New builder! need help!?

[zeruin]

Alrighty... I'm looking to build a budget computer of around $1000 usd or less, but am having a little trouble with selecting some parts. I want to get a decent monitor, I want to spend less tahn $200, and I don't know the difference between widescreen and full screen? (won't it distort my images? not using Vista) First off, I mainly use the computer for school and minor tasks, but would like to be able to play a nice computer game every now and then, like an mmorpg (not extremely graphic intensive). So yea, I've come to this so far..

CPU - Intel duel core e2160 (OC to 3.0 or so) - $83
GPU - XFX 8600GT XXX - $100
MOBO - Gigabyte P35-DS3L - $95
RAM - G.Skill 2GB (2x1) DDR 800 - $55
Case - Coolermaster Centurion 5 - $40
PSU - Rosewill RP550-2 (550watt) - $52
HD - Western Digital 160GB 7200rpm - $50
OS - XP MCE 2005 SP2B - $115

Btw, I'm trying to find the best budget graphics out there, I want to spend between $100-125
and how about my CPU? I would overclock it to atleast 3.0, but would a e6750 for $85 more, be a better choice?
I'm seeing a few cheap 22inch monitors for black friday, should I go for those? Westinghouse, Envision for about $160? or should I opt for the $200 22inch Samsung 2220bw?

 

[aadamszc]

Hello, couple suggestions:

1. Ocing that e2160 will most likely require a CPU cooler. On that note, the e6750 is a good OCer, but also costs more. For your need, I would go for the e2160.
2. I haven't really checked the ~$100 price point out lately, but how about looking into an ATI X1950 PRO.
3. Rosewill is basically a synonym for crappy PSUs. May I suggest something from Corsair, Seasonic, and generally anything listed higher than 3 on the Tiered PSU listing.
4. Everything else looks good, but the monitor depends on specs(like response time, etc.) alot..and those generally differ between brands.

 

[akhilles]

Westinghouse is the brand of choice for HDTV's. For a computer monitor, go with Samsung. Standard definition 4:3 is dying an inevitable death. High def is the way to go. No it won't distort your windows desktop. Go take a look at running laptops in a store. Most of them are widescreen. The pictures are fine. New games will support widescreen. Old games will distort the picture in that things look fat. You'll get used to widescreen when you have a list of bookmarks on the left, browser in the middle & a media player on the right.

If you're not running Vista, you can get a last-gen card like 79xx for cheap. This X1950PRO will run most games ok:

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/VisionTek-Radeon-X1950PRO-XGE-256MB-HD-Video-Card-X1950P256PCIE/sem/rpsm/oid/178227/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do?linkid=j13459594k1971&affiliateid=k1971&mid=sduidp0t653050

If the MMORPG is 2D, you can get away with onboard or cheaper graphics like this:

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=205097705

The psu you picked out is no no. Get a tier 1/2/3:

http://www.tomswiki.com/page/Tiered+PSU+Listings?t=anon