Hello everyone, this is going to be my first build, and it's going to be used for gaming for the most part and encoding stuff. I wanted to make sure if everything looks good or if maybe I need something extra that's missing.

The only thing I'm not quite sure on is what to get for a monitor. Should I play it safe and get a CRT monitor, which I've been using all my life, or take a chance and possibly have problems from a LCD monitor?

I know LCD monitors are getting better, but I don't feel like making a wrong purchasing decision and regretting it later. If I do get a LCD, I'll probably want to make sure it has: a matte screen to avoid glaring because I have a window behind me and one to the left of me, good/decent colors like the CRT, 24 inch screen size, and 1:1 pixel resolution.

These are two I am looking at for monitors:
1. NEC Display Solutions AS120-BK Black 21" CRT Monitor D-Sub – Retail
2. DoubleSight DS-245W Black 24" 6ms (GTG) Widescreen LCD Monitor with 4-port USB Hub and Height / Pivot Adjustments 500 cd/m2 DC 3000:1 (1000:1) Built in Speakers – Retail

The DoubleSight is not in stock so I can't get it because I'll need to order this stuff in about two days.


Anyway, here is what I plan on getting so tell me what you guys think?

Case - NZXT TEMPEST Crafted Series CS-NT-TEM-B Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case – Retail

Mobo - ASUS P5Q Pro LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard – Retail

Video Card - VisionTek 900244 Radeon HD 4870 512MB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card – Retail

PSU - CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply - Retail

CPU - Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 Yorkfield 2.66GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80569Q9450 - Retail

Memory - OCZ Reaper HPC Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2RPR800C44GK - Retail

Hard Drive - Western Digital Caviar GP WD10EACS 1TB 5400 to 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

DVD Drive - SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model SH-S203N - OEM

OS - Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit English for System Builders 1pk DSP OEI DVD - OEM

CPU Cooler - Sunbeam CR-CCTF 120mm "Core Contact Freezer" CPU Cooler - Retail

Thermal Compound - ARCTIC COOLING MX-2 Thermal Compound - Retail

I'll pick up a mouse and speakers at a store, and I already own a G15 keyboard so no worries there.
Total is $1,466.89 without monitor, speakers, and mouse.

I have yet to see a LCD screen that's not matte. I would suggest Samsung monitors. If budget is tight, look at Acer & Hann-G.

A solid gaming build. It's good to see a non-overclocker not worrying about memory latency & speed for a change.

Thank you for your replay.

From what I've seen, Samsung sounds like the better choice.

I also don't know if I'll overclock, but if I do it will be just a little bit. I don't feel like spending a lot of time in the BIOS trying to get the best out of it while possibly making the system unstable or frying it. If I do plan on overclocking will I need to change something in my list?

Anymore feedback is welcome.

If I were to overclock that pc, I would want faster ram:

OCZ Reaper HPC Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2RPR800C44GK - Retail

That doesn't cut it for Yorkfields which have low multipliers. The Q9450 is:

1333 / 4 = 333.25 * 8 = 2666 or 2.67Ghz

Now let's try to max out your ram:

400 * 8 = 3.2Ghz

That's assuming your ram can't go over 800mhz. I would get 1066Mhz ram for o/cing Yorkfields.