Loooking for some advice

[dangermouse32]

Hi everyone. First off I am new here, but have enjoyed some of the reads. I am a novice system builder interested in putting together my first build. Listed below is my current part list that I have accumulated. The plan being to buy piece by piece and slowly get it together. Hopefully prices will fall during that time and make it a bit easier to build. Idea is spending the extra money to create the first build that will last me quite a long time. I am interested in getting into the more high end games as I do play some f2p online mmos currently but I don't get the full experience even on them on my current system. I will gladly take all suggestions or feedback in hopes of making my first build a enjoyable one. I do not have a case picked out as I am having a hard time choosing. I want something with some flash and that has a nice air flow, possibly holding 2x120mm fans and a couple of 80mm has I think I will need it to keep the system cool. Thank you in advance for any reviews, comments and assistance.

Current Sytem

Dell Dimension 2600
P4 2.8Ghz
512 Ram
Radeon 9250 PCI card
Windows XP home edition

Part Listing For New Build

Windows Vista Ultimate 64

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor

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

Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS 300GB 10000 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive (Should I RAID)

ASUS M4A79T Deluxe AM3 DDR3 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard

ASUS EAH4890/HTDI/1GD5 Radeon HD 4890 1GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 Video Card

XION AXP Lan-Party Edition AXP-1000R14HE 1000W ATX12V V2.2 / EPS 12V 2.92 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified

2X- G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory

ASUS Triton 78 120mm EBR CPU Cooler

2x- VIGOR iSURF II HCC-S2BL Aluminum HDD Cooler

LITE-ON Black Blu-Ray DVD Drive & DVD Burner with LightScribe SATA

OK so there is the extensive list of components. To much overkill? Or am I on the right track to creating a decent build that should last me years with only a few upgrades to buy if i choose to? Thanks again for any help offered.

 

[batuchka]

Drop to a 790X/GX
DDR3 1333 would do just fine
Ditch the V.Raptor and wait for SSD prices to drop
Corsair 750 or PC Power n cooling 750 good to go
Err since no mention of a media center why Blue Ray ODD?
Vista Home Premium 64 bits good to go
CM 690 or NZXT Tempest for casing?
In summary: Overkill in certain areas

 

[dangermouse32]

Sorry for not giving more information on the OP. Thinking about the blu ray simply because I want to add a HD monitor to the build. I do all my movie watching on my computer currently and do not see that changing in future. Mostly a space saving issue. Thanks for you input batuchka. Sorry for not clarifying my post better.

Also looking to maybe OC, if that makes any difference.

 

[batuchka]

Well ya i'd stick to the BR and an after market HSF then

 

[jpdykes]

Couple of options:

For longevity I would build on i7.
- i7 920
- Asus P6T Duleux V2
- 6Gb RAM. 2x3Gb

Probably cost slightly more than Phenom II but is faster. If it is out of the budget go for the X4 940, the performance drop is worth it.

See the THG charts for advice about hard disks:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/charts/2009-3.5-desktop-hard-drive-charts/benchmarks,50.html

Probably not worth it with the WD raptor. Wait for SSD next year.

You probably don't need Ultimate - check the feature list on MS website.

Definately change the PSU, you don't need 1000W. Maximum of 750. Corsair are a good brand with reliable units.

Also look at Antec P182 for case, bit different.

I assume that you have a blu-ray drive for watching movies - just make sure you have a good resolution screen (24" is 1080p).

Jeremy

Edit: changed link

 

[dangermouse32]

Thanks for the replies. After some trimming of the fat here is a updated list for the build. Probably easily saving me close to the $400 range.

New System Components

NZXT TEMPEST Crafted Series CS-NT-TEM-B Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

ASUS VW246H Black 24" 2ms(GTG) HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor

ASUS M4A78T-E AM3 DDR3 AMD 790GX ATX AMD Motherboard

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor

ASUS EAH4890/HTDI/1GD5 Radeon HD 4890 1GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 Video Card

CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified PSU

2x-OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model

VIGOR iSURF II HCC-S2BL Aluminum HDD Cooler

LITE-ON Black Blu-Ray DVD Drive & DVD Burner with LightScribe SATA

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit

Making the grand total w/shipping $1,570.17

Thanks to the advice of the friendly people on this forum I may have my list of components to try my first build piece by piece.

Thanks to all of you again.

 

[Helloworld_98]

I would stick with the 1.6ghz ram, modern processors can use the extra speed.

also I would go with dual 4770's over the 4890, or maybe three of them but it would cost $50 more.