Help me build my first Machine

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1

I just had my old faithful laptop die of hard disk failure, and this machine is literally held together by modelling compound. I'd like to make something nice for myself instead of buying a bloatware HP.

I don't even really know what I want components or performance wise. I just want something a bit future-proofed while still keeping an eye on the bottom dollar. I'd like to get away with a total under $1000, but I don't want crap either. I'd also love to see that figure go down significantly, if possible.

Some things I want my machine to do:

I want to dual boot Arch Linux and some flavour of Windows. I ran into some problems with the BIOS on my old laptop not getting along with the bootloaders recommended by Arch, and would like to bypass the issue at the hardware level this time. I could add Windows on later if it's prohibitively expensive for it's return on investment.

I want to be able to hook my computer up to my TV with a good, purpose built cable.

I'd enjoy being able to play games on it as a relatively casual gamer. I like Elderscrolls, Half-Life, Dishonored, etc. I'm not that into online gaming, but don't really know what's out there either.

I'd also like at least four drive bays, one for a solid state drive, one for a traditional hard drive, one for an optical drive, and one to make data salvage attempts easier, since I have a fair amount of machine live out their hospice years with me.

I need to pick out some peripherals as well.

 

3

solid except for the Toshiba drive ... I would go with WD black drive

if you want to spend the full $1000 ... it's up to you  ...or wait til tomorrow & there will be more recommendations.

fixed in edit  ... this kills it  ... $2 under budget

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/kBJcgs

4

Or Hitacchi.....They did best on the anvil tests

6

fixed the Arch issue and added wireless keyboard & mouse and it should include all need cables to hook to TV. 

 

8

you got a point there ... it would be up to OP

and that is a fairly long GPU

9

The thing with ATX cases is that their larger volume makes them slower to heat up and faster to cool Off. If that is not an issue though, fire away.

10

I have a HAF 932 CoolerMaster full tower ... it doubles as a room divider and an air filter  lol

12

A case can be made for both cases ...hehehhe

13

INdeed

 

14

I'm getting loopy ... mixing to much rum & cause I ran out of vodka  ...  hic hicup hic bubbles out my mouth o o  o

see y'all in a few hours 

15

Thanks all, New egg was running a pretty good special  (?) on a DIY kit based on the AMD FX 8350, so I based my build off of that with some of those lovely SSDs. This is my build list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/KYWgrH.

I'll make do with peripherals/cables/etc until next payday. Going with the special took the total down to $814 USD.