ready to buy, what next?

[marisa406]

so I'm still working on building my first pc
money and time got tight.
my budget is not ridiculous, but I'm willing to spend a little.

I have this:
Newegg.com - PC Power & Cooling Silencer PPCS500 500W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply compatible with core i7 - Power Supplies

Newegg.com - Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases

Newegg.com - CORSAIR XMS2 DHX 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

I plan on buying the rest of the parts by the end of today hopefully.
I have picked out this, what are your opinions:
X 2 Newegg.com - HITACHI 0A38016 1TB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives

Newegg.com - Foxconn G31AX-K LGA 775 Intel G31 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops


What else do I need? I don't need extreme graphics or anything, I'm not a gamer, just a computer science student who doesn't know how to build a computer yet.

Do I need a heatsink/fan?
What speakers, keyboard, mouse, monitor (I was thinking refurb'd monitor)
wireless adapter?
materials besides a screwdriver?
am I missing anything

 

[hikaricloud]

I reworked your build a bit here.

Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!
Newegg.com - AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz 3 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Black Processor - Processors - Desktops
Newegg.com - Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3320613AS 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives
Newegg.com - Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS 1.5TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive (bare drive) - Internal Hard Drives
Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-400CX 400W ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Power Supplies
Newegg.com - SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe - CD / DVD Burners
Newegg.com - Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases
Newegg.com - Acer X223Wbd Black 22" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 2500:1 - LCD Monitors
Newegg.com - Logitech 920-000264 Black 104 Normal Keys 14 Function Keys USB Cordless Ergonomics Desktop Wave - Keyboards
Newegg.com - Cyber Acoustics CA3001WB 14 watts 2.1 Speaker - Speakers
Newegg.com - Rosewill RNX-N100 IEEE 802.11b/g/n USB2.0 Wireless-N 2.0 Dongle (1T2R) Up to 150Mbps Data Rates/ WPA/WPA2 (AES, 64,128-WEP with shared-key authentication) Cisco CCS V1.0, V2.0 and V3.0 compliant/ Vista

Total: 903.32 with shipping, 20 bucks back in MIRs.

The keyboard/mouse/speakers are really your preference. I picked out a really nice keyboard/mouse set, and a simple speaker setup. I've used the Cyber Acoustic set there, and they are pretty good for 20 bucks. Not the best, but if you want better, you have to shell out some dough.

You won't need a video card for this build because the onboard is good enough for light gaming, and anything else you want to do. The processor is a triple-core, which will help in multitasking. Great overclocker too, especially in conjunction with that board. The mobo also has the option for upgrading to an AM3 cpu later down the road. The RAM is great too, and cheap.

I recommend a small drive for your OS and programs, while getting a big drive for storage. Now I know someone is going to mention the problems the 1.5tb drives had, but those were mostly due to user error, since people decided to spastically upgrade their firmware without actually checking what version they had, bricking their drives. I have the drive, and it works fine. More than fine actually.

The monitor is a great buy for the cost, and you'll get a nice resolution on it. The WiFi adapter is also great, I just bought one not too long ago, and it's awesome. Wireless N is a nice bonus as well. And you won't need a heatsink/fan, since the CPU comes with a stock one.

The Antec 300 was a great case to pick out from the start, so I kept it.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

These parts a $690 before mail in rebates and using the psu, case and ram you already have would give you a great system.

Newegg.com - LITE-ON Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM SATA 22X DVD Burner - CD / DVD Burners

Newegg.com - SAMSUNG Spinpoint F1 HD103UJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives

Newegg.com - SAMSUNG 2232BW+ Black 22" 2ms Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 DC 8000:1(1000:1) - LCD Monitors

Newegg.com - HIS Hightech H465FS512P Radeon HD 4650 512MB 128-bit DDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Quad q9400 + Gigabyte EP45- UD3LR

I didn't include a keyboard or mouse because those are largely based on personal preference. If that ism more than you want to spend give us a maximum budget and we should be able to put something together to fit it.

 

[hikaricloud]

Does that include shipping? Because if it doesn't, it'll end up costing more than my build even without the keyboard/mouse/speakers. But it's still a good build. I went with the AMD build because of the onboard video.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

It doesn't include shipping but since he already bought the case it shouldn't be to much. I went ahead and included a HD 4650 because of the 22" monitor but if he doesn't plan on doing any gaming a HD 4350/3450 should be fine.

 

[hikaricloud]

Actually, I just noticed that the parts were already bought. Crap.

Well, if you take out the RAM, PSU, and case in my build, it comes out to $748.32 after shipping with 10 bucks in a MIR, which includes the keyboard/mouse/speakers.

 

[marisa406]

Okay, on second that I think that I'm at like a $450-$550 max on additional parts. :\ I'm in college, I'm poor.

And also I should mention, I had two hard drives - one to run fedora or ubuntu and one for vista: I don't know if that changes size.

What's the benefit/detriment of the Phenom II over the Wolfdale? Besides price. Is it terribly slower?


EDIT: Oh, and I just bought this refurbished: Dell Outlet Monitor se198WFP Panel Monitors - for $103 with tax. I probably should have went with the 22inch though. Oh well. wow. 2500:1 - that was a much better deal. I lied. Oh well. Mine is still okay, right?

 

[hikaricloud]

Well, minus the monitor, the build as it stands is 600. You can cheapen it by getting a different keyboard/mouse, maybe get it down to 550 or so.