My New *Complete* Computer - What do you think?

[pip11]

I had another thread asking for help in a few areas, and now that I've gone through it some more I think I have decided on a final system and I was wondering what you all thought about it and maybe tell me how this will work and did I make good selections.

This computer will be used for work in Visual C++, Photoshop7, 3DSmax6, and RTS games such as the upcoming Age of Empires 3.

Motherboard: DFI NVIDIA nforce4
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-136-152&depa=1

CPU: AMD Athlon64 3200
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-502&depa=1

GPU: Gigabyte NVIDIA GeForce 6600
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-125-158&depa=1

Memory: Corsair ValueSelect Dual Pack 1GB (512MBx2)
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-145-440&depa=1

Harddrive: Seagate Barracuda 80GB
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=22-148-040&DEPA=1

Sound Card: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live! 7.1
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=29-102-176&depa=1


I haven't picked out a case, cooling system, or any type of PSU yet. Any advice on those would be helpful. Also, is there anything specific I need to look for when purchasing a DVD/CD RW drive? (I do know that it should be 48x)

Is there anything else I need to consider for this computer that maybe I left out or forgot about?

I know it's alot, but any help will be appreciated.

 

[koldapu]

Good stuff!

But what speakers are you going to use with that sound card? Something that you COULD look at is the MSI SLi board, which has Sound Blaster Live on it already, but it is $40 more than the DFI board, and I don't think 6600 non-GT is SLI capable

Just something to look at

CPU is good, I wish I got that instead of my 3000+

The video card is good for non-intensive gaming

Good choice with the value ram, you don't need performance ram

For a DVD burner, I recommend the NEC ND-3520A

I have it, it is a very good drive

Case, I would get an Antec Sonata with the PSU it comes with, it's a very good quality PSU

 

[DJ-CHRIS]

Defiantly upgrade to a 6600GT if you ever plan to touch a game

 

[Codeine]

I would of got a eVGA 6600 GT or a MSI. I havent heard anything bad about gigabytes video cards. Personally i think they look pretty good. Although i cant stand their mobo's. Are you going to OC your 6600 ?

If you have any kind of OC in mind, you need better RAM.

 

[DJ-CHRIS]

I would think if he raised the latency to 3 and the voltage to 2.8 he would get a decent overclock with that ram.

Also, soundblaster cards IMHO (and most DJ's opinions) have poor sound quality compared to their cheaper compitition (low end m-audio and turtle beach)

 

[pip11]

Thanks koldapu.

Is this the NEC DVD/CD burner you were referring to?
http://http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=27-152-040&depa=1

Also, for the speakers, I'm probably just going to get the cheapest out there, I usually play with headphones on.

The Antec Sonata turned me off, despite the good reviews. It has a front cover, which would be a slight annoyance because I access my CDs often.

I was looking at this power supply:
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=17-159-023&DEPA=0

And this case:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-156-019&depa=1

Thoughts?

Defiantly upgrade to a 6600GT if you ever plan to touch a game

Well, I don't have a large budget, and I really only play RTS games which are more CPU intensive. I won't be playing HL2 or Doom3.

 

[pip11]

I would of got a eVGA 6600 GT or a MSI. I havent heard anything bad about gigabytes video cards. Personally i think they look pretty good. Although i cant stand their mobo's. Are you going to OC your 6600 ?

If you have any kind of OC in mind, you need better RAM.

I looked at the eVGA's but I read a review of that Gigabyte over at Tom's Hardware and it seemed pretty good.

The $80 difference is big, plus I won't be doing intensive gaming on it.

I most likely won't be overclocking.

 

[jnev_89]

if you haven't bought it yet, a pentium would be much better than amd for you because of what you're doing. p4's are better at graphic apps (not games) and at compiling.

 

[DJ-CHRIS]

If you wont be gaming put an ATI 9550 in there.
Many people wont like this idea, but, that's because noone here ever spends under their budget.

EDIT: Come to think of that, the 9550 is only AGP
DOH

 

[pip11]

if you haven't bought it yet, a pentium would be much better than amd for you because of what you're doing. p4's are better at graphic apps (not games) and at compiling.

I appreciate the suggestion, but the equivilent P4 is alot more expensive.


Is there anything terribly important about the case and PSU if I'm not going to be doing any heavy powergaming? Because I was thinking maybe just going with something like this: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-192-006&depa=1