New computer first time builder need advice

[icedart]

Hi all,

I was planning on building a new computer and while googling some stuff came across this forum so i decided to ask you guys what you think of my perspective build. I'm kind of on a budget (aren't we all?) of around $1300 including a monitor, speakers, keyboard and mouse. This is what i was thinking of:

LG DVD Burner Black SATA Model GH22NS50 - OEM

COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS 300GB 10000 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive

ASUS VH226H Black 21.5" 2ms(GTG) HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor - Retail

EDIMAX EW-7128G PCI Wireless Card - Retail

XFX HD-489A-ZDFC Radeon HD 4890 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready

CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified

Microsoft CA9-00001 Black PS/2 Standard Basic Keyboard and Mouse - OEM

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory

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

ASUS Crosshair III Formula AM3 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Black Processor Model HDZ720WFGIBOX -

I'm considering a AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor, but I'm not sure if its worth the extra money. I will be using this computer for school work, some video editing, photoshop, and gaming. Also, do you guys think the VelociRaptor drive is overkill?

Thanks

 

[obsidian86]

the velociraptor's price is overkill any new 7200rpm western digital will be within spitting distance of it with more space an a better price

 

[jbakerlent]

I agree with obsidian about the HDD. Also I would get this motherboard instead - cheaper, better in some ways.

MSI 790FX-GD70 AM3 AMD 790FX ATX AMD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130223

 

[hunter315]

For the price of that raptor you can get multiple 1TB drives and put them in raid if you want, or a SSD, or just save a bunch of money
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152102

 

[szymek]

Take caviar black and buy pII x4 for that and if it's with budget, buy larger monitor, it's a waste of power for that 4890.

 

[icedart]

Hey Guys,
Thanks for all of the suggestions. I decided to ditch the raptor drive and go with the Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive. I also switched my motherboard to the one suggested MSI 790FX-GD70 AM3 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail. Although i am kinda questioning it, i always thought that generally Asus boards were better than MSI boards. Last change is that i went with the AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor.
Thanks,

P.S.
I will appreciate anymore suggestions that you guys have.

 

[hunter315]

The Asus Crosshair boards come with the add in sound card, i like my M4A79T Deluxe board, it is the equivalent to the Crosshair III without the add in sound card but has more PCI-E slots. But in the end both boards are good it just depends which one has a good combo to go with it, i got my ASUS board and 955 processor with an 85 off combo so it was a no brainer.

 

[icedart]

Hey Guys,
I was just thinking that after getting rid of that raptor drive i have some money left over. What do you belive will give me a better performance boost? Putting 2 of the WD HDDs in RAID 0 or getting an extra 4GB of RAM. Price wise an extra HDD is about the same as 4GB of RAM.

 

[hunter315]

I would suggest one of the better drives instead of 2 500GB drives in raid 0. The samsung spinpoint 1TB drive uses 2 500GB platters and costs less than 2 500GB drives and should provide you better performance without the risk of array failure.

 

[icedart]

Hey,
I decided to go with the samsung spinpoint 1TB drive and the extra 4 gigs of RAM
while staying within budget. Now all i have to do is decide on the motherboard. I took a look at the M4A79T Deluxe board, but i don't think it supports ddr3 RAM so i think i will stay with the MSI since i don't think i will really need the sound card the crosshair III comes with.
Thanks again

 

[hunter315]

It does support DDR3, for AMD boards many of them have a T at the end of the model name that corresponds to the AM3 boards which support DDR3, this doesnt apply to all manufacturers but ASUS and gigabyte and several others follow this pattern.

Onboard sound is actually better than some of the cheaper discrete cards these days, especially on the boards that support full HDA.

 

[imrul]

Onboard sound is actually better than some of the cheaper discrete cards these days, especially on the boards that support full HDA.

so why not non-discreet sound cards?

 

[hunter315]

You do realize thats am impossible statement right? By discrete it means that it is a card and not integrated into the motherboard, a non-discrete sound chip is onboard sound, a non-discrete sound card would be a playing card that runs into the CPU fan and makes it sound like a motorcycle under your desk.

What i meant by that statement was that the onboard sound on my ASUS M4A79T Deluxe board is actually higher quality than the Audigy SE sound blaster card i was using in my old pentium 4.