Any refinements before I drop my money on this?

[PoignantJ]

Hello. Here is my final draft, after some revisions, research, suggestions/advice, of what I wish to purchase for my the building of my very 1st computer.

Budget: $600-$700 dollars.
Usage: Gaming, internet, school, misc.
Site: Newegg
Parts reference: None
Overclocking: No. For the near future I don't plan on overclocking any of the parts. This is all fairly new to me, so until I become more familiar with things and acquire more expertise, I don't plan on doing anything such as modifying the memory timings, or overclocking the CPU or GPU.
SLI/Crossfire: No plans.
Monitor Resolution: 1440x900(ACER x191W 19'')
Additional Comments: Focusing on price/performance. Would like to keep as power efficient as possible. Seeking quality parts that will last. I plan on purchasing within the next 1-3 days.

*Shipping and rebates factored in below*

Casing:
Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail $80

Motherboard and OS in combo deal:
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM - Retail ---------- ASRock 870 EXTREME3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail $180

CPU:
AMD Athlon II X3 435 Rana 2.9GHz 3 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Processor ADX435WFGIBOX - Retail $76

RAM:
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL7D-4GBRH

GPU:
SAPPHIRE 100283L Radeon HD 5770 (Juniper XT) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

PSU and Optical in combo deal:
OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ500MXSP 500W ATX12V V2.2 / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply compatible with core i7 - Retail ---------- ASUS Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM - Retail $39

HDD:
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive - Retail $75

Total Cost: $696
Without Rebates: $746

*Note: About the last 3, the PSU, Optical and HDD. I can also obtain the
OCZ Fatal1ty OCZ550FTY 550W ATX12V v2.2 / EPS12V SLI Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply - Retail for just $10 dollar more doing a combo with the SAMSUNG hard drive instead of the optical drive. I went with the 500W power supply for 2 reasons. I checked the specifications and it said that it had a 86% efficiency under typical load compared to the "up to 82%" the 550 W boasts. I also am not going to crossfire graphics card in the future. So I have no reason for a larger power supply. I figure that the 500W is ample for any mid-range card I will get in the future and that the power efficiency of the 500W would be better. Do you agree with the 500W?

Thanks for reading all this.

 

[Mark Heath]

Forum members here don't like the OCZ RAM atm.

 

[jonnyboyC]

I would agree i actually have it in my system, the OCZ platium, and for months had stability problems, couldn't really figure it out, decided to check the ram again, and it came down to it couldn't handle the timing it was rated at, so i spend hours trying to figure it out, had to bump it up from 7-7-7-21 to 8-8-7-23

 

[PoignantJ]

Here's my alternative to the RAM and GPU deal:

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL7D-4GBRH $100

or

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL $100

or

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL7D-4GBRM $105
I hear a lot of people using AMD chipsets had to manually fine tune their memory settings to get the specified timings for this. It's 5 dollars more than the other 2 above. I have never done it before. Is it difficult, hard? Which among these 3 performs the best? Which one of these do you think I should get? I'm not really leaning towards this last one since I'd probably have to adjust it manually since I'm going to use an AMD 870 for my chipset. Any other RAM suggestions?

and

SAPPHIRE 100283L Radeon HD 5770 (Juniper XT) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card $145

Total Cost: $245-$250
Without Rebate: $255-$260

$10-$15 more. But I believe what from you guys said about OCZ, its worth it, correct?

By the way, do you see any other problems besides the RAM? Thanks for answering.

 

[Mark Heath]

Other components look good to me.

Any of the RAM you've listed is worth it over the OCZ RAM.

 

[PoignantJ]

So far I've decided for the very topmost choice I selected. Thanks to the help I've recieved in the memory portion of the forum. Thanks to those guys in there and thanks for answering.