Help me choose between builds

[blakehanson]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Thinkin tomorrow...

BUDGET RANGE: Wanted less than 700......but, its looking like im over 800 (please recomend some parts to make it cheaper)

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming (Eve: Online, WOW, couple first person shooters), Movies, Internet

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Keyboard, mouse

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Which ever is cheapest

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Maybe later

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 19 in Widescreen 1680 x 1050

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Please any advice would be great!


Heres the parts:

Acer X193W+BD Black 19" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 2000:1 (ACM) - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6824009127

RAIDMAX Tornado ATX-238WU Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156223

LG Black 22X (CAV) DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X (CAV) 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

Couldnt find the retail drive version, for the better software, with sata connection. Let me know if you see any retal versions for same price and have same features.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827136153

OCZ StealthXStream OCZ500SXS 500W ATX12V / EPS12V Active PFC Power Supply - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341012

ASRock M3A790GXH/128M AM3 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157152

SAPPHIRE 100245HDMI Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102824

AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Black Processor Model HDZ720WFGIBOX - Retail
Item #: N82E16819103649

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103649

OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ3P13334GK - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227287

HITACHI Deskstar P7K500 HDP725050GLA360 (0A35415) 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145215

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit for System Builders - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6832116488

This build= $833


So, its either this build up top or this build below. Please help me choose.Which is better???


Heres the parts:

Acer X193W+BD Black 19" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 2000:1 (ACM) - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6824009127

RAIDMAX Tornado ATX-238WU Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156223

LG Black 22X (CAV) DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X (CAV) 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

Couldnt find the retail drive version, for the better software, with sata connection. Let me know if you see any retal versions for same price and have same features.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827136153

OCZ StealthXStream OCZ500SXS 500W ATX12V / EPS12V Active PFC Power Supply - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341012

GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128387

SAPPHIRE 100245HDMI Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102824

AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Black Processor Model HDZ720WFGIBOX - Retail
Item #: N82E16819103649

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103649

OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227298

HITACHI Deskstar P7K500 HDP725050GLA360 (0A35415) 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145215

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit for System Builders - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6832116488

Price for this build= $828

Prices are pretty close.
Anything, on either build, to lower price yet keep it performing well.
Or anything to add or upgrade that wont increase the price too much (a lil is fine)?
What do you think?
Which will perform better?
Help me figure out what to do.. Really do need to bring price down, but well see.

Thanks guys!

 

[Outlander_04]

download the RC of windows 7 from microsoft . Its free till march next year and frees up $100 for your build .

Consider spending the money you save on a 22 inch monitor 1680 x 1050 . I dont see much advantage of the higher resolution in a 19 inch screen . All it will do is lower fps in games compared to a 1440 x 200 screen

 

[Helloworld_98]

also change the graphics card to a 4770 and save yourself some $.

 

[blakehanson]

Do you not think the RC 7 will give me problems? Or you think itll be ok? I dont wanna not order Vista in hopes for Windows 7 to work and it not work and me have to wait for vista to get mailed out to me. Then its another week wait. You know what I mean?

Considering that, do you think itll still be a good idea to go the Win 7 route?

The 4770 wont really save me much money right now. Theres a promotion, which ends tomorrow, on the 4850 that will save me about another 10 dollars which brings it to about 100 dollars. Also, 4770 are running about $110 on newegg right now.

Given that, do you think i should still go for 4770?

Also, which build do you think I should go with? First or the second one?

 

[Outlander_04]

theres no doubt that 7 is a better os and that Vista is nearing the end of its life .

Use the rc if you are gaming and surfing . There may be issues to deal with in the short term like drivers not being 100% , but I think you will be ok and you will be using the latest version of windows .

Dont use 7 if you run a business or do your taxes etc on your computer . Its too early to be sure

The 4770 and 4850 bench about the same . Which ever is cheaper imo

 

[geofelt]

Anandtech recently had a nice article entitled pc buyer's guide: PC's under $825.
http://www.anandtech.com/guides/showdoc.aspx?i=3563&p=1

Windows-7 -64 bit is complete and very good. I would download and use it until the retail version is out. It will require a reinstall then, but if that is no problem to you, why not try it? If you are a student, you can get an academic vista license for less than retail.

For a gaming machine, a higher clocked dual core will be better that three or 4 slower cores. Look at the intel options. Spend more on the monitor if you can. You will keep that for several generations of pc.

 

[Outlander_04]

I cant agree with you on the intel c2d geofelt

The 720 be benchmarks around the e8500 level in games , costs less , and is better in multithreaded apps .
Intel wins on power consumption , and thats pretty much it

 

[blakehanson]

Thanks for advice guys!

 

[mtyermom]

At this point, with those parts, I don't think you'll have any problems with Win 7 64 that you wouldn't have with Vista 64, if any. You should be perfectly fine downloading the Windows 7 RC and using it as your primary OS. (I've been using Windows 7 as my primary OS from beta 7000 through RC 7100)

Also, you wrote the post as two builds for us to help you choose, but the only differences are the motherboard and ram. You can list all the parts you're sure on as your build, then list the different boards and ram to help choose between. /rant

I don't really see a reason to use DDR3 for your build, especially if you're already over budget. So I definitely recommend the second configuration you listed with the Gigabyte board and DDR2.

Now, about the Raidmax case you chose, I noticed that it does not have free shipping. The newegg shopping cart shows shipping of $14.99 to my location (Houston, TX). So, for $39.99 + $14.99 = $54.98 I think you can get a better case for the same money (+/- $5). Here are my picks:

Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail $58.95 w/ free shipping

GIGABYTE GZ-X7BMDX-400 Black SECC / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail $49.99 w/ free shipping

I see this quite a bit on newegg where lower quality/less expensive part X + shipping comes out the same as higher quality/more expensive part Y with free shipping. You just have to keep digging til you find the right deal.

The shipping charge notwithstanding, just look at the reviews on that Raidmax case. A lot of people are reporting very low build quality, often with broken parts on arrival, and trouble fitting full ATX configurations.

 

[blakehanson]

mtyermom...

Thanks for your reply! It was very helpful. And I will be looking around for a better case with free shipping.

Im also going to go with the ddr2 build that I posted.

Although, I had a couple more questions... Should I change the monitor to this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009175

And keep the same video card (4850) since it has HDMI output and monitor is 1080p monitor?

OR....

Should I keep the same monitor and upgrade to either of these 2 video cards:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150351

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150337

Between these two video cards I believe the only difference is 512mb and 1 gig of ram and only a 15dollar difference.

OR...

Should I just keep the build how it is???

What do you think I should do?

 

[Outlander_04]

ddr2 is at the end of its life . Check on newegg and look at the prices of ddr .

In two years time thats where ddr2 will be because all systems will be ddr3 .
There isnt much of a price premium so I would say ddr3 if you can afford it

a 4850 is not powerful enough to run games in high quality at good frame rates on a 1080 p panel . You'd either have to turn the quality down or have choppy game play in the latest games.
A single 4850 will do ok on a 1680 x 1050 22 inch panel

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009145
Acer X223Wbd Black 22 $160 with free shipping