Planning a new computer - what do you think?

[SteelDraco]

Alright, I'm in the process of putting together a new rig, and here's what I've come up with so far, after an hour or two of poking through Newegg. Is there anything glaring here I'm missing, any incompatibilities or problems with any of these items? Anything clearly better I should consider instead of what I've found? I'm planning a good rig that I can use for gaming, should the desire strike me, with something of an eye toward future upgrades so it'll be a while until I have to get everything new again. That's something I only tend to do every four or five years, and I'm about due.

• ASUS P5K-E LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - $141.99
• Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 Conroe 2.33GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - $174.99
• Kingston HyperX 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - $119.99
• BFG Tech BFGE86512GTOCFE GeForce 8600GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - $179.99
• Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600AAJS 160GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - 49.99
• Samsung Black SATA DVD Writer - 35.99
• Broadway Com Corp P4-OKIA600-BLACK ATX 600W Power Supply - 33.99

Total damage for everything runs at 736.93, plus incidental costs - wires, some new thermal paste, probably another case fan. I've got a few ATX cases sitting around, so it's mostly just a matter of deciding which is prettiest.

In particular, I'm wondering about a few of the brand names. Asus, Intel, Kingston, and Western Digital are all solid products, from my experience. I don't really know BFG Tech, Samsung, or Broadway (video card, DVD burner, and power supply, respectively). Are they good products? Those three tend to be error-prone devices, IME, so I'm a bit concerned about using brands I don't know.

 

[trancejeremy]

You should consider a larger hard drive, IMHO. Games these days install 6-7 gigs or more on it, and that's only going to get worse in the future. If you use it for anything else, it will get cramped too soon (I have a 160 gig and an older 80 gig, both almost full)

I would guess Samsung is a good brand for DVD writer, the original Xbox had 3 flavors of DVD drives, and Samsung was the best.

And of course, for a real gaming computer, you need lots and lots of little leds.

 

[Cabled]

If you intend to do any modern gaming, get another couple gigs of ram. It's never been cheaper and 2 gig really is sliding rapidly towards a bare minimum.

 

[Thanee]

BFG Tech BFGE86512GTOCFE GeForce 8600GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - $179.99

Not sure about this choice; the 8600s are said to be below par in performance.
I would get the 8800GT-512MB probably, which is said to be excellent and is not that much higher in price.

Broadway Com Corp P4-OKIA600-BLACK ATX 600W Power Supply - 33.99

Considering that the PSU is such an important piece, I would probably go with a bigger brand name here.

In particular, I'm wondering about a few of the brand names. Asus, Intel, Kingston, and Western Digital are all solid products, from my experience. I don't really know BFG Tech, Samsung, or Broadway (video card, DVD burner, and power supply, respectively). Are they good products? Those three tend to be error-prone devices, IME, so I'm a bit concerned about using brands I don't know.

I have a Samsung DVD-RW and it works great so far (even managed to copy a damaged DVD with it, which my older Toshiba wouldn't read).

Bye
Thanee

 

[Aus_Snow]

Yeah, I would personally skip the 8600s. Higher or lower, you'll probably get better value for money. When buying, I went slightly 'lower' (i.e., older) personally, but I get at least the perfomance of an 8600 - more, generally - for less expenditure. But certainly, if you can get an 8800 (or ATI equivalent,) do that. And, IMO, going for a decent brand name, without being ridiculous, is likely to be a plus. I went with an HIS - it's awesome! - but there are plenty of good (and no doubt better) ones out there.

I use 2GB, but sure, 4GB might be nice. RAM's cheap, so. . . I guess. Wouldn't be the highest priority though, I think.

But yeah, the PSU is pretty crucial. FWIW, I bought a CoolerMaster to replace the one my machine came with. Again, I've found it to be good - but again, there are a number of excellent brands of these. For example, Corsair and Silverstone.

And for HDDs, the best price points are probably up around 300GB to 500GB. I'm guessing, but they were not so long ago, so if they're not still, then they'd be higher again - like 700GB-ish? I strongly recommend at least 300GB - so little difference in cost, and so much insurance for the future.

I've got a Samsung DVD burner too - it's fine, no problems so far.

Hope some of that helps, and best of luck with it all.

 

[Redrobes]

2Gb is max for 32bit unless you use the PAE switch which makes it 3Gb. Buying 4Gb for a 32bit OS is a waste of money. But if you do go 64 bit then 4Gb+ is very nice.

 

[Aus_Snow]

2Gb is max for 32bit unless you use the PAE switch which makes it 3Gb. Buying 4Gb for a 32bit OS is a waste of money. But if you do go 64 bit then 4Gb+ is very nice.

I used to be sure it was 4GB for 32bit, divided some way or other by the OS.

Then I read some info at some stage, explaining that the motherboard will dictate that the top 1-1.5GB (approximately) be set aside for hardware, or something. Not that it's needed - just happens to be a design flaw, apparently.

Which is why I went with 2GB. Just as well, it seems! Sorry, I should've remembered that myself.

 

[Thanee]

The max for 32bit is 4GB (=2^32), but that's the theoretical max, while in practice - as you say - some portions of it are not accessible.

Bye
Thanee

 

[drothgery]

I would get the 8800GT-512MB probably, which is said to be excellent and is not that much higher in price.

Not much higher in list price. But availability's limitted right now, so the prices are well above list at NewEgg right now. Both ATi and nVidia have new cards in the $150-$250 list range that are quite good, but getting ahold of one of them is the problem. So the original poster might want to hold off for a few weeks while the supply chain problems get sorted out.

Both spins of the 8800GT (the $200-$250 list 512MB version and the forthcoming $150-$200 list 256MB version), and both the new ATi cards (the ~$230 list Radeon 3870 and the ~$180 list Radeon 3850) are pretty good on price/performance; they're much better than the previous midrange cards (the GeForce 8600 series and the Radeon 2600 series).

 

[Redrobes]

32 bits = 4Gb and 32 bit windows by default splits that address space 50-50 into user and kernel and the kernel does not need a lot of memory so with 2Gb you get a little reserved for kernel and you get the rest. As far as I know, the PAE switch tells the system to use 1Gb for kernel and 3Gb for user so if you fit 3Gb then you use a little for kernel and you get the rest. With 4Gb most of the extra 1Gb is wasted. You cant use it and the kernel does not need it.

When you have a 64 bit OS like Vista 64 or XP x64 AND you have a 64 bit CPU like the AMD64/X2 etc or the intel Core Duo 2 etc then your in business. If you run a true 64 bit app then you can access more than 4Gb in that single app. If you run 32 bit apps then you can run more apps than require 4Gb - i.e. you can run 2 apps each taking 3 Gb and it will be ok.

So, to OP - if you are running a 32 bit OS like XP or vista 32, stick with the 2Gb.