Building a new PC

[npsken]

I am building a new PC for a friend. He doesn't want to go over $800 (including shipping). He has an external CD drive which should be good enough for installing an OS. He also already has a keyboard, mouse, and monitor (the monitor is a 17" 4:3, so I have a new one in the list below).

The main purpose for this computer is going to be for student-style programming (OpenGL, mainly).

Here is what I came up with:

RAIDMAX SMILODON ATX-612WBP Black 1.0mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Foldout MB Computer Case With 500W Power Supply - Retail

Western Digital Caviar Blue WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Hanns·G HW-191APB Black 19" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor - Retail

MSI 770-C45 AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

Galaxy 96GGF6HMFEXX GeForce 9600 GT 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card - Retail

Logitech S-220 17 Watts 2.1 Multimedia Speaker System - OEM

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL8D-4GBHK - Retail

AMD Athlon II X4 620 Propus 2.6GHz Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Processor Model ADX620WFGIBOX - Retail

Scythe SCKTN-3000 92mm Sleeve "KATANA3" 3Heat Pipes CPU Cooler - Retail

What I am looking for are suggestions. If anybody has a recommendation of a certain product over another in this list please post a link on newegg and a reason why.

Many thanks in advance!

- Ken Powers

 

[mpilchfamily]

Ditch the PSU in the case. If he wants the case for its looks thats fine. But most of Raidmax's PSUs are marginal at best. That's a $80 case with a $15 PSU in it. You really need to invest a little more into the PSU. Its not something you want to go cheap on.

 

[daveybrat]

First change the ram to this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-CPC-_-NA-_-NA

Cheaper and nicer ram.

Next, ditch the Scythe fan, the retail boxed cpu fan is more than sufficient for him....unless you plan on overclocking the cpu.

Definitely go with a new power supply....Raidmax units are garbage.

Change that weak 9600GT to this 9800GT for cheaper:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-535-_-Product

 

[daveybrat]

Also, use the money i saved you to swap the Hanns-G monitor that does not come with a DVI cable to this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...%2019%22%20led

The Asus LED 19" monitor is far superior in every way and comes with a DVI cable for only $15 more.