I promise not to purchase a telescope if I decide not to take the PC plunge, however I cannot assure you that I won't decide to buy an iPad instead.

Wow. I wish I had a $1500 budget for a computer. I'd build 2 of them. =P

Yeah, I'd only want to spend that if it's justifiable and not just for marginal improvement. I figure it's probably not sensible to spend that much, but I will leave it to the experts to school me on where the sweet spot is these days. I just haven't been keeping up.

Edit: Maybe I'll buy a PowerShot S90 with the difference.

B-Man proposed:

bmans proposition is basically perfect, i just have a nasty bias towards cooler master and would instead get a lian li case or maybe corsair

please explain your bias and post a link to your case of choice and justify your choice in less than 100 words

I'm in the middle of rebuilding. Here's what I'm getting.

$69: Coolermaster Centurion 590 - Nice looking case with good ventilation, PS mounting on the bottom, and cable management for under $70. Free shipping from Newegg and Amazon.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product

$199: Intel i5-750 - This seems to be the sweet spot of price and performance. If you jump up to the i7 it's a pretty big increase in CPU costs for a marginal performance gain. Not to mention the platform for the i7 is more expensive in general by about $100.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product

$119: ASUS P7P55 LX - I haven't ordered this yet, but it will probably be my choice (or the one bzer posted) because I like Asus and fits my budge nicely. There are a gazillion boards out there, every manufacturer has three different series, and each series has like 3 different models.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813131604

$114: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820231303

$219: Radeon 4890 - I ordered the last 4890 in the free world so don't bother looking for this card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814102848

Total: $720 - Of course, I already have a good gaming LCD and a decent power supply from my last build. I may order an SSD once they start to come down in price. I've always been more of a "value" guy when it comes to building a gaming rig, I like to purchase one generation behind as I find that's where the best price/performance ratio is. So take my advice with a grain of salt if you're looking for a smoking hot machine.

I'm getting:

cpu: i5-750 - picked up from microcenter b&m for $191 with tax. I almost went with a i7-920 for$212 with tax but my current budget won't fit that platform.
mobo: undecided - i'm leaning toward the gigabyte board that thermo told me about..
ram: i think its the same ram that nc is getting

vidcard: will continue to use the 8800gts 512 until the summer... then i'll upgrade to whatever vid card i can get in the $275-$300 range
hd: using the same ones i have now
psu: same one as the one i have now
monitor: same one as the one i have now

i am getting a new cpu water block and maybe replace my rads with updated ones. my gpu waterblock will hopefully fit whatever new card i get.

but all this is moot for now as i am piece mealing this. i just blew nearly $3k on my lasik which happens this friday.. so i'll be out of commission for a few days while the "halos" hang around.

FYI: I upgraded from a 8800gts 640MB to a Radeon 5850. It's a GINORMOUS improvement. I moved all video settings to highest settings and things are still smooth like buttah.

I upgraded all my components except video card at once, and then added the video card this week. Prices are probably different from what I paid since I bought everything except the vidcard in mid-November...

CORSAIR DOMINATOR 4GB (2 x 2GB) CMD4GX3M2A1600C8
Intel Core i5-750
This is the updated version of the motherboard I have:
GIGABYTE GA-P55A-UD4P

I normally would never spend this much on a video card, but the $200-$250 market is screwed up now...also this is a factory-overclocked version which I never would of bought except 5850's were in short supply at the time of my ordering
XFX HD-585A-ZNBC 1GB Black Edition Radeon 5850

Yeah. My initial target is a 5850. I know those are over $300 now but wishfully thinking they'll drop into my budget zone when I'm ready. I was even thinking possibly a 5870 but that's an unlikely upgrade path unless nvidia comes out with something better fir cheaper.

Mobo - Evga X58 SLI LE
http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.a ... s%20Family

CPU - Intel i7-920 ($199.00 at Microcecnter)

Video - BFGTech GTX275 - Microcenter has these for 198.00 +tax. Maybe they fell off the truck or something.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814143183
so far BC2 looks great.

PS: Corsair 850W (I don't remebr the exact part number.)

Memory - Corsair DDR3 1600 (triple channel i think it's called, there were 3x 2GB)

Case: Antecx 300 - $59.99

HDD - WesternDigital 7200 RPM 500GB drive. I'm not really big on large drives. I plan on getting an external 2TB drive someday for videos and stuff, but not really important. I really liked my old 10K RPM drive though and wished i'd have gotten another one.

Windows 7 64bit. So far i am very impressed with this OS. i'm still getting used to some of the changes, but overall the programs i run run fine.

I forgot to post my bias\opinion.

I'm not an overclocker so that didn't matter to me.
I went with the 1366 thinking I'd be able to upgrade in a couple years, thinking there would be more\better options for that chipset\socket.

but mainly, NC is getting the i5 and 5<7

also i happened upon some great local prices.

upgrade as in the $1000+ gulftown 6 core?

I don't really follow hardware much.. Haven't for a few years..

My current PC is atleast 5years old (Bought it off Lonewolf)..

So here is what I came up with. I have around a $1K budget..

PLEASE SEND Any and all comments on where I may have gone astray..

I'll be pulling the trigger on this rig in the next day or two..

OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ700MXSP 700W ATX12V V2.2 / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC ...Model #:OCZ700MXSP Item #:N82E16817341018

Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case Model #:Nine Hundred Item#:N82E16811129021

ASUS P7P55D PRO LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard Model #:P7P55D PRO Item #:N82E16813131405

ASUS CuCore Series EAH5770 CuCore/2DI/1GD5 Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support ...Model #:EAH5770 CuC/2DI/1GD5

Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80605I5750
Model #:BX80605I5750 Item #:N82E16819115215

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ Model #:F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ

Corsair Nova Series CSSD-V64GB2-BRKT 2.5" 64GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
Model #:CSSD-V64GB2-BRKT Item #:N82E16820233108

Logitech S-220 17 Watts 2.1 Multimedia Speaker System - OEM
Model #:980-000023 Item #:N82E16836121014

Subtotal: $1,049.93

tbh thats a pretty solid build