As of right now I'm thinking my budget is going to be around $800 excluding monitor/keyboard but I'm open to some suggestions (upgrading or downgrading). I am getting into some computer science classes so I'm doing some computer programming right now with visual basic 2008. I don't do much if any gaming. Here are some parts that I currently have picked out:
That's all I have so far. I have no idea what no idea on what graphics card to get. Also not sure if I should get DDR3 or DDR2 RAM (what's the best value?). I think I'm going to start with 4gb of RAM and upgrade to 8gb later. Is a 650w power supply what I need for this or will I need more/less? Any help is appreciated and if I forgot anything that I will need please help me out. Thanks for any help.
This is a seriously powerful combination with great energy efficiency and overclocking potential, for a reasonable price.
The cases you've chosen are both fine - if you use the coolermaster you'll need to buy some extra fans for it. The HDD and PSU are fine, but the PSU is very overkill, you really only need this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139008
First all I really appreciate your help as I am not very good with this yet. I'm thinking of switching to an intel CPU now since they seem to be preferred by many. Would it be worth the extra money to get an i7 instead such as this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202. Or would I be better off sticking with the i5 and getting 8gb of RAM? I don't know if I will overclock or not because I don't know much about it but it may be something to try in the future. Do I need a CPU fan or is the one that comes with it fine?
With core i7 CPUs like 920 comes the requirement to use an LGA1366 motherboard and triple channel memory, a lot of expense for very little gain. The only areas where a full-fat i7 will pay dividends are stuff like video editing. For games and multimedia, the i5 is actually a better CPU, even though it's cheaper.
