New System - ~$1000 budget

[theJ]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Within the next week.

BUDGET RANGE: $1000 ($840 without monitor), including shipping - strict limit or my wife will kill

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming, watching and recording TV, some office work, internet (obviously)

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: OS (have win7, XP and linux already) - everything else will be needed new down to the thermal paste

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg.com

PARTS PREFERENCES: None. Picked AMD X3 for now because i thought it would fit my budget better.

OVERCLOCKING: Possibly. I realize that overclocking really helps so i will most likely do it.

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Maybe in the future. For now my budget probably only includes one card.

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1600x900

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: First time build. So please let me know what other peripherals are needed as well (ex. what types of screwdrivers i'll need, other tools, thermal paste, cables, etc.). I'm not familiar with what comes packaged in the parts i'm buying already.

What i've come up with so far:

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

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-MA790GPT-UD3H AM3 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

Graphics Card: SAPPHIRE 100283-2L Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - Retail

PSU: Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V version 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified ... - Retail

Case: Rosewill DESTROYER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case ,comes with Three Fans-1x Front Blue LED 120mm Fan, 1x Top 120mm ... - Retail

Memory: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ - Retail

HDD: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

HSF: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus Intel Core i5 & Intel Core i7 compatible RR-B10-212P-G1 120mm "heatpipe direct contact" Long ... - Retail

Disk Drive: LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model GH22NP20 - OEM

Mouse/Keyboard: Microsoft Black PS/2 Wired Standard Business Hardware Pack - Retail - If recommending another, note must have 5 button mouse. I have one already on another PC and am in love with it.

Wireless adaptor: Zonet ZEW2500P MINI USB / USB 2.0 Wireless Adapter - Retail

Monitor: HP 2009m - $170 (bought in store already)

Thanks for any help!

 

[dndhatcher]

You want the antec 300 illusion model. You get two front 120mm fans for the same price.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129066


Caviar blue is a "cool & quiet" data drive, not a high performance boot drive. The best value in boot drives is the Samsung F3 500GB ($55) or 1TB ($85), the Seagate 7200.12 500GB or 1TB are also decent choices.

 

[obsidian86]

or a few bucks more the rosewill destroyer looks good

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147144

 

[dndhatcher]

or a few bucks more the rosewill destroyer looks good

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147144

Gee, that silhouette looks familiar. Thought you had mislinked an Antec 900 for a second. Does look like a decent case.

 

[obsidian86]

the poor mans 900 ,but the 900 is a lil smaller

 

[theJ]

You want the antec 300 illusion model. You get two front 120mm fans for the same price.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129066


Caviar blue is a "cool & quiet" data drive, not a high performance boot drive. The best value in boot drives is the Samsung F3 500GB ($55) or 1TB ($85), the Seagate 7200.12 500GB or 1TB are also decent choices.

I actually didn't know there were two Antec 300's. I've made the change, thanks! (OP edited as well)

As for the second point, what makes the Samsung more of a boot drive over the Caviar blue? I'm mainly curious, though i do believe you because my tech knowledge isn't that high. Both are 7200 RPM and have a 16 MB cache.

or a few bucks more the rosewill destroyer looks good


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147144

I hesitate because it has absolutely no reviews. Is it a new case or a slightly different model? Can anyone give a review of it?

 

[obsidian86]

its a completely new case came online this week

 

[theJ]

its a completely new case came online this week

After some debate, i think i'd rather go with the Illusion. By the specs, i get one more fan (+1 on the front, both have one back, one top and at least one front) and it's battle tested. I know it will be a great case, where as the Rosewill leaves me with some unpredictability. I don't need the excitement, haha.

What about the other parts i've chosen? Any way to squeak out a little more performance for a few bucks...or even while shaving some money off. The parts i've chosen leave me about $200 for a monitor and any extra little things.

 

[dndhatcher]

WD has three Caviar drive lines. Black is their performance drives. Blue is "cool & quiet" drives for longevity and low noise. Green is eco (low power usage, made of 40% recycled materials).

Whats more confusion is many drives are older designs. The new WD Caviar Black 2TB drive has 4x500GB platters and is maybe the fastest HDD available today. The current Caviar Black 1TB runs 3x~333GB platters and is not as fast. I assume that sometime soon that 1TB model will be replaced with a 2x500GB platter model which will far outperform the 3x333GB model. There will be some overlap time where you will have to look at the long model number to know if you are getting a new fast 1TB or an old slow 1TB.

Samsung has done better in that regard, they are on the F3 model and all F3s are fast 500GB drives. F2s are low power eco drives and F1s are their older models. Seagate does it by revision. The 7200.12 is the current revision and the 7200.12 500GB and 1TB are both 500GB platter drives.

Unfortunately the only way I know to find out exactly whats in a drive is to read reviews, the manufacturers never tell you valuable info like the number of platters.

 

[theJ]

Very helpful, thank you. I changed the build in the OP to include the Samsung F3 500 GB. I may end up getting the 1 TB version, depending on how i'm doing with the budget later.

Any other comments or concerns on the build as shown?

 

[theJ]

Updated the OP with a WLAN card. I realized this morning that i'd have an Ethernet cord running across the floor of the most trafficked area in my apartment. I don't have any experience with wireless cards, so i'd appreciate any advice there.

Thanks!

 

[dndhatcher]

Dont get an internal Wireless network card, get a USB one. In my experience they work as well and are easy to move and disable if you need. Ive just used cheap linksys and netgear.

 

[theJ]

Alright, added a wireless USB adaptor.

It would seem that i lost a lot of instant savings overnight, probably with the switch of the new year. Cart went up $30 overnight. Looks like the case lost $15 in savings, the power supply went up as well, as did the keyboard/mouse combo. Bummer.

Any last suggestions over the build as a whole?

 

[theJ]

Bought my monitor today. 1600x900 resolution, so i'm assuming the 5770 will be plenty for it for mild gaming and some video watching.

I think i am going to go for the Rosewill destroyer case, unless the Antec drops price again. The Rosewill has free shipping and is $10 cheaper so i save almost $30 there, which i can put into a better mouse and keyboard.

Can someone give me a confirmation that the parts i've selected work together well and that i won't be in a bind? I'd like to order soon, but i want to make sure i didn't mess anything up.

 

[obsidian86]

yeah all will work fine

and a 5770 will destroy just bout any game maximum at 1600x900

 

[theJ]

Sweet that's what i wanted to hear. Thanks so much for the help.

I'll probably order tomorrow sometime, so if someone comes along and sees a problem, don't hesitate to say something.

Thanks to dndhatcher and obsidian86 for the help!