[Solved] Budget System to replace POS Gateway that died

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: ASAP/TODAY/TOMORROW

BUDGET RANGE: ($350 to $450)

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: (Editing Video, Burning CDs/DVDs, Office Aps, Editing Photos, Internet, etc.)

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Monitor, DVD-RW, CPU (for now)

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: NewEgg.com

PARTS PREFERENCES: by brand or type: Best Quality for the money. Looking at Gigabyte MoBo, Corsair PSU, Cooler Master Case, WD HDD, Corsair/Patriot/Kingston RAM

OVERCLOCKING: Doubtful/Maybe SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Doubtful/Maybe

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1080 I think!

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Prefer as quite, cool and reliable as possible. Simply want to get back up and running since my 2.5 year old Gateway POS died and it is ridiculously expensive (and likely a waste of time) to attempt to repair. Plan to re-use my CPU (Athlon x2 64 4200+ 2.2GHz - AM2) for the time being but would like to leave myself the ability to upgrade later!


So far, here is what I'm considering:

MoBo: Gigabyte: GA-MA785GM-US2H
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128394

PSU: Corsair: CMPSU-400CX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817139008

Case: Cooler Master: RC-690-KKN1-GP\
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811119137


I would really appreciate any advise at all. I should be able to pick out some RAM myself without too much trouble and I'll likely find the best Western Digital HDD that I can afford. Can anyone tell me if my Mobo will work properly with my old CPU? Can I later upgrade to a more powerful quad-core Phenom like the specs seem to indicate. Is there a better MoBo for this price range (approx $80). What about PSU? I've heard that Corsair is pretty good quality and I doubt I'll need more than minimal power. Will 400W be enough though? My POS Gateway had only 300. Also this Corsair is single rail which is better, right?

Again, any and all advise is much appreciated!

Thanks,
Rob

Addendum:

Here are a couple of RAM and HDD choices I'm considering:

RAM: Corsair: TWIN2X4096-6400C5 (2x2GB DDR2 800)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820145184

HDD: Western Digital: WD6401AALS (640GB Black Series)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136319

or

HDD: Western Digital: WD7500AADS (750GB Green Series)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136359

I also forgot to mention that I'll apparently need to buy a new OS, since I'm understanding that my WinXP MCE that came with my Gateway POS cannot be reinstalled on my new machine! I would consider LINUX, but I have several applications that I want to continued using and they, of course, are Windows versions. Any advise? I thought about searching online (ebay, Craigslist, etc.) for a used XP MCE or XP Pro, any thoughts?

Thanks!

You can get Windows Vista with a free upgrade to Windows 7 in a combo with the 640GB black WD drive.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Comb [...] 22-136-319

I would highly recommend going with the black drive over the green one for a system drive.

I'd say if you could spare a few bucks for the os, windows 7 looks to be a great os, and I'm definitely going to upgrade from my cp professional as soon as its out.

On the otherhand, this is basically 100 bucks, so if you can't spare it you cant spare it.

But the os will definitely last you a few years i think.

On the thermal paste note, i really don't think youll need to spend extra money on thermal paste. The kind that comes on the stock cpu cooler should be fine, until/if you decide to overclock.

I know, you're right. It's not a bad price at all when you consider the Win7 upgrade. I still don't like that I can't move it (OEM version) to another PC in the future. What if I were to build a better system in the near future and wanted to convert this one to LINUX, then move my Win7 to my new system. I mean, that sounds a bit convoluted, but I think it's a genuine gripe. As long as I'm not using it on more than one machine, why should it matter?

All that said, I really appreciate all of your help and advise. I'll probably end up getting exactly the combo you recommended.

As for an update: I ordered the Mobo/RAM combo, the PSU and the case from NewEgg about 15 minutes ago. (Is it allowed to post prices directly in here? If not, sorry! ) Total of under $230 delivered to my door! Not too bad, and now all I should need is the OS, HDD and Thermal Paste, right?

(Hey there jonsy2k, I also appreciate your thoughts and input. You may not have realized that I'm using my old CPU and heatsink, so that would require me to have some fresh thermal paste, right?)

So as a comparison... if I was buying the entire system, the additional cost for the CPU and DVD-RW would be somewhere around $100 - $120. I'd be at around $500 then (sans monitor). Not bad I suppose, considering it's custom built with better quality components than I'd get from a pre-built at that price.

Thanks!