BleepingComputer.com: First time major PC upgrade

This is the first time for me actually doing a complete upgrade on my pc (as in everything in it will be chosen and installed by me) The pc will mainly be a gaming pc and also be used for school. Right now I have a Dual Core AMD Opteron 1.81GHz on a Asus A8N5X motherboard, 2 gigs of g-skill ram, a radeon HD 4890, a old cd drive and a sony dvd drive, all on Win xp. I'm basically upgrading everything but the video and sound card I have.

Case - XCLIO Windtunnel Fully Black Finish 1.0 mm SECC Chassis ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail

CPU - Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80605I5750 - Retail

Motherboard - Foxconn Inferno Katana GTI LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

RAM - CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMX4GX3M2A1600C9 - Retail

Power Supply - COOLMAX CUQ-1200B 1200W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Retail

Monitor - Acer H213H bmid Black 21.5" 5ms HDMI Full HD 1080P Widescreen 16:9 LCD Monitor - Retail

Keyboard - Logitech G11 Gaming Keyboard - Retail

Mouse - Logitech G5 7 Buttons Tilt Wheel USB Wired Laser Mouse - Retail

Blu-Ray Drive - LG Black 8X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 40X CD-ROM SATA Internal Combo LG Blu-ray Reader & 16X LightScribe DVD±R DVD Burner - Retail

OS system - Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Full - Retail

The Mobo, RAM and CPU are gonna be presents from my bro the rest I'll be buying myself any suggestions will be appreciative

It looks fine, but you don't need the full retail version of Windows 7. The Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders would be cheaper. Why are you also going for a 1200W PSU when you have only a single GPU? Even a dual Crossfire system would require less power. The CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX 850W would offer plenty of power for less money. If you have extra cash on hand, you could get a Blu-Ray burner like the LG Black 8X Blu-ray Burner - Bulk Model WH08LS20K. Windows does not play Blu-Ray's out-of-the-box, so you need something like WinDVD to play those movies.

So whats the difference between the retail and the 1 pack? Because I thought the one pack was basically for a single installation which if thats the case I'm better off with the retail. As for the 1200 psu It was suggested by my bro to get 1000w+ and that one has everything I need at a cheaper price than the other power supply(It was like 260) I had chosen. Plus it has a heck of a lot of leeway if I ever get into really modifying stuff and I look at it this way, until that thing fries I dont have to worry about power EVER again and if I do I'm doing WAY too much to my pc lol. As for the blu ray burner I dont really need to burn anything to blu ray I just want the ability to play them, also thanks for the info about having to have windvd to play blu-ray. Would powerdvd be a good choice?

Retail: OS can be installed on more than one computer, but only one computer can have it installed at a time
OEM: OS can only ever be installed on one computer.

This post has been edited by RainbowSix: 27 October 2009 - 09:25 PM

Aside from licensing, there is no difference, software wise, between the OEM and Retail copies. You would only ever need 1200W if you had a quad SLI/Crossfire system and there aren't many of those. Mainly because beyond two GPU's, the advantages in using SLI/Crossfire is small. Besides, I've never heard of Coolmax, I only use PSU's from Corsair, PC Power, Silverstone, and OCZ. Two 4890's in Crossfire only need a 600W power supply, the new 5870 requires even less.

Aw thanks for the info on OEM however im still getting the Retail version because I'll feel more comfortable having to only buy 1 OS for all my future system upgrades(I'm hoping Win 7 has the life span of XP but if not oh well). Hm changing the psu is definitely tempting but after reading a little I think having it will be better since I have the option of having multiple graphics cards open

You can still use two 4890's in Crossfire with a 700W+ PSU. Very few people use more than two cards, because beyond a second GPU, the performance gains are in the single digits. You can continue to update your PC hardware with an OEM copy of Windows, the only thing you cannot do is change PC's. In the license, a PC is defined as the motherboard, so you cannot change the motherboard. You can swap out everything else though. I only ever use the OEM edition since it is so much cheaper.