Comments on my $1300 all-purpose build?

[MathWiz579]

Budget is roughly $1300, including new monitor and OS. Computer is more general-purpose, including audio and video encoding, but will be doing some gaming as well (not worried about getting a max resolution on Crysis with AA). May try a slight overclock with this system, but nothing too far out there. Here is my proposed build:

Q9550 + Asus p5Q Pro - $375 ($15 MIR)
Xigmatek Dark Knight-S1283V cooler - $40
Corsair 4GB DDR2 880 (PC2 6400) ram - $45 ($25 MIR)
Corsair CMPSU-550VX power supply - $90 ($20 MIR)
Sapphire 100259L HD 4870 512 MB GPU - $180
WD Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM - $80
Cooler Master RC 690 case - $90
LG 22X DVD Burner - $25
Windows Vista Home Premium 64 bit - $100
ASUS VH242H 23.6" monitor - $250

Total Price (with shipping and before rebates): $1315

Any comments, suggestions, etc... would be appreciated!

 

[13Gigatons]

Looks pretty good except I will probably just install Windows 7 for free at this point.

 

[theAnimal]

I would suggest spending a couple bucks more for an HD4870 1GB. You could save $20 with this OCZ PSU.

The rest looks good.

Welcome to the forums.

 

[zerocool84]

Originally posted by: 13Gigatons
Looks pretty good except I will probably just install Windows 7 for free at this point.

Not everyone wants a Beta OS as their main OS and he'll have to get something when the beta ends so he's fine there.

 

[AznSensation]

4870 1gig
samsung F1 hdd
G.Skill PI RAM
Phenom II x4 920
Gigabyte 790g mobo

 

[13Gigatons]

Originally posted by: zerocool84

Originally posted by: 13Gigatons
Looks pretty good except I will probably just install Windows 7 for free at this point.

Not everyone wants a Beta OS as their main OS and he'll have to get something when the beta ends so he's fine there.

True but the RC won't expire until March 2010 so he will have some time to cough up the money.

 

[heyheybooboo]

Tough to top the Phenom II 940BE / Foxconn 790FX combo deal for $314 before $34 rebate. The Biostar 790gx combo is $278.

3.4-3.5GHz at stock volts by simply raising the cpu multi would be a simple OC for you.

You could put the extra $$$ you save toward Vegas Movie, Sound Forge and Acid studio versions.

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: zerocool84

Originally posted by: 13Gigatons
Looks pretty good except I will probably just install Windows 7 for free at this point.

Not everyone wants a Beta OS as their main OS and he'll have to get something when the beta ends so he's fine there.

It was only a suggestion.

But Windows 7 is so incredibly stable and polish, even i'm impressed (first time using Windows 7 this week, and i was so impressed i wiped Kubuntu and Arch off both my laptops and put Windows 7 on).

 

[zerogear]

Originally posted by: 13Gigatons

Originally posted by: zerocool84

Originally posted by: 13Gigatons
Looks pretty good except I will probably just install Windows 7 for free at this point.

Not everyone wants a Beta OS as their main OS and he'll have to get something when the beta ends so he's fine there.

True but the RC won't expire until March 2010 so he will have some time to cough up the money.

Windows 7, while good, is basically Vista with a new coat of paint, there is no worthwhile reason to use beta OS as a main OS.

 

[MathWiz579]

Thanks for the comments. Didn't realize that the 1GB HD4870 was only about $20 more than the 512MB. For this particular card, am I going to see a substantial bump in performance by shelling out an extra $20 for the 1GB? Any reasons not to do it?

I currently have Windows 7 running on my main rig and my netbook. While I think it's fairly stable, there are a few things I've done that have locked it up. Considering that it's unclear when exactly the final version of 7 will be coming out, I want to spend the cash to get a nice, final, stable copy of Vista.