~$500 USD 785g General Use

[battlemarz]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: 1-3 Weeks BUDGET RANGE: Around $500 USD, have some leeway

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: General Home usage, possible light gaming in future

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Mouse/Keyboard Monitor being purchased outside of budget

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg

PARTS PREFERENCES:

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe SLI OR CROSSFIRE: No

MONITOR RESOLUTION: Probably 2 x22" Monitor, 1680 x 1050 each.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Was leaning towards new 785g unless someone has a good reason to not use it at this price point.


Motherboard:
GIGABYTE GA-MA785GMT-UD2H
$90

Processor:
AMD Phenom II X3 710
$130 - $30 instant = $100

RAM:
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333
$75

Hard Drive:
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS
$57

Power Supply: (I'm assuming 420W will be enough with no discrete graphics, if not will go with corsair 650)
PC Power & Cooling Silencer PPCS420X 420W
$70 - $15 instant = $55

Case:
Antec Three Hundred
$70- $10 instant = $60

DVD:
LG Black
$29

OS:
Windows 7 RC until Realease

Total: $465 without future OS purchase (Which was considered in budget)

My main question is whether I should go for a DDR3 version of 785g and swap out the ram. Which would be better considering processor and budget?

 

[shortstuff_mt]

I would ditch the IDE DVD burner for a SATA model.

SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 22X DVD-R 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA DVD Burner LightScribe Support - OEM $28.99

I would suggest swapping out the motherboard and RAM for the DDR3 equivalent as you mentioned. It will slightly raise the price, but will allow for easier and cheaper upgrades in the future. DDR3 has become the standard. The prices of DDR3 should remain pretty stable, but DDR2 RAM prices will continue to rise as it's phased out. The same thing happened to DDR RAM when DDR2 became the standard.

GIGABYTE GA-MA785GMT-UD2H AM3 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail $89.99

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL7D-4GBPI - Retail $74.99

 

[battlemarz]

Wow thanks, didn't even think to check IDE dvd, figured they weren't even making them heh. And the upgrade to DDR3 is only 20 dollars so may be worth it. Thanks

 

[batuchka]

Definitely can get an AM3/DDR3

Clocks, Unlockers and review
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=222156

 

[dirtmountain]

You might consider going with an Antec Earthwatts 380w at $50 with free shipping (total saving is about $15 for me) which would be fine for your system even if you added a HD4770 in the future.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371005

Good call by Batuchka and the Sonata deal. Good case that leans more towards quiet rather then cooling.

 

[battlemarz]

Yea, I'll change it up to AM3/DDR3. Hadn't considered combo deals yet until some people took a look at it.

I'll have to think about the earthwatts, thanks for that.