Multitasking Multimedia PC - Tell me if this looks good or help me save $

[UsernameTaken]

i will use this computer for:
dual boot xp & ubuntu
i multitask a lot but here is the basics
mainly multimedia and p2p, azureus, photoshop, movie maker, itunes, firefox, dvd decrypter,
a few games, maybe counterstrike, starcraft 2

i bought a gateway like 9 months ago and it has onboard video and windows is installed on a partition, so i am buying an extra hard drive and video card to install into the gateway and then put windows on its own hard drive to make it more stable and run WoW better for my brother.


components that ABSOLUTELY WILL NOT CHANGE

Newegg.com - Rosewill RCR-102 52-in-1 USB 2.0 Black Card Reader - Retail - $9.99
Newegg.com - JBL DUETAL 12 Watts 2.0 Speaker - Retail - $39.99 Silver
Newegg.com - JBL DUETWHT 12 Watts 2.0 Speaker - Retail - $39.99 White

Newegg.com - Saitek PZ30AUR Red 104 Normal Keys 4 Function Keys USB Wired Slim Eclipse Keyboard - Retail - $39.99

Hard Drives
Newegg.com - Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM - $79.99
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar SE WD800JD 80GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM - $41.99 x2

components that PROBABLY WILL NOT CHANGE

PSU
Newegg.com - OCZ GameXStream OCZ600GXSSLI ATX12V 600W Power Supply 100 - 240 V CB/CE/CSA/UL/FCC - Retail - $109.99

Wireless
Newegg.com - TRENDnet TEW-443PI IEEE 802.11b/g 32-bit PCI 2.2 Bus Master Wireless Adapter up to 108Mbps Data Rates 64/128-Bit WEP (Hex or ASCII), WPA/WPA2, WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK - Retail - $24.99

Monitor
Newegg.com - ViewSonic Optiquest Series Q20WB Black 20" 5ms DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 1000:1 - Retail - $199.99

Processor
Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E6320 Conroe 1.86GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail - $165.50

Optical Drive
Newegg.com - LG Black 18X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 10X DVD+R DL 18X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache E-IDE/ATAPIDVD Burner - OEM - $27.99

everything else subject to change:

Case
Newegg.com - Rosewill R5717-P SL 120mm Fan ATX Mid Tower Computer Case withTool-Free kits - Retail - $34.99

Mobo
Newegg.com - EVGA 122-CK-NF63-TR LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail - $158.99

RAM
Newegg.com - CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 675 (PC2 5400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail - $84.99

Video Card - x2

Newegg.com - HIS Hightech H165PRF512N-R Radeon X1650PRO 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail - $79.99
Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100166L Radeon X1650XT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail - $104.99

Newegg.com - Leadtek WinFast PX7300GT TDH 128MB DDR3 Extreme GeForce 7300GT 128MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card - Retail - $79.99
Newegg.com - EVGA 256-P2-N615-TX GeForce 7600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card - Retail - $89.99
Newegg.com - EVGA 256-P2-N554-AX GeForce 7600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card - Retail - $99.99

 

[darksideleader]

Better Video card, one is enough:
Newegg.com - Open Box: SAPPHIRE 100186L Radeon X1950XT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - OEM

Better faster memory:
Newegg.com - A-DATA Extreme Edition 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

Motherboard:
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

CPU:
Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 Conroe 2.33GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail

 

[UsernameTaken]

Better Video card, one is enough:
Newegg.com - Open Box: SAPPHIRE 100186L Radeon X1950XT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - OEM

Better faster memory:
Newegg.com - A-DATA Extreme Edition 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

Motherboard:
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

CPU:
Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 Conroe 2.33GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail

thanks im getting 2 video cards not for sli/crossfire but becuase 1 goes in this new pc and the other goes in a year-old pc to replace its onboard video.

 

[peterhuang913]

Motherboard:
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

From the Egg: Notice: Only DDR2-800 memory supporting JEDEC approved 1.8V operation with timings of 5-5-5 or 6-6-6 is supported on Intel Desktop Boards based on Intel 965 Express Chipsets.

Grab this instead: Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

 

[UsernameTaken]

From the Egg: Notice: Only DDR2-800 memory supporting JEDEC approved 1.8V operation with timings of 5-5-5 or 6-6-6 is supported on Intel Desktop Boards based on Intel 965 Express Chipsets.

