First Time Builder

[Rabbitt]

Hi, I'm a first time builder and I've been lurking for the past week or so and I've finally composed a rough draft list. I'm hoping to keep it between 600-800, but if necessary, I'm willing to go higher. The computer will mostly be used for a little bit of everything; amateur photoshop work, surfing the web, writing essays, playing a few games (BFBC2, BF2142, CIV4), and watching TV/Movies on Hulu/Netflix. My rough draft is simply that, so I was wondering if you all could give me feedback on the parts I had chosen, and suggest any better ones?

Case: Antec Sonata III 500 Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 500W Power Supply

Motherboard: ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 AM3 AMD 890GX HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 635 Propus 2.9GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor ADX635WFGIBOX

Graphics Card: XFX HD-567X-ZNF3 Radeon HD 5670 1GB 128-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

RAM: Crucial 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model CT2KIT25664BA1339

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Blue WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

DVD/CD Burner: LITE-ON 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 24X DVD Writer LightScribe Support

Also, do I need anything special to get my computer on the Internet Wirelessly?

Thank you for all of your time, this forum has already been invaluable!

[jdeb]

Pretty good list. Excellent mother board, cpu, and memory selection. Case is very nice, silent and great airflow. Stay away from the xfx cards, consider Asus, Diamond, HIS, or Saffire. Asus has the best customer support.
Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100289L Radeon HD 5670 (Redwood) 1GB 128-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card w/ATI Eyefinity

If you can afford a little extra, consider going with a WD Black hard drive over the blue, 5 year warranty as apposed to 3, plus it is a faster drive with 32mb cache vs 16mb.

You could buy a pci wireless card, try and match to your router if possible, make sure it is Windows 7 capable.

[glc]

Sapphire is an excellent card, but they have NO end user support.

[Rabbitt]

First of all, thank you for the quick response, I never expected there to be such an active community for building your own PC!

Originally Posted by jdeb Pretty good list. Excellent mother board, cpu, and memory selection. Case is very nice, silent and great airflow. Stay away from the xfx cards, consider Asus, Diamond, HIS, or Saffire. Asus has the best customer support. Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100289L Radeon HD 5670 (Redwood) 1GB 128-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card w/ATI Eyefinity

If ASUS has the best support I'll probably go with them.

If you can afford a little extra, consider going with a WD Black hard drive over the blue, 5 year warranty as apposed to 3, plus it is a faster drive with 32mb cache vs 16mb.

Will do.

You could buy a pci wireless card, try and match to your router if possible, make sure it is Windows 7 capable.

Oh, then that might be a problem; I have an AirPort from Apple (my other computer is a mac). Is there a card that allows me to use Windows 7 and still access the AirPort?

Originally Posted by glc Sapphire is an excellent card, but they have NO end user support.

Thanks for the tip!

---

Throughout this entire process I've always been unsure of what kind of Graphics Card I will be needing. I will be using it with a Dell Ultrasharp 23" (U2311H), and I will be playing a mix of FPS's and RTS's. I don't necessarily want the most eye-candy, I just want it to run as smoothly as possible, with no lag.

EDIT: Newegg is sold out for both ASUS and Diamond Redwoods. >_> But they do have HIS in stock for both 1GB and 512MB; what's the difference, and is it worth the extra $15?

[David M]

HIS is rated as very good by PC Mech. Amazon sells graphics cards as well. If you have any extra money to spend then you may want to upgrade from the 5670 graphics card.

[glc]

If you can squeeze more into your budget, try to get a 5770 video card.

For wireless, try this:

Newegg.com - Rosewill RNX-G300EX IEEE 802.11b/g PCI Wireless Card Up to 54Mbps Data Rates 64/128-Bit WEP, 802.1x, WPA, WPA2, AES, TKIP with 100cm cable external 2 dBi Antenna

[Rabbitt]

Originally Posted by David M HIS is rated as very good by PC Mech. Amazon sells graphics cards as well. If you have any extra money to spend then you may want to upgrade from the 5670 graphics card.

Originally Posted by glc If you can squeeze more into your budget, try to get a 5770 video card.

Sounds good, I think I'll go with the 5770. But, should I go with 1GB or 512MB?

For wireless, try this: Newegg.com - Rosewill RNX-G300EX IEEE 802.11b/g PCI Wireless Card Up to 54Mbps Data Rates 64/128-Bit WEP, 802.1x, WPA, WPA2, AES, TKIP with 100cm cable external 2 dBi Antenna

Awesome, thanks!

[David M]

For high resolutions monitors, more video RAM is always better.

[Rabbitt]

Originally Posted by David M For high resolutions monitors, more video RAM is always better.

Good to know, thanks. How does this look for the Graphics Card:

Newegg.com - ASUS CuCore Series EAH5770 CuCore/2DI/1GD5 Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

[glc]

Works for me!

[Rabbitt]

Originally Posted by glc Works for me!

Wow, that was much easier than I thought it would be! Thank you all so much for the quick response, and the useful replies (much more useful than other forums).