Hey everyone,

I'm building a system, it's my first one.

I'm on a tight budget so I'm looking to have a fast, reliable, sweet system for the money.

I won't be doing anything hrdcore on this...  internet browsing/email, word processing, minor gaming (arcade/yahoo games, maybe WoW, and runescape), video conversion, dvd/cd burning, IMing. This is apersonal machine that could potentially be used in the future for a business, but still nothing hardcore.

I know AMD is cheaper, but I'm really not a fan. I've shopped around online and So far this is what I have picked out:

Gigabyte  GA-H57M
Intel Core i5 660
G.Skill Ripjaws series DDR3 1600 (4GB)
Seagate Barracuda HD (SATA II 3.0 Gb/s) 500GB

I'm wondering..is the i5 750 better than the 660? Because I can get it for a better deal.

I'm also wondering about which case to get, and PSU. I know it isn't recommended to get them together. I'd like a case that is cheap but good for the money. Something a bit fancy looking with some leds and a clear side panel. Preferably USB/audio ports up top instead of on bottom. A mid or full tower. Something that will keep things cool.

What size PSU will be sufficient for this machine? 500W? More or less? Keep in mind, I will also have a DVD burner and card reader. I'm not going with a huge HD cause I don't need it. I also have an external WD drive (320GBs) to hook up to it so...

Hi...

Unfrotunaly, I see no rpelies  yet :(

But since my last post, here is my finalized system in more detail:

Raidmax quantum atx-798wb black secc atx mid tower case

G.Skill Ripjaws series 4GB (2x2GB) 240-pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Module Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL

gigabyte GA-H57M-USB3 SOcket LGA1156 Intel H55 Chipset w/ D-Sub/DVI/HDMI/DisplayPort-channel DDR3

2200+/1800/1600/1333/1066/800 MHz 7.1-Channel HD Audio Gigbit LAN 7xSATA 3Gb/s 2x USB 3.0+10x USB 2.0 Micro ATX


Seagate Barracuda  7200.12 SATA 3.0Gb/s 500GB 16MB Cashe (OEM)

CoolMax V-500 500W PSU

Intel Core i5 750 quad-core socket LGA1156, 2.66 GHz, 8MB L3 cache, 45nm (retail boxed)

I want this to be a SATA based, 64-bit system. I've heard others talk about needing extra SATA connectors or something. Just wondering if I need to pick up anything in addition to go with this? I'm also putting in  dvd writer and card reader.

I also need to know.. will a 500W power supply be sufficient? I already have a 400W one here but i suppose thats not enough? This case has like 5 led fans or somethin...   please reply asap! thanks!

500W should be fine, what GFX card are you going to run? if its a higher end card maybe a 650w

Hi,

thx for the reply!

Actually, I was just going to use the integrated/on board graphics on the mobo. I wasn't planning on getting any fancy video card. I can always upgrade later if need be...but I don't see it happening. I'm not a huge gamer or anything.  Is that PSU buy a good idea? :s

I would just install a $60 vid card it would be much better than the on board. It would help with Wow, runscape, and video conversion.

Thanks a lot for the suggestion and I will be sure to keep that in mind if my minor gaming/video conversion experience is not satisfactory lol

For now though, I think I'm just gonna stick with the on board. As I said, I can always pop in a card later on.

Oh..this might be a bit of s tupid question but..

If I have a SATA based system...  if I have a SATA HD....the mobo supports both SATA and IDE.

Would things work alright if I connected a SATA HD to the mobo, but an IDE DVD writer?

I'm wondering..is the i5 750 better than the 660? Because I can get it for a better deal.

That question has been asked a lot...take a look HERE!

Would things work alright if I connected a SATA HD to the mobo, but an IDE DVD writer?

It should work fine.