max bang/budget build

[Gearhead3990]

Hey guys, I've been tinkering with the idea of doing my first computer build for a while now, and I've decided to take my Christmas money and do it. I am a college student, and I do not have much money to spend, so I am going for max bang for the buck. I would like this to be a well-rounded machine, capable of doing work for school, web surfing, multimedia/HD video, as well as some occasional light to moderate gaming. I plan on building it phases, the first being major internal components. I will run on an old IDE DVD drive, and IDE hard drive running windows XP for the time being, and continue to upgrade parts over the next year or so. I have all of the parts picked out for phase 1.

What does anyone think of this combination?

Mother Board:
Newegg.com - ASUS M4A785TD-M EVO AM3 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

CPU:
Newegg.com - AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition Callisto 3.2GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 80W Dual-Core Desktop Processor - C3 Revision HDZ555WFGMBOX

PSU:
Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER GX Series RS750-ACAAE3-US 750W ATX12V v2.31 SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply

Ram:
Newegg.com - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL

Looking at the processor, it looks like all of the reveiwers on newegg were able to unlock at least one additional core. Also has excelent overclocking ability.

As for the power supply, I wanted to go with a 750Watt Antec, but since I am stuffing this build in an old oem HP midtower, the antec is too long. The coolermaster was one of the shortest I could find, and the reviews on newegg were excelent.

The mother board has a lot of features for the price, and good reviews.

Same goes for the Ram.


Thanks for reading this long post, and any feedback would be appreciated.

 

[MindoverMaster]

Do not trust reviews on Newegg. There are some stupid people on there.

Good job on the RAM. I love the RipJaws. I'd recommend them any time.

Trotter can help you on the CPU/Mobo.

 

[Muffin Man]

so you'd like a general use pc, with some gaming on the side.

i would suggest an athlon ii quad instead. it will probably come up a bit short while gaming compared to the dual core but not by a whole lot, but when you're not gaming your rig will have 2 extra (guaranteed) cores at its disposal.

here's a good deal with one and a motherboard
Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, LED LCD TV, Digital Cameras and more!

that particular psu is not that good, regardless of what newegg reviewers say like Mind mentioned. anybody can go and write a review on anything, without having actually bought it.

you wouldn't need 750w anyway. something like this would be more appropriate
Newegg.com - OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ500MXSP 500W ATX12V V2.2 / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply compatible with core i7

 

[Gearhead3990]

See now, the OCZ psu you recomended is 6.5 inches long. It is questionable if it will fit. The coolermaster is 5.9 inches long. I know it will fit, thats why I picked it.

 

[Muffin Man]

this will also do then, same dimensions.
Newegg.com - CORSAIR Builder Series CMPSU-600CX 600W ATX12V v2.3 Active PFC Power Supply

 

[Gearhead3990]

Muffin Man: You'll excuse me for questioning your expertise, but I just read a post on another thread (I believe the poster was Trotter), saying that the builder series corsair's are junk. Looking at the 2 year warranty as apposed to three years on the coolermaster, I'm inclined to agree.

 

[Gearhead3990]

Can anyone recomend a better PSU in the 750W range? I would like to buy the psu once and be done with it. I would like it to be future proof and be able to handle any upgrades I might throw at it.

 

[patonb]

Okay, the cx isn't junk.... it just isn't the sam level as the rest of Corsairs psus. Its a budget psu, and is rated along the lines of every other budget psu.

Why do you need 750Ws? My sli 260s and oc q6600 use under 520Ws maxed out... aND i run them on a 700W psu.

Whats your price range for one?