Tell me what you think.

[CoolioG]

I would read the 188 customer reviews on your link. Who would know better than them.

Good point! Ha! Can't believe I didn't notice those lol

Now all I need is a dvd and cd drive. Isn't a CD/ DVD Burner and a CD/ DVD Drive the same thing? NewEgg.com has a Burner category and a Drive category. Which 1 should I look in?

 

[Jonathan_King]

Newegg.com - SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA CD/DVD Burner - CD / DVD Burners

That is a good drive for a great price. Just search for sata dvd burner and look at the reviews.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

If you want to burn, get a burner. Burners do it all; a "CD drive" may just be reader, not a burner.

Cases are largely a matter of personal preference. Some people put the emphasis on build quality and quietness factors; others are interested in looks and flashing lights. It's pretty much up to you. Coolermaster is generally well regarded, but I have no idea on that case.

I don't game and don't know what it takes to run certain games. That 4670 video card you chose is a mid level card.

The PSU is gross overkill in watts and of unknown pedigree. It's likely that Coolermaster did not make that PSU. Somebody else did and Coolermaster put their name on it. 700 watts could power 2 of your machines. Your PC doesn't consume many watts as presently configured. Even if you go hog wild on the video card, you won't need 700 watts. I'd stay with Seasonic personally as they make their own PSUs. Some Corsairs are also made by Seasonic.

DVD burners are pretty much generic commodities. Decent choices are Samsung and Lite-on.


You have an ATX motherboard and so you need an ATX case and an ATX power supply. Any ATX PSU will fit into an ATX case. Some PSUs will have more cables and connectors than others. If you had a fancy system with a lot of internal components, you would need to be sure you had enough connectors from the PSU.

But you don't have a fancy system. So virtually any PSU would have enough cables. You need to be concerned with finding a high quality unit with enough power. Not hard to do.


Good advice from Jonathan--make sure all of your drives are SATA rather than IDE.

 

[CoolioG]

Well, I have chosen all my parts and the total comes to $749.98 (not including shipping). In the end my rig will have these specs,

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

RAM - Crucial 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model CT2KIT25664BA1067

Processor - AMD Athlon II X3 435 Rana 2.9GHz Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Processor Model ADX435WFGIBOX

TV Tuner Card - MSI Tuner Card TV@nywhere Plus PCI Interface

Hard Drive - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive

Case - COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Video Card - HIS H467QS1GH Radeon HD 4670 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

CD-RW/ DVD-RW Burner - Sony Optiarc 24X DVD/CD Rewritable Drive Black SATA Model AD-7240S-0B

 

[whs]

I would throw in a 30GB OCZ Vertex for Windows7. That would make the system a LOT faster. Newegg.com - OCZ Vertex Series OCZSSD2-1VTX30GXXX 2.5" 30GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - SSD

 

[CoolioG]

I would throw in a 30GB OCZ Vertex for Windows7. That would make the system a LOT faster. Newegg.com - OCZ Vertex Series OCZSSD2-1VTX30GXXX 2.5" 30GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - SSD

Hmmm.... and keep the operating system on the SSD and user files on the 1tb WD drive... Sounds interesting but i'll wait till SSDs stop developing as fast. I don't want to buy a SSD just to have it be 1-uped by another one...

 

[pparks1]

Well, I have chosen all my parts and the total comes to $749.98 (not including shipping). In the end my rig will have these specs,

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

RAM - Crucial 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model CT2KIT25664BA1067

Processor - AMD Athlon II X3 435 Rana 2.9GHz Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Processor Model ADX435WFGIBOX

TV Tuner Card - MSI Tuner Card TV@nywhere Plus PCI Interface

Hard Drive - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive

Case - COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Video Card - HIS H467QS1GH Radeon HD 4670 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

CD-RW/ DVD-RW Burner - Sony Optiarc 24X DVD/CD Rewritable Drive Black SATA Model AD-7240S-0B

You don't have a power supply listed here. You certainly need one of those.

And skip the SSD for the time being. Trying to stay within 30GB for Windows 7 for many can be a bit of a challenge. When you are trying to built a decent budget rig, SSD's don't belong yet.

