PC Building Experts Please Help

[colemancb]

Well, basically, I'm graduating this year and would like a new PC to take to school with me. I think I have everything I want and need picked out, I just basically want to know if I'm forgetting anything... LOL. I would hate to get the parts and realize I have to wait for another one to arrive before I build. It is also a little bit over my price range...I'm trying to keep it 600 to 650. I really want to keep the flat panel though, so when/if suggesting other parts to lessen my price, please don't get rid of the panel! I'm looking to play only light games, nothing big at all. Maybe WoW, but I don't really care that much. This machine will be under a semi-heavy work load, lots of photo editing, alot of internet usage, always on, heavy downloading, video & audio editing, and possibly a light server just for my personal use. If you can suggest anything else, or suggest a different part, that would be great as well. Anyway, here's what I have picked out:

Newegg.com - Computers, Computer Parts and Electronics

Shopping Cart

CD/DVD Burners (RW Drives)

1 LITE-ON Combo Drive Black IDE Model SOHC-5236V BK RTL - Retail

Model #: SOHC-5236V BK RTL

Item #: N82E16827106992

$27.99 $27.99

ATX Computer Cases

1 COOLMAX CS-470 Silver/Blue 0.6 mm steel/ ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 400W ATX v2.01 Power Supply - Retail

Model #: CS-470-Silver

Item #: N82E16811212011

$49.99 $49.99

Floppy Drives

1 MITSUMI Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal USB 2.0 digital card reader with Floppy Drive - OEM

Model #: FA404M BLK

Item #: N82E16821104104

$19.99 $19.99

Internal Hard Drives

1 Western Digital Caviar SE WD1200JBRTL 120GB 7200 RPM IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive - Retail

Model #: WD1200JBRTL

Item #: N82E16822144165

$88.99 -$25.00 Instant

$63.99

Monitors - LCD

1 BenQ FP71G+ (Black) Black 17" 8ms LCD Monitor - Retail

Model #: FP71G+ (Black)

Item #: N82E16824014100

** This item is warranted through the product manufacturer only. what's this?

** Dead Pixels Policy: Replacement or Refund for 8 or more dead pixels only.

$169.99 $169.99

AMD-compatible Motherboards

1 Gigabyte GA-K8U Socket 754 ULi M1689 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

Model #: GA-K8U

Item #: N82E16813128292

$42.99 $42.99

Keyboards

1 ASPIRE KIS-COMBO-BK 2-Tone PS/2 Wired Standard Keyboard Mouse Included - Retail

Model #: KIS-COMBO-BK

Item #: N82E16823165021

$22.99 $22.99

Add-On Cards

1 VANTEC PCI to USB2.0 Card Model UGT-PC205 - Retail

Model #: UGT-PC205

Item #: N82E16815102101

$14.05 $14.05

Memory - System

1 pqi POWER Series 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered System Memory Model MD441GUOE - Retail

Model #: MD441GUOE

Item #: N82E16820141198

$73.99 $73.99

Processors

1 AMD Sempron 64 3300+ Palermo 1600MHz HT Socket 754 Processor Model SDA3300BXBOX - Retail

Model #: SDA3300BXBOX

Item #: N82E16819104233

** This item is warranted through the product manufacturer only. what's this?

$108.00 $108.00

Operating Systems

1 Microsoft Windows XP Professional X64 Edition Single Pack - OEM

Model #: ZAT-00054

Item #: N82E16837102065

** Software delivered damaged and/or defective may be returned for an identical replacement. what's this?

$139.99 $139.99

Subtotal: $733.96

[ripken204]

well for a budget system thats pretty good

is there a video card in there? unless i missed it...

[noguru]

well for a budget system thats pretty good

is there a video card in there? unless i missed it...

No you didn't, there's no video on the mainboard as well.

Why you need this extra USB card? This ís present on the mainboard. Remove this from your list and you wil save money to buy a little more expensive mainboard with a decent video on it.

Edited May 15, 2006 by noguru

[Scubar]

You could buy a ASRock K8NF4G-SATA 2 , they are fairly decent boards for the price and come with inbuilt video that can use upto 128MB memory.

Edited May 15, 2006 by ScubaSteve

[puntoMX]

Yup, like ScubaSteve says, get a motherboard like that for example, it also has PCI-E and the onboard sound isn´t that bad.

[colemancb]

Yeah, I forgot that... And to mention that this is already over $700. Is there ANY way I can save some money? I mean... is my assumption wrong in saying that I NEED 1GB of ram? Or even that I NEED a 64bit proc to be on the high-end in photo and video editing? Are 64bits even stable for 32bit apps? It would be great if you could point me in the direction of some sort of a guide for this... I hate to ask for all this help.

noguru: The USB card was for the card reader, it says that you need to plug it into a USB header, and I believe the mobo I had only had one.

AHHHH!

[Kelsenellenelvian]

That motherboard has 4 usb slots built in.

[puntoMX]

@ Superlevel,

Ow, I saw something more, don’t get a combo drive and get directly a DVD-RW. Combo drives s*ck big-time.

If you want to lower the price a bit you could get a 2800+ (1600MHz, 256+128kB cache) or a 2600+ (1600MHz, 128+128kB cache).

When you get the ASRock with the 6100 chipset I would buy a DIMM with tight timings as well, it will improve onboard video performance.

Are you going to tweak it a bit?

[Woomera]

the first thing that would help you in price would be your monitor.do you really need lcd monitor?

ViewSonic E70F 17" (16" Viewable) Color Computer Monitor,With 0.25mm Diagonal Dot Pitch, 1280 x 1024 Flat Screen

on sale: $124

and yeah of course a motherboard with built-in graphic card to save some from not buying a gpu.

and as for combo punto is right but dvd/rw are more expensive,so your choice.

[ripken204]

maybe this board..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16813138268

[puntoMX]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16813157084

The ASRock is cheaper .

EDIT: I would go for this RAM, just a bit more but it´s worth it.

Edited May 15, 2006 by puntoMX

[ripken204]

the asrock also has a better onboard audio

and wow, ballistix is cheap now

[hankjrfan00]

1 Microsoft Windows XP Professional X64 Edition Single Pack - OEM

Make sure that all of your components have 64 bit drivers available before buying this. Finding 64bit drivers for everything can be a big headache.

[colemancb]

Thanks alot for the input, all. Actually, no matter what configuration I tried, Iwould always surpass my $$ limit on Newegg, so I went over to TigerDirect and found some good deals. I have the cart saved at school, I'll post it up here tomorrow and see what you all think. THANKS!

[DigeratiPrime]

i would caution you about the "deals" at TigerDirect, particularly with rebates. You wont see that money on the rebate for months if ever.