Updated May 15, 2013
$1800 Computer Parts List
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Intel Socket 2011 |
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Description |
Where to Buy |
Price |
Notes |
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Intel Core i7-3930K 3.2GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 2011 Six-Core |
$569.99 |
This is Intel's newest Hex or 6 core CPU. We recommend a 6 core CPU with an eye to the future. Most current games don't use more than 2 cores, so with this processor, the other 4 cores will be dormant in your games. In the next year games will begin appearing that can use the extra cores. There are lots of current programs that can use all 6 cores. If you do video editing, video conversion or mp3 conversion, the programs you currently use, would probably love having 6 cores to operate on. There are faster CPUs in this line, but keep in mind this CPU has a lot of overclocking potential. You can overclock this much cheaper model to be just as fast as the other models. |
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| CORSAIR H90 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler | Newegg.com | $99.99 |
This is water cooler for your CPU. It's mounts where you cases rear 120mm fan goes. As long as your case has a spot for a 120mm fan this cooler will work for you. |
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ZALMAN CNPS11X Performa 120mm V-Shaped CPU Cooler |
$49.99 |
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Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound |
$7.99 |
If you are going to use one of the 3rd party CPU coolers above you should include this thermal compound in your purchase. This provides the best possible seal between the CPU and the cooler. This will greatly improve the heat transfer, keeping the CPU as cool as possible. |
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CPU Coolers - The Socket 2011 CPU above does not come with a CPU cooler.
AMD Socket AM3+
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Description |
Where to Buy |
Price |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
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AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz Socket AM3+ Eight-Core |
$199.99 |
If you are an AMD fan and want a 8 Core CPU, this is it. AMD FX-8350 is AMD's top of the line 6 Core CPU. Its clock speed is faster than the Intel's, but the performance lags behind. Intel is still making the most efficient CPU. |
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| CORSAIR H90 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler | Newegg.com | $99.99 | This is water cooler for your CPU. It mounts where you cases rear 120mm fan goes. As long as your case has a spot for a 120mm fan this cooler will work for you. |
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ZALMAN CNPS9500A LED 90mm 2 Ball Ultra Quiet CPU Cooler |
$44.99 |
This has been a favorite CPU cooler for a few years now. The reasons for this are that it cools very well and the fan doesn't make much noise. It's a great combination. It doesn't hurt that it looks really cool. |
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Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound |
$7.99 |
If you are going to use one of the 3rd party CPU coolers above you should include this thermal compound in your purchase. This provides the best possible seal between the CPU and the cooler. This will greatly improve the heat transfer, keeping the CPU as cool as possible. |
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CPU Coolers - These are optional. The AMD CPU above comes with a cooler. The coolers below will improve on the cooling of the CPU.
The Motherboard
Choose your motherboard depending on if you want an Intel or AMD CPU.
Intel Socket 2011
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Description |
Where to Buy |
Price |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
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ASUS Sabertooth X79 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 |
$324.99 |
People are getting the CPU to 5Ghz and above. It supports CrossfireX, or SLI which lets you put in 4 ATI or Nvidia video cards, to nearly quadruple your gaming performance. It of course supports Quad Channel DDR3. On-board networking and sound. You can get a separate sound card to make your games sound even better. |
AMD Socket AM3+
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Description |
Where to Buy |
Price |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
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ASUS SABERTOOTH 990FX R2.0 AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX |
$179.99 |
This motherboard has USB 3.0 ports and SATA III controllers. It supports 3-way Crossfire so you can put in up to 3 ATI video cards to nearly triple your gaming performance. See the case and power supply section on power supply requirements for Crossfire. From the comments at Newegg and the reviews we've read, this is a solid stable motherboard. On-board networking and sound. It also has an on-board video adapter which you will need to disable. DDR3 2133 RAM is supported. |
RAM (Memory)
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Description |
Where to Buy |
Price |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| DDR3 for AMD system | DDR3 for AMD system | ||
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G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 |
Newegg.com |
$37.99 |
This is 2 sticks of RAM, 2GB each for a total of 4GB. For more information see the RAM memory types, speeds, bandwidths component video lesson. |
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G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB 240-Pin SDRAM DDR3 1600 |
$64.99 |
This is 2 sticks of RAM, 4GB each for a total of 8GB. |
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| DDR3 for Intel system | DDR3 for Intel system | ||
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CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 |
Newegg.com | $136.99 | This is 4, 4GB sticks for a total of 16GB of Quad channel memory. |
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G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 32GB (4 x 8GB)240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 |
Newegg.com | $244.99 | This is 4, 8GB sticks for a total of 32GB of Quad channel memory. |
Video card
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Description |
Where to Buy |
Price |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
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XFX Radeon HD 7950 3GB |
Newegg.com |
$329.99 |
It has 3GB of the DDR5. Both motherboards above can take 2 of these in CrossfireX mode to double your 3D gaming performance. |
| EVGA GeForce GTX 660 Ti 3GB SuperClocked | Newegg.com |
$339.99 |
This EVGA is Nvidia's best at $300 to $350. It has 3GB of GDDR5 memory. You can put 2 of these video cards in either of the motherboards above to double your 3D gaming performance. The power supplies we recommend on this page can handle 2 video cards.. See the video card component lesson for what a video card is with definitions of features. |
Hard Drive
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Description |
Where to Buy |
Price |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
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Western Digital WD Black 7200RPM 1TB 3.5" SATA 6.0Gb/s |
Newegg.com |
$94.99 |
We've all had good and bad experiences with hard drives failing and we might individually prefer one maker over another. Regardless, if you have important data, get two of these so you can set up an automatic backup of your most important files. That way if a drive fails you still have your data on the other. See the hard drive component video lesson for features and specification to look for in a hard drive. |
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Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" SATA 6.0Gb/s |
Newegg.com |
$79.99 |
You might consider getting 2 of these. One for your operating system and regular programs and one just for your games and as a backup drive for your important data. |
Solid State Drive (SSD)
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Description |
Where to Buy |
Price |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
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Crucial M4 2.5" 120GB SATA III |
$129.99 |
It is also available in 240GB capacity. |
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OCZ Vertex 4 2.5" 120GB SATA III
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$134.99 |
This is a similiar drive from OCZ. It has some extra optimizations to give more IOPS (Input Output Per Second) faster Write speeds and is better at reading and writing already compressed data like zip files. It is also available in 240GB capacity.
