[Raquinator]

Cooling Fans - 4
80GB Hard Drive
Corsair 4GB Ram
Cooler Master Power Supply
Motherboard/Processor Combo

These are the parts that I am planning on getting. The sound/video card defaults in the motherboard are pretty nice, so I don't plan on getting those separately. The case I'm using is an old one - rebuilding the PC.

This is my first build, so I'm unsure of what to check as far as compatibility and whether or not the parts will work together. I checked things like DDR2 memory, ATA hard drive, etc. but the cables may have issues. Like, I have a floppy disk that has an IDE-like cable so I don't know if that would work or what not.

Any advice/suggestions are appreciated. I'm on a bit of a tight budget, but these parts seems to fit my needs pretty well.

[patonb]

You'll save like 30 bucks on the board/cpu from the egg. 244 with free shipping.

But anyway, if you're on a budget, ATI is the best route..
What is your budget?

[Raquinator]

It's a $500 budget. Right now it's around $440, without tax. But I'd still like to keep it as low as possible.

By the egg do you mean New Egg? Also, with the motherboard, it said it could only handle 2 x 2GB Ram. Since it has two slots, couldn't it technically handle 2 x 4GB Ram?

[Muffin Man]

these are $433. you get a quad core, mobo with better onboard vid, and a 640gb hdd. do you also need a disk drive?

Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!
Newegg.com - Crucial Ballistix 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model BL2KIT25664AA80A - Desktop Memory
Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-400CX 400W ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Power Supplies
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives

[patonb]

**** muffins fast...
I priced one too, was abit cheaper, but was a X2 black and a bigger psu, 550vx for upgrading...

Newegg.com - Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives 59.99
Newegg.com - BIOSTAR TFORCE TA790GX 128M AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards 109.99
Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W ATX12V V2.2 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Power Supplies 89.99 -30
Newegg.com - OCZ Blade Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Desktop Memory Model OCZ2B800C44GK - Desktop Memory 62.99
Newegg.com - AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition Callisto 3.1GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 80W Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops 99.99

It's 422 less 30 mail in rebate. And all free shipping

But you could grab the 400vx and come out even cheaper, But that X4 mobo deals that muffin spec'd is powerful.

[Muffin Man]

...

[philbar71]

Originally Posted by Muffin Man

these are $433. you get a quad core, mobo with better onboard vid, and a 640gb hdd. do you also need a disk drive?

Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!
Newegg.com - Crucial Ballistix 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model BL2KIT25664AA80A - Desktop Memory
Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-400CX 400W ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Power Supplies
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives

just a slight tweak on your build,

Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!

Newegg.com - OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ3P1600EB4GK - Desktop Memory

puts you at about $480 and you get DDR3 and better CPU

[Muffin Man]

^ thatll work too.

[Raquinator]

Ah, forgot to mention this. Not exactly for any particular reason, but I'm looking for an Intel processor, not AMD. (Even though the Phenom is...well, phenomenal.) I already have two disk drives, so I should be fine with that.

EDIT: And for the processor, at least 3.0 GHz. Trying to make it a cost-effective gaming computer. Not entirely worried about the Hard Drive space as I'll probably get an external HD for it later on.

[philbar71]

Newegg.com - Foxconn BlackOps X48 LGA 775 Intel X48 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

Newegg.com - OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ3P1600EB4GK - Desktop Memory

Newegg.com - Intel Core2 Quad Q9400 2.66GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

GHz speed does not really matter nowadays. because that Phenom II 945 at 3GHz is only about equal to the q9400 at 2.6GHz, so needless to say if you overclock the q9400 to 3GHz it will beat the 945 at 3GHz.