My first build, comments welcome

KaBone

KaBone

Member
Here's the shopping list:
monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers - existing/later
case - Antec Three Hundred
case fans - 120-mm and 140-mm included
power supply - Antec TP3-650 installed
motherboard - GA-EP45-UD3R
cpu - Core 2 Quad Q9550
cpu cooler - Xigmatex HDT-1283
memory - Kingston KHX8500D2K2/4G 2x2GB
video card - ATI Radeon HD 4670
sound card - later
network card - integrated
hard drive - Seagate ST3500320AS 500GB 32MB 7200rpm SATA
dvd burner - LITEON iHAS 422-08 22x lightscribe SATA
operating system - existing XP Home

$970.74 delivered (I have to pay for shipping). Please, I welcome all comments. What do you like? Do you foresee any problems? What would you change? I don't have any more budget, so all suggestions are a trade-off.
 
Here's what I can get delivered from hp for $981.75.
Pavillion Elite m9400t, Q9400 cpu, 2x2GB RAM, Radeon HD 4850 gpu, 320 GB 7200 rpm SATA hd, blu-ray player & supermulti dvd burner, Vista Premium 64-bit SP1.

Or $903.21 without the blu-ray player. What do I do now?
 
Yep, your original list was heavy on processor and light on video. The Q6600 and the gtx 260 or a ATI 4870 would be a better balance between CPU and GDU. You could also consider 2 to 3 total smaller HDs for some RAID options like 0 or 5 to increase I/O rates.
 
With anything you intend to build, there's some component that you are going to spend extra money on. For my system, I decided to go heavy on the processor. I'm not a "gamer" and I don't watch HD movies on my computer. Therefore I couldn't justify a top-notch vid card at this time; thinking instead I'll upgrade later. I'll consider it if you feel I'm really doing myself a disservice.

Back to the hp build. The more I think about it the more I like it. Here I get a very good processor and vid card. It comes pre-assembled so all I have to do is plug it in. All for less money. Is the hp not worth it in the long run?
 
Most original equipment manufacturers use cheap parts (especially power supplies) give you no operating system installation disc and give you components that limit you in future upgrades. If I had no knowledge on how to build I would rather pay someone to build a system for me than buy from an original equipment manufacturer.

Original equipment manufacturers stink in my opinion.
 
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