Building a new Desktop Computer

[RONDAL]

Anyone wanna give a quick look over these parts I have kinda put together, tell me your thoughts? What you would change if anything and why.


Parts Make Cost Description Link

Motherboard intel $163.06 DG965OTMKR mATX LGA775 Conroe G965 DDR2 PCI-E16 PCI-E1 2PCI GBLAN 1394 Sound Video Motherboard http://www.ncix.com/products/product...er=1&sku=19734

Motherboard Intel $269.99 D975XBX2 ATX LGA775 Conroe 975X DDR2 PCI-E16 SATA RAID Sound GBLAN 1394 Motherboard http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...ufacture=Intel

CPU Intel $289.00 Core 2 Duo E6600 Dual Core Processor LGA775 Conroe 2.40GHZ 1066FSB 4MB http://www.ncix.com/products/product...er=1&sku=19144

RAM $236.00 PC2-6400 2GB 2X1GB DDR2-800 CL4-4-4-15 240PIN DIMM Dual Channel X2 for 4GB http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...Z%20Technology

Case Antec $147.00 Mid Tower Aluminum Case 4X5.25 1X3.5 6X3.5INT No PS W/ USB & Audio Ports http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...ufacture=ANTEC

Operating System Microsoft $143.42 Windows Vista Home Premuim http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...ture=Microsoft

Video Card EVGA E-GEFORCE 8800GTS $350.00 500MHZ 320MB 1.6GHZ GDDR3 PCI-E Dual DVI-I HDTV HDCP DIRECTX10 Video Card http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...nufacture=eVGA

Sound Card $84.35 Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-FI Xtreme Audio 24BIT Sound Card 7.1 http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...reative%20Labs

Hard Drive Western Digital $144.79 Raptor 36GB SATA 10000RPM Hard Drive 5.2MS 16MB http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...tern%20Digital

CD/DVD-Writer LG $44.00 DVD+RW 18X8X16 http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...%20Electronics

MonitorDell $299.00 22" widescreen http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/p...ctlisting.aspx

Power Pack $99.99 500W ATX12V 24PIN Power Supply W/120MM Fan Active http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...e%20Technology


Total: $1916 at the moment with the first choice of motherboard

Now a few questions:
1. Will the first choice of motherboard run with the CPU I have? If so I will go that route and save $100
2. Windows Vista Upgrade is much cheaper than buying it outright. I have the full XP Home Bundle with the recovery disks, is this all I need to use the upgrade or do I need to buy a whole new package?
3. Is there any other video card you would suggest to be able to run high resolution on a 22"-24" widescreen with dual monitor capability that is cheaper than the choice I have?
4. Any other areas you think I can save a little $$$

[R_Ethug]

Re: Building a new Desktop Computer

www.apple.ca

[RONDAL]

Re: Building a new Desktop Computer

wow thats the best you could do?

sorry, i kind of like to be able to interact with the rest of society and have my computers work. Please don't turn this into a Mac v. PC debate.

Anything else constructive?

[Mitcheh]

Re: Building a new Desktop Computer

What's so great about that case? You can easily find one around $50 that would work.

[R_Ethug]

Re: Building a new Desktop Computer

lol sorry.. i hate talking pcs outside of work

the antec case is good.. i wouldn't bother with the SB card unless you want to spend the money
get at least 2gig of ram for vista yea
maybe look into an ATI card instead of nvidia..

[Khyron]

Re: Building a new Desktop Computer

Nvidia is way faster than anything ATI has (ATM, hopefully this shifts). 8800 GTS is untouchable for the $$.

If you're going to buy a raptor, get the 72G version then you can have both the OS and a games partition for it, then a 400+ G drive for data, which I didn't see on your list.

For motherboard chipset, 680i is best but the 590 is good too. I wouldn't buy an intel board just cause they cost more than a comparible asus.

[RONDAL]

Re: Building a new Desktop Computer

i have a 320GB and a 250GB HD sitting in 2 external cases at the moment hooked up by USB to my laptop where i keep all my stuff. i try and keep a small HD to run the OS and apps just so its quick and not filled with files.'

so you think i should full out ditch the sound card and run it off the MB?
ATi cards have gone to **** at the moment hence the choice, you think its a good card?

i appreciate the opinions and input guys

[R_Ethug]

Re: Building a new Desktop Computer

yea the onboard sound is fine nowadays like 5 years ago it was crap but todays are 5.1 or 7.1 full digital solutions

[stefan]

Re: Building a new Desktop Computer

yeah, agreed. i have onboard 8 channel... pretty sure i'll never use more then 2. Unless you are doing audio processing/mixing, onboard should be fine.

[Kordain]

Re: Building a new Desktop Computer

IF your gonna get a Raptor HD, then get two. Put them in stripe configuration and they are super fast. I have that setup in mine and xp loads soooo fast its awesome. i like to play the odd game and load times between the huge levels that games have today are super quick.

I have the same CPU as you, great performance for the buck, bu ti have a ASUS P5B-E mobo. If you want to save a bit you dont really need the super high end audio card unless your into making music on the PC. you could drop a few levels down on that. I have a Audigy 2 ZS and its plenty.

In response to the other guys's comments, you could at least ditch the sound card for now and try on board sound! whats to lose, if you dont like it go buy a card then just turn it off!

Also, what are you planning on using the comp for, office apps, games, 3d modelling/cad? composing. It greatly affects what you need to have.

[RONDAL]

Re: Building a new Desktop Computer

sound card is ditched already in that price and i dont plan on keeping it. i just wasn't sure when i started out, i've had laptops for the last 6 years

[veedublub]

Re: Building a new Desktop Computer

I wouldnt recommend Vista. Stick with XP. Vista sucks resources and has many conflicts with games and media software. Plus it has rediculous DRM's and if you have a major component failure in your system and have to replace parts, you will be forced to buy a new copy of vista.