Asus/Intel based home build

[69TransAm]

I’m building my first PC and would like some feedback, I know you guys/gals aren’t bashful  I consider myself a power user; it is not unusual for me to have 10-20 sessions going at once. And as an IT Director I am compelled to test many things myself. But my primary usage is in doing office, email, some light photo editing and publishing, streaming internet radio and video conferencing. I hope to use this machine to play some stored movies on a near term purchase Plasma and drive my home theater system so good video and audio output capabilities are important. My budget is $1,500 I’m told.

Here’s where I am at after weeks of research. I like the
Asus P3E motherboard – I like it for PCI2, DDR2, X38. It is a generatrion behind which mitigates cost but has future expansion potential (HDMI) with the PCI2 slots.
Intel Core2Duo 3GHz – based on reading on this site, best bang for my usage
Crucial Ballistic 2x2GB PC5300 – good as any, use to live in Boise!
Thermaltake Armor VA8003 Case – lots of fans, just want to keep cool. I really like the Silverstone TJ07 but that’s pricey.
Thermaltake 700w PSU – no good reason, could use one


That’s what I consider the foundation, in at around $1,000. Of course I’ll add a DVD lightscribe burner, a couple SATA drives, and I will run a dual boot with XP and Vista and Office 2007. I already own the software.

Any and all suggestions are welcome and appreciated.

 

[chuckm]

Exactly which 3 Ghz processor and are you going to overclock? Here is all the power supply you'll need at a good price. Happy Holidays
http://www.buy.com/prod/Corsair-VX-550W-Power-Supply/q/loc/101/205852646.html

 

[akhilles]

I'd recommend against overclocking a work pc. You don't want down time. Period.

The list looks good. What's the GPU? Make sure the psu is a ToughPower. If you're multitasking, a Q6600 would be the best choice.

 

[Shadow703793]

^Not true. I have OCed many work computers for people I build them for (Including high end photo editing, optimized for running VMWare, etc). They never have downtime as long as the OCing is done right. I recommend you wait until the new Penryns are released. And when they are released get a Q6600 or better. If you want to build it now just get a E21xx and OC.

 

[69TransAm]

Exactly which 3 Ghz processor and are you going to overclock? Here is all the power supply you'll need at a good price.

No overclocking. Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 runs at 3.0GHz

The list looks good. What's the GPU? Make sure the psu is a ToughPower. If you're multitasking, a Q6600 would be the best choice.

I planned to use the onboard graphics for now. But in the future that's what my PCI2 slots are for. Maybe I should get a GPU, don't cost much. 128MB on-board card should do fine and get some load off the system CPU/memory. As for the processor, according to my read the Quad Core won't do me any good in Office anyway, I'm better off with more speed and Dual Core.

Thanks guys. Can't wait for the build. I see the prior post is awfully similar.

 

[zenmaster]

Dude, Get the Q6600.
The Dual-Core will be slower if you are running lots of stuff.

Will Vista be 64-bit?
If so, Get an 8gb not 4gb RAM Kit.

Add VMWare to the Box so you can run multiple virtual systems for testing. You don't want to test much of anything on your production box. That is what VM is good for.

 

[69TransAm]

OK OK, just thought I read on here dual core fit my needs. You guys win!
VMWare good, MS VM runs faster if it sits on MS.

So Mrs. how'd you get the name? Informative and descriptive, guess you can't win them all

Merry XMas to all, let the post holiday sales begin!