Budget Build: 1st system (AMD based) Non-gamer

[cheekygeek]

Just seeking opinions on how I did on my first build (budget).

Local Freecycle got me some computers from which I got an ATX case, 580W Power Supply, HDs & CD/DVD burner.

$42 Motherboard (Computer store "garage sale" which started this whole adventure): MSI 1790XT-G45 (last of the DDR2 boards, but can handle Phenom II up to 125W)

$112 Phenom II x4 Deneb 3.2Ghz Black Edition
$27 Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus
$65 G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
$55 after rebate SAPPHIRE 100289VGAL Radeon HD 5670 1GB DDR3 - PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card

$139 Samsung BX2231 (21-1/2") LED monitor

$440 total, including monitor

Will be adding a SATA to eSATA card ($8) and buying Windows 7 Home Premium OEM and probably getting a Velociraptor HD down the road.

OC is possible with this set-up, but I've never done that before so it won't kill me if it runs stock. How'd I do on the bang for the buck scale?

 

[ScrewySqrl]

should work OK. you might save a bit with DDR3 ram (as low as $25 now) ifd the board used it.

no need for velociraptors...get a regular HDD (Seagate 500 GB is only $39.99)

 

[geekapproved]

Looks good.

Forget the Velociraptor, today's 7200rpm drives are nearly as fast and super cheap.

 

[tsnor]

Depending on the generation of the donated HDD, you could really get improved responsiveness by adding a $60 high performance sata 1TB hard drive. WD Black, Spinpoint F3, whatever. Suggest you google the model of the hd you have and see how good/bad it is. Depending on the use you plan to make of the pc, you might consider how painful it would be if the old disk breaks and eats your data.

 

[cheekygeek]

Good advice. Thanks to everyone for the feedback.
Think I'll start with a Spinpoint F3. Sounds like a good combo of quite and reliability.