First Build - Have I Got This Spec Right

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23 Mar 2013
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Hi, this is my first post and I'm looking for some guidance on building my first system.

A bit of background, my machine almost certainly won't be used for gaming, and I'm a web developer with quite a few of my own sites to run as well. 99% of the time, my computer is running Photoshop, Notepadd++, XAMPP and a browser - nothing really intensive, however I do want a good system and am looking at making this set up last a long time (with occasional updates obviously). It's very important that I have two monitors running from my graphics card.

This is what I'm looking at - it would be great if people could point out any glaring errors or just chip in:

Case | Xigmatek Alfar Midi Tower Case - Black/White - £44.99

CPU | Intel Core i3-3220 3.30GHz (Ivybridge) - £92.99

Motherboard | MSI Z77A-G43 Intel Z77 - £79.99

Power Supply | Corsair Builder Series CX 430W V2 '80 Plus Bronze' - £40.99

Memory | Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel - £55.99

SSD - Samsung 120GB SSD 840 SATA 6Gb/s Basic - £89.99

HDD - Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - £71.99

BluRay/DVD RW | LG BH10LS38 10x BluRay-RW / 16 x DVD±RW Lightscribe Drive - £79.99

Graphics Card - KFA2 GeForce™ GT630 1024MB GDDR3 128bit DVI/HDMI/VGA/PCI-E - £44.99

WiFi - Asus PCE-N15 300Mbps 802.11B/G/N Wireless PCI-E Network Adapter - £25.99

Total £627.90

It's important that i can get the same quality signal to two monitors re: color qaulity etc, so will this graphics card work for me (one dvi, one hdmi, assuming the two monitors are the same make and model)?

Is my power supply correct, is it overkill (or underkill)? If anyone wants to pick flaws with anything above, please do and let me know :)

Thanks
 
this would be my choice, a10 is on par with an i3
this has a bigger sdd, faster ram and a better psu

Thanks Zak, I've never owned an AMD so hadn't really looked at their chips but i'll take a look.

I'm not too bothered about a larger SSD - I'd rather save the money to spend on a BluRay writer as I have quite a lot of info (databases etc) to back up. I was only going to use my SSD for OS and the main apps i use.

I've just taken a closer look at that processor Zak, specs look amazing for the price compared to Intel - thanks for the heads up :)
 
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I'd probably just dual screen off the mobo fella.

That's what I thought when i started looking into my own build and saw that new mobo's come with a few graphics outputs, but someone who builds pc's told me it wouldn't be enough?

I watch a lot of movies on my pc, but that and Photoshop are the most work i'd be giving it.
 
That's what I thought when i started looking into my own build and saw that new mobo's come with a few graphics outputs, but someone who builds pc's told me it wouldn't be enough?

I watch a lot of movies on my pc, but that and Photoshop are the most work i'd be giving it.

I'd try the IGP and just go from there bud. Dropping in a GPU is easy enough
 
Do you really need a BluRay dvd/rw?
I bought one 18months ago and have never played or burned a BD in all that time.
 
Do you really need a BluRay dvd/rw?
I bought one 18months ago and have never played or burned a BD in all that time.

To be honest, same here, the BD software fustrated me in the end so I stuck with using a PS3 for BD films.

I would probably go for the A10, the inbuilt GPU on that will accelerate Photoshop nicely (probably the heaviest thing from your usage), assuming you're using CS6 that supports OpenCL.
 
To be honest, same here, the BD software fustrated me in the end so I stuck with using a PS3 for BD films.

It was`nt the software with me. Never bought a BluRay disc. I have a load of BluRay films in MKV. format but don`t` see the need to burn them to disc, as my TV is plugged in via HDMI.
 
Do you really need a BluRay dvd/rw?
I bought one 18months ago and have never played or burned a BD in all that time.

Yeah I totally take that point - i'll probably never watch a BluRay with it, but the 25GB back up (databases, file systems from sites etc) is what appeals as much as anything else.

--

Everyone else; Ok, so i'm dropping the graphics card to see how mobo onboard handles dual monitors - thanks so much for the tips - I appreciate your input :)
 
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