First Time Build: Compatibility Check

[Rabbitt]

Hi, I'm a first time builder and I've been lurking for the past week or so and I've finally composed a rough draft list. I'm hoping to keep it between 600-700, but if necessary, I'm willing to go higher. The computer will mostly be used for a little bit of everything, amateur photoshop work, surfing the web, writing essays, playing a few FPS's.

Case: Antec Sonata III 500 Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 500W Power Supply ('http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129024')

I don't really understand the differences between many of the cases, so I just went with this one because it came with a power supply that seemed powerful, and it didn't look very ugly.

Motherboard: ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 AM3 AMD 890GX HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard ('http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131631')

I went with this one because it got good reviews, and it was suggested, but I'm not sure if it'll be compatible with everything else.

CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 635 Propus 2.9GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor ADX635WFGIBOX ('http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103702')

Again, I went with this because it was recommended, it has a good price, it's quad-core, and it still has a good speed.

Graphics Card: XFX HD-567X-ZNF3 Radeon HD 5670 1GB 128-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card ('http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150467')

This one seemed to have a good combination of price and usefulness.

RAM: Crucial 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model CT2KIT25664BA1339 ('http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148262')

Crucial seems to be highly recommended, and I didn't see any point in having more than 4GB of RAM.

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Blue WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive ('http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136218')

Standard and recommended.

DVD/CD Burner: LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 24X DVD Writer LightScribe Support ('http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106335')

Good reviews.

I need to find out:

-- Are all the parts compatible?
-- Do I need anything special to access my Airport Wirelessly?
-- Am I forgetting anything?

Thank you for all of your time, this website has already been invaluable!

[RickyTick]

Looks good Rabbitt. It would be nice if you could step up that video card to the 5770.

[Rabbitt]

Video Cards are regrettably a weak spot for me; all I know is that Radeon HD's seem to be priced reasonably. Other than that, I have no clue as to which ones are best for what. What would upgrading to a better video card give me exactly -- assuming that I'm mostly playing FPS's.

[RickyTick]

I guess it's all really a matter of eye candy, and how much of it you want. :D

As a general rule, FPS's are highly dependent on the video card. So the better the video card, the better the gaming experience. Since you are playing on a VW224U (I have one and love it), you should be able to play most games on very high settings with a 5770. If your budget allows for more, than an Nvidia GTX460 would be a big step up too.

[Rabbitt]

I guess it's all really a matter of eye candy, and how much of it you want. :D

As a general rule, FPS's are highly dependent on the video card. So the better the video card, the better the gaming experience. Since you are playing on a VW224U (I have one and love it), you should be able to play most games on very high settings with a 5770. If your budget allows for more, than an Nvidia GTX460 would be a big step up too.

Oh, I'm playing on a Dell Ultrasharp 23", sorry, I should've mentioned that earlier.

[RickyTick]

Sorry, for some reason I thought you were using an Asus VW224U. I must have you confused with a different thread. Anyway, my previous post is still valid. If you can go with a 5770, you'll have a better gaming experience.

[Rabbitt]

Sorry, for some reason I thought you were using an Asus VW224U. I must have you confused with a different thread. Anyway, my previous post is still valid. If you can go with a 5770, you'll have a better gaming experience.

Sweet, thanks, will do.