First time Build, looking for budget now and upgrading later

[Mlytle]

hi everyone,
this will be my first pc build and i could use some thoughts comments and suggestions about my parts list ive put together. This PC will be mostly for personal use and gaming(mostly SC2 ) i want to spend around 800-850ish total including a monitor i found a very nice monitor for 160 so that leaves about 600-700~ on the pc, anyway here is my parts list any suggestions would be nice, mainly i'm looking for advice on GPUs i'm torn between the radeon 5750 and the 5770, which one do you guys think is more cost effective?

ACER X223WDbd 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - 1680x1050, 2500:1, 5ms, VGA, DVI, Black


XFX HD-577X-ZNFC Radeon HD 5770 1GB PCIe DDR5 Display Port/HDMI

stuck on this...

Antec 900 PC case EDIT: Swap to this, COOLER MASTER Elite RC-310

MUCH more cost effective than the antec

Corsair XMS3 4 GB PC3-12800 1600Mhz Dual Channel Core i3 i5 i7 DDR3 Memory Kit

very nice ram for the price i think

EDIT: AMD Athlon II X4 630 Quad Core - 2.80 GHz

switched to this much better for only 30 bucks more

Western Digital WD5000AAKS Caviar Blue Hard Drive - 500GB, 7200rpm, 16MB, SATA-300, OEM

i've always heard western digital is the way to go for HDDs this seems like a good hard drive for the price, i won't need more than half a TB

XION Simple Power 630W ATX Power Supply

this is another area i need help in, is this enough power to run this machine? seems very good for 44$

Biostar TA790GXB3 Motherboard - AMD 790GX, Socket AM3, ATX, Video, DVI, PCI Express 2.0, Hybrid CrossFire Support, Gbit LAN, RAID

another area i really know nothing about, any other suggestions?

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anyway, thats my build list, thank you guys so much for taking a look any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[currahee440]

Try looking for the parts on newegg. Tigerdirect rapes people for shipping. Not a bad system IMO, I would try and get a better processor. I'm currently building a new computer and for about $700 you can get a Phenom II X6 system, though the case isn't as nearly as good. But other than that it looks pretty good.... uhhh I would take one more look into the power supply. Doesn't seem to be a very reputable company? I've never heard of it.

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=123106 << That's where my Phenom II X6 system is. If you swapped out the Phenom II X6 for a Phenom II X4 it goes to the $450 range.

Oh and the 5770 is a very good card it will run SC2 on ultra lol.

 

[Fourstaff]

Would go for better processor, that processor is holding back the whole rig. 5770 is a sweet card right now, and do not skimp on the PSU. NEVER skimp on the psu Get something of quality instead, like a Corsair or something similar. 400-500w of quality supply is enough if you are not overclocking. And the mobo is only so-so. Have you decided against going mATX instead? The case and mobo is usually cheaper. I would pony up about a hundred more for a solid rig rather than choosing the upgrading path.

Edit: It seems that I am rather harsh with you. You seem to have done your homework, by the way.

 

[currahee440]

Would go for better processor, that processor is holding back the whole rig.

THIS IS TRUE. The reason why I'm going to a 6 core system or- regardless a better system is because I've found out that my 5770 is being held back by my CPU. Whereas the 5770 can get 15K easily in 3dmark 06 I've been getting 9000 on 1680x1050.

 

[Mlytle]

ugh lost me whole reply trying to quote lol
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5073819&Sku=A79-0630

looking again this processor seems like a better deal, i guess i'd be willing to fork over the extra 30$ for the quad core other than that though i can't really spend anymore. The reason im using tiger direct is because they have no taxes in california and newegg does and the shipping is very reasonable, only like 15-20$ for everything except the case, which im getting on amazon with free shipping.

EDIT: what would you suggest in terms of case and microATX mobos? i really dont know much at all about motherboards,

 

[Fourstaff]

Yes the 630 is a very nice processor. Try to get second hand goods too?

 

[Mlytle]

man i really like your coolermaster case, i may swap to that although the antec 900 is SOOOO nice

 

[currahee440]

Oh I see yeah then Newegg would charge you tax on it. Ick. I remember wanting to buy something from TG. A rather small item I don't recall what it was. They wanted $12 for shipping. No effing way.

