motherboard

We looked online and we found out that the Gigabyte and the ASUS were the most highly recommended.

our first option is the gigabyte (GA-EP45-UD3P):

It is a socket 775, which supports our processor, 4 memory slots totaling 16 gig max, 2 pci-express slots and a total of 5 additional pci slots, the motherboard supports SATA and integrated LAN and has 12 usb ports.

Cost $150

our second option is the ASUS (Maximus II):

It is a socket 775, 4 memory slots max 16 GB, 2 pci-express and a total of 5 additional pci slots, the motherboard supports SATA and integrated LAN and a total of 12 USB ports.

Cost $250

my preference is the Gigabyte motherboard, I like the name better.

disc drive

We looked at the CD Drive, DVD Drive and the Blu-Ray Drive.  We also looked at whether we needed something to just read the information or if we wanted something to write information as well.

We decided we didn't need a blu-ray as we weren't going to play that many blu-ray videos on this system.  We decided we didn't need a CD drive, we did want to watch some movies and be able to burn my movies to a DVD.

Then we went to Best Buy online and we checked out what kind of DVD drives they had.  Then we found two drives and compared them.  One of them is listed below and the other we didn't choose because it's an EIDE drive and not a SATA drive.  We need SATA as that is the format we selected for the rest of the computer.

This is our choice:

LG 22x internal SATA dvd rewriter (model: GH22LS40) for $50 CDN

It was the best one we could find :)

Hard Drive

We are choosing the SATA hard drive. 

(1) because it's got better bandwidth, 

(2) better speed (150MB/ sec v.  133MB/sec), 

(3) better power configuration

We chose this one:

Seagate 1.5tb (terabyte) barracuda 7200.11 RPM SATA II w/32MB cache

Cost: $170

I lost my tooth and power unit for the computer

I lost my tooth today and now I'm feeling weird.

My options for power supply on the computer were narrowed down to two based on what a gaming company uses in their computers and what the reviewers said about amount of power needed.  Minimum was 750 watts of power, and I would need to replace the fan with my cool one as fans are part of the power supply I found out.

The first option is the:

Quattro by Antec, it is 850 watts or 1,000 watts

Cost:  between $200 - $300

The second option is the:

Corsair CMPSU 750 watt power source

Cost: $200

My selection is the Quattro by Antec 

RAM (Random Access Memory) can't be chosen yet

We found out that the RAM can't be chosen till the motherboard is because we need to know how many slots the motherboard has and what the max memory it can hold.

Computer Fan

Why we need it: 

To cool down our computer so it doesn't over heat.

Option 1:

We can build it.

Option 2:

We can buy it fully assembled.

Cost for either: $30-100

Our choice:

We are planning on building our on fan.  We are planning on building, our own fan because we can get LED fans.

NIC (Network Interface Card)

Why we need it:

To connect to the Internet

Option 1:

Part of the motherboard, no options on this one it just lets you connect to the Internet

Cost:  part of motherboard, no cost

Option 2: 

Killer NIC, two models (M & K) - the M model is for developers and the K is for gamers.

Cost: $150 - $250

Our Choice:

The Killer NIC (K1) had the best review for MMO and FPS with the highest frame rate and was optimized for online game performance based on the reviews.