c2d first build, please be gentle.

[flanimal]

Hello to you all, I am a lurker/learner from this very helpful site and am sufficiently encouraged by you guys to attempt a first build. I would be very grateful of you could check out my initial specs and provide any suggestions, point out glaring errors etc. My aim is to build a machine primarily for photo and video work as well as forming an entertainment hub with the help of some additional network storage and a wifi network. I am a hobbyist rather than a professional and frankly anything will be an improvement on my current setup. My main wishes are to build a machine that will be future proofed for around 3 years (with some upgrading if necessary). It is unlikely that I will be doing a lot of gaming but would not wish to rule it out completely. It is also unlikely that I will be doing any overclocking. I do however wish the machine to run quietly and this has informed some of my choices.

I realise that the screen is a little extravagant but I do want the larger size and the connectivity that the Samsung offers appears to be very good, with a wide range of digital and analogue inputs. I realise that I have left out the speakers, keyboard options but will add those at a later date.

My specific questions are;

1. Is the RAM selected the best option for my mobo?
2. If I was to try and come in under $1500, where could I best save some money, other than the monitor? (prices listed are newegg)
3. It is my understanding that there will be a free upgrade from MCE to Vista home premium, so I can buy mce now and upgrade next year, does that sound like a plan?

SPECS.

Case
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel, SECC ATX Mid 44.99
PSU
Antec True Power Trio TP3-430 ATX12V 430W Power Supply with Three 12V Rails - Retail84.99
MOBO
ASUS P5B Deluxe/WiFi-AP Socket T (LGA 775) Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail 219.99
RAM
Patriot Signature Series 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory 203.99
Processor
Update Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 Conroe 1.86GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6300 - Retail 180.00
Video card
eVGA 512-P2-N635-AR Geforce 7950GT KO 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail 279.99
Monitor
SAMSUNG 215TW Black 21" 8ms Widescreen LCD Monitor - Retail 469.99
DVD Drive
SAMSUNG 18X DVD±R DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write Black E-IDE/ATAPI Model SH-S182D - OEM 29.99
Hard Drive
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (Perpendicular Recording) ST3320620A 320GB 7200 RPM IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive - OEM 94.99
OS
Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 SP2b w/Upgrade Coupon for Vista - OEM 109.99


Total before rebates and taxes $1718.91

[newbuilder14]

Everything looks okay, but if you're on a budget:

-Get a stronger power supply (450+ watts for 7900gs)
-Get 1gb of RAM for now
-Get the Asus P5B to save money
-Downgrade the video card to a 7900gs - great performance/value
-Get a Liteon DVD drive

See what the price comes down to now, then upgrade accordingly.

[Cricket]

Since you do photo and video work my suggestion is go with a ATi based video card instead of NVidia. ATi video cards have better 2D graphic image quality.

And 2GB of RAM is good for photo and video work but make sure you get compatible RAM for that motherboard. Go to the ASUS web site and check the QVL list for memory compatibility. There's really nothing wrong with Patriot RAM as it's pretty desent stuff, but I understand the 965 chipset is sort of fussy about the system RAM being used.

I'd also suggest a Lite-On or NEC burner instead of the Samsung. Samsung makes really good monitors but their optical drives seem to have reliability issues.

The 430 watt Antec is fine as long as you don't put a power hungry gaming video card in there...and since this isn't a gaming rig you really don't need a very powerful video card, just one that gives you good 2D images to work with. ATi or Matrox video cards fit that bill.

Cricket

[flanimal]

Thanks for the tip about the QVL, I have ammended the RAM accordingly, now is CORSAIR XMS2 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400), more expensive than the Patriot but seems to be a confirmed fit with the motherboard.

Comments noted about the drive, will switch to lite-on.

Regarding the video card, would this be a suitable ATI model for the overall setup and the psu in particular?
ATI 100-437807 Radeon X1950PRO 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 VIVO PCI Express x16 CrossFire Video Card - Retail

[DarkPacMan77]

that ATI card is extremely powerful. it will be more than enough power for your new system.

again, if you are not particularly GAMING, then I would bump that card down quite a few models. That is just about the best ATi has to offer at the moment lol.

-DarkPacMan77-