New here, looking for build opinions

[zmatt]

Yeah never use psu's that come with the case. I know a guy who used one and it fried his motherboard.

A good bet is the Corsair 550vx. I have one and its great. It supplies a lot of amps on the 12v rail so it can handle to 4850s.

Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W ATX12V V2.2 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies

With MIR it comes down to $73, which is a steal for this psu.

 

[James_78]

Darn it. Still probably worth $50. Seems sturdy, and I'm sure I can just leave the LED's unplugged A little worried about noise, but there's always fans to upgrade.

 

[zmatt]

Trust me. You do not want to skimp on the psu. It can have power sage which will slow you down or can give you random shutdowns, or it can outright fail, sometimes taking other parts with it. The Corsair psu's are very dependable. I love mine. You wont be disappointed.

 

[saltynay]

You can use the money saved on getting a 4850 instead of a 4870 and use it for a better psu . Also if your a student you can get vista for a discount or get server08 for free then configure it to be extremely similar to vista but with a 8-17% performance gain

 

[zmatt]

He really doesn't need more than a 550vx, but if he has the cash then by all means. it will save you down the road.

 

[James_78]

Looks like they only offer Vista Ultimate Upgrade in 32bit format... no x64 availabe. Sucks, because it's only $83 for the 32bit ultimate upgrade. If I obtained the 64 bit media, would the 32bit upgrade license work with it?

 

[zmatt]

No. They can't have a 64bit upgrade because xp is 32bit, except for xp x64, which I don't think you can directly upgrade form anyways.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

There is no reason to get ultimate. You can get Home premium 64 bit for $100.

Newegg.com - Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit English for System Builders 1pk DSP OEI DVD - Operating Systems

 

[saltynay]

Server08 then configure it to have the vista gui (graphical user interface) not tempt you then its the way I am going me thunks.

I didn't realise it was 32bit limited how anal

 

[zmatt]

That's not anal that's a limitation. You can't just upgrade form 32bit to 64bit. Its not that simple. And I would imagine that if you did you would have many problems.