Hi,

I just found this forum, look nice!

Here is what I have so far. I would like to know if it looks good and if all is compatible. I am not very good in hardware!

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4Ghz FSB 1066Mhz 8Mb LGA775
Asus P5N-E Sli Quad-Core with NVDia Nforce 650i SLI LGA775
Corsair XMS2 4gig Ram DDR2 800Mhz
Sapphire Radeon HD4850 PCI-E 512 Meg
Western Digital 320 gig Sata 3G
LG Dvd-Rw 20x
Case : NZXT Nemesis Elite Crafted Series Midtower
Vista 64bit
Thermaltake Purepower 600watts

What do you think for 1125$? I do not want to go over 1200$.

You're mixing an Nvidia chipset with an AMD/ATI video card. Not a horrible thing to do (I did that with an Nvidia video card and Intel chipset) but not really recommended. In your case I would change your mobo to either of these chipsets: P45/X38/X48. The latter two are best if you intend to Crossfire later down the road.

I've become an antagonist against doors. They just seem to get in the way. Consider the NZXT Tempest as an alternative.

Maybe go for a 650 or 750W PSU from Corsair...

Other than that, I have no issues.

The motherboard is ancient and a bad match for a Radeon card (SLI instead of CF) and with PCI-E 1.
The DVD drive has rip-lock, and you also haven't specified if it's IDE or SATA.
Also, you haven't specified what kind of $. US, Canada, Zimbabwe??? I'll assume US and give you newegg links.

I'd suggest an Asus P5Q Pro motherboard (so you can add a second video card later if you fancy), a SH-S203N SATA burner, a Corsair 750TX PSU. Get an Antec 900, it's a steal at $70 with free shipping.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] =P5Q%2bPro
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] &Tpk=750TX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] k=SH-S203N
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] ntec%2b900

Get the Q6600 OEM (not retail) and add a Xigmatek HDT-S1283 cooler.

With all these changes, I think it's still under $1200. If you still can, upgrade the HDD to WD6400AAKS.

Thx

First of all I wanted NVIDIA stuff but after reading I saw that the Sapphire Radeon HD4850 PCI-E 512 Meg is pretty impressive for the money. So I changed the card.

Here is a picture of all details : http://img501.imageshack.us/img501/4033/cpurz5.png

All price is Canadian (about the same of US..)

OK, ignore my comment about Antec 900 at $70, you don't have access to Newegg in Canada.

Try www.ncix.com, it has good prices and does price matching too.

Alright I'll check that, the mother board you suggest me is good for ATI and Nvidia? I am really confuse about the mother board.

The one I suggested is good for ATI. It's a great match for that ATI Radeon HD 4850.

There's no motherboard that supports both ATI Crossfire and nVidia SLI. It would be nice, but I guess Intel/nVidia/ATI hate each other too much to work together on something like that. It would probably be very expensive too. Anyway, with two of those HD 4850 you're all set for a few years, and after that you'd need a new MB anyway because the latest CPUs will not be compatible with today's motherboards.

I would strongly suggest 8gb of RAM and a 64-bit OS due to your programming requirement.

#1 - You want to be able to test your software under both 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems. Most VM Software such as VMware I have tested require a 64-bit OS to run a 64-bit OS. However a 32-bit OS can run under either a 32-bit or 64-bit Host.

The Extra Ram is nice for running lots of VMs too.

zenmaster, the ASUS P5Q Pro LGA 775 have only 2 slots for ram, I think the max is 4 gig of rams. I think it's enough to run a VMware for a WinXp32bit (I do not program games).

Thanks aevm, I'll have to check everything with all your suggestion.

Does the Antec Nine Hundred Mid come with fan controller?

Nah, it has 4 slots. Two are black and you can hardly see them in images, but they are there.

Very weird. The P5Q Pro supports 8 GB of RAM according to newegg and 16 GB according to NCIX. Either way, 4 sticks of 2GB each should work. Get 2x2GB for now and see if you're using lots of it. If you are, add 2 more sticks later. I suspect zenmaster is right. He usually is It depends on what kind of programming you do, I guess. If it involves Visual Studio.Net 2008 then yeah, you need lots of RAM.

The Antec 900 fan controller - here's a quote from NCIX:

You are so nice aevm to answer so well to all my question. Thanks!

I have read that the HD4850 is pretty good for the price but is really hot. You think I should get an extra 120mm fan (to fill up the optional slot)?

Here is what is look like after all the changes : http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/3323/cpu2el1.png

I added VISTA 64bit ultimate, maybe the Home can do the job, still need to check that.

I wouldn't worry about optional fans yet. Add them when/if you add the second video card.

Between Home Premium and Ultimate: choose Ultimate if you think the additional features will be useful to you. Here's the list so you can compare.
http://news.softpedia.com/newsImag [...] mate-3.png

Personally, I'd find Fax & Scan useful and also the File encrypt, especially for things like account numbers or tax returns made with UFile or QuickTax.
The rest of the differences are mostly useful for an IT Admin on a LAN, IMO, and less likely to help a home user. But your needs may not be the same as mine.

Few more question

I got a call to a PC guy near of my house. He can't have P5Q Pro motherboard but could have P5Q or P5QC. What do you think?

And... P5QC have DDR3 should I go with DDR3 instead of DDR2?