Will someone please take a look at this list and see if there are any
"Holy-Crap-What-Are-You-Doing"s or even any
"Man-That-Seems-Like-A-Bad-Idea-To-Me"s?
I spent the most time researching the MOBO. I think I'm pretty happy, but I still do have some doubts. Also, let me know if I missed anything important. Remember, the end goal is to do as many things as possible in 1920x1200.
Case: Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16811129021
Case preferences very subjective - Antec quality is usually good, have used their products many times.
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813128050
My preference here would be for the Asus boards, I have used Gigabyte in the past and I have not been happy with the long term experience, I would recommend one of the Asus P5K series
GPU: XFX PVT88PYDF4 GeForce 8800GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
(This is out of stock, so I might need to make an adjustment)
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814150252
This again is a personal preference, I am currently using an XFX7900GTX but if I was building a system today for the uses that you state, I would be looking at the ATI 38XX series, better for HTPC use, specially if you are not using Vista. See HTPC reviews (or video card reviews for HTPC use) on this site, you will see that the nVidia based cards have some significant shortcomings compared to the ATI.
Power Supply: CORSAIR CMPSU-520HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 520W Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817139001
There is some controversy wrt to modular vs non-modular, as a retired electronics tech with 37 years of experience, I would say that there is a lot of misinformation being generated on this issue. That said, my own recommendation would be for PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610, quality of your power supply is critical to system stability.
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor Model BX80562Q6600 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16819115017
Not much to say about this, its a good processor, have built 2 systems in the last 5 months with these.
Memory: Patriot Extreme Performance 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model
(Getting two of these to total 4GB of RAM)
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820220144
I have had no problems with Patriot memory, I've used it for 3 system upgrades in the last few months. For the 2 Q6600 desktop systems I built recently I used Crucial Ballistix, works well with Asus mobo.
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD7500AAKS 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16822136131
I tend to use Seagate drives for the 5 year warranty, plus in my experience have had fewer problems than with WD drives.
DVD/CD: Sony NEC Optiarc 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model AD-7190S - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16827118002
Your personal preference here, commodity product.
CPU Heatsink: ZALMAN CNPS 9700 NT 110mm 2 Ball Ultra Quiet CPU Cooler - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16835118020
Zalman coolers work great, not much more you can say, only downside on them is price.
Total Cost Before Shipping:
$1,314.90
A Few Notes:
I choose the Antec 900 because of its superior air-cooling, I went with the Zalman over the Tower 120 because I tend to move my computer around a lot and I read that moving the Tower too much can put stress on the Motherboard.
Hard Drive was chosen for the excellent $/GB (thank aevm).
I read many great things about the XFX 8800GT, which may explain why it is out-of-stock.
I chose the 520HX due to its modular design, since I read it was important in the Antec 900. I did read someone somewhere else rail against the use of modular PSUs, so now I am little worried. If I change the PSU, then I'll need to change the Case too I suppose.
Check the dimensions of whatever PS you are thinking about, that will tell you if it will fit the case.
The memory was the same memory used in the mid-build in the marathon build article, so seemed good to me.
See above for why I went with Q6600, and like I said eariler, I am really stressed about the MOBO. There just seem to be soooo many choices all so very close to all the other choices.
Make sure the mobo you select has the features you need, ie Firewire, eSata, etc.
I'm also still really torn between
XP and
Vista. Every thing I read makes me change my mind from the last thing I read...