Thoughts on this system?

Hey folks,

I've been doing lots of research in trying to customize my own PC. It's been like 5 years since I last upgraded my PC. I'm currently running an AMD Mobile 3400+, Abit NF7-S, 2 GB DDR PC3200 Corsair XMS, 250 GB Samsung, Antec Sonata, Antec TruePower 450 W. Yea, I know its like ancient and outdated. I was waiting for the release of the Phenom II AM3 socket before I decided to go for the much needed upgrade. Since i'm gonna be giving away my old PC to a family friend, i decided to get a new PC that would last me for quite some time. Since I'm graduating from college and I have some money saved up for quite a while (over 5 years since my last PC build lol), I decided to go for a great system. What do you guys think of my current PC setup? i'm going for the 1 TB storage because i record some videos for family functions, do some photoshop editing on the side. I was looking on Newegg to try to get as many good deals/discounts as possible when putting together this PC.

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APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Within the next week

BUDGET RANGE: $950-$1200

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming, surfing the internet, watching movies, multi-tasking

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Keyboard, Mice (gonna reuse my Logitech Desktop Keyboard+mouse), Speakers, Monitor (got a recent SAMSUNG Toc T220HD Rose Black 22 off Newegg), DVD Drive (Got an old Samsung DVD-RW drive lying around), OS (thinking of going Windows 7 64 bit beta here)

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg.com (generally get stuff from there)

PARTS PREFERENCES: AMD Phenom II AM3 socket, 4 GB DDR3 RAM, Antec for cases/PSU, Corsair generally for RAM

OVERCLOCKING: Yes

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Maybe

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1680x1050

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Would like a good sturdy system that will last me for quite a while (lookin to keep the PC for roughly 4-5 years and would like it to be stable, don't mind the noise as long as it isn't SUPER loud that I could hear in my sleep (i don't plan on leaving the PC on 24/7 like my other PC))

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List of Parts I'm considering:

CPU:
AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor Model HDZ955FBGIBOX - Retail

RAM:
CORSAIR XMS3 DHX 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TW3X4G1600C9DHX - Retail

Original Price: $342.00
Discount: -$50.00, $10 mail-in rebate
Combo Price + rebate: $282.00

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Comb [...] mbo.192694



Motherboard:
GIGABYTE GA-MA790XT-UD4P AM3 DDR3 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

Original Price: $139.99
Rebate: $15 mail-in
Final Price: $129.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128378


Heatsink for CPU:
Sunbeam CR-CCTF 120 mm Core-Contact Freezer CPU Cooler W/TX-2 - Retail


Original Price: $39.99
Rebate: $25 mail-in
Final Price: $14.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835207004


Hard Drive:
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F1 HD102UJ 1TB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM

Price: $79.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822152101

Case:
Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

Power Supply:
Antec TruePower New TP-750 Blue 750W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.3 / EPS12V V2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE ... - Retail

Original price: $239.94
Discount: -$40.00
Combo Price: $199.94

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Comb [...] mbo.193715


Video Card:
HIS Hightech H487QT1GP Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported IceQ 4+ Turbo Video Card - Retail


Original price: $259.99
Rebate: $20 mail in
Final price: $239.99 after $20.00 Mail-In Rebate

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814161265

Internal Floppy/Memory Card Reader:
SABRENT CRW-FLP2 All-in-one USB 2.0 Floppy Drive and 68in1 Internal Memory Card Reader & Writer - SDHC/VISTA - Retail

Original price: $22.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820300009


Initial Total Cost: $1,034.89
Tax $95.73
UPS 3 DAYS $30.65
Order Total $1,161.27

After rebates: ($70 worth)
$1091.27

About the OS, I was wondering if I could just use Windows 7 beta release 64 bit?

-Thanks guys!!!
DragonBeat

I'd also get the Phenom II x4 940 over the 955 - it'll clock just as high, and costs a good deal less.

the 940 is an AM2+ processor and needs an AM2+ mb . It is not compatible with am3 systems with DDR3

BUT

the 945BE is a 3.0 GHz AM3 cpu and better value than the 955 for the reasons you mention

For the price your paying on the 4870 (about $50 too much) you could get a pair of these 4850s for cheaper that will destroy it. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102824

would it be better to crossfire 2 low end cards or to just get 1 great video card.

2 x 4770/4850s vs. 1 4890

and if i do crossfire 2 cards do they have to be the exact type of card or does it jsut have to have the same chipset?

Theres an article in the section of this site about gfx cards . They crossfire two 4770's andcompare to a 4890 .
http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] ,2288.html

The 4770 is preferred to the 4850 IMO . The chip is burned in a finer process and it uses less power and performs just as well

http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] ,2098.html

The 4770 is similar in specs to the 4830 , but the 4770 is a definite improvement .

i was thinking of getting 2 separate sapphire graphics cards (1 from newegg and 1 from tigerdirect) of the ati radeon hd 4830s...

Sapphire Radeon HD 4830 Video Card - 512MB GDDR3, PCI Express 2.0 x16
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102822

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applica [...] kwCjCECjCE

only difference is that one has 2 DVI ports and the other has 1 DVI and 1 VGA. THese should work fine as a crossfire right?

yea i see where you're coming from. i decided to go w/ crossfired 4850s on newegg (it was only $15 more). Plus, it came w/ 2 hdmI cables which come in pretty handy.

i wish that there wasn't any CA taxes on Newegg... im paying my local state government over $100 in taxes -_-'.

Nice build, really. So sweet!

yea. im waiting for it to ship. i can't wait to put this rig together. i'm gonna recycle some old hard drives (250 GB, 2x200 GB, 1x 120 GB) and my Samsung IDE 12xDvD-RW.

it should go nicely w/ the samsung td220HD. i love the 2 free HDMI cables that came w/ the order (will be nice to have cuz i plan on getting a ps3 down the line). im looking forward to the transition from 32bit to 64bit.

Here are the images as promised:

Comp setup pics...

Side Views:

Diag tests:

Final specs for PC:

-AMD Phenom II 955 BE
-MSI 790FX-GD70
-8GB RAM (4 GB Patriot DDR 9-9-9-24 and 4 GB Corsair DDR 9-9-9-24)
- i originally got the corsair ram but the heatspread got in the way of mounting the 120mm fan for the sunbeam core contact cooler so i got the patriot ram which allowed room for the sunbeam heatsink
-Sapphire 4850 x 2 (xfire setup)
-500GB WD SATA, 250 GB Samsung SATA, 200 GB WD PATA100
-2 DVD+RW drives (i had em lying around)
-Antec 900 Case
-Antec 750 W blue LED PSU
-Windows 7 64bit OS

its been a solid PC so far. im loving it. havent had time yet but will test it w/ crysis soon