First Time Build, again

[ferrous]

First time building a system. Got great advice over the summer, but delayed in moving forward, but hoping for advice/suggestions with new parts list.

No intensive gaming on the system. Will be using Adobe CS4 and will be connecting to HDTV for video and streaming. (Ditched cable awhile back). Here's the list; thanks in advance for suggestions.

Price range $500-650

Vista 64 Home Premium - already purchased; any thoughts on Windows 7?

Have peripherals; probably will get a 22" HD monitor.

ASUS M4A78T-E AM3 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz 3 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Black Processor - Retail

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ - Retail

Western Digital Caviar Black WD7501AALS 750GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Sony Optiarc Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA DVD/CD Rewritable Drive - OEM

SeaSonic SS-400ET Bronze 400W ATX12V V2.2/EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply - OEM

COOLER MASTER Elite RC-310-BWN1-GP Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

Thanks for the help!

Sean

[Masaki 7-11]

Looks good, if you want to save a bit of money without losing performance, take a look at 785G based motherboards (preferably ones with sideport memory).

Regarding windows 7, I think it's a good OS, it runs about as fast as XP, has a lot of new features, a good amount of them are pretty useful and it's got a nice interface. If you are happy with Vista though, you can probably stick with that. I never really liked Vista, but I installed and configured it for many people and they were happy with it (was nicer looking than XP, worked without issues and had much better security than XP). Unless you really dislike Vista, I would stick with it, especially if budget is restricted.

[ferrous]

Thanks Masaki. What advantage does the 785G have? Not sure what to look for on the manufacturer's description.

[Masaki 7-11]

Originally Posted by ferrous Thanks Masaki. What advantage does the 785G have? Not sure what to look for on the manufacturer's description.

The main advantage with the 785G is lower cost, otherwise it is very similar to the 790GX. The integrated graphics on the 785G is pretty close in performance to the 790GX but has updated video decoding that work better with blu-ray and other HD video sources. I would only switch to the 785G if you want to save some money, otherwise the 790GX will run fine. Here is a pretty good/inexpensive 785G motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131406

[ferrous]

Post removed; discovered answer. Oops.

[glc]

Awww - you know, other people can benefit from your questions and answers! No need to remove a question if you can answer it yourself - just add the answer!