Build proposal

[Nil]

I plan to assemble a PC for a friend. This is to replace the sick one I
posted about recently (it will stay on my bench for a while where I
will try for a little while longer to prod into submission.) This new
PC will be mostly used for general email/web browsing/CD and DVD
burning, and he would like to start dabbling in light video editing.
I've been checkin' it out and this seems like it might be a good, peppy
setup that won't be totally obsolete tomorrow. This will run Windows 7
Pro 32-bit:

- CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2
Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808


- Motherboard: MSI 870A-G55 AM3 AMD 770 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130558


- Hard Disk: Western Digital Caviar Black WD5002AALX 500GB 7200 RPM
32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136795


- RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3
1333 (PC3 10666)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231276


I will reuse the current case, power supply, and CD/DVD drive.

Does this look viable? Did I pick anything that will be incompatible?

 

[Pen]

I plan to assemble a PC for a friend. This is to replace the sick one I
posted about recently (it will stay on my bench for a while where I
will try for a little while longer to prod into submission.) This new
PC will be mostly used for general email/web browsing/CD and DVD
burning, and he would like to start dabbling in light video editing.
I've been checkin' it out and this seems like it might be a good, peppy
setup that won't be totally obsolete tomorrow. This will run Windows 7
Pro 32-bit:

- CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2
Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808


- Motherboard: MSI 870A-G55 AM3 AMD 770 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130558


- Hard Disk: Western Digital Caviar Black WD5002AALX 500GB 7200 RPM
32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136795


- RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3
1333 (PC3 10666)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231276


I will reuse the current case, power supply, and CD/DVD drive.

Does this look viable? Did I pick anything that will be incompatible?

You will need a Video Card.
The RAM seems to have a 10% failure rate and not so hot
customer service.

 

[Nil]

.... (wrong mobo removed)

You will need a Video Card.

Oops! I copy 'n pasted the wrong motherboard. I really meant this one,
which has on-board video:

- Motherboards: MSI 880G-E45 AM3 AMD 880G HDMI ATX AMD

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130563

The RAM seems to have a 10% failure rate and not so hot
customer service.

Disregarding the brand for a moment, how does the RAM spec look? I'm
not sure what the difference between "DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666)" and "DDR3
1600 (PC3 12800)" is. Is one or the other more appropriate or preferred
in this setup? I don't plan to overclock this computer.

Do you have a preferred memory brand/vendor?

 

[Pen]

... (wrong mobo removed)


Oops! I copy 'n pasted the wrong motherboard. I really meant this one,
which has on-board video:

- Motherboards: MSI 880G-E45 AM3 AMD 880G HDMI ATX AMD

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130563


Disregarding the brand for a moment, how does the RAM spec look? I'm
not sure what the difference between "DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666)" and "DDR3
1600 (PC3 12800)" is. Is one or the other more appropriate or preferred
in this setup? I don't plan to overclock this computer.

Do you have a preferred memory brand/vendor?

I've had really good luck with Crucial memory. 1600 memory
is specked to run slightly faster than 1333,
The other mobo was substantially better than this one.
It had USB 3. However, this should be ok.

 

[Motor T]

I plan to assemble a PC for a friend. This is to replace the sick one I
posted about recently (it will stay on my bench for a while where I
will try for a little while longer to prod into submission.) This new
PC will be mostly used for general email/web browsing/CD and DVD
burning, and he would like to start dabbling in light video editing.
I've been checkin' it out and this seems like it might be a good, peppy
setup that won't be totally obsolete tomorrow. This will run Windows 7
Pro 32-bit:

- CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2
Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808


- Motherboard: MSI 870A-G55 AM3 AMD 770 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130558


- Hard Disk: Western Digital Caviar Black WD5002AALX 500GB 7200 RPM
32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136795


- RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3
1333 (PC3 10666)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231276


I will reuse the current case, power supply, and CD/DVD drive.

Does this look viable? Did I pick anything that will be incompatible?

I purchased an AMD Phenom 1055t for myself and learned that AMD CPUs
have an embedded memory controller, meaning that it is the processor –
and not the chipset – that defines what memory technologies and the
maximum amount of memory you can have. The motherboard, however, may
have a limitation on how much memory you can have installed. My board
has support for 1866mhz (overclocked) but my cpu won't allow that
much. Hence, I'm running G.Skill DDR-1333 just fine.

 

[Nil]

I purchased an AMD Phenom 1055t for myself and learned that AMD
CPUs have an embedded memory controller, meaning that it is the
processor – and not the chipset – that defines what memory
technologies and the maximum amount of memory you can have. The
motherboard, however, may have a limitation on how much memory you
can have installed. My board has support for 1866mhz (overclocked)
but my cpu won't allow that much. Hence, I'm running G.Skill
DDR-1333 just fine.

I plan to run 32-bit Windows on this machine because we have a couple
of DOS apps that I understand won't run well in 64-bit Windows, so I'll
be limited to 4 GB, which is OK.

I'm a little confused about the difference between DDR-1333 and DDR-
1600. I get the impression that it's a speed designation and that you
can only reach the greater speed spec if you overclock the computer,
which I'm not planning to do. I figure the performance difference is
not that great, and the user won't care, so I'll go with the lower
spec. I want to err on the side of stability so I don't have to babysit
the thing if it starts going wonky.

I've bought Crucial and Mushkin memory in the past and had no problems.
I hadn't heard of G.Skill brand before, but it seemed to have good
ratings on Newegg.

 

[Motor T]

I plan to run 32-bit Windows on this machine because we have a couple
of DOS apps that I understand won't run well in 64-bit Windows, so I'll
be limited to 4 GB, which is OK.

I'm a little confused about the difference between DDR-1333 and DDR-
1600. I get the impression that it's a speed designation and that you
can only reach the greater speed spec if you overclock the computer,
which I'm not planning to do. I figure the performance difference is
not that great, and the user won't care, so I'll go with the lower
spec. I want to err on the side of stability so I don't have to babysit
the thing if it starts going wonky.

I've bought Crucial and Mushkin memory in the past and had no problems.
I hadn't heard of G.Skill brand before, but it seemed to have good
ratings on Newegg.

Check this page out. I believe it is using your CPU for testing:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/phenom-ii-ddr3,2319.html

 

[Nil]

Check this page out. I believe it is using your CPU for
testing:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/phenom-ii-ddr3,2319.html

Thanks for that! Their informed conclusion turns out to be close to my
uninformed one. DDR3-1333 it will be!