Building a student use computer

[armi]

Hi, i'm still a high school student and i'm looking to upgrade from my last computer which is old and falling apart. (Think socket 462)

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Probably this summer if not, Xmas.

BUDGET RANGE: 1.2-1.5K

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Media encoding, Autocad, school work, coding, blu-ray movies(1080p), gaming, skype.

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Keyboard, mouse, OS.

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Any, just need parts to compare. Newegg is the cheapest that I know of.

PARTS PREFERENCES: 22-24" screen, Core i7, 1TB HD.

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe (The fact that i7 can be oc'ed to 3GHz easily on stock cooling makes it so appealing)

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Maybe, i'm not sure if I should buy the second card later or not.

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1680x1050? That's the max for 22" right?

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: I prefer a function PC that works. I prefer a quieter computer but I can tolerate a bit of noise since my old computer is pretty noisy too.

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What I have constructed (I need your input since it looks a tad expensive),

Case - Antec 900 - 99.99 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021

Memory - G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory(retail) - 89.99 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231223

Hard Drive - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drives(OEM) - 99.99 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284

Motherboard - Can't decide between

Foxconn Flamingblade - 199.99 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813186171
GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD3R - 199.99 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128375
Asus P6T SE - 209.99 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131386

CPU - 279.99 - Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920(Retail) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202

Graphic Card (The decision i'm stuck the most on. Should I buy one or two?) - 189.99 - SAPPHIRE 100259-1GL Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card(Retail) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102801

LCD Monitor - ASUS VW246H Black 24" 2ms(GTG) HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor (Retail) - 219.99 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236049

Power Supply Unit - COOLER MASTER UCP RS700-AAAAA3 700W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Power Supply(Retail) - 129.99 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171032

Optical Drive - SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA DVD Burner(OEM) - 23.99 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151187

Cables - BYTECC 18" Serial ATA-150/300 Cable w/Locking Latch Model SATA-118C(Retail) - 1.89x2 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812270093

Fans - MASSCOOL FD08025S1M4 80mm Case Fan - Retail - 1.99 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835150007

Total works out to be: 1337.79 w/o CF and 1527.78 with CF

Help please?

Or... should I wait until the wave of DX11 cards are out and hope that the computer i'm about to buy will drop substantially in price?

 

[GhislainG]

This is a useless exercise if you're not ready to buy now. Things change quickly, e.g., this fall you'll be able to buy a Core i5 along with a LGA-1156 socket motherboard and save quite a bit without losing performance over the Core i7 920. You could buy components that you know you'll need for sure (case and PSU) when they're on special and wait until this fall for the rest. Everything else probably will be less expensive this fall (or eventually be on special).

 

[raybob95]

This is a useless exercise if you're not ready to buy now. Things change quickly, e.g., this fall you'll be able to buy a Core i5 along with a LGA-1156 socket motherboard and save quite a bit without losing performance over the Core i7 920. You could buy components that you know you'll need for sure (case and PSU) when they're on special and wait until this fall for the rest. Everything else probably will be less expensive this fall (or eventually be on special).

+1.

Also, 1680x1050 is not the max for 22". I just bought an LG 21.5" @ 1920x1080.

 

[xaira]

choose the gigabyte board
buy a 4890

 

[armi]

Thanks for the replies.
I completely forgot that Lynnfield was going to be released this fall.

Do you have a reason for me to get the 4890?

 

[ehanger]

The 4890 is a bit faster but costs like $50 more. If you want to go with Nvidia the equivalent cards are the GTX 260 core 216 and the GTX 275.

 

[brendano257]

This is a useless exercise if you're not ready to buy now. Things change quickly, e.g., this fall you'll be able to buy a Core i5 along with a LGA-1156 socket motherboard and save quite a bit without losing performance over the Core i7 920. You could buy components that you know you'll need for sure (case and PSU) when they're on special and wait until this fall for the rest. Everything else probably will be less expensive this fall (or eventually be on special).

This is true, I'm not sure on GT300 Chip release dates, but these will most likely overpower the current GT200 chips by a rather large margin. Also Core i5 will come out, and DDR3 prices will drop more (hopefully.) If you take the above advice and wait around and purchase stuff that is on sale or really cheap....make sure you test it. I pre-purchased ram for a build only to build it a month later and find that it was DOA. So if you get a PSU, check it with another computer, cases not so much but yeah, make sure it works and go through RMA if it doesn't.

 

[armi]

thanks for the replies =)