Looking to Build a Desktop (First Time)

It will work, but you will have to buy a 3.5 to 2.5 hdd cage adapter, because that hdd is made for laptops.

 

He's right. AMD can beat Intel in the ~$100 chip range(Quad cores vs. i3), that processor should be able to do everything you need just fine. The GTX 550 ti does pretty well for it's $130 price, really nice card.

I'd say it's pretty popular myself, it's sold from newegg too and has over 900 reviews: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231428

 

If I wanted to skimp, could I get a crappy hdd like this http://www.ebay.com/itm/380448338880 and upgrade later?

 

Yeah, you could do that, although some newer motherboards now won't support the older IDE hard drives, although you can can get some sort of adapter for it.

As for the OS, the most common way is it is installed off a disk from which you boot of it from the BIOS (this is really easy to do). I would recommend Windows 7 x64. There are also 'ways' to get it without paying for it, but if you want the least hassle way then just buy a copy legit.

 

120GB HDD would probably be too small to start out with. I would personally attempt to get at least a 250 HDD.

And are you attempting to build a SATA or IDE computer? Haven't really read over your thread and the parts, but I'll take a look now.

 

Well I figured the hard drive is fairly easy to replace. And to be quite honest, I've only used 90gb on my laptop.

 

Use my build with a sata harddrive. You wont regret it, and its the best bang for your buck.

 

Alright then.
(I'm just trying to find ways to skimp out so I can afford it right now)

 

You can get on craigslist and find a hdd, or ebay it. Make sure you get a sata one, and youll be set.