Help refine my first build

[smithjje]

Hi, I'm new to this forum but have already learned a great deal reading many of the posts, especially the sticky on picking your hardware.

What I'm currently using: Compaq Presario S4020WM with a gig of ram and an XFX Geforce 6200 GPU.

Don't need monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers or headphones.

Do need an OS and I'm torn on what to use, XP home oem or some version of vista for further ability down the road. After looking at the build maybe the choice will become more clear.

my current cart over at newegg has the following items:


Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042



Intel Pentium E5200 Wolfdale 2.5GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80571E5200 - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116072


ASUS P5Q Pro LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131299


CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Retail
Item #: N82E16817139005 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005

HIS Hightech H485FN512P Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
Item #: N82E16814161259 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161259

G.SKILL PI Black 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL4D-4GBPI-B - Retail
Item #: N82E16820231209 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231209

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD3200AAKS 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Item #: N82E16822136074 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136074

Pioneer 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model DVR-116DBK - OEM
Item #: N82E16827129023 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827129023

Grand total including shipping is around $680.

Had been hoping I could hold this under $600 /including OS but obviously I'm well over.

Several things including the PSU, GPU and MOBO where choosen with the hope of future upgrade to duel HD 4850s in the future and also a better than stock CPU cooler so I can try OCing the E5200 (which from what I have read seems to OC really well.)

Any advice, comments and suggestions are welcomed and needed before I cut loose with this much change. Thanks Todd

 

[aevm]

Change the DVD to a STA model, e.g. SH-S223F. Same price, no jumpers, narrow SATA cable.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151171&Tpk=SH-S223F

All good choices apart from that.

That Antec 300 may be cheaper at www.buy.com, depending on how much Newegg charges to ship it to you.

Ideally, you'd add Vista Home Premium 64-bit to the mix, but that's another $100. If you have an XP disk already, this hardware will work with it. You'll only see 3.5 GB of RAM out of 4, and Crysis will look a little less good, but it will still be fine.

 

[aevm]

Change the PSU to this PC Power & Cooling 750W.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341011&Tpk=S75CF

You don't really need 750W, but it's $10 less and the same quality so why not.

 

[aevm]

Check out the GA-EP45-UD3P too. $115 just like the P5Q Pro, same features, 79% of Newegg reviewers gave it 5 eggs (as opposed to 64% for the P5Q Pro)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128358

 

[smithjje]

Aevm: appreciate the replies.

$10 more for a better power supply.... I'm in.

I did look at the GA-EP45-UP3P but went with the ASUS because of being a little cheaper before MIR.... after reading the reviews and looking at the specs I think your right.

I don't how I ended up with that ide drive, I meant to go SATA...

 

[smithjje]

Couple of things...

Don't have a OS disc of any windows variety.

Going with this mushkin ram http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146731 Will save me about 25... but may not offer quite as good of performance..???

 

[aevm]

That Mushkin is good RAM. Timings are 5-4-4-12, not quite as good as 4-4-4-12, but that doesn't really matter unless you're trying for a very high overclock. You could also try this RAM too:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231219&Tpk=G.Skill HK
Either way it's fine.

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit OEM $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116488