DiabloFans

To answer your question, yes, all mobile Sandy Bridge CPUs get the HD 3000. It's not particularly fast, but it might be tolerable if you're resolution is 1366x768 or lower.

The router likely also includes firewall functionality. There's probably not much you can do if you can't access it. Modern torrent utilities often do a better job of bypassing these things than more primitive download systems like what Blizzard and Steam use...

Samsung is the most reliable. I've never heard of anyone having a problem. They've won contracts with OEMs like Dell and Apple, which says a lot for their trustworthiness.

Intel and Crucial are almost perfect. They're probably safe; each of these has had exactly one problem in their history, as far as I know. My own system uses an Intel X25-M G2 and it's worked perfectly for two years so far.

Most of the other brands have multiple had issues. Performance loss, blue screens, etc. Sandforce-based SSDs are notorious for having extremely high speeds and more problems than any other design.

You probably don't have to worry much about performance. Differences show up in benchmarks, but in day-to-day usage I doubt you could tell any difference

I buy most of my computer hardware, SSDs included, from Newegg. But many places carry them.

Quote from Dawn

Graphics card: Mobile Intel® 4 Series Express Chipset Family

This graphics card won't get the job done. If the game started at all, it would be a slide show.

The GPU is the most important thing for Diablo 3, and it's also the most likely place your system builder cut corners to lower your price.

I bought a 680 two weeks ago, but if I were in the market today, the 670 would be a top contender

If you're not buying the collector's edition, I can't think of any reason to buy a physical copy of the game (well, unless you're using gift cards or something).

Either way, a key will be included in the box. When applied to your Blizzard Account, you can download the game digitally. If someone sends you a link, you can even start your download now if you want; you just won't be able to play until you've applied the key (or bought it from Blizzard directly).

See www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=14

Any SATA hard drive should be compatible with your computer.

If you're looking for maximum performance at the expense of storage space, take a look at SSDs: www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=636

Quote from Eternalus

Whenever I try and find out what my laptop's GPU is I get:
AMD Radeon HD 6500M/5600/5700 Series
Is that even a card, or series of cards? What does it actually mean? (Also, can I run Diablo 3 on it?)

It's several related models. You should be able to see something more specific if you look at the the "Display Adapter" section in Device Manager, or if you use a tool like GPU-Z.

Diablo 3 should run well on this system, but maybe not at maximum detail depending on what screen resolution you use. Turning shadows off is the best way to get more performance without hurting the visuals too much.

Quote from Antirepublican

Intel Core i5-3570K @3.4GHz = 160 watts under full load

My own 3770k system uses about 130 watts from the wall at stock clocks Prime95, but I'm cheating a little. I'm using a gold efficiency power supply (assuming your source is not), 1.35volt RAM (most people use 1.5 or more), and a GTX 680 (28nm GPUs seem to idle very efficiently).

I'm not really disputing your numbers, but I want to point out that a system with high-efficiency components doesn't need that much power.

Quote from Antirepublican

OC'd @ 5GHz = 270 watts under full load

Ivy Bridge might be able to hold 5 GHz long enough to finish a benchmark, but I don't think it could hold that speed for much longer, even with an H100.

Something to think about: a system that's expected to pull 700+ watts for extended periods of time is going to be loud. I count at least 11 fans in this build (5 on the case, 2 on the H100, at least 2 on the dual GPUs, one in the power supply, and one on the motherboard to offset the insulation from the "thermal armor"), and they're all going to have to spin up to evacuate that much heat.

Commentary on your build:

• That case is gigantic, and doesn't seem to have any sound suppression features. You're not buying enough equipment to fill it out, and there are many quieter options...
• I still think you should get this monitor, especially if you're into photo work: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16824260038
• How are you calculating that you need such a big power supply? By my math, you're looking at 600 watts under load (at most) even with a 6990 or dual 6950s. I'd go with a 750 watt (or so) with higher efficiency, like this: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817151087
• I'm not a fan of rediculous blingy heat sinks on RAM. For my own build, I used 4x these: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820147094 . They're cheaper, too.
• Get any Z77 board except that one. The "thermal armor" would be more appropriately called "thermal insulator", as it causes your board to run hotter unless you use the included 40mm fan, in which case it's louder.
• The H100 cooler is only going to buy you about 100 MHz more overclocking than a single-fan design like the H80. If you're not overclocking, there's no need to water cool as Ivy Bridge has relatively little heat output at stock clocks.

Quote from Enty

PHOTOSHOP, that thing EATS MEM. I've worked on a few projects in which I couldn't add any more brush strokes due to a lack of RAM. It gets annoying when you have a lot of brush strokes simulating Fire, or what have you.

Okay, well go with Sandy/Ivy Bridge and start with 2x8 GB of RAM; if you need more max it out with another 2x8 If memory is critically important, you can go with a Xeon or Opteron system with over 100GB of RAM, but gaming performance suffers on these architectures due to reduced single-thread performance.

Quote from Enty

I guess you're right on all the other points though, what about LGA 1336 as a cheaper build, or is sandy bridge beating it there already?

LGA 1366 has the same problems as LGA 2011, with less speed. I haven't seen very aggressive discounting; Newegg is still selling the 6-core 1366 CPU for $1030, which is crazy. Sandy Bridge has seen a few price cuts, though.

Once you get above a certain basline of memory (4GB) and processing power (dual core 2 GHz), the GPU is the only thing that affects your ability to move to higher detail levels.

Listing complete systems would be useless; there are thousands of possibilities. 99% of the time, a computer's Diablo 3 capability is tied to the GPU and nothing else. And any GPU $150 or more should be capable of high detail up to 1080p.

My estimations, assuming 1366x768 resolution and 30 FPS as the goal:

Intel HD 3000 = Low
Intel HD 4000 = Medium
Any AMD or NVIDIA graphics: High

It seems logical that you would. For many people, Diablo 3 will be their first Blizzard game.

Quote from Enty

I was also thinking why not just future proof the system by going with a 2011 socket. get a 3820 which is 4 cores Ht to 8 and it preforms at or above the 2700k. I can upgrade more Ram which is good for photo editing and it has a lot more Pci-e lanes.

*cracks knuckles*

• The only LGA 2011 processor that's faster than the Ivy Bridge 3770k is the 3960X, and just barely: http://www.anandtech...duct/443?vs=551 .
• There's a $700 price difference between these two.
• The additional PCIe lanes do nothing if you're not adding hardware to use them; Ivy Bridge still gets 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes which is enough for two GTX 690s.
• The 3960X has twice the heat output, so keeping your system noise down will be that much harder.
• Motherboards are much more expensive.
• Ivy Bridge allows up to 32 GB of RAM, and you haven't listed a single application that would use more than 8.
• LGA 2011 is not future-proof because "Haswell" uses a new socket.