Build advice requested ~$800 budget

[DarkSoldier]

I'm looking to put together a new PC sometime in the immediate future. I've built a few systems in the past but not over 5 years, and I really have no idea how to choose a CPU/Mobo/Ram these days. For instance, last time I was building systems power supplies were not an important consideration but I understand this isn't the case anymore.

My goal for this is around $800 but I think I can figure out some basic stuff (HD, DVD) on my own. I'm basically just looking for advice on CPU/Mobo/Ram, graphics card, and I guess power supply. Just consider that I'll need to pick up a hard drive and whatnot in the $800 as well.

1) What will you be doing with this PC?

I'm mainly working on developing software/games. I probably won't be really playing many games but I'm going to need it to be capable of running them. For instance I need a DX10 capable graphics card. I know DX11 cards will be coming out eventually but that's probably too long to wait so maybe a cheap DX10 card would be good to tide me over.

I'd also prefer an Nvidia graphics card to ATI for the Linux support.

I'm more concerned with performance building projects and compiling code (so multi-core is important).

2) I'd like to bring it in for around $800 including shipping.

3) Location: Bay Area, CA.

4) Don't really care about brands for CPU/Mobo/Ram. I'd like at least a dual-core CPU (preferably quad-core) and at least 4 GB of ram.

5) I have a 19" flat screen monitor I'm going to use for the time being. I'll probably add a second one eventually. Other than that no parts to reuse.

6) Will you be overclocking? No

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have? See 5.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC? Hopefully in the next couple of weeks.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? I'd like on-board sound/LAN/etc so I don't have to worry about buying these things separately.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?

Yes.


Thanks guys.

 

[Dangman]

$184 - AMD Phenom II X4 920 Black Edition CPU
$110 - Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4P AMD AM3 790X Motherboard
$43 - G.Skill F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ 2 x 2GB DDR2 800 RAM
$170 - XFX GX260XADJF GeForce GTX 260 Core Edition Core 216 896MB PCI-E Video Card
$63 - Western Digital WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$25 - Samsung SH-222F 22X DVD±R SATA DVD Burner
$110 - Corsair 750TX 750W PSU
$54 - Cooler Master Elite 334 RC-334-KKN1-GP ATX Case
------
Total: $759 plus tax and shipping. If my math is correct, the leftover $40 should be enough to cover the shipping and taxes from newegg.com.

I got as much parts as possible to avoid paying the CA tax that Newegg has to charge. Quad-core as you asked and Nvidia as you asked. The motherboard and 750TX PSU should allow you plenty of upgrade options in the future. The WD 640GB drive is as fast as many Raptor drives and only 10% slower than the newer Velociraptor drives. The GTX260 is overkill for a 19" monitor but since you had the budget, I figured might as well put that extra cash to good use

 

[DarkSoldier]

Hey that looks pretty good, thanks. I think I might want to scale back that GeForce some and maybe put the money into getting the fastest HD I can. What would you recommend for a video card under say $100 instead?

 

[Dangman]

Hey that looks pretty good, thanks. I think I might want to scale back that GeForce some and maybe put the money into getting the fastest HD I can. What would you recommend for a video card under say $100 instead?

The WD6400AAKS drive IS the one of the fastest hard drives out there. The next step over the WD6400AAKS is the Velociraptor 150GB drive which costs $180. So you're basically paying three times the price for only 10% more performance. Not worth it IMO. So I highly recommend sticking with the WD6400AAKS.

For an Nvidia card under $100, I'd recommend this $75 9600GT:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814187032

For the best price to performance card under $100, I'd recommend the $87 ATI HD4830 card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161260

Or this $65 ATI HD3850 is a very good budget option:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814129129

As you can tell, below $100, Nvida does not have that many a card with a good price to performance ratio.

You do have the cash for the GTX260 so I do recommend springing for it.

 

[PC_User]

The WD6400AAKS drive IS the one of the fastest hard drives out there. The next step over the WD6400AAKS is the Velociraptor 150GB drive which costs $180.

Next step is the WD6401AALS (Caviar Black).