Newbie Builder - Need Help

[kelee]

Hello all - thanks for the help in advanced!


1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.

World of Warcraft / General internet surfing / MS Office / MLB.TV HD Feeds (not sure if this is very PC heavy) / MKV Video Playback

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread

I would love to stay sub $1100 if possible - willing to go to 12-1300 if needed to get the job done

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.

United States

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc, etc, etc, you get the picture.

Would prefer to stick with an Intel chipset.

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.

I will be carrying over keyboard/mouse/speakers...I think my monitor is dying so I'll need a new one of these

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.

I've been reading a lot of people's posts - but most seem to be a tad beyond what range it looks like I'll need ( core i7 seems like it may be overkill for me )

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.

This is my first time building so I think I will be going stock - have not researched much into OC'ing.

8. WHEN do you plan to build it?

ASAP - before the end of April I would love to order the parts.

-------

This is what I've come up with after reading around - let me know what you think (add/subtract/scrap all together etc!)

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3L LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard

SAPPHIRE 100259-1GL Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)

LG Black 22X (CAV) DVD+R

COOLER MASTER Centurion 590

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM

PC Power & Cooling Silencer PPCS500 500W ATX12V

Dell S2309W 23 inch Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor

Windows Vista Home Premium 64

The total for these parts comes to ~$1050 before taxes. Also - are these all the parts I would need? Do I need extra fans/cables/etc.?

Thanks so much!

 

[Burrich]

I'm going to be a little unhelpful and not provide links.

Try out the G.Skill 4GB 1066 set instead of the 800mhz set. Never hurts to have some headroom.
Instead of the "blue" version of the WD Caviar, get the WD Cavair Black 640GB (or 1TB). It's the 'performance' version - runs a little louder but is better performance.
Ditch the PCP&C power supply. I've heard average-at-best things from people who use them. Corsair is really dominating the market right now - check out the 650TX.

 

[kelee]

Thanks Burrich

I made the following changes per your recommendations:

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066

Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM

CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V