New Build in about 3 weeks. Advice?

[Madgrizzly]

Hello all, I have been researching for about a month now and Ive come to the conclusion to build my own system rather then worry about ordering with CyberPowerpc or IBUYPOWER since ive seen some rather awful reviews. Anyway I will be ordering my parts from newegg.com and was wondering if my build was a decent gaming rig. Specs:
--Os: Windows 7 premium home ( 199.00 ) Buying from Bestbuy
--Kaspersky Anti virus 2010 ( 59.99 ) Buying from Bestbuy
--Case: Antec Nine hundred Black steel ATX ( $109.99 )
--Motherboard: Asus P7P55D LGA1156 Intel P55 ATX ( $149.99 )
--Processor: Lynnfield Intel core i5 2.66ghz LGA1156 cpu ( $199.99 )
--CPU cooler: Arctic cooling freezer 7 Pro ( $36.98 )
--Memory: Corsair XMS3 4GB 240-pin DDR3 SDram 1600 ( $104.99 )
-- Hard drive: Western Digital 500gb Caviar black sata 7200 rpm ( $69.99 )
-- Video card: Sapphire radeon HD 5770 ( Juniper XT ) 1GB 128 bit GDDR5 Pci express ( $179.99 )
-- Optical Drive: Lite on black 18x DVD rom 48x Cd-rom ( $19.99 )
--Power supply: Corsair CMPSU 650 watts TX ( $99.99 )
Totaling At $998.62 for all of my parts With tax, and a seperate $260 for my OS/Anti-virus. Grandtotal: 1258.62
Thank you for any imput that you may have. -Dan

 

[shortstuff_mt]

You're wasting about $100 by buying your OS from BestBuy. You can get it for $105 from Newegg.

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM

The Freezer 7 Pro isn't that great as it uses a smallish 92mm fan. You can get a better cooler for cheaper.

COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus $29.99

The WD Black 500GB drive is pretty slow by today's standards since it uses 250GB platters. The single 500GB platter Samsung F3 drives are considerably faster and cheaper.

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive $54.99

It would help us a lot if you edited your post to include all the information in the "How to ask for new build advice" sticky at the top of the forum. What will the system be used for? What resolution does your monitor run at? What games are you hoping to play? All those things determine what parts we suggest.

 

[tecmo34]

Recommendations...

1) Hard Drive: Samsung Spinpoint F3 500GB - Faster and cheaper

2) Virsus: Microsoft Security Essentials - FREE and gets the job done!!!

3) OS: Pick up the OEM version from www.newegg.com for $90 less.

 

[Madgrizzly]

Great thank you, will surley save me a nice stack of cash

 

[coldsleep]

Any specific reason you're buying the software at Best Buy?

Win 7 Home Premium - $183.50 (Retail version, I was assuming you had a reason to not get the OEM version)
Kapersky AV 2010 - $55
G.Skill CAS 7 1600 MHz RAM - $115 - slightly more expensive, slightly faster
or G.Skill ECO series CAS 7 1600 MHz RAM - $119 - slightly more expensive, slightly faster, better OC potential
Seagate 7200.12 500 GB drive $55 - slightly faster performance due to 500 GB platter while the WD has 2x 250 GB, less expensive

Not really sure I can comment on the rest without links.

 

[Madgrizzly]

Im sorry I will re-post here in a minute and no, no specific reasoning behind my purchase.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Site License for 3 PC's includes Firewall, Kapersky AV and Antimalware for $39

http://www.zonealarm.com/security/en-us/home.htm?lid=en-us
http://internet-security-suite-review.toptenreviews.com/zonealarm-review.html

Check out the performance charts and pick whatever 500 GB per platter drive performs best under your usage patterns. The WD Black 2 TB is a good choice but at smaller capacities, you are limited to the Seagate 7200.12 or the Spinpoint F3. The 7200.12 excels in gaming, multimedia and pictures whereas the F3 wins at music and movie maker. See the comparisons here (copy past link in manually, link won't work in forum):

(http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2009-3.5-desktop-hard-drive-charts/compare,1006.html?prod[2371]=on&prod[2770]=on)

memory - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145285

Echo on newegg OS

Consider Antec 902

5770 OK for resolutions of 1650 or less; go 58xx if 1920 res.

 

[Madgrizzly]

Best answer selected by MadGrizzly.