US$700-900 AMD Home System first time builder

[wmm]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: :Late July/Early August 2009

BUDGET RANGE: US$700-$900

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: General office stuff - writing, PowerPoint, spreadsheets, database, surfing internet, low-end photo and video editing

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, will use XP or download Windows 7 Release Candidate and bug the IT guys at work for help

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Newegg.com, but open to ideas

PARTS PREFERENCES: AMD mainly because the AM3socket looks like it will be useful longer term for upgrades than the 775

OVERCLOCKING: No

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: No

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1680x1050

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: First time builder, trying to be frugal but build a computer that will have the potential to last for more than a few years with reasonable upgrades. Want to use RAID 1 array for data security, lots of RAM to cater to MS tendency to work better if lots of RAM available

Parts:

AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb 3.0GHz Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Black Edition Processor Model HDZ940XCGIBOX - Retail


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

COOLER MASTER Centurion 534 RC-534-KKN2-GP Black Aluminum & Mesh bezel / SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

SeaSonic S12 II SS-500GB 500W ATX12V V2.3 / EPS12V V2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Retail

SAMSUNG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S223Q LightScribe Support - OEM

Two Western Digital Caviar Green WD5000AADS 500GB SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive - Retail

Two G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ - Retail

DIAMOND 4770PE5512 Radeon HD 4770 512MB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail

Newegg price before various discounts and shipping: US$780.90

 

[mcwargod]

is there a specific reason as to why you want 2 500 gig hard drives? 1 tb would be around 40 dollars cheaper
and the only thing i would change is get
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171031 for the power supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130339 for the video card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284 for the hard drive

 

[hunter315]

Stick with the seasonic PSU, it is stronger than the Cooler Master one by a fair amount.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150337
4850 is stronger than the 4770, its a bit more power intensive but its also cheaper, exhausts heat out the back, and comes with the double lifetime warranty.

 

[Outlander_04]

Some confusing about am2/am3?

Am2 mb's use ddr2 ram and accept am2 or am3 processors
am3 mb's use ddr3 ram and only accept am3 processors .

IMO AM3 is the better option with ongoing parts support . In a year or two ddr2 , for example ,might be an expensive legacy product . There is certainly more future proofing with AM3

Heres an AM3 build that will be more than powerful enough for your usage

Its unlikely you will need 8 gigs of ram . Games and applications cant use this much ram so stick with 4 gig . The exceptions are CS4 and running VM's

AMD Phenom II X4 810 2.6GHz $139
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103650

2 x2 gig of Gskill DDR3 $65
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231200

ASRock M3A790GXH/128M AM3 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard $115
[ made by asus , and the best onboard gfx available ]
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157152


With this mb you will not need a gfx card .
Cost of mb/cpu/ram is $319
all the latest technology and plenty of expansion options

Increase performance by adding a stronger AM3 processors if theyre in the budget , but the 810 is easily capable of handling the tasks you mention