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DVD Burner (Writer)
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Description |
Where to Buy |
Price |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
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Asus 24X DVD Burner |
$19.99 |
DVD burners are extremely cheap these days. There really isn't any reason to pay more for a DVD writer. We recommend this model for all of our customers computers. |
Case and Power Supply
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Description |
Where to Buy |
Price |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
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COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW |
$54.99 |
This is the case we used for the Home PC Builder 2007 videos. It is a favorite on Newegg as well. It was released in 2004 so it's not a new case, but Cooler Master made it right to begin with. This thing is very quiet and runs cool. It has one 120mm fan at the rear and one 80mm fan in the front. No need to buy more cooling fans. Power Supply Not Included. | |
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Antec Nine Hundred |
$109.99 |
This thing looks like a space ship. It has 3 120mm fans that are speed adjustable so you can balance cooling with noise. There is a warning in the comment at Newegg about room for graphics cards. If you're getting one of the larger video cards make sure the power connections are on the side of the card. Also the power supply goes at the bottom of this case which is a little unusual. Some people say their power supply cables aren't long enough. If yours comes up short you can get an extension cable. Power Supply Not Included. |
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Corsair HX750 750W Power Supply modular |
$129.99 |
This PSU rates at the top of the Newegg end user recommendations. It also is a modular design. This means all of the cables can be removed from the PSU. The advantage of this is that you wont have a bunch of unused cables to tuck away inside your case. You only attach the cables you need for your hardware. Its a 750W power supply and is certified for both SLI and Crossfire. It will do 2 way SLI but using 3 video cards would be pushing it. If you want to go 3-way SLI you'll need to get one of the 1000+ watt power supplies from the High-end Gaming computer parts list. It is also an +80% efficient design which will cut your electricity bills and means it will run cooler than a less efficient PSU. |
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Corsair HX 850W ATX 12V v.2.3 Modular |
$139.99 |
This PSU has 850W of power. It also is a modular design. This means all of the cables can be removed from the PSU. The advantage of this is that you wont have a bunch of unused cables to tuck away inside your case. You only attach the cables you need for your hardware. |
Cooling Fans
If you need extra cooling fans for your case these are the ones we recommend
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Description |
Where to Buy |
Price |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
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Antec 761345-75120-9 120mm 3-Speed Case Cooling Fan |
$10.99 |
The cases we recommend above already have fans but there are spots to add more. This Antec 120mm cooler is very quiet, which will help keep down the noise level of your computer. It has 3 speed settings and even the fastest is still very quiet at 30dB. |
Sound and Network - The Network adapter is on the motherboard
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Description |
Where to Buy |
Price |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
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Creative Sound Blaster Z |
$99.99 |
The sound built into the motherboard is very good. Some people can hear a difference when using a separate sound card. The input source and output, either head phones or speakers make a difference as well. I would try using the onboard sound first and if the sound isn't up your standards then get a separate sound card. For a PCI computer sound card comparison see the computer sound card component video lesson. For more on the Network card component see the Modem and Network card component video lesson. |
The motherboard includes a network adapter so you don't need to buy a separate add on card.
Monitor
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Description |
Where to Buy |
Price |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
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ASUS VS239H-P Black 23" 5ms (GTG) HDMI Widescreen LED Monitor |
$171.99 |
This monitor is a little on the pricey side because of its an IPS panel. If you need excellent quality color it is worth the extra cost. This is the same monitor we recommend for the $800, $1200 and $1800 Computers. |
Speakers
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Description |
Where to Buy |
Price |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Logitech Z623 2.1 Speaker System, THX-Certified |
$119.99 |
These speakers get fair to great reviews on the net. Google Z623' and you'll see. These replaced the Logitech Z 2300 speakers. |
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Logitech Z906 500 Watts 5.1 |
$379.99 |
If you have room for surround sound speakers you should consider these. |
Mouse and Keyboard Options
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Description |
Where to Buy |
Price |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Logitech G510 Silver & Black USB Standard Gaming Keyboard |
$99.99 |
This is Logitech's gaming keyboard. It gets wonderful reviews online, 'Logitech G510 review'. |
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| Microsoft SIDEWINDER X4 Keyboard |
$59.99 |
This lets you press up to 26 buttons at the same time. It has two different gaming modes. | |
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Logitech G600 Wired Laser Gaming-Grade Mouse |
$59.99 |
Love Logitech. This model is a replacement for the MX518 which was a long time favorite of gamers. |
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Logitech G9x Black Tilt Wheel USB Wired Laser Gaming Mouse |
$64.99 |
The G9x is a laser mouse and you can change it's weight like the G5. With the G9 you can also change it's shape. |
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