Need advice for build

Concordedly

New Member
I've never built a computer before and mostly dabble with software stuff, never hardware. I don't have any idea what I want really other than the following:

CPU: AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition Callisto 3.1GHz Socket AM3 80W Dual-Core Processor Model HDZ550WFGIBOX

Memory: 8GB (With capabilities of upgrading to 16GB later)

Video Memory: 1GB (Will take 512MB but would prefer the 1GB)

Drive: DVD-RW+

Hard Drive: 500GB


These are the only specs that I am worried about. Could you give me advice for a motherboard and memory and what brands? Try to be as cost-efficient as possible.
 
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4GB - 8GB is ALL you need. Anything over is for people running Vista and having like 300 things running at the same time. Also, your memory should have the same caliber as your CPU, so that they can run in harmony w/o any wasted performance.
 
4GB - 8GB is ALL you need. Anything over is for people running Vista and having like 300 things running at the same time. Also, your memory should have the same caliber as your CPU, so that they can run in harmony w/o any wasted performance.

You don't need over 8Gigs to run Vista. :confused:

Also, where is the "caliber" rating on memory? I don't see it listed in the specs of any RAM I've seen. :rolleyes:
 
Ok. I follow what you're saying. I am currently running a Dell Dimension Desktop with 1GB ram and a Intel pentium 2.9GHZ processor. The video memory is through the integrated chipset I guess and it is 64mb. 80GB harddrive I believe with a CD-RW+

I download in high amounts, I install and uninstall things off of my system regularly, I'm a pack-rat when it comes to music and videos that I keep on my computer stored and I play several different graphic-intensive online games.

So, maybe now that I'm explaining why I want to make sure my computer that I spend this money on is fast, you could point me in the right direction. I hate this Dell Dimension, it's the perfect almost-but not really computer anyone could have. It was a cheap $100 upgrade at a garage sale from a crappy old Compaq from Win98 days. (Seemed like a blessing at the time though.)

I want to build it because I would like a new hobby, going out and buying a system from bestbuy or even online doesn't particularly interest me. Some people have their cars they want to work on etc. I want to work on a computer. ^_^



All of this for approximately $300-$800. I will have the money in September and I want to start saving now.
 
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All of this for approximately $300-$800. I will have the money in September and I want to start saving now.

Thats a pretty wide price range. You mean up to 800 bucks?

What all does this include. Do you need a Monitor/keyboard/mouse/speakers/OS.

Or are you just building a stack?
 
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