I live in CA USA, will be purchasing hardware online- Newegg, tigerdirect, amazon, etc. whatever has the lowest prices
Budget: $600-800 (not including monitor and peripherals)
Use: Gaming (WOW, SC2, COD BO...Diablo 3 when it comes out), surfing the interwebs (using firefox), Itunes, and rarely I do some music production. (using Ableton Live) I would like to be able to play a game in high settings, use iTunes, and surf the web all at the same time without having the computer freeze or lag.
OS: Windows 7 home premium $0 (I have a copy already)
-For what I'm going to be using my computer for which is better, 64bit or 32bit?
CPU: Phenom II x2 555 BE $189 combo with MOBO
-I have been going back and forth on whether to get a x2 555 BE or x4 955 BE. The reason is because I have a feeling X2 will be fine for my needs with the possibility of unlocking a 3rd or 4th core. I don't plan to overclock but from what I have read it's fairly simple to do. I plan on using the stock heatsink since I don't plan on getting crazy with the OC'ing. I went with a black edition because I like the idea of possibly OCing in the future if things start slowing up. I'm sure by going with the AM3 socket chips I could always replace it in the future with a X4 or X6 when I need to.
MOBO: ASUS M4A87TD EVO
-I went with the 870 chipset because I plan on having a video card do the graphics and I don't plan on using crossfire (not now at least). I know the 880G chipsets are not much more expensive but the only difference I see is the integrated graphics, which I won't use. I like the idea of having the options for the future of utilizing SATA 6Gb and USB 3.0. I know there's not a lot of hardware that utilizes these features but I like the comfort of knowing I have these options in the next 2-4 years.
PSU: Corsair 650HX $145 combo with RAM
-I think 650W might be a little overkill for my complete setup but from what I understand It's better to have a little more power than needed than to not have enough. I also like the idea of modular cabling. From reviews I've read this seems like a great PSU, but any suggestions would gladly be accepted.
RAM: Coarsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3
- there are a lot of options....the only reason i settled for this was because there was a combo deal with the PSU to save $25. Some other options I looked at was some Gskill ripjaw 1333 and Crucial Ballistix 1333 or 1600. Not sure what big of a difference 1333 or 1600 speeds will make with my overall package and for how I use my new PC. I understand I may have to change some settings in the BIOS in my MOBO if I'm going to use 1600. I'm not looking forward to this as it will be my first time but after reading forums and watching youtube videos I think I can do it.
Storage: Crucial RealSSD C300 64GB $125 and WD Black 1TB $90
-here's where I may need some advice... and I know there has been much debate over whether or not an SSD is worth it now or if people should wait until they're cheaper. My thoughts are that if I get a 64GB SSD for my OS and some games I will be very happy with load times. Both for game levels and system startup. This is important to me. However I think the SSD will be the most expensive piece of the puzzle. Should I skip the SSD and wait for the new models to come out? I hear SSD tech will be a lot better in the coming months. I could use the extra $$ upgrading the vid card i suppose. Right now I have a 300GB HDD with a little over 80GB free on it. That being said I think I would be fine with just a 500GB HDD for my storage but from what I've read you get better performance with a 1TB drive (32MB cache vs 64MB). And to spend an extra $30-$40 for double the space I think it's worth it. My files I keep in storage are mostly MP3's and games. I don't use my computer to watch movies or anything so having 1TB of space is kind of overkill. I also looked in to the Samsung F3 models but the 5 year warranty on the WD drive is a little more appealing to me.
Video Card: MSI R5770 Hawk Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit $155
-again, there are tons of options. I'm thinking the 5770 should be adequate to play the games I mentioned before on High settings. Even in my old system I've upgraded my video card 3 or 4 times and I've always gone with ATI (now AMD I guess). I figure that when newer games come out in the next year or two if I'm unhappy with performance I could always upgrade to the 6000 series or to whatever is the new stuff at the time. Hell, I'm still playing WOW and SC2 (very low settings) on my Radeon X1600 series card connected by AGP, so ANYTHING at this point is an upgrade. I don't know how my computer hasn't blown up yet. It sounds like a dustbuster is operating in my case sometimes.
Optical drive: ASUS DVD Burner $20
-there are tons of options, I just went with what sold the most and had high reviews on newegg. I don't plan on sitting at my desk to watch movies right now, but if video game media changes to BluRay then I can always slap a BluRay drive in later.
Case: Antec 300 $60
-again, lots of options. I think it looks cool, has space for all of the components listed, reviews say the cooling is good, has USB 3.0 sockets built in just need to connect the MOBO.
TOTAL PRICE $785ish before tax and shipping, not including rebates
To make a long story longer, a lot of people are saying Sandy Bridge or wait for Bulldozer is the way to go. As you can see I have been content for some time with my old system, so obviously having the latest and greatest isn't my top priority. But I will be in fact spending what I think to be a lot of money so is settling for last years models a wise choice? It's just getting unbearable to play games or even surf the web on my current system and I need to do something about it
. I know that if I waited for the Sandy Bridge issues to get resolved, or even waited for bulldozer for that matter, when I do pull the trigger and make my purchase the CPU manufacturers will already be talking about their next best thing. I know that I will be just fine with building a system based on the AM3 socket, when it comes time for an upgrade again in few years I can most likely find a phenom II x4 or x6 and they should be really cheap. But with AMD's issues right now I'm afraid I won't have those options. Who knows right? Thank in advance for any help you guys can give me.
but other PSUs are surely fine too.
I'm still having sleep/resume problems with the 
