Compatability, Video Card and Monitor(s) for First Build

[bellland]

Good morning everyone,

First I want to say that this website and forum have been a great help in the research involved in my upcoming first build.

As a little background, I am a researcher in ecology interested in having a system to fit both work needs and entertainment wants. The system needs to be able to multitask, so I am interested in running two LCD screens at once and it needs to be able to handle several programs at once. It is not uncommon that I will need to have 5 of he following 7 programs open at once: a word processor, a spreadsheet, a database, a slideshow, a GIS program, a web browser, and a statistical package. I also want a computer capable of basic multimedia tasks (burning CD's or DVD's) as well as the ability to run current strategy and first-person-shooter games, though I don't really need the highest video or audio resolution for the graphics. I'd also like to do some overclocking of the different components, for no other reason than I can.

I have done a fair amount of research, primarily reading price comparisons, customer reviews, and more general how-to guides. The following components are what I have chosen based on my needs, my wants, and my budget. I want to make clear that my budget is somewhat flexible, though major increases in the price of any given component ($100+) will need to be offset by downgrading other components. I also want to point out that the hard drives listed are already bought since the retailer and manufacturers involved offered $140 in rebates combined.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Manchester Socket 939 Dual Core Processor
DFI LanParty UT nF4-D Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX AMD Motherboard
COOLER MASTER Centurion 532 ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Antec TRUEPOWERII TPII-430 ATX12V Power Supply
OCZ Performance 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR 400 (PC 3200) Memory
POWERCOLOR X800XL256MBDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Value SB0400 8 (7.1) Channels Sound Card
Western Digital Caviar SE WD2500JB 250GB IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 ST3160023A 160GB IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive
LITE-ON Black 2M Cache ATAPI/E-IDE DVD Burner
Creative Inspire T5400 74 Watts 5.1 Speaker
Thermaltake Big Typhoon CL-P0114 120mm Cooling Fan with Heatsink
Microsoft Windows XP Professional with SP2

I think I have all my bases covered, but I still have a few questions:
1) Are there any glaring compatability issues?
2) Does this video card seem sufficient for my expressed needs and wants? Remember, I really want two DVI outs so I can run two LCD screens.
3) Can someone recommend a 17" or 19" LCD monitor? I am really lost here as far as brands go, with the exception of the bigger companies. Also, should I purchase these at a local store or risk dead pixels in the mail order companies?
4) Will there be space problems with the Thermaltake fan and heatsink? It seems a little big.
5) Should I go with different RAM, like DDR 500, for overclocking purposes? If so, would DFI's website be the best place to research compatability issues involved?

Thanks in advance for any help people might offer. I think I gave all the info I can. I read some of the stickies so I didn't appear like a complete and total idiot. I guess that is what happens after playing a text-based RPG like GemStone for so many years and hearing "What stats and skills should my warrior have"; You learn that formatting is key to getting good responses.

Dave

[Cricket]

I think you're going to want a power supply with a little more juice than the 430 watt Antec you've listed. It's a good power supply but with all the stuff you want in the system it might be good to have a little more headroom to play with. I have no idea what the power requirements for a Dual Core Athlon is but it's gotta be more than what a single core CPU uses.

You'll want to use SATA hard drives instead of IDE too...IDE is getting a little long in the tooth and since this is a new build why not go with newer technology?

I'd skip the big Thermaltake heatsink and fan for now. Just use the heatsink that comes with the retail CPU...you get a heatsink that will work with that CPU and you keep the 3 year warranty. If you replace the stock heatsink with an aftermarket one, you lose the warranty.

Some folks have say the Powercolor video cards aren't as reliable as the ATi or Sapphire models...might want to look into that.

I've been recommending Samsung for 17" TFT monitors. My wife has one and I think the image quality is very good.

From what I understand you don't need faster RAM when you overclock the newer AMD's that use HyperTransport. That OCZ should be fine.

Cricket

[glc]

Cricket, the hard drives are already purchased.

I'd pass on a sound card for now - use the onboard sound. It may well suit your needs well enough, you can always add one later if necessary. I wouldn't even buy performance ram - value ram works fine with AMD's HTT. Cricket does make a good point- that's a decent video card, but you can get a Sapphire version for essentially the same price, I think I'd go that way. I'd consider upgrading the processor to a Toledo core, might as well get the latest and greatest with double the L2 cache. Dropping the sound card and backing off to the value ram will compensate for the cost. For the same price as that TPII-430, you can get a SP-500 2.0, or throw another 15 bucks in the pot and get a TPII-550. No need for an aftermarket heatsink - use the stock retail unit. If you are looking for decent budget LCD's, look at Acer and BenQ.

[bellland]

Is there any concern to be had about the lack of heat-spreaders on most form of "value" RAM? Especially with a relativelly full case?

Dave

[jfk]

Originally Posted by bellland Is there any concern to be had about the lack of heat-spreaders on most form of "value" RAM? Especially with a relativelly full case? Dave

Nope, you should'nt have any problems there, even with a full case, UNLESS you have exceptionally poor ventilation. That particular case is well ventilated and has plenty of room to spare.