Not your ordinary first time builder

[malvolio]

Well, I guess I probably am. But anyway, I plan to use the machine for photo/video editing and web design, perhaps some occasional gaming as well. Please let me know your thoughts. Oh btw that stickied parts list was extremely helpful.

If there are any particular components that you'd recommend a beginner not purchase OEM, please let me know. Documentation and cables included with components will help me out a lot, I'm guessing. Another general concern I have is with cooling. Can/should I add another fan to this case? The processor appears to come with sink and fan attached, but I've read about it running hot with the stock cooling?

Thanks for any input.

Case - 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 $89.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129155

PSU - 450W included in case (enough wattage?)

Mobo- ASUS A8N5X Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail $82.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131569

CPU - AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Toledo 2000MHz HT 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket 939 Dual Core Processor - Retail $250.00 (should i just go conroe?)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103546

HDD - Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM $250.00

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136012

RAM - CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) System Memory - Retail $190.00

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145579

Pri Optical - NEC Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache IDE/ATAPI DVD Burner - OEM $28.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827152058

Sec Optical - later

Sound Card - Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Interface Sound Card - Retail $112.00

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829102188

Video Card - eVGA 256-P2-N553-AX Geforce 7600GT CO 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail $170.00

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130283

FDD - I'll probably get into trouble and need one eventually...

Keyboard/Mouse - whatever works

Modem - no thanks

LAN - D-Link DWL-G510 IEEE 802.11b/g 32bit PCI2.2 2.4G Wireless Adapter up to 54Mbps Data Rates 64/128-Bit WEP, 802.1x, WPA - Retail $31.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833127145

Monitor - any suggestions what to look for in a monitor for photo editing purposes? LCD hopefully in neighborhood of 200-250.

OS - Will Win XP MCE offer me any real advantages over Pro? Should I buy the OS OEM? est $100-300

Total Damage so far: $1205, plus approx. 50 for shipping and not counting OS or monitor.

[blue60007]

All look like excellent choices. Although, I'd suggest this drive over the Raptor - more storage - for buckets less. Performance of that drive is still excellent.

Also, the board has onboard sound - unless you are a bit of an audiophile and/or have excellent speakers/headphones, the sound card may not be necessary (not that it's not nice )

You could probably get away with Xp Home - unless you need features from MCE or Pro. Definitely go OEM - no need for a fancy box and a useless manual/pamphlet. I think Retail also gets you a year of telephone support - but that's why we are here.

Sorry, can't offer an suggestions on a monitor -- not my forte.

Oh, also you might look at the Retail version of that optical drive - or a OEM LITE-ON burner - the one you've got there doesn't have any burning software. Retail NEC's and OEM lite-on's should have some software bundled. Check the pictures of the product - usually they'll show the CD if there is one included.

[malvolio]

Thanks Blue. I agree the drive sounds like a good place to trim some fat off the budget. Would the SATA 3 gb/s drive be compatible with the board (1.5). I'm guessing it would just transfer at 1.5?

[blue60007]

That's right, it would downclock. But it won't make a bit of difference in real life. It won't get anywhere near 1.5 Gb/s - that's just it's theoretical interface burst (non-sustained) speed.

[malvolio]

All right. I crossed the Rubicon. Antec P180B case and Antec 500W power supply

http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16817103937

arrived today from Newegg (I like the fact that ground shipping through them=overnight to my location ). No turning back now...

I've decided finally on Conroe E6600 and am keen on the Asus P5W DH Deluxe board http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131025 . Hopefully I'll be able to get hold of them sometime before Christmas. Any thoughts on the board re: power supply compatibility and conroe support out of the box? One review on newegg complains that it doesn't support without a bios upgrade but doesn't specify which processor it was.

RAM possibility: two of these? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820144151 They're on the Asus QVL. How do you think it will jive with the Conroe? Will I be losing out with less than DDR 800?

The other assorted items will be something similar to the above.

Thanks again for any comments, guys.

edit: forgot to ask about sink and fan suggestions for the processor also. so whaddaya think?

[glc]

DDR2-533 will hold a C2D back. You need DDR2-667 or better, I'd really recommend 800. I wouldn't really sweat the QVL, Intel chipsets are not having the compatibility issues that the AMD AM2 platform is, I'd just get a dual channel kit of Corsair XMS2. The stock heatsink/fan that comes with the retail boxed processor will be plenty good.

[blue60007]

The P5W DH shouldn't have a problem with XMS2.