First build suggestions

[patonb]

I think this would be a better PSU (if anyone thinks otherwise, please mention it):
Newegg.com - CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 (CMPSU-600CX) 600W ATX12V v2.3 Active PFC Power Supply

The CX line are budget lines. Yes you get the Corsair company support, but youre not getting a Corsair psu.

 

[Thomas]

Honestly, I would choose an Antec over a Corsair any day. Antec has earned its stripes by being solid year in and year out. I'm not saying Corsair is not as good but that it hasn't put in the blood and sweat like Antec has.

+1 I use Antec High Current Gamer 520w.

 

[Yerfdog]

Honestly, I would choose an Antec over a Corsair any day. Antec has earned its stripes by being solid year in and year out. I'm not saying Corsair is not as good but that it hasn't put in the blood and sweat like Antec has.

I was talking about in comparison to the Rosewill OP had in the combo.

 

[valakas]

Thanks for the advice all! I really had no idea what i as looking for in a PSU. Im gonna dump the rosewill in favor of the antec.

 

[valakas]

Back again. It seems every time i manage to save up some money for a new computer life happens and I have to spend it else where. So I started buying parts as I have the money.

So far I have:

Case:

Newegg.com - Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, comes with Three Fans-1x Front Blue LED 120mm Fan, 1x Top 140mm Fan, 1x Rear 120mm Fan, option Fans-2x Side 120mm Fan

CPU:

Newegg.com - AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ965FBGMBOX

OS: Windows 7 64bit

Things to get:

MOBO:

Newegg.com - ASUS M5A97 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

Figured id go with AM3+ for future upgrades and has sata 6 and usb 3.

HD:

Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD7502AAEX 750GB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Ram:

Newegg.com - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL7D-4GBRM

CD drive:

Newegg.com - SAMSUNG CD/DVD Burner 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model SH-222AB - CD / DVD Burners

PSU:

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

Cooler:

Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact" Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU Cooler Compatible Intel Core i5 & Intel Core i7

GPU:

Newegg.com - XFX HD-695X-CNDC Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

I might downgrade here because of the cost but Im a wishfull thinker! It will be the last thing I buy.

I got an email from Newegg today that has codes for 10% off any ram, and 15% off cd drives. I have about $75 I can spend right now. The codes I guess are only good for 72 hours. I was kinda unsure on the ram speed because the mobo I linked offers different speeds and one has O.C. next to it. So if I want to over clock do i want the higher speed?

Also some deals I seen in the email for monitors that I could pick up on friday but not sure which is better for the money.

Newegg.com - ASUS VH226H Black 21.5" 2ms(GTG) HDMI Widescreen 16:9 Full HD 1080P LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 1000:1 (ASCR 12000 : 1) Built in Speakers

$139.99 the mail in rebate brings it to $119.99

or

Newegg.com - ASUS VH232H Glossy Black 23" 5ms Widescreen Full HD 1080p LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 ASCR 20000:1 w/Speakers & HDMI

$149.99 the mail in rebate brings it to $134.99

From what I noticed they are both 1080p same resolution. One is a bigger screen but a slower response time..

Any advice would be greatly appreciated : )

 

[patonb]

Unless you want to highly overclock, 1600 is probably just fine. I'm not a big ram knower so i can't help too well.

On the screens, becareful with responce times, as the VH226H is grey to grey. Which means about va 5ms BtB

The 23" has a brighter contrast too, 20000 vs 12000.

 

[valakas]

Thanks for the info!

I had read that there was a difference between response time of Grey to Grey and Black to Black, and had noticed one was listed and the other wasn't. On the other hand I had also read that all company's rate theirs different so there is no industry standard but they were the same company. Tho I could be thinking of contrast or something. So for about $15 more id get a better monitor all the way around..

I seen Acer has good deals but my co-worker and his brother have had bad experience with them. Wasnt sure if they were just unlucky or if that is to be expected.

I know Asus makes good boards from what i have read. But haven't read much about there monitors. Newegg reviews look good for both monitors, however i don't fully trust them on most products.

 

[valakas]

So im a sad panda got everthing finally and put it together. Started it up and it posted.. tried to install windows and there was an error. So try again and it just keeps freezing after being on for about 30s. doesnt matter if the disk is in or if im just in bios. I reset cmos and the problem still persists

 

[patonb]

Ah nutz. You need the exact error as it could be a very minor and easily fixed thing

 

[valakas]

seems to be the ram slot on the board.. I took one out and it worked fine, put it back and took the other out and it didnt work. So I put the one that did work in the slot of the one that didnt work and nothing. Then put the 2 sticks in again but not in the slot it didnt work and it stopped freezing. time to try windows install again.