Jack-of-All 64-bit 8Gb RAM Mid-range Build

I've got a few check-ups before I plunge ahead; any feedback or suggestions or light flameages would be welcome.

A little background: This will be my third or fourth build for myself. I tend to build a mid-range system and use it for three years before building another. I might upgrade a video card or add a HD, but by the time it's CPU upgrade time, I'm generally ready to build another from scratch. My current Athlon 3200+ and x800GTS is plenty long in the tooth and it's so very much time for a leap ahead. I'm expecting about $900 or so.

I use my PC for a number of different tasks - typical office apps, web & print design (Photoshop, Dreamweaver), gaming (up to Age of Conan class games), light audio/video work, you name it. I'm a massive multitasker; it's common for me to have a bunch of firefox tabs up and several intensive applications open at a time. Dual-monitor setup.

I'm thinking I'll give Vista 64-bit a shot with 8Gb RAM. With 8Gb RAM possible at $160, I'm not sure why more people aren't going this way. Can you ever have too much RAM?

So this is my thinking:

• Case & PSU: Antec Sonata III w/Earthwatts 500w PSU. $80 at Buy.com. This is the area I'm most concerned about: will this 500w PSU cut it? As far as cases go, I've never understood spending a lot of money on the case. I don't care if my computer is ugly. I WANT it to be ugly. I want a beige drive in a black box. I only care about layout and thermal considerations. I'd rather spend my money on function. http://www.buy.com/prod/antec-sona [...] 59259.html

• CPU: Core 2 Quad Q6600. Looks to be about $210 at Frys. I might do a mild, stable overclock, nothing to change voltage. I do need years of use. http://shop3.frys.com/product/5101696

• CPU Fan/Heatsink: Not really sure here. I figure I'll find something in the $40 range. A Zalman of some kind perhaps.

• HD: 1 640Gb WD6400AAKS. I'll also probably reuse a single 250Gb as a secondary drive for a little extra room, so that will also draw power. I have a RAID 1 on my current machine but I'm going to back off that this time around. It did save my bacon once. $100.

• RAM: 4 X 2Gb OCZ DDR2 800: http://www.newegg.com/Store/Catego [...] ame=Memory And pray and hope it works with the motherboard and OS I suppose. About $160 here.

• Motherboard: Gigabyte GA EP35 DS3L. $90. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128337

• Graphics Card: Gigabyte GeForce 8800 GT 512Mb - running about $150 these days. Just one, thanks. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814125088

• DVD Drive: Some $30 thing somewhere.

Toss in whatever case fans I need and some thermal paste, that puts me under $900. I'm concerned about the power supply being robust enough, any potential 64-bit incompatibilities, and RAM and Motherboard compatibility.

Many thanks.

if u r worried abt power constraints, get one of the Q9xxx series. Bit more expensive but more earth-friendly.

the Coolermaster Hyper 212 is not bad for cheap.

LOL, monst0r, not everybody coming into these forums are worried about overclocking there systems. Some just want to save money by building there own computers and are looking for stability in a system. quolo never mentioned overclocking his system, but he did talk about using many programs that do work better with larger amounts of memory. He has chosen to run 8Gb of memory so recomending he use 4Gb so he can do something he wasn't intending on doing doesn't make much sense.

My only suggestion would be to look at a merchant site where the shipping costs are combined and less expensive than NewEgg.

I get lost of my small parts and coolers from http://www.coolerguys.com/

LOL. I was just kidding when I mentioned spray paint. While you're at it, pick up a can of paint & pour it on the pc.

Excellent selection. Regarding ram, you can get 2 sets of different makes & models & set up bios to use the compromised settings. i.e. CAS 4 + CAS5 = CAS5. Whichever is slower. In most cases, you can match the specs of 2 different sets of memory. Oh and in my family pc is 2 sets of different OCZ ram running at the slower timings CAS5. Only aliens from outer space can tell the differences.