Is this a good upper-mid level build?

[allenw1223]

Please suggest any changes as long as any upgrades or downgrades are offset or lower the total price.
I am casual gamer only
I surf, dowload, play dvd movies, office software user, have new Samsung T220 22" 1680 x 1050 reolution that I like
Also I plan to add 2 smaller hard drives I already have.

Here is the build:

Case ( Nzxt Alpha Gaming Tower Case Black )
Case Lighting ( Cold Cathode Neon Light Blue )
Power Supply ( 750 Watt -- Thermaltake Toughpower W0117RU Power Supply Quad SLI Ready )
Processor ( Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E8500 (2x 3.16GHz/6MB L2 Cache/1333FSB) )
Processor Cooling ( Thermaltake MaxOrb CPU Cooling Fan
Motherboard ( [CrossFire] Asus P5Q Pro Intel P45 Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, IEEE-1394, Dual PCI-E MB )
Memory ( 4 GB [2 GB X2] DDR2-800 PC6400 Memory Module Corsair-Value or Major Brand )
Video Card ( ATI Radeon HD 4870 1GB PCI-Express x16 )
Hard Drive ( 1 TB HARD DRIVE [Serial-ATA-II, 3Gb, 7200 RPM, 16M Cache] )
2nd Hard Drive ( 1 TB HARD DRIVE [Serial-ATA-II, 3Gb, 7200 RPM, 16M Cache] )
CD/DVD Drive (LG 22X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive Black )
Sound Card ( Creative Lab Sound Blaster Audigy SE )
Network Card ( Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100) )
Flash Media Reader/Writer ( 12-In-1 Internal Flash Media Card Reader/Writer Black )
Operating System ( Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 64-Bit )
Additional Software ( MS Office 2007 Basic Edition )

 

[xthekidx]

First of all, you should tell us how much you are paying for that if you want us to keep our suggestions at the same price level. Also where you are from (US, CAD, EU, UK ect).

Secondly, Don't buy this from a PC manufacturer, build it yourself. You will get a lot more for your money and it really isn't that hard at all. It looks like you copied that from a configurator like cyberpowerpc or ibuypower.

 

[daft]

not bad, though, i would suggest getting another set of ram because (from personal experience) 4GB doesn't seem to be enough for vista ultimate 64.

 

[allenw1223]

First of all, you should tell us how much you are paying for that if you want us to keep our suggestions at the same price level. Also where you are from (US, CAD, EU, UK ect).

Secondly, Don't buy this from a PC manufacturer, build it yourself. You will get a lot more for your money and it really isn't that hard at all. It looks like you copied that from a configurator like cyberpowerpc or ibuypower.

I'm U.S. and it is ibuypower.

But if I go to online buy a part instead of using manufacturer cobfigurator it doesn't make any difference I have found becuse I checked some of the parts that way.

 

[allenw1223]

First of all, you should tell us how much you are paying for that if you want us to keep our suggestions at the same price level. Also where you are from (US, CAD, EU, UK ect).

Secondly, Don't buy this from a PC manufacturer, build it yourself. You will get a lot more for your money and it really isn't that hard at all. It looks like you copied that from a configurator like cyberpowerpc or ibuypower.

not bad, though, i would suggest getting another set of ram because (from personal experience) 4GB doesn't seem to be enough for vista ultimate 64.

Really 4 Gig ram not enough for Vista 64bit?
I barely use 1.5 gig without pagefile while I have Outlook up and am surfing and running a virus scan and doing something else too on my current XP SP3 32bit setup!

 

[allenw1223]

First of all, you should tell us how much you are paying for that if you want us to keep our suggestions at the same price level. Also where you are from (US, CAD, EU, UK ect).

Secondly, Don't buy this from a PC manufacturer, build it yourself. You will get a lot more for your money and it really isn't that hard at all. It looks like you copied that from a configurator like cyberpowerpc or ibuypower.

I'm paying $1700 including the software

 

[mlcloud]

$1700? Looks like a lot of unneeded bloatware's been added onto that rig. You really might consider building it yourself and saving easily a few hundred dollars... I had a q9550 + ATI HD 4890 build with very decent parts at around ~1100 with shipping before rebates, albeit with no card reader, no sound card, and no Windows Vista Ultimate/Microsoft Office.

I tried remaking that same computer through newegg, and I'm getting costs of ~$1300 WITHOUT microsoft office, WITH shipping, BEFORE $110 worth of rebates, with a mugen 2 instead of that obscure maxorb cooler along with some AS5 ($8.99, ouch) to boot. Leaves you about four hundred dollars to spend on microsoft office... except I just use Open Office for my document needs.

Bottom line? You came to Tom's Hardware. People will tell you to build it yourself ^_^.

 

[allenw1223]

Remember though, several hundred dollars is included for Vista Ultimate 64 bit and office 2007 basic in the price so the we're in $1300 area for just the hardware build and I think the parts sold seperately are close and it's built for me.
It's time consuming and I'm not experienced building a ground up computer.
So for less than $200 maybe $150 they build it for me, the parts are close to the same price I think.

 

[irkjab]

A few pointers regardless of whether you build it yourself.

- Get Vista Home 64bit, ultimate is overpriced and you don't get anything worthwhile with it.

- Just stick with the motherboard's onboard sound, its probably as good or better than the aged creative audigy card. Not that many people can tell the difference in sound quality in any case.

- The motherboard you selected has gigabit lan, don't get a network card.

- Do you really need 2TB of storage?

also, ignore what daft said. 4gb is plenty for Vista 64.

Edit: What do you mean by casual gamer? What games are you planning on playing with this?

 

[jamoramaJAM]

For 1700, you can even go i7 without much problems!

Also, E8400 would be a better choice(price) for no less performance.

 

[Why_Me]

Move up your fsb (9 x 400) = 3.6GHz @ 1600 fsb and call it good.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042 $59.95 Free Shipping*
Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835150070 $4.99
MASSCOOL FD12025S1L3/4 120mm Case Fan - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341022 $74.99 ($49.99 after $25.00 Mail-In Rebate)
OCZ Fatal1ty OCZ550FTY 550W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Active PFC Power Supply - Retail
Free 4GB flash drive w/ purchase, limited offer

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.181190 Combo Discount: -$15.00 Combo Price: $267.98 $15.00 Mail-In Rebate
GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8400 - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835207006 $29.99 ($19.99 after $10.00 Mail-In Rebate)
Sunbeam CR-CCTF92-4 92mm Core-Contact Freezer CPU Cooler W/TX-2 - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130434 $179.99 ($159.99 after $20.00 Mail-In Rebate) Free Shipping*
EVGA 896-P3-1255-AR GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231122 $42.99 Free Shipping*
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284 $104.99 Free Shipping*
Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151173 $25.99 Free Shipping*
SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820300608 $12.99
SABRENT CRW-UINB 68-in-1 USB 2.0 Internal Card Reader w/ USB 2.0 Port supports SDHC/VISTA - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116488 $99.99 Free Shipping*
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit for System Builders - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116135 $89.95 Free Shipping*
Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 Licensed for 3 PCs - Retail

Total: $994.79 | $924.79 w/rebates *not including shipping

 

[rewindlabs]

Nice build Why_Me

Still i would get a quad core considering his budget is so high...