Grab this instead: Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

i have no idea what that means but ok thanks

 

[UsernameTaken]

well in my search for a new motherboard ive come up confused.

im looking at 11 different motherboards right now and i have no idea what to pick.

the memory i have this one is DDR2 800. one of the mobos i was looking at says it supports DDR2 1200. would this work?

some of the motherboards have just one PCI-E 16x slot, which is fine because im only using one video card and i always will. but should i get one with 2 slots? some of the ones with 2 slots have SLI but it works in 8x/8x, 16x/8x, or 16x/1x.


Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-G33M-DS2R LGA 775 Intel G33 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Newegg.com - MSI P6N SLI-FI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Newegg.com - Foxconn P35A-S LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-N650SLI-DS4 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Newegg.com - ASUS P5N-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Newegg.com - MSI P6N SLI Platinum LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Newegg.com - ASUS P5N32-E SLI Plus LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Newegg.com - EVGA 122-CK-NF68-T1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Newegg.com - Foxconn N68S7AA-8EKRS2H LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Newegg.com - EVGA 122-CK-NF68-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

edit: the more expensive evga board has a lifetime warranty but the cheaper one doesnt

 

[darksideleader]

gigabyte should do fine
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

SLI and crossfire would be not the best so the 2nd pci express would be useless. You could get a more better card like 8800GTS then in the future instead of throwing away your card for more power, you could just get another 8800GTS.

The other PCI-E x1 and x4 are for modems, ethernet cards, they'll soon replace PCI slots in the future.

Depending on what games your gonna play, i would get this package

Newegg.com - ABIT Fatal1ty F-I90HD LGA 775 ATI Radeon Xpress 1250 HDMI Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E4400 Allendale 2.0GHz 2M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail
1333 mhz wouldnt be fitting the 1066mhz motherboard.

You could play counter strike, battlefield, less demanding games at reasonable frame rates.

And theres always the amd route which is cheaper and will give similar performance.

3600+ Newegg.com - AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ Brisbane 1.9GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 Processor - Retail or
Newegg.com - Open Box: AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Windsor 3.0GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM2 Processor - OEM
or
AMD Athlon 64 FX-62 Processor - 2.80GHz, 2MB Cache, 1000MHz (2000 MTs) FSB, Windsor, Dual-Core, OEM, Socket AM2, ADAFX62IAA6CS, Processor at TigerDirect.com
and
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-MA69GM-S2H Socket AM2 AMD 690G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
or
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-MA69G-S3H Socket AM2 AMD 690G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

 

[UsernameTaken]

i could be wrong but i thought that Intel was more future proof becuase they are keeping the same socket(LGA 775 for their next CPUs but AMD is going with a new AM3 socket.


ive narrowed it down to 6 motherboards. i know eSATA is the future and my external HDDs have eSATA ports so i would like something with eSATA but i can live without it (and definitely for a couple years). i do know that you can add this with an add on card (but are they PCI? PCI-E? or is it just a cable that plugs into a normal SATA slot?). i need firewire for my camcorder. i really like having lots of USB ports, i believe every computer should have 10 . 4 is fine but i REALLY LIKE that the EVGA has 6 and the lifetime warranty makes me feel a lot more secure buying it so im leaning towards that one. but i dont know about the other companies' warranties.

here are my thoughts on each motherboard:

really cheap and has eSATA, but sound card seems cheap
Newegg.com - ASUS P5N-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail$126.99

cheap and nice MIR, has eSATA
Newegg.com - Foxconn P35A-S LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail$149.99

cheap and has eSATA
Newegg.com - MSI P6N SLI Platinum LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail$149.99

has a sound card (but it might be a gimmick), no eSATA and 1 PCI-E/PCI, expensive
Newegg.com - ASUS P5N32-E SLI Plus LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail$179.99

eSATA, expensive
Newegg.com - Foxconn N68S7AA-8EKRS2H LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail$209.99

lifetime warranty, 6 USB ports, 2 PCI and 2 PCI-E slots, no eSATA, really expensive
Newegg.com - EVGA 122-CK-NF68-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail$219.99