Thinking of a new build

[human1987]

I am trying to build a mid-end gaming pc and hoping for a home entertainment pc at the same time. But i'm not sure if the built in soundcard supports till 7.1ch?

I wasn't really sure about the motherboard so I picked this.
ASUS P5LD2-SE/C (Intel 945P) Dual-Channel DDR2

Processor
INTEL Core2 Duo E6600 (2.4GHz) Box Edn

Is this ram good? or should I be getting some higher speed ram?
CORSAIR 667MHz DDR2 Dual Channel 2GB Kit (PC2-5400) 2x1GB

Is this graphics card good enough for now?
XpertVision GeForce GF7900GS Sonic 256MB GDDR3

This HDD is SATA2, don't know if the motherboard support it? What do you recommend for HDD?
WESTERN DIGITAL Caviar SE16 WD3200KS =320GB= 16MB SATA-II

Just a normal casing
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 (Silver) ATX Mid-Tower

Normal PSU
ANTEC True430W ATX Power Supply (v2.03 P4 ready)

DVD-writer
SONY DRU-830A 18x18x Dual-Layer+Dual Format (Internal/Box) DVD±RW Writer

What do you say if I get this sound card?
CREATIVE SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio (7.1ch/24-bit)

[chuck4456]

try this:

[human1987]

Hi,

so you're recommending I get a P5B series board?
and the DVDwriter to be of SATA?

I guess a 430W PSU is sufficient ya?

I'm unsure if the ram is of value select or not. The website just provide the "generic" name.

[human1987]

I've seen the P5B series boards listed on ASUS website.
All seems identical.

I do not need Cross-fire / SLI feature because I do not intend to combine 2 gfx as 1.
I'm not into overclocking but it seems like all P5B board provide some overclocking features by ASUS.

I will gladly want a board with 7.1ch sound built in.
As for SATA, I might combine 2 HDD into 1 for RAID stripping.

[freakitchen]

For the motherboard, I'd pick between the standard P5B and the P5B-E - the latter offers on-board firewire if you want that. 7.1 sound is built into the P5B series.

I'd look into getting a Lite-on SATA DVD burner over that Sony. The IDE controller on the P965 boards is third party and not that great.

That 430w power supply should power that system fine. I'd personally buy a 450-500w unit to give some headroom, though.

I wouldn't bother with RAID striping. The very small speed benefits just aren't worth the data risk.

[human1987]

I don't need firewire for now. Haven't been utilising it though my current motherboard supports it. So i guess I will forgo that.

The P5B board only have 1 PATA, meaning I can connect up to 2 device to it only?
And what is PCI Express x1 used for?

[freakitchen]

That's right on the PATA (IDE). The P965 boards aren't really designed to be used with PATA devices - SATA is the new standard. The controller has proved to have compatibility issues - I wouldn't advise using a hard drive on it.

PCI-E x1 is largely unused by the industry at the moment. I believe there are PCI-E x1 network cards, and a couple of TV cards.

[human1987]

Ok thanks for the info