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/Produc...82E16811144076

PSU: Comes with case, OR buy a new one: TT 430WATT,
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817153023

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/Produc...82E16814135171

Evga 7800GT: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130247


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/produc...82E16811129155

ASUS P5GD2-X Socket T (LGA 775) Intel 915P ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail Model #: P5GD2-X
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16813131542

SAPPHIRE 100130 Radeon X800GTO2 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card – OEM
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16814102595


Intel Pentium 4 630 Prescott 800MHz FSB 2MB L2 Cache LGA 775 EM64T Processor – Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16819116198

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/produc...82E16820145526

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 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/produc...82E16827106013

[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/Produc...82E16811119047 (also comes in silver trim) and this powersupply which I like a lot
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817189003

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