First Post, First Build

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n00b
Joined
Dec 17, 2008
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17
Alright, I'm new here, but I've been a reader for awhile, and I'm building my first rig for myself for Christmas. So here goes:

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Primary rig, used for school/office apps, photoshop/lightroom, media storage and playback, and potentially a little work in premiere.
2) What's your budget? ~$1000 including shipping.
3) Where do you live? Orlando, FL
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? Starting from the ground up, so: Case, mobo, cpu, psu, gpu, ram, hd, optical drives, wifi, etc. This build is not including peripherals.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Nothing being reused. Fresh build.
6) Will you be overclocking? I'd like to, but not initially. I want the build to be stable before attempting any OCing.
7) What size monitor do you have or plan to have? Will be running on a 24" @ 1920x1200, also connecting to a 720P LCD TV via HDMI
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC? ASAP
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? Stability mostly, not a gaming pc, so SLI/CF not a concern.

Here's my potential build. Please make any suggestions, but also tell me if this list would expect any problems or compatibility issues.

Case: Lian Li PC-7B http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112099 $69.99
Mobo: Asus P5Q SE http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131347 $96.99
PSU: Silverstone ST75F 750W Modular http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256009 $119.99
CPU: Intel Wolfdale E8400 C2D http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037 $164.99
GPU: Powercolor HD4850 (If you suggest any replacement for the GPU, please make sure it has an HDMI out, going to be connecting to my TV/HT.) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131125 $154.99
RAM: 3 GB (Running XP 32bit) G. Skill DDR2 1066 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231143 $53.97
HD: Seagate 7200.11 1TB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148274 $109.99
DVD: 2x Samsung 20x Black DVD RW http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151179 $45.98
WiFi: Rosewill RNX-N300 http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.148397 $32.98
Subtotal: $861.86
Shipping from NewEgg: $62.73
Total: $924.59 which leaves some room for keyboard+mouse

Thanks for your help [H]
 
If your not planning on doing any gaming, then I would say go with the hd3450

personally i would go with the q6600 processor

also you wont need 750w so you can get a cheaper power supply unless you plan to game in the future and will need it then.

i am not sure but i think its better for you to go with 2 sticks or 4 sticks instead of 3 sticks of ram unless its a i7 build. so either get 2x1gb and 2x512mb of ram or just 2x1gb. personally i would think 2gb is perfectly fine on xp.

i know cases are based on personal tastes but have you checked out the cheaper antec 300 or coolermaster 590?
 
I concur with crhscoog's CPU, GPU, PSU and RAM recommendation. It's not cost effective to buy three sticks of RAM like that. Just go with this set of RAM and don't care about the leftover 1GB:
G.Skill F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ 2 x 2GB DDR2 800 RAM - $40

PSU wise, this is more than enough power for your system:
BFG Tech LS-550 550W PSU - $67

GPU wise, since you're not gaming (you didn't mention it), the HD3450 is a good choice.

Since photoshop lightroom and premiere do benefit from a quad-core CPU, I second the recommendation for the Q6600. Mobo wise, ditch that Asus mobo since it has a terrible placement of the 24Pin PSU connection that'll obstruct airflow and make cable management hard. I recommend this mobo instead:
Gigabyte GA-EP43-DS3L Intel P43 Motherboard - $80

I also recommending spending the extra $20 for an extra 500GB of storage:
Seagate 7200.11 1.5TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $130
 
+1 for Danny Bui... again. You'll appreciate the 4gb in premiere, as well as a quad core.
 
Thanks for the suggestions.

What are some good options for CPU coolers to achieve decent OC speeds?
 
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