Need just a smidgen of help please on new

[pipsywiggins]

I need to buy a computer and have been shopping online. I have vascillated for too, too long on what/where to buy a computer. My last purchasse was dell, but havent' been able to get the parts I want this time around and a couple of other places beat their prices by way too much. Strong Customer service is a consideration for me since I am disabled and cannot handle the stress of getting things fixed as before(places seem to bog you down with so many criteria that I quickly give up)

But that being said, I used to build my own in the old days and know of the wide variance between prices.I cannot buy off the shelf for two reasons. One1. is I cannot seem to justify their price and two2. is I physically cannot go to the stores to shop. Seems like the ones offer good customer service will tend to overprice

I was looking at avadirect dot com and their price was great. But on two emails their answers automated and when I replied, they never got back to me. Their sales department is better at responding. I was cruising online and yesterday I found another website that had an almost identical web setup. which rasied a red flag as to why their web presence is the same.

I need a computer for a lot of documents, use of Photoshop as I do a lot of graphics, have also a lot of other graphic programs and clip art that I multitask with while online. I guess the picture I am painting is that I always have a lot of windows open. i.e. they had me in mind when they designed multitasking.

I wanted windows XP instead of Vista. I tried out vista and it seemed there were more quirks than there was benefit for me at this time. Eventually I'll change but getting used to a new computer is traumatic enough, thought it might be better to ease into everything with windows XP pro.I am trying to keep my budget to under 2,000. I don't need a monitor as I am still happy with my 24"Dell


On the other hand I need to know if the graphic card of choice the 8800 GTX will work under xp pro or if it absolutely needs Vista?
Is there a lot of importance going to the 64bit vs 32 bit?
But heres my choices.

** Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Quad processor Q6600 (2.4GHz)
** Asus P5B-Deluxe/Wifi Deluxe or other motherboad with 2 x PCI Express x 16 slot for future SLI configuration of graphics card
** 4GB DDR2-800MHz dual channel SDRAM (4x1024)
** 768MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX
** 400GB RAID 1 (2 x 400GB SATA HDDs)
** Windows XP Professional (64-bit) or Vista Ultimate (64-bit)


I appreciate any ideas, not only on the setup/price of what I am looking at, but also where to buy it.
Thank you very much in advance. I know this is more than a smidgen, but you'll be rewarded greatly for eternity.
Pipsywiggins

 

[Nerd]

if your planning on getting 4 gb of ram then definitely get 64bit as 32 bit can't handle anything beyond 3. as for os the transition from xp to vista isn't particularly traumatic.

 

[azimuth40]

Well my friend if you are willing to settle for an 8800GTS with 640MB I priced your specs out direct from Hewlett packard for $2669 with two year in home service plan. and free shipping. Looking at some other prebuilt systems your $2000 budget is probably not realistic for what you want. I checked Newegg, Mwave, PCclub, and Tigerdirect. Is there no techy type local to you willing to build and service a system for you? That Nvidia video card is the major single chunk of your budget. If you do not need SLI now then you probably won't in the future for this generation of cards. New models are expected by the end of year holidays.

In any case HP says they can ship it as soon as Aug 9. They will even finance at $80 per month with no payments for six months. It is a model d4990y series. Oh HP does not do XP on these, Vista only but with an in home service plan you should be OK. I picked Vista ultimate 32 bit, you will probably have less problems with photoshop. I run CS3 under vista and am happy as can be expected. I am switching to a quad next month but will probably stay with 32 bit version of Vista for now.

I will then switch this system to 64 bit and start my testing I don't see a rush of 64 bit apps for at least another year, they did not fly on 64 bit XP and I believe most developers will remain cautious until the user base demands it. There are more pressing problems like deciding what to do with multiple cores to speed up your product and purging the last little bits of 16 bit code which will not work on Vista 64. I still do a goodly amount of development and I am just starting to throw my a** into the fire. Fortunately the 16 bit code, mostly assembly, was purged long ago. Anyhow this does not format for crap but this is what 2670 buy you. They tried to push the TV tuner but I killed that, the software was a freebee you can upgrade to office pretty cheaply and the 64 bit OS is the same price as the 32 bit. I hope this helps, being disabled just makes it take longer my friend but you keep on plugging. I spent several years teaching computer operation and use to persons mildly disabled to severely disabled. It was a very rewarding time for me. If I can track down anything else for you just yell.

