This noob needs help

[jdkizer]

I'm a high school senior and will be graduating soon. I plan on going to college to become an engineer and will need a good pc to run the different CAD software and such. I also enjoy a good bit of gaming and would like to be able to play some games on my pc. For economical reasons I plan on building my own. I have searched around and I think i have what i want but its getting rather expensive. If I have to i will deal with the price but my main concern is hardware compatibility. this is my set up so far if you see any compatibility issues or think another product is better or equal for cheaper let me know.

Case- Rosewill THOR Gaming ATX
Processor- AMD Phenom II X6 1100T
Motherboard- ASUS M4A89TD PRO/USB3 AM 3
Ram- A-DATA XPG Gaming v2.0 Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3
HDD- Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EARS 1TB
Disk drive- LG WH10LS30 10X Blu-ray Burner
Video Card- ASUS ENGT430/DI/1GD3(LP)
Ethernet Card- LINKSYS EG1032
Wireless Adapter- TP-LINK TL-WN781ND IEEE 802.11b/g/n
Power Supply- COOLMAX CA-400

If you see anything missing or that could be nixed please reply.
thanks

[jdkizer]

Also i plan on running Windows 7

[Deathdiesel]

I might not be correct, but i was also considering the x6 for my build and ended up looking around and the i5-2500k sandy bridge ended up bieng around the same price and better in almost every way

[Staren]

I'd agree with Deathdiesel. Unless you have your heart set on AMD, A Sandybridge build might be a better choice for the money. If you're an AMD fanboy that's fine. But if you aren't read some of the more recent new build threads on this forum for conversations about Sandybridge.

Next on the list, for $150 there are better case options out there. Rosewill is Newegg's house brand. There isn't anything wrong with that per say, but the quality is kind of random. Some of it is decent, some isn't. For the price, the build quality on that case looks like it might be a little cheap, and I for sure would not trust the fans. Look at Antec, Cooler Master, Lian Li, Thermaltake, and NZXT for cases I'd trust. This Newegg.com - Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case is very similar in looks, $50 cheaper, and is known good quality.

That Geforce 430 would not be much of a gamer. I'm not familar with the needs of CAD programs so I hesitate to make a suggestion.

Unless you have a specific need for two ethernet ports, the ethernet add-on is probobly not needed. The one on the motherboard would do the trick 99% of the time. I'm curious if you'll need the wireless adapter as well. If need it at home that's fine, but once you're at college, almost all dorm rooms these days have ethernet ports.

Finally, please check this thread What Power Supply should I get? How many Watts? Who made it? Guide Inside. for suggested power supplies. Coolmax is on the PCMech PSU blacklist, and usually there is a very good reason for that.

If you could post your budget, even a rough estimte, that would help us a lot. We would have better luck hitting best bang for the buck and keep the components balanced.

[jdkizer]

Ok thanks for the suggestions. As to the budget, if we can keep it under a grand that would be helpful. And this being my first endeavor i will probs need a lot of help so don not hesitate to suggest a certain part or entire setup for that matter. towards the comment on which gfx card i have no idea I'm assuming if it will run a decent game it will probably run any CAD software i will be using. the extra ethernet port thanks for the catch i didn't even notice that the motherboard had one. and as to the wireless capabilities you hit it on the head at home our network is wireless and im sure at MTU it will be ethernet. and BTW i probably won't order anything until summer when i have a reliable income and can afford what i want. towards the processor suggestions i just figured more cores meant better and i don't want to blow $1000 to have an outdated machine by the time i graduate. as for the case i just thought it looked alright but i have no idea what quality any of these parts and pieces are so thanks again for the tip. side note i apologize for my horrendous spelling and or grammar and also for being all over the place with my comments and replys but thank you and if and when you persuade me to go for a different processor what else will need to be changed. thanks again

[glc]

i probably won't order anything until summer when i have a reliable income and can afford what i want.

Thank you for being upfront. It's almost pointless making recommendations now for a purchase that far in the future. Come back a couple of WEEKS before you are ready to order parts and we can give you the best recommendations. The market then will be completely different than now. I'd be happy to make a $1000 build recommendation now, but I don't really see the point.

Hate to tell you, but any machine you build this summer WILL be outdated before you graduate. You will be able to make selective upgrades if you choose the original components wisely.

[jdkizer]

i figured it would be out of date in four years but like you said if i choose the right components now I can upgrade when i need too thanks again and not to be cheesy or anything but "I'll be back" *Germanic accent*

[David M]

It's not just the hardware that will change, prices will change as well and chances are the prices will be lower for the level of hardware you need.