Budget E6300 Build, please help

[apittman]

Budget E6300 Build

Please help me out.
I’m trying to select parts for a budget computer for word processing, database, desktop publishing, audio and video editing, photoshop and perhaps some moderate gaming. I want something upgradeable that will last. I don’t think I’ll overclock, as it looks like for near the price of the necessary overclock components (board, cooling, power, memory, case upgrades, etc.) I could just buy a faster chip without the work of system tweaking.
Please clue me in if I’m mistaken, this is my first build. :)

I’m thinking of re-using the keyboard, mouse, monitor and speakers and Windows XP from my old computer. Below are the other parts I selected from Newegg.
I’d like to re-use the floppy, CDRW and 120gb hard drive, but I understand there may be non-SATA incompatibility issues. Maybe I’ll put the 120gb in an external case.

The total price is $723. I’d like to keep it no higher than that and was hoping to cut about $100.

Please comment on my build. Thanks.


COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel, SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
Model #: CAC-T05-UW
Item #: N82E16811119068
$49.99

GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Model #: GA-965P-DS3
Item #: N82E16813128012
$132.99

eVGA 256-A8-N313-LX GeForce FX5500 256MB DDR AGP 8X Video Card - Retail
Model #: 256-A8-N313-LX
Item #: N82E16814130197
$59.99

Thermaltake TR2 W0070RUC ATX 430W Power Supply - Retail
Model #: W0070RUC
Item #: N82E16817153023
$39.99

Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 Conroe 1.86GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6300 - Retail
Model #: BX80557E6300
Item #: N82E16819115005
$187.00

CORSAIR XMS2 1GB (2 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X1024A-6400 - Retail
Model #: TWIN2X1024A-6400
Item #: N82E16820145566
$126.00 -$15.00 Instant $111.00

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Model #: ST3320620AS
Item #: N82E16822148140
$94.99

SAMSUNG 18X DVD±R DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write, LightScribe Technology Black SATA Model SH-S183L - OEM
Model #: SH-S183L
Item #: N82E16827151141
$46.99

Total: $723

[glc]

An AGP video card will not work in a PCI-E motherboard. Gonna have to spend about 40 bucks more to get a decent PCI-E card, 7600GS or GT.
That PSU is not ATX 2.0, get a XClio 450BL.
Look at the baseline Asus P5B to save a few bucks.
DDR2-667 value ram can save you some bucks.
You can probably get away with using an IDE burner - get a retail box though. Look at Lite-Ons.

Can you wait till April? C2D's are scheduled for a substantial price reduction and the E6300 is getting double cache.

[phatphoeater]

the great thing about these core2duo cpus is that they are very overclock friendly. as much as 25-50% overclocks are acheivable on STOCK volts and cooling depending on the model. this can be had with cheaper mobos and cheaper ram!!! if you spend some time reading through some OC forums, you can see what kind of OC's people are getting without fancy components. please note though that most of the OC'ers out there do it for the e-penis factor, and that's when you run into the need for more volts/fancy cooling/fancy ram/fancy mobo, which all equals for $$$.

OCing isnt for everyone but i figure free clockspeed for no more juice/$$$? sign me up.