my first comp build

[crazyeightballa]

alright guys i need a computer when i go to college, i plan on using it for watching dvds, dl'ing music, and playing games like WoW / HL2 / Star Wars Galaxy.....i need a computer that can do all this stuff well, i dont want a comp that will lag when i play HL2 with all the graphics turned up...i wanna be able to play it on high quality with little to no lag...i got some parts picked out...

plz give me some input as to where i might be going wrong or if i need to switch parts but if you do plz back up your choices with good reasons...

heres what i got...

VIDEO CARD - eVGA 128-P2-N368-TX Geforce 6600GT 128MB GDDR3 PCI-Express x16 Video Card - Retail

MOBO - DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

CPU - AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice Integrated into Chip FSB Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3200BPBOX - Retail

RAM - TwinMOS 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered System Memory Model TMII400/1GB - OEM

POWER SUPPLY - OCZ ModStream OCZ45012U ATX 450W Power Supply - Retail

CASE - A-TOP XBlade AT859A-BL Blue/Silver Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 450W Power Supply - Retail

HARD DRIVE - Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 SATA NCQ ST3120827AS 120GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM

KEYBOARD - Logitech Ultra X 967353-0403 PS/2 Standard Keyboard - OEM

MONITOR - acer AL1715smd Silver/Black 17" 12ms LCD Monitor - Retail

MOUSE - Logitech MX518 931352-0403 2-Tone 8 Buttons 1x Wheel USB + PS/2 Optical Mouse - Retail

DVD BURNER - NEC Black IDE DVD Burner Model ND-3520A - OEM

SPEAKERS - Logitech X-530 70 Watts 5.1 Speaker - Retail

OS - Microsoft Windows XP HOME Edition With Service Pack 2 - OEM
(should i get XP or ME??? reasons???)


P.S. I dont want to spend more than around $1300 on it including everything
P.S.S. If you tell me to get something new, make sure it fits with the rest of my parts...

 

[Counter-Strike]

I do not see ONE THING wrong with everything you listed. Those should be great to play HL2 on and such.

 

[Slayer]

definately get windows xp not me. although they are both nt based, me is almost like a testing platform to build xp off of. it is more stable than me (if any microsoft software could be called stable). If you are good with having a firewall and anti virus and anti spywere software then don't get service pack 2. If you don't have a firewall then get service pack 2 (can be downloaded)

also i would suggest buying just a cd key instead of the whole retail box, its a lot cheaper. This is assuming you can get a xp cd from someone (THIS IS NOT ILLIGAL IF YOU BUY YOUR OWN CD KEY!!) try checking pricewatch thats where i bought a windows xp pro key for under 50 bux.

other than that hardware looks good. not sure what mobo that is but i might suggest getting one that supports sli, so you can add extra graphics power later on if you need it.

 

[PanzerKammander]

Yea, i would get XP, i have had ME for awhile but i have noticed alot of incompatability with the newer programs...for some reason it just never worked with me..

 

[mousepad]

Get XP Professional... way better than Home.

 

[diabloII]

why would anyone consider windows ME? that's like windows 1998

definitely get xp home, pro is unneeded

also, there's nothing wrong with your build

however, if you plan on upgrading to a better video card in the future but use it on this system, i suggest you bump that power supply up to an OCZ powerstream 520W

but other than that everything is great

 

[dhw200]

Great setup, nothing wrong with it.

Get XP Professional... way better than Home.

people say that Pro is better for networking, but in my house we have a network with 6 comps hooked up to it, and never had any problems.

 

[crazyeightballa]

do you think ill need to upgrade my video card anytime soon and ill need the 520W?

also can someone check if the GDDR3 memory on my vid card is compatible with everything else...i dont know much about memory on vid cards...thx

 

[The Dark Lord]

ME kills computers get xp pro

 

[diabloII]

yes, don't worry, everything is compatible

and like i said, if you're going to upgrade the gfx on this machine, get an OCZ powerstream 520 or more, if not, get an OCZ modstream