final specs, seeking approval before I buy...

For about the same price on the ram, you can get Crucial Ballistix DDR2-800, that is made with the better overclocking Micron D9GMH chips, rather then the Corsair which uses ProMOS chips in most revisions of that ram, which don't overclock very well. For a few more dollars, I would pick up the better ram.

A few changes for about the same prices, but better ram & an overall faster video:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=E...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?Product...

PATA(IDE) & SATA install the same way. Both needs power & data cables. Vista will ask for driver disk/cd/dvd for RAID, unlike XP where you press F6 to install RAID drivers. In your case, it's a single drive. So Vista won't ask you for drivers until after startup. You insert the driver CDs & install drivers.

The 2900 or 8800 GTS is plenty for even new games.

If you're handy, you can build the pc yourself. Here's a guide:

http://www.tomshardware.com/2002/09/04/building_your_ow...

Post back here if you run into anything you're not sure about. Be sure to put the barebone together first on the mobo box: mobo, cpu, cpu cooler & ram. It's best to remove the fan from Freezer/Hyper with a flat screwdriver first, install the fan, push the push-pins in all the way down, check the back of the board to make sure the pins are all in/aligned, push the i/o backplate in the case from the inside, hook up the 4-pin cpu power cord & place the barebone in the case, then do the rest.

You can also ask a reputable local dealer to put it together for a price.

Agreed with Akilles, I just bought that case for a linux build on ZipZoom. I got it for $60 shipped, bought the case today.

I approve everything, but I'd change the OS from Vista 32 to Vista 64:

Microsoft Windows Vista 64-Bit Home Premium for System Builders Single Pack DVD - OEM ($112)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

If you like Enemy Territory, go with the EVGA 8800, the new ET:Quake Wars is being given to people who buy an EVGA card (I want to see as many meat shields out on the servers as possible!).

Change it for XP PRO .... Vista just plane sucks, and wait until Vista Service Pack 3 comes out !!

I didn't want to go 64-bit.. I'm not going to be playing Crysis and I'd rather not drop for 4GB ram.. seems excessive, plus it has lots of bugs n junk.

If I get OEM Vista 32-bit, it will still do updates and stuff right? So the service packs will be free?

I'm switching to the Ballistix ram, yes.

Still thik ya crazy, XP (with 2GB) will still out perform Vista with 4GB of RAM.

I haven't heard one good thing about Vista, except it looks cool lol. I even ran it for a while, so I speak from experiance too.

I have to update at some point, because Age of Conan supports DX10, and Vista does as well. AoC comes out in 4-5 months, but I might as well get used to it.

Plus I heard it's a pain to install it to XP with SATA.

i have vista 64 Ultimate and uits runs awesome have had no problems at all. or anything. it runs as smooth as slik.

Well... Vista doesn't "suck" as people so eloquently put it 6-7 months ago on gaming reviews, it's now on par performance wise with XP, so that is a moot point. I run Vista 64 and XP 64 with 2GB of ram, so I don't see why ram has to affect anything, on top of that I have yet to run into any of the so called compatibility issues that people mention, what people are doing by staying on 32-bit OS is delaying progress on unfounded accusations to the OS. I am not saying it's the best OS ever, but it's definitely not as bad as you put it out to be, if anything it's OK at best, but with it being the only one with DX10 support it's really the only one that makes sense to purchase, the 32-bit versions are just for legacy support.

go for an eVGA 8800 rather than the XFX. for an extra $15 you can get 576/1700



I guess that depends on your definition of "suck". the overwhelming backlash against Vista has MacroShaft offering XP downgrades. stick with XP until you absolutely positively have to have some function it does not provide (DX10 is not it)

otherwise looks great!

The two reasons I see that this is happening is because average joe couldn't possibly assimilate such a different interface this fast (I think microsoft gives average joe too much credit thinking they can actually learn and like this quick), on top of that people INSIST on using old software that is not supported, again because they don't want to change to newer software.

What you just posted is really a moot point for us tech savvy users, unless you consider yourself a retard, but I don't think that's the case.

This one?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

What is 576/1700 .... and why is evga better than XFX?

This one: http://www.new .... 576/1700 is the core/memory clock speed, up from 500/1600 on the XFX card. eVGA is also a better company and has a 90 day upgrade program if you need it.



What I just posted is one of many news articles about Microsoft giving people the ability to switch back to XP at almost no cost. Even M$ recognizes the problems with Vista and is allowing users to opt out of what many are finding to be a pointless and costly dysfunctional "upgrade". Better (from the M$ POV) XP than having them opt for LINUX or a MAC.



Why call me a retard if Vista isn't the best thing since sliced cheese? Got a personality disorder? BTW, the news on DX10 isn't great either, it's an immature widely unsupported performance hog that provides very little visual enhancement. Maybe in a couple of years, but by then the 8800GTX will be selling for $49.95.

A "tech savvy user" is all too often an idiot savant.

If I stick with XP, which I'm leaning towards.... at least for now... Am i going to have issues with the SATA setup even with a new board? I have to find a floppy drive somewhere to do that... can someone point me to a guide of installing XP on a new built system with SATA?

Does the OEM versions of Vista still let you do Windows Update? So if they release SP1 then I"ll be able to get that free?

Yes it does. Also I'm running Vista Home Premium on a System with a AMD 2800+ CPU, 1GB ram and 6600 video card and I very happy with it   .

Been running it for 5 months now and the only problems I had was in the earlier days and that was due to other company's being slack on providing updated drives.  

My new build which should be up and running by Christmas will have Vista Ultimate 64bit.  

Might want to up the power supply for expandability... I might look for some better RAM too. Other then that, looks good! SATA is actually easier than IDE; no jumpers to mess with! :-)

Is the power supply more than capable with the current setup?

I will only have 1 SATA drive, the hard drive... and my dvd burner is the old IDE so unless that burns out I'll still only have one SATA device. I'm getting the Crucial Ballistix ram from newegg, everyone recommends that.

I agree with nhobo
The point was not to start a Vista flame-war ..

But XP which I still think is much better, and Vista does have issues and no service pack, which when it does come out will have NO added features, just bug fixes.

The point was actually, that 2GB would be better, as XP will not see 4GB of RAM.
Although a 32 bit OS says it does, this it total 'machine' memory, which will include video cards.
So if you have say 2 x 512MB video card, your system would see:

4GB - 512MB - 512MB = 3GB.
If you check around the forums, you'll find this out.

Just because it looks like no one has clearly answered a question or two here...

Yes, running OEM versions of Microsoft Windows (Vista/XP) still allows you to get free updates from WindowsUpdate for free.

Concerning XP and SATA Drives, as long as the XP CD you have/get has SP2 slipstreamed into it (something like this), it will recognize SATA drives at install.

-Wolf sends

I have an older original XP disk, so I don't think it will have those. I'll have to find an old floppy to install on my new computer to get it work.

Buying my components tonight!!!! Hopefully have them this weekend to work on it. Does UPS deliver on Saturday?

No, UPS does not deliver on the weekends. Only Mon-Fri.

Ya... it sucks to wait.