Need help deciding between ...

I would likely be taking Option A for the cpu preferring a faster stock speed for general application. But I run 5 WD sata drives here.

For the optical drives go with the LG there. The Sony sata dvd burner like to make grinding sounds after so long! In fact I just replaced one with an MSI ide model nice + quiet. Those were 22x however.
 
Look for one of the Athlon II X3s, they are very overclockable and a good compromise on the price.
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB Hard Drive and Ultra Aluminum Hard Drive Cooler with Heatpipes Bundle
or should I save $20 and go with...
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 750GB Hard Drive and Ultra Aluminum Hard Drive Cooler with Heatpipes Bundle
or should I save another $35 and go with...
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F1 HD322HJ 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive
Depends on how much drive space you need.
 
That was the item that became an obstacle as well since 3 different sized drives will be priced differently as a rule.

For the cpu I opted A there for stock systems since I presently run an AMD 6000+ X2 stock at 3.14ghz. I plan to be moving into a newer Phenom II X4 running at least that on a new build to come here.

I just bought a new WD 1tb drive for $104.99 at newegg. But you won't get the HD cooler however depending on how good that is?! If you are looking at a 320gb drive as all you would need I can save you $2 with the WD model seen at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136098
 
That was the item that became an obstacle as well since 3 different sized drives will be priced differently as a rule.

For the cpu I opted A there for stock systems since I presently run an AMD 6000+ X2 stock at 3.14ghz. I plan to be moving into a newer Phenom II X4 running at least that on a new build to come here.

I just bought a new WD 1tb drive for $104.99 at newegg. But you won't get the HD cooler however depending on how good that is?! If you are looking at a 320gb drive as all you would need I can save you $2 with the WD model seen at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136098

woo that Wd harddrive is great you wont need cooler for it runs cold :D
 
I run WD drives here all the time without anything but the case fans and never run into any heat problems. I won't use the Green Power Caviar models for an OS drive however. Those are geared towards storage and used often in external enclosures.

Having tested 7 on one removed from an external enclosure programs kept running into problems until replacing a 500gb GP with a new 1tb Caviar Black edition! Haven't tried the Caviar Blue models yet.
 
i found a 1TB Samsung HDD for $79.99
click me
and i would go with option A on the CPUs
as for the optical drives
its up to you
if your on a budget then i would get the cheapest of the two for now
your can always upgrade or switch them out later
 
To reply to your many, helpful posts :D:

I would likely be taking Option A for the cpu preferring a faster stock speed for general application. But I run 5 WD sata drives here.

For the optical drives go with the LG there. The Sony sata dvd burner like to make grinding sounds after so long! In fact I just replaced one with an MSI ide model nice + quiet. Those were 22x however.

Thanks for the advice on the optical drive. I'll make sure to do that -- definitely worth the extra $4!! I'll try to get a fast CPU, too. Especially because I'll be using the internet/using publishing programs a lot.

Look for one of the Athlon II X3s, they are very overclockable and a good compromise on the price.

Depends on how much drive space you need.

Okay, I'll look for some of those. Just a question though: if I overclock one of the CPUs you suggested, should I get more fans?

That was the item that became an obstacle as well since 3 different sized drives will be priced differently as a rule.

For the cpu I opted A there for stock systems since I presently run an AMD 6000+ X2 stock at 3.14ghz. I plan to be moving into a newer Phenom II X4 running at least that on a new build to come here.

I just bought a new WD 1tb drive for $104.99 at newegg. But you won't get the HD cooler however depending on how good that is?! If you are looking at a 320gb drive as all you would need I can save you $2 with the WD model seen at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136098

All right, so I should get a Phenom. Sounds good. And, are WD a lot better than other HDDs?

i found a 1TB Samsung HDD for $79.99
click me
and i would go with option A on the CPUs
as for the optical drives
its up to you
if your on a budget then i would get the cheapest of the two for now
your can always upgrade or switch them out later

okay, thanks! But is WD better? Because if it is, I think I should pay the extra money. (Even though I have no idea what WD is right now, I want to make sure it's worth it before I start researching even more)
 
I've been using WD drives for ages now and not one complaint except for the Green Power models. Great for storage but nothing you want for an OS drive.

I found that out when pulling one out of an external usb casing and using it to run the 7 beta on later an RC. Several regular programs started seeing odd problems regardless of 32bit or 64bit beta or RC.

I haven't tried the Caviar Blue but am running the Caviar Black edition for the main drive and other then that WD has been reliable over the years! Samsung, Hitachi, and a few others on the other hand are relatively new brands and questionable quality at times.

WD's long time competitor is Seagate which many prefer as well. There's another well established brand name there.

What was interesting however was just seeing a review on a brand WD Essential USB 3.0external drive likely still seeing a GP series drive in it with that performing 4.7 times faster then a similar USB 2.0 model!

I'm waiting for new AMD boards to come with USB 3.0 support before the next build here where a new Phenom II or possibly Phenom III X4 quad model goes to work for me here. With a new build pending there this is one other thing you may want to consider.
 
I've been using WD drives for ages now and not one complaint except for the Green Power models. Great for storage but nothing you want for an OS drive.

I found that out when pulling one out of an external usb casing and using it to run the 7 beta on later an RC. Several regular programs started seeing odd problems regardless of 32bit or 64bit beta or RC.

I haven't tried the Caviar Blue but am running the Caviar Black edition for the main drive and other then that WD has been reliable over the years! Samsung, Hitachi, and a few others on the other hand are relatively new brands and questionable quality at times.

WD's long time competitor is Seagate which many prefer as well. There's another well established brand name there.

What was interesting however was just seeing a review on a brand WD Essential USB 3.0external drive likely still seeing a GP series drive in it with that performing 4.7 times faster then a similar USB 2.0 model!

I'm waiting for new AMD boards to come with USB 3.0 support before the next build here where a new Phenom II or possibly Phenom III X4 quad model goes to work for me here. With a new build pending there this is one other thing you may want to consider.

Wow. Thanks. I have heard about USB 3.0... I'll have to look into that. I plan on buying the actual physical parts of my system later on, and getting the monitor/keyboard in a week or two... I'll take that into consideration.

What do you think of this $50 500GB Seagate Hard Drive?
 
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