first build - please advise

[caprisundad]

I'm trying to take advantage of a combo deal at newegg right now for a biostar AMD mobo together with an AMD 64 X2 for $150. This is the system I've got so far and I'm up to $650. I'd like to keep this under $800 if possible, and I'm looking mainly to manage a large music library, play games, photoshop, bittorrent, etc. (nothing too intense). Any suggestions? Is all this stuff compatable? Some people were trash talking the BIOSTAR board but you can't beat that price. Is it really bad enough to go for an Asus? Thanks for the help!

Mobo: BIOSTAR TFORCE 550 Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 550 MCP ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/Produc...82E16813138026

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ Brisbane 1.9GHz Socket AM2 Processor Model ADO3600IAA5DL - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/product/Produc...82E16819103036

RAM: CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Desktop Memory Model VS2GBKIT667D2 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145098

Video: EVGA 256-P2-N550 -T2 GeForce 7600GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130073

HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148140

Optical: LITE-ON LightScribe Black 20X DVD±R Burner with 12X DVD-RAM write Black IDE Model LH-20A1H-186 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106045

Case: COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UB Black /Blue Aluminum Bezel , SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119047

PSU: FSP Group (Fortron Source) AX450-PN, 12cm FAN, version 2.2, 2 SATA, PCI Express, 450W Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817104954

[glc]

That all looks fine if you must have an AMD. It will probably run a bit better with DDR2-800 ram. Biostar is one of the better cheap motherboard manufacturers.

[Katreat]

Biostar makes a nice little intel board for the same price, but you would pay $100 premium for the E6300 processor. The improved performance and upgradeability would make that a good investment.

ususally, you can capture some of the extra cost of the intel processor in lower priced ram, because the C2D's run fine with 667, but with the rebate right now the 800 is about the same price as 667 so that savings is not avaliable. If you are going to hold off tell April 22 for your build the intel processors are dropping in price.

But, if you cant afford the $100 and are building right now, at least consider going up to DDR 800 for your ram. The AMD chip will like it better and with rebate it is only about $10 more right now

CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - After rebate $159.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145590