The only problem I have is that those cases are huge (the antec). So they weigh a lot. Not like your box needs to go anywhere in a hurry but I like smaller cases for their portability. Though I'm not sure how big that case is. It should be a little bit bigger than my HP case which is quite nice, small, and portable.

There's nothing wrong with an Athlon II X4. They're VERY good quad core CPUs for the price and they're about 10% less performance than the Phenom II X4s. I highly recommend them on a budget

EDIT: If you do get the coolermaster, because you'll shave a few bucks I would recommend this PSU instead http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4362113&CatId=1079
It's just that if the PSU blows up.... a cheapy PSU will take out system components with it. OCZ is a pretty reputable brand.

And if you want to do more PSU researching look on this thread. A lot of PSU stuff: http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=123090
You can skimp on some components.. but for the PSU I would stick to a reputable brand... less chance of it ending in fireworks.

 

[Dent1]

I'm not American but I think Newegg.com have better prices for components and delivery than TigerDirect, you are better off buying all the components from just one website to avoid getting ripped off on delivery costs.

If you are going for performance I would drop the high end Antec or CoolerMaster case. The case isn’t important, you can buy some stylish cases with plenty of ventilation and upgradability space inside for less than $30 branded. The money saved could go towards a much better processor and video card.

lol my friend. At $40 for a case you really can't get any cheaper than that for a case well... you could... but then it just becomes rubbish IMO.

Very true. I think the £39.99 CoolerMaster case might be a winner. Although I did see some cases on Newegg for $16 most didnt support 120mm fans.

 

[currahee440]

lol my friend. At $40 for a case you really can't get any cheaper than that for a case well... you could... but then it just becomes rubbish IMO.

 

[Dent1]

Mlytle, how long does this rig have to last?

Adding some constructive criticism, the AMD 790GX SB750 chipset is old, on a budget I would switch to the 785G chipset as its are newer and are more likely to be supported further down the line more consistently with bios updates. Also 500GBs these days is tiny, when you've got midrange or high end rig you consume a lot of storage quickly, Windows Vista/7 uses from 20GBs after a installation, a typical games is like around 7-10 GBs per game, Adobe CS 5 uses 25 GBs of free space, a episode of a TV show in 720p is about 1.2-1.5GBs each, if you are downloading an entire season that quickie racks up to 30-40 GBs (720p) per season. Basically, do not under estimate the space you need, $20-25 more will double your capacity all the way up to 1TB.

 

[currahee440]

It's a pretty cheap computer. I'm not sure what CA sales tax is for newegg but it should be $566 all added together. Not bad for a quadcore .
I think the mobo is fine... I've looked at the South Bridges. I'm not sure what performance difference there is. I'm sure you don't need 12USB ports.. lol it supports up to 12 USB ports and unless if you NEED SATA III, your mobo is fine.
Though... I dunno about biostar... it seems like one of those "generic" brands... but a step above "generic" ... if that made any sense at all.

Anyway I think it looks good. Cheap 4 core system for the money

Oh and when you do order... order a few days in advance from Amazon. Since they send it through the post office and if you choose the free super saver shipping it will take awhile for it to get to you when you components are already at your lap wouldn't want to keep that system waiting to be built! It takes at least a week for super saver shipping. Amazon WILL take their time to send your order out.

 

[Mlytle]

TY everyone for the comments i ended up buying the system with the 2.8 amd quad core and the cooler master case, i got the amazonprime 2 day shipping instacanceled the service though lol dont wanna pay 80 bucks

 

[Fourstaff]

Post up some pics!

 

[Mlytle]

Oh I see yeah then Newegg would charge you tax on it. Ick. I remember wanting to buy something from TG. A rather small item I don't recall what it was. They wanted $12 for shipping. No effing way.

Shipping is really weird on TG lol, my total shipping from tiger direct was 10$ which was everything except the case and the ram which includes the 22" monitor which im sure isn't cheap to ship. I ordered the case on newegg for free shipping and the ram off amazon with free shipping. no tax though saved like 60 bucks.

 

[Mlytle]

Post up some pics!

I will when i get it setup! this weekend hopefully