Operating system Upgrade to Genuine Windows Vista Ultimate (32-bit) edit
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Quad processor Q6600 (2.4GHz) edit
Memory 4GB DDR2-800MHz dual channel SDRAM (4x1024) edit
Graphics Card 640MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS, 2 DVI, TV-Out edit
Networking 802.11 b/g Wireless LAN PCI Card edit
Hard Drive 400GB RAID 1 (2 x 400GB SATA HDDs) - data security edit
Primary CD/DVD Drive LightScribe 16X DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti drive edit
Front Productivity Ports 15-in-1 memory card reader, 3 USB, 1394, audio edit
TV & Entertainment Experience No TV Tuner w/remote control edit
Sound Card Integrated 7.1 channel sound w/front audio ports edit
Security Software Norton Internet Security(TM) 2007 - 15 Months edit
Productivity Software Microsoft(R) Works 8.0 edit
Keyboard and Mouse HP keyboard and HP scroller mouse edit

your additional options:


Click "edit" to modify. NOTE: These items are in stock and will ship immediately.

HP Extended Service Plans 2-year HP House Call Extended Service Plan

 

[Maziar]

Get P5N32-E SLI PLUS , it has Dual 16x option for SLI and is less expensive than STRIKER EXTREME and also supports next gen 45nm cpu's :
http://event.asus.com/mb/45nm/

 

[pipsywiggins]

I really appreciate the reply's . Since I do not leave the house, I don't have the opportunity to brainstorm with tech people in the computer stores.

I feel embarrassed to ask this.....About the 32bit vs 64 bit... Are you saying that if I go with the 32 bit for now, I can upgrade or change to a 64 bit system later? I don't know why I was under the impression that you had to pick one or the other right off the bat.

I am still digesting the other responses, but just wanted to get a quick question in.
Pipsywiggins

 

[nitrous9200]

If you buy a retail version of vista (sounds like you won't be doing that) it contains both 32-bit and 64-bit versions, but if the system comes with 32-bit you will most likely need to wipe the HD clean and buy a 64-bit version separately. I think upgrading from XP 64-bit to Vista needs a clean install, so I figure that switching between both versions requires a reinstall but it can be done.

The reason you would want to do this is if you thought you would need less than 4gb ram when you bought the system but decided later to get more.

 

[nhobo]

Newegg has excellent customer service and good prices. You can buy for less but usually at great risk if something isn't right. For the best bang for the buck I'd recommend:

GIGABYTE GA-P35-S3L mobo for $87. This is a fast board that will upgrade to a next generation Penryn processor.

I'd forget about SLI/Crossfire as it is way too expensive, difficult and unreliable. You are better off with a single high-power graphics card, and the 8800GTX is more than enough unless you are a heavy gamer. You could even step down to the GTS for under $300.

Photoshop doesn't use more than 3GB for image files in either 32 or 64 bit, so good old 32 bit XP Pro is the clear choice over Vista or 64 bit XP.

Forget about raid unless you need it for data redundancy. It is not a desktop speed solution.

You can also cut down the RAM to 667, which will run 1:1 with the 1333 FSM mobo.

That should run like the dickens and save you a bit of money.

 

[jitpublisher]

Do you play games? It seems that a lot of people jump on the performance for gaming path, not taking into consideration that not everyone plays games on their PC. I see you listed that you mainly use your PC for working with documents and Photoshop. No need for an SLI capable board, or even an 8800 series video card if you aren't going to be gaming. You can save a couple hundred here very easily if you don't need it.

Todays hardware, like the CPU, motherboard, video card, and such are all 32 and 64 bit capable. You can very easily buy XP Pro 32 bit for now, then upgrade to a 64 bit platform like Vista later if you desire.