First "starter" mobo

[Zephik]

Well, it says it supports AM3 and processors up to 95W TDP which the II X4 is, so I would say yes.

[Locum51]

Would this case support that motherboard? As in mounting and such?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811148029

Edit: On the manf. site it says that the max mobo size is 12" x 10" but i'm just not sure.

[Zephik]

Yes, that case should be able to support any standard ATX motherboard including the ECS Black Series. The case supports 12"x10" while the motherboard is 12"x8.7".

However, and this is only my opinion, that case is pretty meh. I know you're trying to be cost effective, but you should think about saving up a bit more for a nicer case. While still be pretty cost effective, I'd go with something more like...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811156063
or....
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811156078

You could go with an AMD Dual Core instead of the Quad Core to make up the difference. Just think of it as what you originally wanted, but now you're getting a much nicer case out of it. I mean really, that's exactly how it is too and its not like you'll be disappointed with a dual core processor anyways. or you could just save up for a bit longer and get both the quad core and a nicer case. Its up to you though, you can do what you want, I'm just trying to give you the best advice possible. (AMD Dual Core = $60, btw)

Anyways, the build quality is much nicer in those cases too. They won't be nearly as flimsy as the case you currently have picked out and they're just nicer cases all around really.

By the way, never trust cases with provided power supplies, at least not the cheap ones anyways. They just throw in the most generic, poorly built, most untrustworthy PSU's around. It keeps cost down while catching the unsuspecting consumers eye. Even if you get the case, I would advise buying a separate power supply anyways, one with decent reviews.

Edit: This case is pretty cheap too and has decent construction quality. Its also a nice case to show off your hardware.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811166006

[Locum51]

Yea, true true. I was thinking about going with a Rosewill case or Apex and then i got a bid in on ebay for an Apexia Beast 680W!

[Kayin]

I do not recommend any ECS boards. The MSI I linked will support 140w processors, while the ECS will only support 95w. That means no upgrades in the future, as the 620 is 95w now, and it also means no OCing. I've been building for 11 years now, and I've never seen an ECS board be worth the fiberglass it's made of.

I picked a board that can grow with you, so that it can be a decent choice for a while. In fact, it's the microATX version of my board. DDR3 will be around for a while as well, no sense in investing in something on its downswing for a first PC. That board, paired with a 965 and a 4870x2 can be an insane gaming machine, and would still OC and everything. That's further on down the road for you, but I'm just saying.

[Locum51]

Yea, that's true cuz the IIx4 is 95w already and i was thinking about trying OCing.

[Zephik]

Maybe you should just hold-off on this build for awhile, until you've saved a bit more money up. That's what I would do anyways. You'll probably thank yourself for it in any case. You'll be able to buy nicer stuff and you'll be able to do a lot more with your equipment and it'll also be "future-proofed" quite a bit better. Who knows, maybe by the time you're ready to build a higher quality rig, everything will be cheaper, like the new Core i5 or i7 processors. That's what you should focus on building for now, a Core i5 or i7 build. That way, you won't need or want to upgrade for a good long time.

I see it like this...

Spend $$$ now and you will be set for a good long time. However, spend ony $ now and you'll have to or want to upgrade in the near future. In other words, spending a lot now will probably cost less in the long run.

Maybe look into Dell now if you need a semi-powerful desktop for the immediate future. Building custom, even when building cheap, is pretty expensive compared to how much the same specs would cost from a company like Dell. By going with Dell for now, you'll probably cut your costs in half while getting the same performance as you desire. Worth looking into or thinking about anyways. I mean, if you're going to be cheap now and want to upgrade later, then you might as well be as cheap as possible and put the rest into savings for the high-quality build.

That's my two cents anyways.

[Locum51]

Yeah, true. As with all modders, i also wanted to gain experience in modding and building computers.

[Zephik]

You might want to hold off for awhile anyways...

http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/f...531#post262531

I can't find that hard drive for sale anywhere and I can't find any motherboards that support it, but they're supposedly shipping now. Give it a month or two, or even three and I'm sure this will quickly become the new standard. Hard drives that are twice as fast as their predecessors... pretty nice!

There is a whole bunch of new technology right around the corner, this just being one thing. I'd definitely hold off until maybe sometime early next year. At the very least, I bet all this new tech will drive down old tech prices which means you'll benefit from all of this either way. :p

...then again, technology is always advancing. You can go on saying I'll wait for a few more months for the rest of your life. lol

[FuzzyPlushroom]

If you need the system sooner, rather than later, do what I did: go with decent-quality products with some upgrade room from first/second-tier manufacturers, and get them on closeout or through heavy mail-in rebates. I built my My System that way almost two years ago for a couple hundred bucks, excluding CPU (which was free, through a long chain of events) and case/heatsink (you really don't want to know what I used). At the time, it was hard to beat a $40 honestly-about-500-or-550w Seventeam, $45 nF570 Foxconn board with a huge pile of extras, $67 x1950Pro, and so forth. I also shopped around at a few different stores - Newegg, ZipZoomFly, even my local Circuit City.

If I was in your situation, I think I'd get a decent quality case (with front/rear 120mm fans at a minimum and plenty of room for expansion) and PSU - but be careful and run it by us first, as there are some very good and very bad PSUs out there. Those two items aren't likely to lock you into an undesirable upgrade path, after all (get a PSU with an eight-pin CPU power connector and a couple of PCIe connectors, you're golden). If you buy the motherboard or CPU first, you'll be faced with dwindling availability if you go with an older socket such as 775. And hard drives are getting cheaper every day.