New Computer Build

[Sandstone]

2 gigs of RAM is not needed. You won't see any noticable performance gain between 1 and 2 gig unless you're using your computer for something like professional DV film editing.

[wonderwes]

2 gigs of ram? 6800 nvidia card? Uh, hell yes that thing will haul. With a system as crazy as that make sure you play halflife 2 on it.

I will make my suggestion for the case.
Antec Case

I own one. It has a large power supply, lots of room, and the thing is quite quiet. Its a great feeling to get expensive new pc parts and build them together.

[Sandstone]

[ QUOTE ]
2 gigs of ram? 6800 nvidia card? Uh, hell yes that thing will haul. With a system as crazy as that make sure you play halflife 2 on it.

I will make my suggestion for the case.
Antec Case

I own one. It has a large power supply, lots of room, and the thing is quite quiet. Its a great feeling to get expensive new pc parts and build them together.

[/ QUOTE ]
I'll second the Sonata case. That thing is Black Jesus.

[Danenania]

Hmm, only thing I don't like about the case is 380w seems low for a power supply. The video card recommends 350w as a minimum so I think I'm actually going to bump it up into the 500w range.

You guys are starting to convince me that I really don't need the 2 Gigs of RAM even though superficially it sounds good. Any ideas on a sick 1 Gig setup?

[Blarg]

I'm assumimg your mobo has 4 memory slots right? If not, you should get one that does.

That being the case, there's no reason to buy your memory in a a 2 x 1 gig configuration. You pay a stiff price premium to do that. Just get 4 x 512, and you'll still get 2 gigs. Don't worry about using up all your slots and having no room to expand memory, because it'll be rare enough that you even use the 2 gigs of memory you're talking about getting. You'll never need extra RAM slots to upgrade to, say, 3 gigs of RAM, so...just fill up the slots and save a couple hundred bucks. There is plenty of adequate to high quality memory you can get 2 gigs of without spending over $500 on. Doing it the way you have it is just wasting money.

[Danenania]

Thanks for the suggestions. The Mobo does have 4 slots. I've just changed my mind now and decided based on the posts that 1 Gig will be enough... I can always upgrade later if I need to. But since I'm only doing 1 Gig I'm trying to find the very best memory.

This is the best I've stumbled across so far: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...009&depa=1

Any thoughts?

[Vern]

Are you going to be overclocking the MB so that you need that memory speed. Otherwise, you will have great memory working at the slow stock speed of your main board.

If you are going to be overclocking, check out Overclockers.com to get part recommendations.

Vern

[mosuavea]

To do a little more research hit up Anandtech loads of information and make sure to check out the forums, specificaly the General Hardware section. Tons of good resources.

[Terry]

Very nice.

FWIT: I like my CoolerMaster. The GeForce 6800 runs my Samsung LCD monitors just fine, although I do not play FPS games. Corsair RAM, yep yep, but don’t buy faster than you need unless you intend to overclock.

Count me in on using the onboard nVidia sound. I pulled my SoundBlaster out. You can always add an audio card later if you’re not happy with it.

Oh, and unless your friend has added up all the current draws and determined that the power supply is adequate, I’d like to see just a bit more cushion there.

[jmark]

Definitely go with the Sonata case and 1GB. That extreme memory you have is a little on the expensive side, but that's alright.

The Sonata case has a 380W PS which should be fine, Antec power supplies are higher quality than most others -- that 380W should do you good.

The Retail CPUs come with a Heatsink and Fan (at least they used to), so you don't need that Zalman.

I would move up to the MSI Neo Platinum 2 motherboard for $138.50, just because I have an MSI and it works well, I don't have any personal experience with Gigabyte.

When are the AMD PCI-express motherboards going to come out?