Building a new PC

Heya, been out of the PC tech 'loop' for awhile, and am interested in replacing my old system (like 7 year old 1400$ pc)

I have replaced several parts in it, that I would like to use; namely the case (a large ATX case), the PSU, and the HDD

PSU = thermaltake xaser 3 560W

HDD = some generic corsaid 120gb 5400 RPM(just one of the circuit city ones etc.)
and I have the network cards

I need no costs for OS (gonna stick with xp sp2), and have mouse/keyboard etc.

So what I need:

monitor : been looking at nice 22" ones on newegg running for 220$, are these suitable for gaming (other thing I do is run design/mathematics apps (cad/matlab etc)? Ive been hearing very mixed reviews? Are these suitable for gaming? 16:9 or 4:3? what do you guys think? (been on a 17" viewsonic crt so either is a nice change : ) )


mobo : 135$
GA-EP45C-DS3R gigabyte, gonna get one card, toss in another one when i have the cash/need the upgrade since it support crossfire

cpu : 170$ e8400, only good things been hearing about this

gpu : ASUS EAH4850 160$ will buy another later , xfire supported, (highest clocked of all the 4850 chipsets, plus im a big asus fan)

memory : 80$ Kingston HyperX 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)

tot: ~550, say 250 for a display, so 800$ for what seems like a really tight machine

any suggestions on what to change or where I am going? I love to tinker, and parts that are known to be oc'able are preffd. also will not buy any abit products no matter what

thanks for replies!

Go for widescreen - samsung monitors are good as they have a fast response time - gaming grade is at 2ms.

If you plan to OC it, you will need a good CPU cooler. I've got the EP45C-DS3R as a home server myself.

Might want to upgrade the HDD to a 7200rpm though...

The rig looks fine. My only concern is the PSU, although 550w is enough, I'm not sure if the PSU that comes with the case is premium grade - most PSU supplied with the case are not quality PSU. But I might be wrong though.

the PSU is aftermarket, and it was a quality one, will it hold out when i get another gpu for the crossfire setup? also would you recommend a cpu cooler off the bat? wont oc for awhile, just once cant play games at decent settings, or is it something you can only do w/ removing the cpu and a hassle to install later?

The PSU is actually a Thermaltake Purepower 560w PSU, not what i mentioned above
, which has a good review from overclockerscafe.com

also, monitor : samsung 2232BW, ~260$, seems like a really nice display.

as for the mobo, do you mean the GIGABYTE GA-EP45T? the only benefit I see is it supports faster ddr3, doesnt seem significant enough for me to spend 40$ more on it (or like30% more) Any input appreciated, gonna start ordering parts soon = )
also the asus P5Q mobos are in the same price range and good reviews...hmm what to choose


as for the memory; Patriot Viper 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
OR mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)


similar price to the kingston, and seems to be the goto company now?
(still going by my old company reps when kingston/corsair were the ONLY companies to buy from)

oh sorry one final q (this might be noob but w/e) when I do get the new PC can i just go plug n' play with the HDD? or will I have to reformat it etc?

You really don't want to click the link in my sig do you?

You will find links to all the parts you need. I wrote it all out once so that I don't have to type it over and over The first post in the link is general advice, the second is specific, recommended parts.

Those parts include the Gigabyte board and the Mushkin RAM.

bump