Hi Everybody!

I'm just about to upgrade my pc. I have done some research and this is the configuration i came up with:



- Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
- Asustek P5W DH Deluxe

- G.SKILL 2GB(1GB x 2) PC2-6400 (DDR2-800) 4-4-4-12 Dual (Not sure about RAM yet I don't know much about RAM)
I life in Australia so I'm kind of stuck with the RAM on the following page http://au.pricespy.biz/gid_178.html (could someone pls check and see if there are better RAM modules on this page)


-Graphics: ATi Radeon X1800 GTO 256MB PCI-Express (I wanted to buy a cheap Graphics Card so I can get rid of it once the Directx10 cards are out). Is that a good choice? or is there anything cheaper to last me until DX10

- Monitor: BENQ FP202W 8ms DVI 20" FP202W Wide Screen (I heard this is a good monitor for games cuz i want to play ego shooters as well is that right?)

- Harddisk: 2* Samsung SpinPoint P120 SP2504C in raid 0 (is this a good choice or should i get a harddisk with 16MB cache? Any recomendations?)
Maybe Western Digital WD2500KS or Samsung SP2504C but the western digital has 16MB cache

- Also can someone please advise on a good powersupply which would suite this system


I also want to be able to overclock the machine.

I hope someone can help me putting a good machine together.
Thanks in advance

Me likey breadsticks!

Get Seagate 7200.10 drives with a 16MB cache, one of the fastest drives currently available. Unless you are doing large drive writes, RAID 0 really wont help you at all. Marginal speed gain, but your points of failure double.

For a PSU look at Antec SmartPower 500W or Truepower II 550W. First one is great for most users, 2nd one is for a multiple GPU setup.

You can get away with a 7600GT, but I dont know how that prices vs the 1800. Its around $150 USD for a 7600.

Get Seagate 7200.10 drives with a 16MB cache, one of the fastest drives currently available. Unless you are doing large drive writes, RAID 0 really wont help you at all. Marginal speed gain, but your points of failure double.

For a PSU look at Antec SmartPower 500W or Truepower II 550W. First one is great for most users, 2nd one is for a multiple GPU setup.

You can get away with a 7600GT, but I dont know how that prices vs the 1800. Its around $150 USD for a 7600.

I second the Video card and Hard Drive suggestions. Although the x1800GTO will give you better image quality and more features.. the 7600GT is faster under most titles. As for the Hard drive, Seagate make probably the best SATA drives when reliability is taken into account. I personally run 2 of them in RAID1 for storage on my main rig with two 74GB WD Raptors in RAID0 for performance.

As for the Power Supply, I wouldn't recommend Antec. They used to make some pretty good units but lately have not had a decent efficient power supply. None of there Power Supplies is able to break the 80% efficiency standard set forth by the new ATX standards.

Antec:


I'd recommend an Enermax unit for it's price performance:

Not quite true about the Antec PSU's. Antec's Neo HE series advertise up to 85% efficiency . . . but that's neither here nor there, there have been some rumors/reports of some Antec units failing at a higher than normal rate lately, but this is purely anecdotal and not based on any kind of comprehensive study. The enermax units are also very good, as are FSP, Tagan, sparkle, seasonic, mushkin, and etc.

PSU's are definitely in the category of "you get what you pay for," almost without exception (Ultra might fall into this category?). If you pay north of $50 or $60 dollars you will probably get a decent power supply, another thing to think about - weight matters; this usually indicates beefier components, stout heatsinks and the like.

Is that the seagate you are talking about Seagate 250GB 16MB Cache Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250620A T3250620A hard drive
or is it this one Seagate 250GB 16M Barracuda 7200.10 SATA NCQ 3Gb/s ST3250620AS T3250624AS hard drive.

Is the seagate a quiet drive?

I was thinking of buying 2 disks in Raid 0 but is it really the case that it wont improve the performance?

Is that the seagate you are talking about Seagate 250GB 16MB Cache Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250620A T3250620A hard drive
or is it this one Seagate 250GB 16M Barracuda 7200.10 SATA NCQ 3Gb/s ST3250620AS T3250624AS hard drive.

Is the seagate a quiet drive?

I was thinking of buying 2 disks in Raid 0 but is it really the case that it wont improve the performance?

Seagates are very quiet.

This one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822148144

RAID0 will give you a marginal (5-7%) improvement in bootup time and loading time for games. The real power of RAID is only shown by frequently large drive writes that can take full advantage of being able to fill 32MB of cache at once.

Pedisoft,

Would it be possible to measure the base desktop footprint) of the BenQ monitor and post?

Thanks
Bryan

The specs on BenQ's website will probably give you the same information.

The specs don't include the dimensions of the base. I have searched quite some time for these dimensions.. The overall dimensions of the monitor, boxed, and free standing are given.. Not the specific dimensions of the base though.

http://benq.us/Products/LCD/index. [...] ifications

I want to sit the monitor on top of a KVM switch and I want to make sure it will be adequate.

Here are some PSUs I'd recommend:

SeaSonic S12-500 ATX12V 500W Power Supply ($129)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817151024
dual 12v rail with good amps (17, 16 amps), excellent rep, Active PFC

SILVERSTONE SST-ST50EF ATX12V 500W ($89)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817256001
dual 12v rails, strong amps (18 per rail), excellent rep, Active PFC

Thermaltake W0057RU-01 PurePower TWV ATX 12V 2.0 500W ($129)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817153031
dual 12v rail with good amps (18 amps per rail), excellent rep, Active PFC

ENERMAX Liberty ELT500AWT ATX12V 500W ($105)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817194003
dual 12v rail with STRONG amps (22amps per rail), excellent rep, Active PFC

XCLIO X14S4P3 500W ATX 500W ($95)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817189012
triple 12v rails (18, 18, 16 amps), modular, Active PFC, Good Rep

ENERMAX Noisetaker II EG495P-VE ATX12V 485W ($90)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817194009
dual 12v rails, strong amps (22 per rail), excellent rep, Active PFC

FSP Group (Fortron Source) AX500-A, 2.0 version, 2 SATA, PCI Express, 500W ($90)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817104934
dual 12v rails, amps are ok (15 amps per rail), excellent rep, Passive PFC