Compatibility Inquiry!?

[Blackthoven]

Hey guys!

So, I was looking into building my own gaming rig as gaming desktops are too expensive, and why not? I've been learning a lot throughout the process, and knowledge is power

Essentially I was just wondering what you guys think!

I picked out a well ventilated, inexpensive NZXT Mid Tower case which supports ATX, MATX & Baby AT. I think Motherboard's are what I know the least about so I was just wondering if someone could help me out ^.^

As I'm trying to keep things under $800 (keep in mind I don not have a monitor either), I found a very nice EVGA Intel LGA 1156 MATX: 4x240pin, DDR3 1600MHz, and compatible with the i3 (which is the processor I've chosen) for under $84.99! As shown here:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188064

The problem is however, I was just concerned with how that would function in regards to compatibility with the other parts.

Here's what I've compiled so far:
i3 540 LGA 1156 ($118)
Western Digital 500Gb caviar Black 7,200pms ($59.99)
Radeon HD 5770 ($144)
G.Skill DDR3 1600MHz Ripjaws ($53)

I found a Hec X-Power PRO 600W PSU and chose it mainly because it was inexpensive and had fairly high Wattage, thus it could manage if I were to decide that I wanted to CrossFire, even though I think 700W+ would be ideal for that...

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817339025

I don't want anything to bottleneck, and I'm especially worried about the motherboard and how it will work with everything, maybe I should just stick with an ATX. However, I couldn't find anything else this inexpensive that was 4x240pin with a DDR3 1600MHz memory standard.

Also, I should add that I've included an ASUS CD/DVD burner for under $20 with an extra $12 XIGMATEC 140mm fan for the top exhaust on the NZXT cas, and finally a 19" ASUS widescreen LCD monitor.

Anyway, any help and opinions are appreciated!

P.S. What tools will I need to assemble the desktop once all parts have arrived?

 

[Hastibe]

P.S. What tools will I need to assemble the desktop once all parts have arrived?

Can't really speak to the rest of your post (sorry!), but for this, an anti-static wrist strap to be on the safe side and a demagnetized phillips screwdriver should be about all you need. A bright desk lamp and/or flashlight and clear table is also a plus.

 

[Hastibe]

Oh yeah, I would also pay the extra bit to get a 1TB hard drive, instead of a 500GB one. Games can take up a ton of space, and I doubt you'd regret spending the extra $10 bucks or so.

In my experience, Amazon.com has really good prices on hard drives--for instance, check out this one (
Seagate Barracuda 7200 1TB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s 32MB Cache)--only $65, plus it has free shipping!

 

[Blackthoven]

Oh yeah, I would also pay the extra bit to get a 1TB hard drive, instead of a 500GB one. Games can take up a ton of space, and I doubt you'd regret spending the extra $10 bucks or so.

In my experience, Amazon.com has really good prices on hard drives--for instance, check out this one (
Seagate Barracuda 7200 1TB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s 32MB Cache)--only $65, plus it has free shipping!

Well, I spent quite a bit of time looking around on newegg and I think one of the cheapest 1TB WD caviar black hard drives is about $20 more than the 500GB, actually

But I'm on a budget and when everything is only $10 more it adds up! I have to save that money for a cool looking case, gaming mouse & keyboard and other random things like those anti-static gloves ^.^

I'm a gamer, but not hardcore, so don't think 1TB is necessary. I mean 500GB is a lot, and even if I do play that much space worth of games it certainly wont be simultaneously, so I'll always be able to make some room