first build / second opinion

[jaredallen]

A friend is helping me build my first pc and I wanted to get your thoughts on the components we chose. This will be my first nice computer, so I will probably be happy with it regardless, but there are a few things I definitely want it to do: make music with ableton, photoshop (quickly), and play swtor whenever it comes out. Also the internet.

CPU:

AMD Phenom II X4 945 Deneb 3.0GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache
Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor HDX945WFGMBOX

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103809

Motherboard:

ASUS M4A87TD/USB3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 AMD Motherboard
Xtreme Design, Core Unlocker, SATA 6Gb/s+ USB 3.0

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131651

Memory:

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3
12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231277

HD:

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA
6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136533

CD/DVD Drive:

LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA DVD Writer - Bulk - LightScribe Support - OEM


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106333

So as far as video cards go, I'd like to have hdmi and vga output but we were losing steam when it came time to pick one out and I have no clue what to get. I wanted this computer to cost around $500 and the total for everything listed above is $459. Any suggestions in the video card dept would be greatly appreciated.

Yea, he says he has everything else I need. All the wires, a case, and a power supply. So let me know what you guys think, and thanks for taking the time to read ma shet.

have a good night,
jared

[glc]

I'd recommend that you avoid G.skill right now, especially Ripjaws. There have been some issues recently.

What is your video card budget?