Building an upgrade computer.. this sound good?

[sanders4617]

The last time I upgraded my computer was around 2004 I believe. I have an Athlon 64 2800. 1.25GB of ram. Ati Radeon 9700 Pro.

Here is what I want to upgrade to.. please let me know if anything is conflicting.. such as ram, psu, cpu/mobo, etc.

I am getting a cheap graphics card till I get the money to get a better one.

Cooler Master Case: $40
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119068

GeForce 8400 GS - $30
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814162026

OCZ Fatality 550W - $50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341022

OCZ NVIDIA SLI Ready 4GB (2x12) - $40
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227377

AMD Phenom X4 940 with Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4P Mobo Combo - $274

Coming to: $461 (w/ out shipping and mail in rebates).

Anyway.. I plan on upgrading the videocard to something like a Radeon HD 4870... so remember that when looking at my PSU. Will it be able to handle my processor and graphics card (once I get this one)?

Is that ram good? Should I go up to PC 8500 or is that even a good set of ram?

Thanks and appreciate any help I get.

 

[gkay09]

Well its a pretty nice setup...
As for your question about the PSU, yes it can easily handle the CPU + GPU without any problems...It can actually even handle ATI 4890...
But that PSU can't handle 4870 crossfire (which that board can support)
So if you have a plan of future crossfire, then you should get a 700W or above PSU...
Some thing like these...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256049
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341011

But if you don't have a plan for crossfire in the near future,then stick with the PSU that you have chosen...

A suggestion though...The case that you have chosen is good but doesn't have good airflow...This case is very good and comes with free shipping...So when you include shipping for the case that you have chosen, then the price gap would reduce and better off buying this case...It has many fan slots and is highly rated...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042

As for your RAM question, yes going with 1066MHz would increase the performance as AMD CPUs can utilize that speed...
Get something like this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227289...

 

[gkay09]

And better off buying this combo and skipping that graphics card...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.182237

 

[sanders4617]

gkay09... Is the build in graphics better than what I had chosen or something? I noticed it doesn't have as many USB ports... but who in the world needs 8 anyway. how does the mobo in the combo there compare with the one I had chosen?

 

[gkay09]

Well actually the mobo that you have selected and the one that I had suggested are basically the same...The 790X has no onboard video whereas the 790GX comes with ATI 3300 onboard video and it has 128MB DDR3 vRAM...
It would perform very similar to the 8400GS...

 

[sanders4617]

Yeah.. and onboard video would be good. Have a backup videocard always.

 

[sanders4617]

Ok. So this is what I plan to do right now:

Get this case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042

This PSU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341022

This Ram:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227289

This combo:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.182239

I will buy that.. and go ahead and get it set up in the case.

Then save up money to buy Radeon 4890
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10010282&prodlist=celebros

I can run the system at that point.. but I want to eventually upgrade everything... Get a new DVD drive. New harddrive. New monitor. All of that will come in time.. but as of now, Getting all of that stuff up there will come to $650, which includes Radeon 4890.. AMD Phenom II X4 940.. and 4GB of PC8500 Ram... and the new case and psu (mine now sucks).

I personally can not wait.. and let me know if any of this could be found for a cheaper price. I feel like once I get this, I won't have to worry about upgrading for a good while.

 

[gkay09]

Well the setup looks very good...Go ahead and enjoy the buy...But in a upgrade perspective, I feel there is still one thing you can double check on...that is the PSU...
Reason :
That PSU can handle one 4890 without any issues...But if you plan to crossfire the 4890, then you would have to change the PSU also...
So if you have crossfire option in mind say within this year, then change the PSU or if you wont be adding one more 4890 for atleast a year, then don't change the PSU because after 1 year a 4890 crossfire maybe outdated and a single card that time would outperform that setup...So that time you can just replace the 4890 with a newer card...
So it goes like this...
Crossfire upgrade within 1 year - Change the PSU now to atleast 700W PSU (Preferrably Corsair 750TX)
No Crossfire atleast for 1 year - Stick with the OCZ...

 

[sanders4617]

Ok thanks! I don't know that I plan on crossfiring at this point. Would just depend.

I am not actually going to buy this right now.... Will probably be about a month. I just like to get things planned out. And I also hope that by then, maybe the price will go down on one or two things. I can't wait though. The Radeon 9700 Pro just doesn't cut it anymore.. along with Athlon 2800 and 1.25GB of PC2700 ram. hah

 

[gkay09]

Hahaha...ya I can see you are dying to get this setup ...
And yes like you said prices are sure to come down and mayb you could get the P II X4 955 in that setup ...

 

[sanders4617]

Hmm.. I haven't even looked at that one.

I haven't played COD since COD2.. and I couldn't run it real smooth. I can run CS Source pretty well (on loowww settings).. but if I jump into a room with a good amount of people, I should go ahead and call it death.

I haven't gotten to play any new FPS games.. so I look forward to buying COD4 (not sure if i want 5 or not).. and a couple other ones.