What do you guys think?

[Battaglia]

Ive used the forum before for building advice and its always good stuff so Im looking for some more. Id like to keep this build around $1000-1200. Heres what I got so far. I already have the ram and vista so that dosent factor into my budget. I want this one to be able to handle most games easily, but generally I want it to handle regular stuff as fast as possible. Any input on a video card that would work nicely with this setup and any other advice is greatly appreciated.

Antec 900 Mid
Antec EA-750w psu
Gigabyte GA-ep45-Ud3p mobo
Intel E8500 Wolfdale
Mushkin 2x2GB ddr 2 800
Vista 64-bit
WD Veloci Raptor 300GB

[scuderia]

If you want it to game, and game very, very well, stick with the E8500. It's fast stock and blistering OC'ed (which most members of this forum will discourage you from doing with very legitimate reasons). If you want to be able to multitask better, go quad core.

I'd recommend an ASUS mobo. The P5Q Pro is great; if you want to go high-end, the Maximus II Formula is ridiculous.

ATI Radeon HD4980. Go with ASUS, Diamond, HIS, or Sapphire.

Other than that, everything looks good to me. Wait on some other advice, though. I am by no means an expert.

EDIT: I forgot to add that you should go with a 902. Much better cable management and black interior.

[Khalil]

I have a lot of failures with the Raptor hard drives. I would go with the black WD hard drives. 750GB should do it. The Raptors are not going to give you noticeable performance boost in gaming than the 32MB WD blacks.
Antec power supplies are quality but there is better, Sea Sonic, FSP and Corsair. For your budget I would go with one of those.

[glc]

The Antec EA's are made by Seasonic and Delta. Nothing wrong with those.

[Battaglia]

Originally Posted by Khalil I have a lot of failures with the Raptor hard drives. I would go with the black WD hard drives. 750GB should do it. The Raptors are not going to give you noticeable performance boost in gaming than the 32MB WD blacks. Antec power supplies are quality but there is better, Sea Sonic, FSP and Corsair. For your budget I would go with one of those.

Does the VelociRaptor make any difference when it comes to stuff like programs, videos, etc etc normal computer stuff? Seems like alot of opinions are its a great drive but also risky when the performance increase is negligable.

[Khalil]

Originally Posted by glc The Antec EA's are made by Seasonic and Delta. Nothing wrong with those.

Not anymore according to the Antec rep, they no longer use Sea Sonic power supplies. Not sure about Delta, they might still be using them.

Does the VelociRaptor make any difference when it comes to stuff like programs, videos, etc etc normal computer stuff?

No difference that you can see over the 32MB drives.

[not important]

Cases are a personal choice and the Antec 900 you selected is a very nice one.
I read the same thing about the Antec PSU's no longer being made by Seasonic on another forum.

[glc]

Can you find out who does make the higher end ones now? If they have gone back to CWT, I'd be a bit concerned, but FSP and Delta are both quality.

[Battaglia]

So taking some advice I went with the 750gb WD black. I also decided on a Corsair power supply per advice and past experience with them. When it comes to processors, is a quad core gonna make a huge difference compared to a core 2 duo when it comes to performance? I always hear how much of a hog vista is so im wondering if upgrading the cpu would be wise.

[Khalil]

It depends on what you do with the computer. Some games like Supreme Commander can utilize as many cores as you give it but most other applications don't use more than 2 cores. If you are going to go for a Quad that will out do the E8500 you will need an Intel 9550 or the AMD 955 otherwise I would stick to the E8500 it is a beast and should be able to handle anything you throw at it.

[Battaglia]

Originally Posted by Khalil It depends on what you do with the computer. Some games like Supreme Commander can utilize as many cores as you give it but most other applications don't use more than 2 cores. If you are going to go for a Quad that will out do the E8500 you will need an Intel 9550 or the AMD 955 otherwise I would stick to the E8500 it is a beast and should be able to handle anything you throw at it.

Good to know thanks.