Take a deep breathe and jump right in !

[betwen]

Ok, I am going to do it this time, no more buying already built machines.
Sound brave? False bravado believe me.

I’ve read through the forums along with all kinds of other sites, ( I really like the info and the people here) and think I’m almost ready just to put together a list to buy, with some assistance if you please.

The computer will be used for general office work, (yuk) and photography work, down loading photo’s, PSP, photo shop, a graphic program when the mood strikes, keeping the web site current, etc, etc.

Here is a list I have put together so far- any suggestions are helpful.
For the basic system, I would like to stay a little under a $1,000.
The monitor, keyboard and mouse I look on as adders.
I do not need the latest and greatest, just something that will allow me to work on the digital images without waiting forever for a command to work.

Case: Up for suggestions
PSU- Up for suggestions
Mobo: ASUS P5GD2-X Socket T (LGA775) Intel 915P ATX
CPU: Intel Pentium 4 630 Prescott 800 MHz FSB LGA EM64T Processor model BX80547PG3000F
HDD: Open to suggestions-
RAM: Cosar Valueselect 1 GB (2x 512mb) 240 pin DDR2 SDRAM
Pri optical: Up for suggestions- burn DVD’s and CD’s please
Video cards: Makes my head spin- suggestions please

Other wish list items would be:
Go wireless- will need everything for this new build, a laptop, and a old desktop.
Card reader that reads SD cards
Front USB- ( ipods, etc)
Oh yeah, a monitor- like the looks of a flat screen LCD. (that is not included in the $1,000 price)

Any and all suggestions appreciated, and thanks in advance for your patience.

Bee

[blue60007]

Looks good so far.

Case: Antec has some nice cases. Actually the Sonata II comes with a 450W Antec power supply. That should be good.

HDD: I'd look at an SATA drive from Seagate. You'll probably want a decent amount of space, 250GB?

Optical: LITE-ON makes some good DVD burners, and come with nero.

Video card: Since you won't be gaming, a basic one would do the trick. Probably an X300 would do the trick. PCI-E and not hypermemory - those use some system RAM.

Not sure about card readers, wirless adapters or monitors.

Oh, don't forget an OS. XP Home OEM should work, unless you need a certain feature of Pro.

[FireByyrd]

Fine case: ASPIRE XINFINITY
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811144076

PSU: Comes with case, OR buy a new one: TT 430WATT,
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817153023

For photo editing or what your doing I would go with NVIDIA graphic cards.
Your best choice if you want to maintain below the price of 1000 or so would be either 6800GT 235 dollars, OR what I use a evga7800GT 279.99 dollars which should be MORE than enough.

AOpen 6800GT: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814135171

Evga 7800GT: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130247


X300 is really weak :P hehehehe. but yeah if you really don't play any games at all, listen to him and just get the X300 it won't hurt.

*About monitors... a 19inch decent LCD flat screen monitor runs around 250 dollars or LESS, so shop around.

[blue60007]

Oh wait, by "graphic program" do you mean games? Like FireByyrd said, the X300 isn't quite adapted to playing games. If you play the occasional game, I'd suggest a 6600GT. I'd say a 6800GT or 7800GT would be overkill for occasional gaming.

Case is your choice really - just don't use that power supply in the Aspire case. "Fine" and "Aspire" don't go together. I suggested the Antec Sonata II because you get a high quality case and power supply for the system for $100.

[betwen]

So I did a little more homework, and this is what I came up with.

I appreciate all comments made. Please understand that I relatively new at this and explanations in detail would be help. :)

Antec LifeStyle SONATA II Piano Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 450Watt SmartPower 2.0 ATX 12V V2.0 for AMD & Intel systems Power Supply – Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16811129155

ASUS P5GD2-X Socket T (LGA 775) Intel 915P ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail Model #: P5GD2-X
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813131542

SAPPHIRE 100130 Radeon X800GTO2 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card – OEM
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814102595


Intel Pentium 4 630 Prescott 800MHz FSB 2MB L2 Cache LGA 775 EM64T Processor – Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16819116198

CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Unbuffered DDR2 533 (PC2 4200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory – Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820145526

Plus the OS of course.

Thanks again for all the help

Bee

[blue60007]

Looks good so far. :) Of course, you still need a hard drive and opticals.

Here's (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144701) a hard drive suggestion. Since you said you are going to do photography stuff, do you think 250GB is the right amount of space you'll need?

[betwen]

Opps- thanks for the suggestion. I am building my list at New Egg.
And somehow this one got omitted- Hopefully I am going just send this to the cart soon and get under way.

Thanks for the suggestion on the hard drive- added it right in..
Here is the DVD I am looking at.


LITE-ON Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache ATAPI/E-IDE DVD Burner - Retail


http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16827106013

[Louds3]

this looks good so far. For hard drives, you want to stick to Western Digital or Seagate in my opinion, I've never had a problem with Maxtor but I really don't like what I've been hearing about them lately (though they were just bought by seagate so maybe this will change)...

That lite-on DVD burner you listed is a good choice, probably half the people on this forum use that or a very similar model, can't go wrong esp. for the price.

Also, the case/powersupply that blue listed is definitely a solid choice, I almost got that recently for my new build but went with this combo instead for about the same price. For a case it's really all personal preference, for a powersupply, it's all about a quality brand! check out the stickies in the hardware forums. anyway here's what I got and I like it very much.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811119047 (also comes in silver trim) and this powersupply which I like a lot
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817189003

good luck

steve

edit: btw blue nice find on that hard drive, I may pick one up myself, time for me to go sata

[FireByyrd]

great drive the one BLUE picked, usin' it right now ;)

[betwen]

thanks much people for all the adivse.
In the next couple of days I will get this on order.

You guys are the best.

I take it the graphics card is ok? Making choices on those made my head spin.

thanks again

Bee