I want to buy components for a new desktop build and need advice on best specs to run Vista Home Premium, dual DVI monitors, and music file streaming to extender. Mild gaming and music thru extender/stereo. I’m kind of a newbie but know enough to ask someone else.

Below is what I’ve come up with so far. If I need to consider anything else or you have better recommendations for something, please let me know. What is the current hard drive of choice (325GB+-)?

ASUS P5K3 Deluxe/WiFi-AP Socket 775 Mainboard, Intel P35 Express Chipset, Supports Intel Core 2 Extreme/ Duo/ Quad-Core CPUs, Dual DDR3 1333, CrossFire Ready, SATA 3Gb/s RAID, PCI-E, RoHS Compliant, w/ WiFi-AP Solo, Dual Gigabit LAN & 8ch HD Audio

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 LGA775 3.00GHz 6MB Cache 1333MHz FSB Dual Core Processor - BX80570E8400A

OCZ Dual Channel Titanium 4096MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz Memory (2 x 2048MB)

XFX PVT84JUDD3 GeForce 8600GT XXX 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card for $75 or EVGA 512-P2-N757-TR GeForce 8600GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card for $99.

That is a DDR3 board and you've listed DDR2 ram. I'd wait for DDR3, it's not worth it yet. If want an Asus board without the dual gigabit lan look at P5K-E wifi. You're probably not going to find the E8400 on line, the only one I've seen lately is $260 for OEM. If your sure about the 8600GT video card go for the EVGA.

Thanks for saving us from asking for the use of the pc. Some are VERY secretive about this & their specs.

If you post the budget, it will help.

Go with P5K-E or the wifi edition if you need 801.11g.

Take a look at HD3850 if it's around the same price.

Go with the 9600gt its a lot better than the 8600gt

Around $1k budget. Isn't the P5K-E wifi? If wifi is the best way to stream music to the extender then that is what I would need. Chuck M pointed out that the P5K-E is a DDR3 board and the RAM is 4. I don't want to wait a long time for a good price on DDR4 memory as the whole build would have to wait for it. For my purposes, would I lose much by going with DDR3 memory?

I don't know enough to make an informed comparison of the Diamond HD3850 to XFX & EVGA boards shown though the Diamond is $185 (256mb) XFX $75 (256mb) EVGA $99 (512mb).

What is the current hard drive of choice around 325GB?

Thanks everyone!

Chuck is saying select a DDR2 motherboard.

OK...this is where plead ignorance! So a DDR2 mobo gets DDR2 memory it would seem. So why not the other way around...a DDR3 mobo for the DDR3 memory? What will be the best config for my purposes? I want to go good but not overkill. Any deets needed for an accurate search of your recommendation would be most appreciated.

What they are saying is that in your list of components, you have a mobo that uses DDR3 memory, and yet the memory you have listed for purchase is DDR2. DDR2 memory cant go into DDR3 slots on a motherboard and vice versa. The suggestion was that you shouldnt get a DDR3 motherboard, but rather get one that uses DDR2, since DDR3 isnt quite worth the added costs at the moment.

With a budget of $1000 you will get more for your money getting DDR2 and a board that uses it. There are combo boards that will use DDR2 or DDR3 but from what I've read they are lacking the performance and stability of a board that only uses one type. The difference in the video cards is the XFX & EVGA uses a Nvidia chipset and the HD 3850 is an ATI chipset. DDR3 is the ram of the future, so boards are utilizing now but the new platforms that are coming out at the end of this yr. or the first of '09 will probably be all DDR3. I really don't see the performance of DDR3 getting better for the price until then. DDR2 is still going to be around for a long time(anyone have any PC100 they want to get rid of, yes I'm still using it in a PIII). The P5K-E is available with or without wifi the price difference is $10.

Well, you mixed 'em up. P5K-E & P5K3 are different beasts. Asus uses a confusing naming conversion. They call nvidia 6x00 cards 9990, if I remember correctly. BTW, there's P5K-C which does both ddr2 & ddr3.

Don't trust the retailer's specs. Google i.e. "ASUS P5K-E" & get the specs from the manufacturer.

ASUS P5K-E WIFI
Intel E8400
OCZ DDR2 800MHz 2 x 2048MB
XFX GeForce 8600GT
ANTEC SONATE III (case + good psu)

Pick out the rest.

Are you going to overclock this?

i think it'd be a better idea to do ATi graphics, considering this ooks like more of an HTPC setup

Hey Akhilles...thanks for the deets! I'm not going to overclock this. I checked out the PK5-E WI-FI on Newegg and now I'm concerned because there seems to be a number of issues this board. Most important to me is stability as I'm not very knowledgeable and since my pc is used for biz, I can't have downtime. So now I don't know what to do.

What hard drive is recommended?

And amd_fanboi...why do you recommend ATI over the XFX?

because ati have a traditionally strong HTPC thing going on, what with on board HD decoding, and so on... since you're musinc streaming, it doesn't take much to assume you might go for video streaming later on down the line, and so...

The Asus issues are usually caused by overclocking. I built my brother a rig with the P5K-e non wifi board with a E6750 CPU about 4 months ago and there has not been the first issue. In fact, most of the issues with all P35 boards are related to overclocking. In stock nonoverclocked configurations I feel they are all excellent boards.

They're not that common. My P5K is a lesser board of P5K-E. My cpu is o/c'ed to 4.2ghz. 0 issues. I made sure of that. Ran numerous tests. BTW, I run my pc 24/7 6 days a week. The power saving will kick in when the pc is idle.

If you're looking for perfection, it doesn't exist. Every board has pros & cons.

The other parts are not that important to me. It's not like they will blow up the moment the pc is turned on. Go with popular brand names. i.e. Samsung F1 is an overall faster drive than the counterparts.