New build

[insane]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
gaming, web browsing and watching HD videos
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$1,000 - $1,200
3) Where do you live?
Seattle, WA
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
CPU, RAM, case, motherboard, PSU, HDD, disc drive, OS and video card
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
all external hardware (keyboard, mouse, monitor 1920 x 1080)
6) Will you be overclocking?
not initially, maybe later
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
23" 1920 x 1080
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
this week
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
none
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?
no


I managed to put together a computer build via newegg.
case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119137
motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131402
video card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150490
psu
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005
cpu
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808
memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277
hdd
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181
disc drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118039
os
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754
cooler
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134

 

[MacLeod]

Thats a very solid build.

The only things I would change would be moving up to a Western Digital 1 TB hard drive. Theyre $20 more but twice the space.

For CPU cooler, Id go with the Cooler Master Hyper 212. Pretty much the best air cooler on the market and goes for $50 shipped. The Sunbeam Core Contact Freezer 120mm is also excellent and is $40 shipped.

Everything else is perfect.

 

[E4g1e]

Looks good except for the CPU cooler. There are far better CPU coolers than the AC Freezer 7 Pro for that price. In fact, the AC Freezer 7 Pro is too small to do its job effectively given the fact that modern CPUs put out much more heat than the older CPUs even at the same TDP. That cooler measures only 92mm compared to the other CPU coolers that measure 120mm with 120mm fans. Heck, the AC Freezer 7 Pro is almost identical to the Intel i7-980X CPU's stock freebie bundled cooler. In other words, that cooler does not perform well enough to justify its $40 price compared to even the stock AMD freebie cooler, let alone the larger coolers at the same price point.

P.S. I just re-checked that build, and I think you paid way too much money for an AMD build - especially one with a quad-core Phenom II X4 CPU. In that $1,000 to $1,200 price range I think you're better off with a Socket 1366 Intel i7-930 build. You see, paying $390 for a GPU plus another $120 for a motherboard completely defeats the very advantage of AMD platforms: Excellent performance-to-price ratio. As configured, you're already spending $1,065 not including an OS for something with a CPU that's more at home with a $700 to $800 system. In addition, the 5870 is slightly overkill for a 1080p monitor, especially since the less expensive 5850 performs nearly as well at that resolution but costs about $100 less than the 5870.

 

[E4g1e]

The only things I would change would be moving up to a Western Digital 1 TB hard drive. Theyre $20 more but twice the space.

Unfortunately, that 1TB WD hard drive is a Green series drive. I would not use any Green series drive as the primary system drive because it always parks its heads when idling. This makes what is normally a relatively slow-performing 5400 RPM hard drive even slower, especially in program access speed. This constant head parking has the potential to make a quad-core Phenom perform slower than a single-core Sempron equipped with a non-Green HDD in programs which access the disk and then idle themselves.

The 1TB WD hard drive that you want actually costs $45 more than the 500GB Samsung HDD.

 

[insane]

Looks good except for the CPU cooler. There are far better CPU coolers than the AC Freezer 7 Pro for that price. In fact, the AC Freezer 7 Pro is too small to do its job effectively given the fact that modern CPUs put out much more heat than the older CPUs even at the same TDP. That cooler measures only 92mm compared to the other CPU coolers that measure 120mm with 120mm fans. Heck, the AC Freezer 7 Pro is almost identical to the Intel i7-980X CPU's stock freebie bundled cooler. In other words, that cooler does not perform well enough to justify its $40 price compared to even the stock AMD freebie cooler, let alone the larger coolers at the same price point.

P.S. I just re-checked that build, and I think you paid way too much money for an AMD build - especially one with a quad-core Phenom II X4 CPU. In that $1,000 to $1,200 price range I think you're better off with a Socket 1366 Intel i7-930 build. You see, paying $390 for a GPU plus another $120 for a motherboard completely defeats the very advantage of AMD platforms: Excellent performance-to-price ratio. As configured, you're already spending $1,065 not including an OS for something with a CPU that's more at home with a $700 to $800 system. In addition, the 5870 is slightly overkill for a 1080p monitor, especially since the less expensive 5850 performs nearly as well at that resolution but costs about $100 less than the 5870.

I understand that for an AMD build, thats theres a huge advantage towards performance over cost. If I were to step up to a 1366 i7 930 build, I will at least spend around $200.00 dollars more assuming that I keep the other parts the same. I much rather save money while building a balanced computer.

I was debating between the 5870 and 5850 and I decieded to go with the 5870 because I want to run Bad Company 2 with AA turned on while playing multiplayer. Also, starcraft II is coming out which can be quite demanding on the GPU according to this article.

 

[Shadowssong]

Thats a very solid build.

The only things I would change would be moving up to a Western Digital 1 TB hard drive. Theyre $20 more but twice the space.

For CPU cooler, Id go with the Cooler Master Hyper 212. Pretty much the best air cooler on the market and goes for $50 shipped. The Sunbeam Core Contact Freezer 120mm is also excellent and is $40 shipped.

Everything else is perfect.

Both of your suggestions are wrong, like E4g1e said, the only 1TB drive is the green and that is just a secondary storage drive. The Hyper 212+ is good but it is FAR from the best cooler on the market (and it sells for $30 not $50). Also the Sunbeam CCF is a decent cooler but not that great of a price.

@OP, my suggestions to change:

CM 690 to CM 690 II, not only is it cheaper it is a newer version of the 690.

If you are not overclocking right off the bat then don't bother with an aftermarket cooler for now. Save your money and get one when you actually need or if the stock cooler somehow doesn't meet your cooling/sound preferences.

Also change to this combo:
Phenom II X4 955 + Gigabyte 790X AM3 Mobo
Not only does the motherboard have more features for less but you actually get a free game that you could resell or just play.
Also this combo will save you some money and net you a quality modular psu:
XFX 5870 + XFX 650W Modular PSU

 

[E4g1e]

I understand that for an AMD build, thats theres a huge advantage towards performance over cost. If I were to step up to a 1366 i7 930 build, I will at least spend around $200.00 dollars more assuming that I keep the other parts the same. I much rather save money while building a balanced computer.

I was debating between the 5870 and 5850 and I decieded to go with the 5870 because I want to run Bad Company 2 with AA turned on while playing multiplayer. Also, starcraft II is coming out which can be quite demanding on the GPU according to this article.

This makes the refresh rate of your monitor the limiting factor. If you have a 1080p monitor that only refreshes at 60Hz or 72Hz, then yes, a 5870 is overkill.

 

[insane]

Both of your suggestions are wrong, like E4g1e said, the only 1TB drive is the green and that is just a secondary storage drive. The Hyper 212+ is good but it is FAR from the best cooler on the market (and it sells for $30 not $50). Also the Sunbeam CCF is a decent cooler but not that great of a price.

@OP, my suggestions to change:

CM 690 to CM 690 II, not only is it cheaper it is a newer version of the 690.

If you are not overclocking right off the bat then don't bother with an aftermarket cooler for now. Save your money and get one when you actually need or if the stock cooler somehow doesn't meet your cooling/sound preferences.

Also change to this combo:
Phenom II X4 955 + Gigabyte 790X AM3 Mobo
Not only does the motherboard have more features for less but you actually get a free game that you could resell or just play.
Also this combo will save you some money and net you a quality modular psu:
XFX 5870 + XFX 650W Modular PSU

I appreciate the suggestions. I'm definitely going to get the CM 690 II plus those two combos. It saves me some money in the end.