Building my 1st system, need feedback on my component selection!

[Spazzy67]

Hi ALL!

Over the past weeks, I have been reading several of your posts and stickies on system builds and I have decided to put my own rig together! Building, overclocking, is all new to me so be patient if I ask any silly questions. I am a pretty handy and patient person, so I know I can do it with the right info and assistance from guys that have done it already!!!

I use my computer mostly for work, surfing net, ripping DVDs, and some gaming. (will do more if I have a the setup).

I already have mouse, keyboard & monitor. My budget is $600-650 for my system and OS if necessary. I am currently running WINXP32.

Should I upgrade to Vista (w free win7) to receive full benefit of the newer equipment?

CURRENTLY running (2003) Dell 4550 Dimension 2.53mhz that will be moved to the den. It has 2 ide WD HD (200, 320) and 768mb sdram. Can I use one of these or do I have to get a new SATA HD??? I replaced PSU, but I think its a cheapie. USITEK 300w.

MONITOR: DELL S2309
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/p...9&sku=320-7339

Based on my research, here's what I came up with so far from NEWEGG!


CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 620 Propus 2.6GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103706
I liked the review on your site and others regarding its overclocking ability.

MOBO: GIGABYTE GA-MA785GPMT-UD2H AM3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128399
I like the onboard graphics w sideport memory, until I decide on Graphics card
With new 5000 series coming out, I will wait a month or so foir prices to drop on 4850 or
4870. Are they compatible w this MOBO? Any reason I should go w an Am2+/Am3
board since I have no usable memory sticks laying around?

or would I be better off with this one:
AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz 3 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Black Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103649

with this board: GIGABYTE GA-MA790GPT-UD3H AM3 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128398

MEMORY: CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145260

PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX 450W ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139003
Everyone seems to reccommend them!

HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136319

BURNER: Sony Optiarc Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827118030

CASE: Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129066


I am at $550 w shipping + $100 for new OS If I go to Vista. = $650

Let me know what you guys think? I am open to suggestions. underkill or overkill with anything?

Let me know if you need any other info to help with my selections!

Thanks!
Paul

[Spazzy67]

Any feedback guys??

[Masaki 7-11]

Looks like a good build, but the newegg links aren't working. I've used Gigabyte motherboards quite a bit and they work well, everything that you posted above should work fine with this motherboard and you won't have any trouble putting in a video card later on. DDR3 is probably a good idea as recently the price of DDR2 has gone up and the price of DDR3 has dropped. If you have XP that you can use for your new computer, you don't need to get Vista/Win7, XP works pretty well for the most part. I've started using windows 7 on some of my computers and it runs pretty well, but other than the User interface I don't see that much of a difference over XP.

[Spazzy67]

Masaki,

Thanks for the feedback! Guess I never checked them. I re-posted the links and they are working now!!

What would you recommend for my MOBO / CPU combo? I have narrowed it down to these to setups:

A) Phenom II X3 720 & GIG 790GPT

B) Athlon II X4 620 & GIG 785GPMT


Will PSU be sufficient if I do get a discreet card? Maybe ATI 4850

[Masaki 7-11]

Originally Posted by Spazzy67 Masaki, Thanks for the feedback! Guess I never checked them. I re-posted the links and they are working now!! What would you recommend for my MOBO / CPU combo? I have narrowed it down to these to setups: A) Phenom II X3 720 & GIG 790GPT B) Athlon II X4 620 & GIG 785GPMT Will PSU be sufficient if I do get a discreet card? Maybe ATI 4850

If you want a workstation type computer (with more emphasis on CPU work and multitasking), option B would be better, otherwise option A is better for Gaming. Both combos would provide enough performance and there isn't that much difference between them in performance. The power supply can handle most discrete graphics cards except for some of the really high end ones like the HD4870X2 and GTX295.

[mainiac]

The memory is little overkill. I have heard that Vista (if you plan on installing it) runs into trouble with 4gbs of RAM. 2 should be more than enough for your needs.

[glc]

4 gigs of ram is our standard recommendation these days regardless of OS. A 32 bit OS can only utilize about 3.25gb of it, which is no big deal.

[Masaki 7-11]

I haven't heard of any problems with Vista and 4GB of ram; all my Vista computers run with 2GB (they are older) and my newer computer use windows 7 with 4GB; neither of them have problems. A few friends of mine have Vista 32 and 64 bit running with 4GB and again no problems. I would say 2GB is fine for XP (even 1GB if you're doing little or no gaming), but with Vista and even Windows 7, more memory will help a good amount.

[David M]

I am running 64 bit Vista with 4 gigs of RAM...no problems. The nice thing about this OS is that it utilizes all of the RAM.