First computer build, need experienced people !!!

[john_mete]

JUST REMEMBER THAT ALL MY PRICING IS IN AUSTRALIAN DOLLARS.

ok hey guys,
this is my first time building a comp and im not actually assembling it im just telling the pplz wat to put in it lol.
ok here we go, im on a $1600 budget, but if i go over by $10-$50 thats fine.
My new comp is mainly going to be for gaming but im sure if i build a gaming comp it will be fine in other areas.
Ok this is wat i have so far.
Intel Motherboard
Asus P5NSLI motherboard
$100.10

Desktop Hard Drive
Seagate Barracuda 500 GB 7200 RPM 32 mb SATA-2
$102.50

Optical Drives (X2)
LG GH-20NS10 SATA DVD Re-Writer (20x/Duel Layer Black)
$74.80

Desktop Memory
Corsair DDR2 4gb-PC-6400/800 (2x XMS2 2GB) TWIN2x4096-6400C5 Ram
$116.60

Monitors
Benq 21.6” G2110W Widescreen Black LCD
$258.50

Cases (PSU Included)
Thermaltake Soprano VX Black/Silver Midi Tower Case (430W)
$119.00

Other Hardware
PCI USB 2.0 card (5 port)
$16.50

Graphics Card
XFX 9600GT Alpha Dog xXx Edition 512MB, DDR3, 256bit, PCIE, Duel DVI, HDTV, Tv Out (PV-T94P-YHS4)
$253.00

Keyboard
Microsoft Optical Desktop 2000
$ 70.40

Speakers
600 Watt 3 piece speaker system (black)
$14.30

Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows XP Home – OEM (wats the diff between this 1 and pro????)

ok if you could i would like to know if this is a good gaming PC and im willing to spend up to $350-$400 on a CPU, i cant decide which 1 is best for me, i have been looking at the Q9450, X3350, Q6700, strictly Intel NO AMD. thanks i would appreciate some help.
oh and last thing do i need a better motherboard or is the 1 i have fine???

 

[jflongo]

Well I'm not going to pipe in on the whole thing just something simple. I know the dollars aren't too far off each other, so I don't think you need to spend $350 - $400 on a CPU. You can easily get a Rocking Fast Dual Core CPU for around $200 or less. I would bump up your Memory to 8GB instead. Also, I couldn't imagine you needing a PCI USB 2.0 Card, most Motherboards these days come with 6 - 8 USB ports already. Personally I would go with Windows Vista Home Premium. I have gamed with that OS flawlessly for quite awhile.

 

[john_mete]

thanks for that and i will get rid of the extra USB ports i did not know the mother board came with them, and wat CPU do you recommend?

 

[jflongo]

Let me start by saying I'm an AMD person, so just piping in on what I have read about Intel.

Looks like something along the lines of a Intel Core 2 Duo E8400, would suit you well for around the $200 price, here is a link to it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037

I'm sure soon, you will get some Intel folks piping in here soon to verify or negate that

 

[minimad127]

best one for gaming is probably the e8400 since no game i know of uses a quad core yet and the e8400 is beening oced to over 4ghz on a regular basis, ok as ever its different for every chip but the e8400 seems good

also remember a 32 bit OS can only see a maximum of 4gb of ram, this includes any graphics card ram, so i would say go for vista 64, and just turn of all the aero garbage it comes with

also dont bother with 8gb of ram yet, nothing uses that much but make sure when you get ram its in 2x2gb strips which means that when things start using more you will still have a couple of slots more to then upgrade it to 8gb

 

[jflongo]

8GB does help Windows Vista 64bit. I definitely noticed a little bit of a speed increase bumping my machine from 4GB to 8GB awhile back.

 

[jitpublisher]

Agree with with everyone on the CPU, an e8400 is all you need.
The 9600 Alpha Dog card is pricey for what it is-don't waste money on this.
Get a faster 8800GT 512 for about the same price, or for a very few dollars more and even faster 8800GTS 512.
Forget XP. New system, new OS, get Vista Home Premium 64 bit.
4 gig of memory is plenty of memory.

 

[jflongo]

4GB is enough, but 8GB is definitely worth it with Memory being pretty cheap. I definitely noticed a difference, when I went from 4GB to 8GB. But again, yes 4GB is enough. Go to 8GB if you don't mind spending another $116.

 

[liljone]

Microsoft Windows XP Home OEM (wats the diff between this 1 and pro????)

NTFS security system is the different. In home you can't chose what users on the computer can or can not access folders/files.

 

[john_mete]

thanks for the help guys but im 100% dead set on getting a quad core for future uses so if you could can you choose a suitable CPU for gaming that costs 250-350. thanks.

oh and also i have deceided to ditch my graphics card the 9600GT alpha dog, and go for a Gigabyte GF9600GT 1gb.

 

[pcgamer12]

1GB 9600GT is a dumb. They aren't powerful enough to use it all.
Get Q6600 or Q9450.