New PC Rig

[zerodefine]

Hi,

I'm currently in the process of building a new PC rig for Vista,Gaming,Beginner Video encoding+editing and all-round multimedia purposes. If possible i would like any advice/tips/suggestions that anyone might have to my current config, where i should replace some parts with something else etc? Oh, as a side note, i'm not planning to overclock this system, maybe in a couple of years time, but not anytime soon.

Thanks in advance. All the help and comments will be greatly appreciated

1. Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
2. Asus Premium Vista Edition
3. Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4 2G (2x XMS2 1GB) DDRII-800 (PC-6400): 2x240-pin DIMMs, Non ECC Unbuffered, 4-4-4-12
4. Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4 2G (2x XMS2 1GB) DDRII-800 (PC-6400): 2x240-pin DIMMs, Non ECC Unbuffered, 4-4-4-12
5. Western Digital WD740ADFD WD Raptor®: 74GB , 1.5 Gb/s, 10,000 RPM, 16MB Cache, SATA I (OS and apps will be installed and run here)
6. Seagate ST3500630AS 500GB SATA II 300Mbps 7200RPM 16MB Cache (use for storage/archive/backup drive only)
7. Leadtek PX8800GTS TDH PCI Express ( NVidia ) : GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB DDR3 500MHz@1.6GHz
8. Asus DRW-1612BL(BLK) DVD-RW: 16x16 DVD¡ÀRW Dual Layer Lightscribe ReWriter Black
9. Samsung 226BW 22" LCD: 2ms 1000:1 300 cd/§³ 15pin D-sub, DVI-D
10. Logitech 967558-0122(LOG3530) KB & Mouse: Cordless Desktop® MX™ 5000 Laser
11. Antec Case Nine Hundred
12. Silverstone ST60F 600W Power Supply
13. Logitech 961471-0311(LOG3576) Webcam: Quickcam Ultra Vision
14. Window VISTA Ultimate 32Bit (OEM Version)

 

[wilcoxon]

• 
  [*:70e460d2ac]E6600 is a good solid choice.
  [*:70e460d2ac]I'm not familiar with the Asus Premium Vista Edition. I assume this is the motherboard. I would recommend either the Gigabyte DS3 or the EVGA 680i - which depends how much you want to spend and if you plan to use SLI.
  [*:70e460d2ac]
  [*:70e460d2ac]Vista 32-bit only supports around 3.15GB of RAM so you will not get full effect out of 4GB.
  [*:70e460d2ac]The 150GB is a fair bit cheaper per GB.
  [*:70e460d2ac]I don't recognize Seagate drives by part number. If this isn't a 7200.10 (perpendicular recording drive), I would highly recommend it.
  [*:70e460d2ac]Leadtek is decent (based on my experience with their 6600GT TDH). However, I would recommend the EVGA 8800GTS SC (320MB or 640MB). Very good performance with a lifetime warranty.
  [*:70e460d2ac]Any DVD will do.
  [*:70e460d2ac]Very nice monitor from what I've heard (haven't ordered mine yet).
  [*:70e460d2ac]I'm not a fan of cordless keyboards/mice.
  [*:70e460d2ac]The 900 tends to be on the noisy side (so I've been told when I was looking at it). I would recommend the P180 as a quieter alternative.
  
  
  If you are gaming, you might want to consider dual-booting XP and Vista (install XP first, then install Vista as a Secondary OS (must be on a separate drive/partition)).

 

[skyguy]

Agreed on most points:

-EVGA for the 8800
-Antec P180 for a quiet, minimalist case. Thermaltake Aguila for a bit of classy bling
-Samsung SH-S182 for optical DVD.....quieter than most and same price
-excellent monitor
-great CPU
-reduce the amount of RAM for 32-bit Vista
-MSI P6N 650i for cheaper SLI, EVGA 680i for more expensive/features SLI. Gigabyte 965P-DS3 for single slot PCI-e/non-SLI


And YES, keeping XP and installing Vista is a good idea. If have XP on 1 drive, Vista on the other, just in case I run into Vista glitches (and I have). Be patient with some Vista drivers, they're still early on.....annoying but workable.

 

[zerodefine]

oh thanks guys, especially about the ram, i initially didn't know that vista will not showing the full 4gb due to the allowed virtual address space and reduction of vid card ram as a total above 3gb upper mem. Even though the official word from microsoft is that it allows 4gb of physical mem.

That will save me quit a bit of money

Also after reading some reviews i'll definitely change to a ANTEC P180B case.

As for the vid card EVGA, its not a widespread brand in Sydney Australia. Actually theres none here lol. I'll have to order it from another state which will be troublesome.

The Samsung SH-S182 will also save me a few dollars nice

The reason i chose this motherboard, its due to the added vista only functionality and multimedia capabilities. Also the fact that i most likely won't be overclocking or running sli.

Thankyou heaps guys, if anyone else has any other suggestions please let me know

 

[alcattle]

If eVGA is not available, go ahead with first choice, performance difference very small.
The Asus board does have added features, including an extra RAID controller. It is also a very new MB with teething problems. Up to you.
If the 4GB appeals to you, start with Vista Ultimate, A little more but you get both the 32 Bit and 64 bit versions. Then add the RAM as you need it.

 

[zerodefine]

The Asus board does have added features, including an extra RAID controller. It is also a very new MB with teething problems. Up to you.

Oh no, did you find any posts or articles that detail the issues? I won't get it if theres alot of issues.

 

[alcattle]

Reviews on Newegg were very different for different people so look at those carefully
Asus Vista Premium $249