Newbie needing feedback

[Titanium]

Hey guys, I know you're probably tired of seeing the same old recommendation threads regarding solid gaming pc's, but here's another. Looking at around a $1,000 budget, can go slightly over, but not much. Also this will be my first build, so I'm pretty green when it comes to some of these things. Any suggestions or feedback you can give me on the list I've compiled so far would be GREATLY appreciated. I'm also maybe looking for any compatability issues that I may have overlooked. Here's what I've come up with so far:

UPDATED LIST

CASE- Rosewill R5604-BK 0.8mm SECC Screw-less Dual 120mm Fans ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

MOBO- ASUS P5K-E LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

VIDEO CARD- EVGA 320-P2-N811-AR GeForce 8800GTS 320MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

PSU- CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX ATX12V V2.2 550W Power Supply - Retail

CPU- Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8400 - Retail

RAM- CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X2048-6400C4 - Retail

HDD- Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

DVD-R- LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model LH-20A1L-06 - Retail

OS- Microsoft Windows Vista 32-Bit Home Premium for System Builders Single Pack DVD - OEM

That brings my total to right around 1100 bones. A bit more than I wanted to spend, but that should be ok.

[Alaron]

Welcome to PCMech. That list is great. Good researching. My only suggestion is to grab the 8800GTS with 512MB. They are updated versions that perform even better.

If you need an optical drive, we recommend LiteOn Retail drives because they come with Nero software. Be sure to get a SATA version.

[Dave21]

Good list. However you might want to check out the new 7200.11 version of the seagate harddrives which have 32 mb cache compared to the 16 mb cache on 7200.10.

Get a E8400 over the Q6600 and save some money and get the 512 mb GTS like alaron recommended.

[Cricket]

Why did you pick a motherboard with on-board video if you're getting a 8800GTS?

Cricket

[Titanium]

That would be why I made this thread Thank you for catching that.

I have updated that to:

ASUS P5K-E LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail $139.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131225

[Titanium]

Originally Posted by Alaron Welcome to PCMech. That list is great. Good researching. My only suggestion is to grab the 8800GTS with 512MB. They are updated versions that perform even better. If you need an optical drive, we recommend LiteOn Retail drives because they come with Nero software. Be sure to get a SATA version.

Thanks a bunch. I've modified what I originally had now. Had an older DVD-R drive that I was gonna use but it's IDE, so I'm gonna go ahead and get the LiteOn SATA version that you recommended.

I'm not gonna be doing any hardcore, cutting edge, gaming, but it will be used mainly for moderate gaming, then internet browsing and general use. You think it's worth the extra money to go for the 512MB 8800GTS over the 320MB? Will I see a large performance boost?

Also contemplating the E8400 vs the Q6600. I've been reading on the E8400 and it seems like a great buy and should be more than enough for me. From what I can gather it has good OC potential, but I'm not sure if I'm ready for that yet.

[Masaki 7-11]

For your budget, a 8800GT would be large increase in performance for a similar price to the 8800GTS 320MB. A 8800GTS 512 is a faster version of the 8800GT, but both are a lot faster than the 320MB and 640MB 8800GTS. E8400 for now is a decent amount faster when it comes to most applications and games. Quad cores are somewhat more future-proof meaning that the newer programs and games are starting to include quad core support in them, and you would be able to see a performance difference in games. So far mostly media encoding and RTS games have a decent increase in performance over quad cores, so a dual core may be your best bet; quad cores don't overclock as easily either, so if you plan on overclocking later on, the dual core is the best in that case. If you decide that quad core is for you, you may want to take a look at the e9000 processors coming out from intel, which means you would either have to get a less expensive dual core now, and upgrade later, or postpone your build for one or two months.

[phigdon]

if i remember correctly that OS vista version if for a single machine and you don't have to option of transferring if you build a new system after that one.

"This OEM software is intended for system builders only and cannot be transferred to another PC once it is installed. The purchaser of this software is required to comply with the terms of the System Builder license, including the responsibility of providing all end user support for the software."

I had an incident when I was troubleshooting my old system and unplugged everything but the boot drive. it said something like 'this machines configuration has been drastically changed, please reactivate windows'. i don't know Vista, but if its like XP you may have an issue with the system builders version if you upgrade a lot of components. the home version is only $100 more.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832116142

[Titanium]

Well, I just completed my order of the parts. Thanks for any help guys. I went with

Asus P5K-E
E8400
8800GT 512 MB
7200.11 500GB
2GB (2x1) Crucial Ballistix DDR2 800
LiteOn DVD burner
Corsair 550W PSU
Vista 32 bit

Hopefully I'll be pleased!