Finalizing This Sub $1000 Gaming Build

[bench1976]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Within a month

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming, Music, internet surfing, school (school shouldn't be too taxing anyways...)

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Monitor, Keyboard, Mouse, Speakers.

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Newegg

PARTS PREFERENCES:

Case-
-COOLER MASTER ELITE 335 RC-335-KKN1-GP Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower - $27.99
-APEVIA CF12SL-UBL 120mm Blue LED Case Fan - $7.97

Power Supply-
-BFG Tech GS-550 550W ATX12V V2.2 / EPS12V V2.8 SLI Ready - $39.99

Processor-
-AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W – $159.99

Graphics Card-
-Sapphire Radeon HD5770 Vapor-X 1GB GDDR5 2DVI/HDMI/DisplayPort PCI-Express – $164.99

Hard Drive-
-Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS – $66.99

Motherboard-
-GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - $66.99

Memory-
-A-DATA Gaming Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) - $99.99

CD/DVD Drive-
-LITE-ON Black 18X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model iHDS118-04 - $19.99

TOTAL- $667.53 (includes shipping)

Looks good to me... great price. Now I have only three questions.

Are these parts compatible? Will everything fit? Is anything missing?

Will this be able to run most any game max settings at 1024 x 768?

I am planning to use xp, then upgrade to 7 once additional funds become available... however, I have heard there is trouble making the jump from xp to 7... is an xp to 7 upgrade a good idea?

 

[gracefully]

I suggest something roomy for your case. The HAF 922 or Antec 600 should be great. As for the PSU, find something at around 500 W. That should be enough for your build.

Get Windows 7. You can get an OEM license since you're building a complete PC. Go for Home Premium.

 

[JDV28]

I suggest something roomy for your case. The HAF 922 or Antec 600 should be great. As for the PSU, find something at around 500 W. That should be enough for your build.

Get Windows 7. You can get an OEM license since you're building a complete PC. Go for Home Premium.

the HAF 922 is a great case, compared to its minivan sized big brother the 932, its a good size and moves air efficiently and quietly. Also, do not get Home Premium, if you are buying win7, just go with Ultimate, it is worth the extra couple bucks.

 

[fastx21]

Also if you are getting a AMD 955 then I suggest you get a CM Hyper 212 Plus HSF. With this combo you get a dvd drive for like $11 bucks. I ordered the samething

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.343522

I also just bought and received the HAF 922. It's very impressive. But then again I come from the world of HP and Dell cases.

You'd probably want to step up to Windows 7 64. I'm sure XP would be fine but all this new hardware and a 10+ year old OS?

You should check the Power calculator but I think with a 5770 you wanted 500w min. It couldn't hurt to go a few digits up just incase you add more things in the future.

 

[bench1976]

Best answer selected by bench1976.

 

[bench1976]

Thanks for the support, everyone. I think I'll wait until summer, or near summer, to make a purchase... perhaps by then, the market will be even better. Last question... how do I close a thread?

 

[coldsleep]

the HAF 922 is a great case, compared to its minivan sized big brother the 932, its a good size and moves air efficiently and quietly. Also, do not get Home Premium, if you are buying win7, just go with Ultimate, it is worth the extra couple bucks.

What, specifically, is worth the extra $75?

I could see paying $35 more for Professional if you want/need XP mode. There's not a lot (for most users) that Ultimate offers for the increase in price, however.

 

[gracefully]

What, specifically, is worth the extra $75?

I could see paying $35 more for Professional if you want/need XP mode. There's not a lot (for most users) that Ultimate offers for the increase in price, however.

This is what was on my mind when I suggested Home Premium. There is very little that goes to improving an average home user's experience in the Professional and Ultimate editions of Windows 7, or Vista for that matter. One thing I am interested in is the "Volume Shadow Copy" or the "Previous Versions" feature. Gets you out of a tight fix when you accidentally save over an important document, and you have no backup.

I'm using Win7 Ultimate anyway, so I like the added feature.