What do you think? New System Build

[MooKoo]

Hey, I am just in the middle of waiting for all of the parts to come available to buy and thought I would see if anyone had any advice before I go through with the purchase.

I'll be using this new computer to play games, build maps (hammer editor, etc), make textures (Photoshop probably), and make static objects (Maya probably). I'd like to have a future proof machine, because I'll most likely be using this for around 5 or so years. However I didn't want to end up spending $3000 dollars, so I'm pretty happy with the current build. Any mistakes (non-compatible components, memory that will have to drop to lower voltage, speed, timings or anything else), that anyone notices, please let me know.

Antec Twelve Hundred Black ATX Full Tower Computer Case $214.95

GIGABYTE GA-X48-DS4 LGA 775 Intel X48 ATX Intel Motherboard $224.99

ZOTAC ZT-98XES2P-FCP GeForce 9800 GTX 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card $206.99

PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad (Red) 750W EPS12V Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CE, CB, RoHS $149.99

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor $189.99

X2 OCZ Reaper HPC 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory $60.99 ( I know I can only use 3GB of RAM with a 32-bit Operating system, but I can't find 3 of these on new egg at a cheaper price than 4)


Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000GLFS 300GB 10000 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive $299.99

ASUS Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 14X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe $39.99

Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP3 English for System Builders 1 Pack CD $139.99


Tuniq Tower 120 P4 & K8 CPU Cooler $49.99


Tuniq TX-2 Thermal Compound $3.79


P3 Kill A Watt Electricity Load Meter and Monitor $17.99


I'm mostly worried the motherboard will not be able to use the RAM I've picked and since I don't have any DDR2 800 sticks around I won't be able even boot into BIOS to enable the mobo to use my chosen sticks. I've got some other possible sticks in mind, ddr2 1200, and some ddr2 800, but all of them I believe use above 1.8volts as their default voltage and I'm not sure if the mobo can do that right out of the box. Any suggestions on different RAM or different mobo would be very much appreciated.


Thanks for any following advice,
MooKoo

 

[efx92]

Unless you're planning to use Crossfire, get a P35 or P45 mobo.

If you want to future proof and since you are going to be using programs such as photoshop, get a quad core processor like the Q6600.

Get 64bit Vista and get 4GB of RAM with 2x2GB(get 2GB sticks for the option to go up to 8GB later). You want more RAM with the programs you're going to be using and 64bit Vista runs fine even though people may tell you it has problems.

For the CPU cooler, I would get either a Xigmatek or Zalman, but those are just my preferences.

If you want to save some money and get better performance on the video card, do yourself a favor and get the HD4850, you can find them for about $200 on newegg and many of them come with mail in rebates.

For the thermal compound, I like the Arctic Cooling MX-2, but again, that's just my preference.

Everything else looks good to me though, good choice on the PSU brand and it looks like it will be a nice build, good luck!

 

[MooKoo]

That's a good point on the motherboards, I'll take a look at those.

Even though some of the programs I might be using run well with quad cores, I still don't think I'll get one. I just can't see the gain in spending more money for something will probably just give me a slight performance boost in SOME programs.

I just don't think I can switch to Vista, I just don't feel like getting into that mess.

Actually from what I've read and seen the 9800 GTX+ (The one I'm getting) seems to perform as good or better (in some cases) than the HD4850 and they are both 200 dollars, so I really don't see any reason to switch to a different video card, especially a brand I've never owned before. Not that I have anything against ATI, I just don't have a lot of experience messing around with them.

Ya I saw that PSU in a build in Maximum PC and thought it was a good choice.

 

[efx92]

Lol, I went from using Windows XP, to using a Mac and then went to Vista with my new build, it's not that hard to get used to and I have to say I really like Vista, it looks cleaner than XP and it's not a mess at all. But, it's your computer, not mine so pick whatever you prefer.

 

[MooKoo]

Getting a different motherboard. Cheaper and my last mobo was Asus, so I'm used to them. ASUS P5Q Deluxe LGA 775 Intel P45 Intel Motherboard