here is my list for a build.. wadayathink

[passn_thru2]

my wife is starting a home computer based business, I'm ordering the Windows Office 2007 for her class at college.. her 8 yr old 256 mb Compaq Praserio is slowly crawling tword its grave.
she saw mine for the first time in a year, its downstairs, she has hip replacements.. she wants me to build her one now..

so wadaya think.. any opinions, sugestions..

i got her a new HD with XP 32bit alreay

Case.. she has a small desk
Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ark=&Keywords=

Mobo
GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128358
or
GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128359

PSU
OCZ GameXStream OCZ600GXSSLI 600W ATX12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready Active PFC psu
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817341001

RAM
OCZ Reaper 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1150 (PC2 9200) Desktop Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227406
or
OCZ Reaper HPC 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227289
..i have this in my ASUS Rampage Formula x48 ran 1400 on first boot up 32*C

CPU
Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 Wolfdale 2.8GHz 3MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115206

CPU Fan.. i already have one of these
ZALMAN CNPS9500 AT 2 Ball CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...an%209500%20at

Video Card ..i already have one of these..
Visiontek Radeon HD 3870 Overclocked Video Card - 512MB GDDR4, PCI Express 2.0
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...C5_S_p5w385._w

i have a really good ASUS optical reader..

[Khalil]

Sapphire or Diamond for ATI video card.
Asus for a motherboard. Gigabyte is good Quality but Asus is the best and has the best support. Everything else looks good.

[passn_thru2]

i got the video card from my brother when he updated.. it was free.

what ASUS would you recommend..

i was looking at Gigabyte because of the problems i had with ASUS on my first build. best advice i got from ASUS was to throw away the manual.. after buying their top of the line Mobo at the time...i did, i built it from info i received here and other forums. i understand Gigabytes support is nonexistent.. i already know how that feels. i was looking at the features of that particular board.. and the price, and i know they don't honor their rebates.

the board isnt going to be over clocked, she doesnt play video games.

[mjkovis]

Build looks solid as can be, but my question is if your wife is going to use this for a 'business' PC, then there probably wouldn't be any gaming going on at the time. Correct?

If that is the case, why not save a few bucks, find yourself a good board with onboard video and drop the video card. Onboard video is more than enough to run whatever she needs. I would also say you could go a bit lower on your PSU, but that is a great PSU for the price and with all the rebates hard to beat!!! Nice find there.

EDIT: Oops, I didn't see that you already had the video card.

[passn_thru2]

thanks for the reply..

there is no on-board video, i figure the overclocked 512Bb i have is good enough for her Netflix DVD's. i got the 1Gb OC'd version of this card, i didn't set up the Cross-fire at first and it played all the Vista games high settings. stays cool enough, i check it with a laser temp reader, its got a huge fluid assist heat sink on it.

i read that the 80+% efficiency rating is acquired on the curve by running the PSU around 80% of its power rating. i noticed that researching for the one i have on this rig.. but this one is decked out better than the one i'm building for the wife.. that will be my second build.

[shadowpr]

Drop the ram to ddr2-800.

[passn_thru2]

why.. i collect info, i gathered from my search the board liked low latency.

it's hard to find any info.. like my Rampage Formula.. a serious overclocking board and the only RAM ASUS had listed was RAM you couldn't OC at all. it did have low latency so i got the OCZ Reaper HPC 1060. the rig started up first time.. with a lot of help from PCMECH.. and the RAM was running at 1400.

no problems, ever. its blazing fast and runs really cool, RAM is 32*C.. North & South Bridges run 37*C. i replaced the thermal tape with ArcticSilver. Antec 900 Case moves lots of air too

[shadowpr]

anything above ddr2-800 will not be noticable, since it will depend on the fsb of the processor.

That processor has a fsb of 1066, which means it's really 267. 267 would translate to ddr2-533. That would give you a 1:1 ratio. You can run the ram at a step or two higher, but usually 1 step higher is recommended. That means you could technically get ddr2-667 unless you want to overclock. If overclocking, the ddr2-800 will still give you plenty of headroom.

[passn_thru2]

Thanks..

[glc]

You are building a BUSINESS computer. Do not look at it the same way you would a gamer. Use STABLE components and don't even THINK about overclocking.

I'd use an Asus P5KPL-CM motherboard and low cost DDR-800 CAS 5 1.8 or 1.9 volt ram.