Building my PC

[bleach]

I am trying to get a new PC by buying most parts off of Newegg. I am hoping that this computer will last 1 year or more until DirectX11 is out, when Nehalem (Core i7) or Westmere is cheaper, and DDR3 is cheaper. I heard that Gigabyte uses bad plastic and that someone's battery holder thing on the motherboard broke. I believe Asus is the way because my dad also has a Asus motherboard from the Pentium III era and it's still working properly. I am also choosing ATI because the price of its mid-high end card is reasonable and it has Directx10.1 =P. My components are pretty much low priced because my rig's total has to be around $700 to 720/730. I try to find products with lots of rebate. I will be using the PC to play 2003 era games (ie. Halo =P etc) to next year/2010 (ie. newer titles: Far Cry 2/Crysis:Warhead etc). I am also hoping that every component will do its job right in the conditions it will face: multimedia (movies, pictures, etc), gaming (2003-2009/2010 titles), productivity (school, tutor, etc). I expect good support, output, drivers/updates, performance, and price/rebates. I need opinions/suggestions/hints/clues/points and et cetera to guide me towards buying components of the PC. Post what you think and what would be best towards my dad's wallet (=P) and my enjoyment (=P).
I will be buying 6 items from newegg: my CPU, motherboard, memory, optical drive, case w/PSU, and graphics card. I will buy my hard drive from Fry's because they have good deals there and it's convenient.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131335
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227139
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135156
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156209

EDIT: As well as looking for great MIR deals, I am also looking for great prices. I'm also looking at other cases (=p):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156062
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156098

EDIT: I just wish that the Diamond HD4850 was lower priced and had a better MIR deal.

My HIS Hightech HD4850 512 MB Graphics card is out of stock/insufficient stock D=. I need help choosing a good graphics card that fits all of my needs: perfect settings and output from my games, movies, pictures, and entertainment. I also have one question: Do ATI graphic cards need DxTweaker to show Halo PC/CE's Active Camouflage and other visual effects properly? I know Nvidia cards have problems with that but this is not the reason for not getting an Nvidia card. So I need a graphics card with $20 dollars or more mail-in-rebate and be under 180/190 dollars with the best bang for the buck. I welcome any helpful or constructive comments here.

As mentioned earlier ^, I will be buying my Hard drive from Fry's. The problem is I don't know which has the best support, performance, speed, bang for the buck, and the rest.

Here are the choices (or you can suggest me too! [only one hard drive though]): (even though the links look the same, I think they go to different HD's; if theres a problem, tell me to fix it immediately)

http://shop4.frys.com/product/4812430?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG
http://shop4.frys.com/product/4697788?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG
http://shop4.frys.com/product/5528600?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG
http://shop4.frys.com/product/5612111?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG
http://shop4.frys.com/product/5660281?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG
http://shop4.frys.com/product/4551377?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

I am going to run Windows XP (32 bit or 64 bit) first and then install Windows Vista Ultimate Upgrade (64 bit) onto the computer. I'm going to be linking my old and new computer to my screen, keyboard, mouse, and speakers with a device that switches computers at the touch of a button. To be honest, I don't know what the device is called.

I will be using the computer every week from basic computing to gaming and entertainment.

Overall, I need my computer to add up to around $ 700 - 730 with $85 dollars of Mail in rebate or more (right now, my total Mail In rebate from Newegg adds up to $85 and the price of my computer will be pulled down to mid-high 600/low 700.)(Newegg features better Mail In Rebates than Fry's; none of the HD's @ Fry's has a Good MIR deal) and it needs to be the best it can be within that price range. I am hoping to keep some of the parts, but that can never be guaranteed.

I am asking for the community's help, so please help.

Bleach

[Amit]

No, ATi has never had the active camo problem.

The PC specs look like they check out okay. The hard drive you should buy is definitely the first one, the Western Digital High Performance WD5000KSRTL.

Looks like a nice build. I'll wait for the other dudes to check it over first before telling you to buy the parts.

[Evil_Monkey]

That black case with the green lights looks awesome, in my opinion I would purchase that one over the white/black with blue lights.

What about the Asus 4850
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121253
Sapphire 4850
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102747http://
And definitely go with the Western Digital.

[Amit]

That black case with the green lights looks awesome, in my opinion I would purchase that one over the white/black with blue lights.

What about the Asus 4850
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121253
Sapphire 4850
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102747http://
And definitely go with the Western Digital.