 

[seekermeister]

While deciding on the case, did you consider a CoolerMaster HAF 922? It fairly conservative in appearance and modestly priced, but what I like about mine is the triple 200mm fans for cooling. They are far quieter than my secondary rig in an Antec 1040BII, which has 5 80mm fans which screams, yet runs much cooler.

The only thing that I don't like about it is that since the drive bays sit sideways, you need to use clipon power connectors for the SATA drives, otherwise they bind on the side panel, making it difficult to close. Right angle data cables are best also.

 

[pparks1]

The only thing that I don't like about it is that since the drive bays sit sideways, you need to use clipon connectors for the SATA drives, otherwise they bind on the side panel, making it difficult to close.

I love my Antec Sonata II's where the drives mount sideways. That's one feature that I actually missed on my latest box where I used a larger Antec P182 case. However, I love my 182 case.

 

[whs]

And skip the SSD for the time being. Trying to stay within 30GB for Windows 7 for many can be a bit of a challenge

Where is the challenge. It will take years before you can fill up the 30GB SSD with the system (provided the user data is on another disk). Since I am running Win7 on my SSD, I am costantly hovering around 15GB +/- a few.
And if you get the Vertex I linked which supports Trim (firmware level 1.4.) plus Win7 which also supports Trim, you are set for the near future. Then when Win8 will be out, things might change. But then you'll buy/build a new system anyhow because you want other features like USB3, etc.

 

[seekermeister]

I love my Antec Sonata II's where the drives mount sideways. That's one feature that I actually missed on my latest box where I used a larger Antec P182 case. However, I love my 182 case.

The good things about a sideways drive bay is that it gives more room for cards on the motherboard. In my old case, I had to remove the video card to be able to remove the lower drive bay. When putting it all back together again, there was barely room for the video cards power connector and the cables to the drives. I had to hold my tongue just right to make them fit.

 

[CoolioG]

I'm still deciding on the PSU.

 

[pparks1]

Where is the challenge. It will take years before you can fill up the 30GB SSD with the system (provided the user data is on another disk). Since I am running Win7 on my SSD, I am costantly hovering around 15GB +/- a few.

The challenge is that not everybody is as likely to maintain a clean system as you and I might be. I think that quite a number of people might find it difficult to stay within 30GB. When I got my 80GB Intel, I was really torn on going with another drive to get to 120GB for my C drive. However, by moving my page file, shutting off hibernation, putting my browser cache on my storage drive, setting system restore to 2%...my install and apps plus 2 games (Wolfenstein and Crysis) is averaging right around 23-25GB. So, I'd be a little concerned if I were in a 30GB...but I am pretty comfortable with my 80GB.

 

[seekermeister]

I'm still deciding on the PSU.

I won't make any specific recommendation, but get the strongest and best one that you can afford. It would also be good to get one that is modular.

 

[whs]

Where is the challenge. It will take years before you can fill up the 30GB SSD with the system (provided the user data is on another disk). Since I am running Win7 on my SSD, I am costantly hovering around 15GB +/- a few.

The challenge is that not everybody is as likely to maintain a clean system as you and I might be. I think that quite a number of people might find it difficult to stay within 30GB. When I got my 80GB Intel, I was really torn on going with another drive to get to 120GB for my C drive. However, by moving my page file, shutting off hibernation, putting my browser cache on my storage drive, setting system restore to 2%...my install and apps plus 2 games (Wolfenstein and Crysis) is averaging right around 23-25GB. So, I'd be a little concerned if I were in a 30GB...but I am pretty comfortable with my 80GB.

Hmm, you got me on the games. I never use any - I have even uninstalled all the games that came with the system. But I have a rather big collection of other substantial programs like Gimp, all kinds of video capture and editing programs, etc. I have no shadowstorage because I use Macrium nearly daily. My 80GB is divided into 2 partitions - half system, half data.
I think keeping the system slim is no rocket science. There is enough guidance around on how to do that. The reason I keep recommending the SSD is that it is so much more fun. I hardly ever use my Vista system any more even though I am a big Vista fan. Only reason is that it is so much slower because it is on the HDD (maybe also because it is a little bulkier). But in April 09 I had Vista on my Vertex and that was fast too.

 

[pparks1]

I've been extremely pleased with my modular Corsair HX620. Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX 620W ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Power Supplies. I'm a big fan of clean wiring in my case and the modular power supply was a huge improvement in that area.