Help with system.

[spavek]

Hi all. I am new to the forums and wanted some advice on the computer that I am planning on buying. I have read tons of reviews on Tom's and just wanted to ask a couple questions about the setup.

These are the parts that I have selected:

Lian Li PC-7B Plus II Case
MSI 975X Platinum mobo
Intel Core 2 Duo E6300
Western Digital WD1600AAJS HD
nVidia GeForce 7900 GS 256MB
either a Sound Blaster or M-Audio sound card

Now the questions that I have are this:

1)What would be a good power supply to run this. $100-150 range.

2)Does this setup look good?

if so

3) What memory would best fit. I was looking to get 2GB but was looking to keep the price reasonable with the rest of the computer. I was looking at Corsair Ballistix but a friend told me that he has heard some bad rumors about Ballistix and wasn't too sure if that would be the best route to go.

 

[akhilles]

If you're not overclocking, get any ddr2 ram.

At least 350W 22A for 7900gs, it's best to get a bit bigger psu for future video upgrades:

http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=1491365#1491365

 

[spavek]

Ok. what if I wanted to overclock. What type of memory would I need then?

 

[alcattle]

Question depend on your uses and goals. You would want ddr2-800 in the performance level. Some is just crazy expensive with no added benfit. OCZ has some nice kits.
Do you want some of the parts to be able to work in next system? More geared to performance or quiet and stable.

A good 500W PSU will work but you might want a little more for next year's video card.

 

[spavek]

Bah. Forgot to mention the purpose of it.

I definitely want it to be for gaming.

I am not too interested in making sure the parts will work in the next system, although I do want to leave some room for upgrades in the future.

Noise doesn't really bother me all that much, but that doesn't mean that I want a system that sounds like an airplane taking off either. And of course I want it to be stable.

I definitely want a PSU that is going to last and that I am not going to have to replace in a year or two if I decided to overclock, which I may do but not push it to the limits.

 

[alcattle]

Read here from mpitchfamily's sig:
PS 101
and here:
PSU recommended list

 

[madmurph]

You can muddle through PSU101, or this site, which I think is a little more straightforward:

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculator.jsp

Or, since you want longevity and you've got 150 stones to throw, you could just get something like this and be set:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817194004

or this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817341002

Some will cry overkill, but you've got to admit, it'll get 'er done.

 

[akhilles]

OCZ GameXStream 700W hands down a steal at newegg!

You mean Crucial Ballistix? Some of them use Micron D9 - best for o/cing - chips. Not all of them. Corsair Ballistix is new to me. lol. The 800mhz ram prices are dropping fast. Some can't resist the temptation to upgrade.

I don't know how much you can blow on ram. I'd say OCZ C5 800mhz is the best bang for the buck for o/c'ers. It can o/c to 1000mhz.

Most Corsair 800mhz can do up to 950mhz. The thing about Corsair "performance" ram is that they used Micron D9 chips in their 1st batch (revision 1, me thinks), they got rave reviews, they sold like hot cakes, then switched to cheap Promos chips which suck at o/cing. Corsair offered to replace the cheap ram with expensive ones at the expense of the buyer. This spawned TONS of threads on the web.

 

[spavek]

Lol. Yeah I meant Crucial. I always seem to get those to mixed up.

What about Patriot's memory. I have been reading that some of their RAM is pretty good as well.

 

[sanjiwatsuki]

Patriot is definitely a solid option for your RAM.

 

[akhilles]

The only o/c-crazy Corsair ram is Dominator. Too expensive IMO.

Patriot is good as well. So is Super Talent, Team Xtreem & Baffalo (Firestix = best).