Yeah Bleach, get the green smildon...it looks fucking crazy awesome with those green lights all over it. Also I'd go with the ASUS HD4850 cuz it comes with a picture of a hot girl on it even though there's no real differences in performance by the Sapphire card. Drivers is what it all comes down to now.

[bleach]

I heard that Sapphire's support was a joke seemed really bad to some Sapphire product owners. Meh, the Asus graphics card is over budget even with the MIR, according to my dad. Yeah, blue is my favorite color and green my second. But now, the Smilodon Extreme (Green one) looks cool, especially when the green lights and other stuff comes with the case.
I'm being told that Seagate is also good, and I don't know about you guys. I know that a lot of users have Western Digital hard drives and it's popular too, so I don't know which hard drive manufacturer to choose.

EDIT: Will the Raidmax Smilodon Extreme (Green) that comes with the 500 Watt Power supply be enough to hold up the HD4850, and the rest of my build?

[Snowy]

Don't get Sapphire. Asus seems cool, I went to ROGcon, a lan that they sponsored, and they all seemed really cool, answered all my questions and stuff. Diamond is also cool, they had a rep their at Quakecon, he said Diamond has the lowest RMA rates in the industry.

But Don't get Sapphire.

[bleach]

Ya, I'm not planning on getting Sapphire. I'm getting Diamond instead. I just wish the HD4870 was below $200. That will probably won't happen for a while. :(

[Evil_Monkey]

EDIT: Will the Raidmax Smilodon Extreme (Green) that comes with the 500 Watt Power supply be enough to hold up the HD4850, and the rest of my build?
Ive seen a 4850 running on a 450w PSU, I definitely wouldn't go any lower than that. Also with that case make sure it has a power connector for the graphics card as it needs a 6 pin power connector from the psu for the graphics card, if not there are converters you can get.

[Amit]

Ive seen a 4850 running on a 450w PSU, I definitely wouldn't go any lower than that. Also with that case make sure it has a power connector for the graphics card as it needs a 6 pin power connector from the psu for the graphics card, if not there are converters you can get.

Most vendors include the adapter.

[bleach]

1 x 500W Power Supply (20+4Pin) comes with the Raidmax Smilodon Extreme.

Edit: Is there anything wrong with Seagate hard drives? legionaire45 recommended a Seagate hard drive to me. If you have a Seagate or Western Digital can you please post feedback and how you feel/rate your Seagate or Western Digital hard drive? Thanks.

Edit: I am trying to buy the components as soon as possible because the mail in rebates and prices might change and I don't want that to happen.

[Amit]

1 x 500W Power Supply (20+4Pin) comes with the Raidmax Smilodon Extreme.

Edit: Is there anything wrong with Seagate hard drives? legionaire45 recommended a Seagate hard drive to me. If you have a Seagate or Western Digital can you please post feedback and how you feel/rate your Seagate or Western Digital hard drive? Thanks.

Edit: I am trying to buy the components as soon as possible because the mail in rebates and prices might change and I don't want that to happen.

I've had my fair share of hard drive woes. I originally used Seagate hard drives. One of them failed, I was able to recover most of my files but not all of them. I reformatted that one and about 5 months later it failed again, just it died and would not work again. I replaced that hard drive with another seagate HDD and that one also shit all over itself 8 months later. I got fed up with Seagate and went with Western Digital because I heard they had good hard drives. I was desperate at that point to get something that worked for more than a year. So alomst 3 years ago I picked up a 120GB WD HDD and it hasn't even corrupted/failed since then. Since 120GB wasn't much I bought a Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD3200AAKS 320GB 7200RPM at the beginning of the year and it's pretty fast and reliable. Faster than any other hardrive I'd had before getting a Raptor.

[bleach]

Thanks, Amit. Western Digital sounds like a good deal, but I don't know how it will work out for me. I need more reviews from Western Digital or Seagate product owners before I can choose a hard drive.

[Cortexian]

I've used both Western Digital and Seagate drives, I'm currently using a couple of these (not in Raid until I format):
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX12927(ME).aspx

They're a little loud, but I don't really care. I've had no problems with them so far. I've had Western Digital drives "die" on me before, out of no where... It really depends on the drive, just read some reviews on the hard drive you want before you buy it.

[bleach]

Are all Windows Vista Upgrade DVDs (license) limited to one computer only?

[Amit]

Yes. BTW bleach, since you're buying an upgrade version of windows, here's a cheat that will let you clean install any version of Windows Vista. I have used it before and I confirm that it works but that was last year. Enjoy: http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_upgrade_clean.asp