Final check, ordering parts today!

[ashenromance]

Just checking one last time to make sure this is a sound build for a gaming PC. Ordering the parts today unless someone sees a serious flaw. Any advice or opinions welcome!

SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache IDE 22X DVD±R DVD Burner - OEM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151175

COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119137

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181

Acer X233Hbid Black 23" 5ms HDMI Full 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 40000:1 (ACM) - Retail: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009163

HIS H489F1GP Radeon HD 4890 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161276

Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V version 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC "compatible with Core i7" Power Supply - Retail: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371015

Patriot Viper 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model PVS34G1333LLKN - Retail: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220333

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit for System Builders w/ Tech Guarantee - OEM
Includes free Windows 7 upgrade coupon: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116677

ASUS M4A78T-E AM3 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail + AMD Phenom II X4 945 Deneb 3.0GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor Model HDX945FBGIBOX - Retail combo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.239850




Super excited about ordering this and then getting to work on building it when it gets here!

 

[wathman]

Looks pretty good. Only possible change I'd make is going with a better hard drive. Not sure how tight your budget is, but at $20 more, I think a 500 GB Caviar Black will get you better performance. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136320

 

[lehighace06]

i'd recommend a corsair power supply, the TX750 is really nice and only $10 more than your Asus, with an extra 100 watts (if you're going to go xfire in the future you'll want that extra juice) or you can get their TX650 for the same price

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=Property&N=2010090058&Manufactory=1459&PropertyCodeValue=1314%3A28169%2C1314%3A14179%2C1314%3A28170&bop=And&ActiveSearchResult=False&SrchInDesc=tx&Page=1

 

[lehighace06]

+1 to wathman's Caviar Black suggestion, i'd even take it a step further and get the 640gb, bigger platters.

another nice upgrade for about $30 more is an Antec 900 case over your cooler master. sweet looking and i personally really like the PSU in the bottom

one more upgrade you can make is to your ram, OCZ obsidian 6gb kit is only about $20 more than your patriot - latency of 9 instead of 7 but i'd take that drop to get 50% more ram any day

 

[wathman]

yeah, if it's still within your budget, the 640GB with larger platters is better. I just suggested the 500GB because your original Samsung choice was one of the least expensive 7200 RPM drives, so I thought you might be close to your max budget. I also think that Corsair makes the better PSU, though Antec is pretty reliable too. Since price is identical per wattage, I'd say it's a toss up.

 

[batuchka]

one more upgrade you can make is to your ram, OCZ obsidian 6gb kit is only about $20 more than your patriot - latency of 9 instead of 7 but i'd take that drop to get 50% more ram any day

AM3 chipsets run in dual channel not triple channel and TS picked the right RAMs: CL7 DDR3 1333

 

[ashenromance]

okay, so something like this, then:


SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache IDE 22X DVD±R DVD Burner - OEM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151175

Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021

Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136320

Acer X233Hbid Black 23" 5ms HDMI Full 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 40000:1 (ACM) - Retail: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009163

HIS H489F1GP Radeon HD 4890 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161276

CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Retail: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005

Patriot Viper 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model PVS34G1333LLKN - Retail: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220333

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit for System Builders w/ Tech Guarantee - OEM
Includes free Windows 7 upgrade coupon: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116677

ASUS M4A78T-E AM3 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail + AMD Phenom II X4 945 Deneb 3.0GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor Model HDX945FBGIBOX - Retail combo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.239850


which is about $170 over my budget, but still manageable.

 

[Transmaniacon]

Ive been hearing a lot of good things about the Samsung F3, and that its faster than the Caviar Blacks. The RC-690 is a great case, I dont see a need to bump up to the Antec 900. +1 on the 750TX PSU, you can xfire two of those HD4890 with it, and its almost the same price. Everything else looks great.

 

[lehighace06]

sorry about the bad advice on the 6gb ram set...since you're already up against your budget or over it, maybe down the line you may want to consider a second 4gb ram kit, i just personally feel like only 4gb of ram is going to be a bottleneck if you're doing more than two things at once (i know i'm usually doing 4+)

smaller hard drives are a really good place to drop a few bucks from your budget, so i dont disagree with sticking with 500gb, $/gb is dropping almost daily so you can pick up another 500gb in a year if needed; given that you're up to the wall with your budget

 

[wathman]

The F3's have performed well in synthetic testing, read and write speeds have been better than the Caviar Blacks from what I've seen also. These drives are so new though that I can't find much with real world testing and application performance. That's where the Caviar Blacks have proven themselves already. Even a simple PCMark score for a Samsung F3 would give a rough idea, but haven't located one yet.

Also along the lines of going with the "smaller" capacity drives now available: if you calculate the gigabyte per dollar price for the various capacities now, they usually tend to vary by maybe 1/10th of a cent right now. There's not a whole lot of increased value with going with a larger drive now, rather than getting smaller ones and adding later.

 

[obsidian86]

what you mean 640gb with bigger platters the f3 uses a single high density 500gb platter the wd uses 2 320gb platters an the reason you not finding any reviews on the f3's is cuz they are brand new newegg has had the 500gb listed for almost 3 weeks and the 1tb for a week

 

[wathman]

I think the idea with the 640 GB over 500 GB was for considering the Caviar Black lineup, As far as I know, they don't have a single platter 500GB Caviar Black, so 2 320 GB platters is larger than 2 250 GB platters. I still think the Caviar Blacks are better for application performance. Until there are some real world benchmarks that show the F3's can do just as good or better.

 

[shortstuff_mt]

You should ditch your IDE DVD burner for a SATA model. I'm not sure why they won't just let IDE die.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=samsung+22x+sata&x=0&y=0

 

[bytor54]

I see I'm a little late to be of much help here... but I've gotten so much help with my recent build, that I want to contribute whatever I can.

I'll just say this about the Samsung vs. WD drive issue: I've worked in IT & tech support for many years and out of dozens of WD drives, I've never seen a failure. Very little experience with Samsung drives, but did have a few issues with one last year. Take it for what it is. I personally did go with the WD Black 640 & love it so far!

That Cooler Master case you originally picked is the exact one I used for my build and I love it. Not crazy about how the front cover attaches (seemed like I slightly damaged the top two mounting "pegs" when removing), but included fans, construction, room, wiring and even the tool-less features are all good stuff IMO. Can't speak to the Antec. BTW, CoolerMaster case has bottom mount PSU also!

I had no need right now for mega watts, but I did go with the 400 watt Corsair PSU and it seems like awesome quality. Can't see going wrong with Corsair.

I also personally went with Gigabyte for my Mobo, but ASUS is generally highly regarded.

I really enjoyed my build and LOVE my system. Best of luck!

Rob

 

[lehighace06]

i'm going with bytor on the WD issue, i haven't worked in the field but have seen a lot of computers come and go as a hobbyist, and i've never seen issues with WD either. i have the antec case, a large corsair psu and an asus mobo (my second or third asus) and all are working very well for me.