how does my budget build look?

[sk919]

im building my first pc with around $680. here are my parts:

COOLER MASTER HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower
Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER HAF 912 RC-912-KKN1 Black SECC/ ABS Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

MSI 870-G45 AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard
Newegg.com - MSI 870-G45 AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard

AMD Athlon II X2 255 Regor 3.1GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Desktop
Newegg.com - AMD Athlon II X2 255 Regor 3.1GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor ADX255OCGMBOX

SAPPHIRE 100253HDMI Radeon HD 4650 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile Ready Video Card
Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100253HDMI Radeon HD 4650 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile Ready Video Card

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual Channel Kit Desktop
Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-10600CL8D-4GBHK

Antec BP550 Plus 550W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
Newegg.com - Antec BP550 Plus 550W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

ASUS Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM
Newegg.com - ASUS Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - CD / DVD Burners

EDIMAX EW-7128G IEEE 802.11b/g PCI Wireless Card Up to 54Mbps Wireless Data Rates
Newegg.com - EDIMAX EW-7128G IEEE 802.11b/g PCI Wireless Card Up to 54Mbps Wireless Data Rates

Acer S211HLbd 21.5'' 5ms LED-Backlight LCD Monitor Slim Design 250 cd/m2 12,000,000:1 (ACM)
Newegg.com - Acer S211HLbd 21.5'' 5ms LED-Backlight LCD Monitor Slim Design 250 cd/m2 12,000,000:1 (ACM)

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit English 1-Pack - OEM

and I have 1 question about this build:

the DVD writer says it only supports Windows 2000, Windows NT, XP, and Vista. will this dvd writer work with windows 7?

 

[Trotter]

The burner should work fine. Win7 is built off of Vista and even uses the same drivers as Vista for almost everything.

While I am sure your budget was your main limiting factor, I must ask a few questions. Why are you going with an older chipset? And why are you going with a true dual core and not a quad or at least a chip that has the possibility of being unlocked? And, finally, why go with a WD Blue instead of a WD Black?

 

[sk919]

The burner should work fine. Win7 is built off of Vista and even uses the same drivers as Vista for almost everything.

While I am sure your budget was your main limiting factor, I must ask a few questions. Why are you going with an older chipset? And why are you going with a true dual core and not a quad or at least a chip that has the possibility of being unlocked? And, finally, why go with a WD Blue instead of a WD Black?

im going with a dual core because the cpu i have listed was cheap, and had good reviews on newegg. i would get a better cpu but i am already $25 over my budget ($650). and i am getting a blue instead if a black because they were about $15 cheaper, and i did not know that a black was better then a blue.

 

[Trotter]

The Black line is much faster than the Blue, plus the Black drives have a five year warranty vs the three year on the Blue line.

You could save $25 by going with the motherboard:
Newegg.com - BIOSTAR A770E3 AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard

Or you could drop the video card for now and go with this one (the 4250 is roughly equal to a Nvidia 7600GT card) and add a card later:
Newegg.com - BIOSTAR A880G+ AM3 AMD 880G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

Either way you could go with a Athlon II x4 and/or a WD Black (both if you go with the mATX board).

 

[sk919]

The Black line is much faster than the Blue, plus the Black drives have a five year warranty vs the three year on the Blue line.

You could save $25 by going with the motherboard:
Newegg.com - BIOSTAR A770E3 AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard

Or you could drop the video card for now and go with this one (the 4250 is roughly equal to a Nvidia 7600GT card) and add a card later:
Newegg.com - BIOSTAR A880G+ AM3 AMD 880G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

Either way you could go with a Athlon II x4 and/or a WD Black (both if you go with the mATX board).

im not the best with building computers, but the motherboards and the video card you listed seem a lot weaker then the parts i picked out. and how much better is the athlon II x4 then the x2? this computer is going to be mainly used for gaming and i think the video card would be more important then the cpu. and ive also heard that most games these days dont fully utilize 4 cores. and how much upgradability would these 2 motherboards have versus the one i picked out? im definitley going to upgrade the video card and maybe the cpu, but its going to be a couple of months, or maybe at the end of the year until im going to upgrade.

 

[Trotter]

Games are beginning to utilize four cores. I know Bad Company 2 does... it was painful trying to play on a dual core.

The second board I posted are actually better than the MSI board you posted. Look at the chipset, 770 vs 880.

You said your budget is 650. Let me see what I can find for that.

 

[sk919]

Games are beginning to utilize four cores. I know Bad Company 2 does... it was painful trying to play on a dual core.

The second board I posted are actually better than the MSI board you posted. Look at the chipset, 770 vs 880.

You said your budget is 650. Let me see what I can find for that.

thanks.and i have a question about the second motherboard. Is the video card integrated? will i be able to switch the card out for a different one?

 

[Trotter]

Yes, the graphics are onboard, or integrated. The board has a PCI-E 2.0 x16 slot on it so you could drop any graphics card on it. The board will automatically shut off the integrated graphics when you add a card.

Here's a parts list. It is $16 more than the one you put together, but it only has two items that do not have free shipping (+$7) and has a $20 MIR card.

Newegg.com - Rosewill Blackbone Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

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

Newegg.com - BIOSTAR A880G+ AM3 AMD 880G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

Newegg.com - AMD Athlon II X4 640 Propus 3.0GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor ADX640WFGMBOX

Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-10600CL8D-4GBHK

Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Newegg.com - LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA DVD Writer - Bulk - LightScribe Support - CD / DVD Burners

Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100254HDMI Radeon HD 4650 1GB 128-bit DDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card

Newegg.com - EDIMAX EW-7128G IEEE 802.11b/g PCI Wireless Card Up to 54Mbps Wireless Data Rates

Newegg.com - Acer S211HLbd 21.5'' 5ms LED-Backlight LCD Monitor Slim Design 250 cd/m2 12,000,000:1 (ACM)

That gets you a quad and a WD Black drive, plus a more up to date chipset.

 

[sk919]

WOW! these parts are great, i cant thank you enough!

you're a very nice person trotter, thank you for helping me with this.

 

[Trotter]

I should have been better but NewEgg isn't doing many good combos right now for some reason.