my build, round 2

[notquitedead]

I'm going to wait until I decide on a case before I pick out a power supply, but I was thinking about this

 

[notquitedead]

I think I'm going to go with an ASPIRE X-Navigator. A lot of the reviews said the PSU sucks so I might order it from a different site without the psu. If I do that, what PSU should I buy?

Also, would an eVGA Geforce 6800 be a good video card, or are there better ones for around $200? I saw some good ATI ones but I read that they don't support shader model 3.0... would that matter?

Thanks for the help.

 

[truebe]

You want Shader Model 3. If you can afford it, go for the 6800. If not, just get a eVGA 6600GT. You can upgrade to a 7800GT in a little while and I am not sure but does anyone know if eVGA has the step up program still, so he could trade in the 6600GT for a 7800GT and pay the difference?

DFI makes the best motherboards, MSI is good too. Never heard anything about Soltek.

Make sure you get a good PSU otherwise you could fry your components if the PSU goes out. Good brands are OCZ, Thermaltake and Antec.

 

[notquitedead]

Someone on another board said they've been using the stock psu for like nine months...

If I get a new psu, do you have a specific one in mind? I don't know how many watts I need.

Thanks for the help.

 

[efd753]

i would that processor to a 3200 and get a better card. Cpu wont make a dif in fps, is all in the Gpu.

 

[PZEROFGH]

get a new psu, do not get one withthe case.

antec truepower
thermaltake
OCZ
forton
etc.

 

[notquitedead]

Thanks everyone!

 

[notquitedead]

Assuming I don't fall in love with the xbox360 and decide to get that instead of a new pc (I doubt that will happen), I think I've decided on this:

Antec P180 case
Antec NeoHE 430W or Antec SmartPower 2.0 400W or Antec TRUEPOWERII 430W
DFI LanParty UT nF4 Ultra-D mobo
AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego CPU
eVGA Geforce 6800GT
Maxtor DiamondMax 200GB hdd
BenQ DVD Burner
Windows XP Media Center

I'm just going to buy the case, cpu, video card, mobo, and os for now. The rest can wait until I have the money.

For now I'm keeping the memory I have, but later I'm going to buy some good memory, a tv tuner card, and a remote for windows media center.

I'm going to look at a few stores around here for decent case that's relatively cheap. I was thinking about one of the cheaper coolermaster cases, they don't look bad and are half the price of the p180. What I'm really looking for in a case is a top fan to go along with the front and rear fans... heat rises so it doesn't make sense to trap it in there. I was thinking the rear and top fans would be exhaust, and the front would be intake. I read that a 'vacuum' effect was best for cooling cases.

Btw, I have a monitor, speakers, keyboard, mouse, etc.

Edit: Will I need to buy a new heatsink or fan or anything for either the cpu or video card? I don't plan on overclocking until I buy some high end memory which will be at least a few months off.