Rate My Build

[ngherardin]

Hi,
I'm building my first computer and after some research I have come up with a list of parts which I am considering.
I do not use my computer for games. I use it for watching movies/downloaded tv shows, uni work (word processing), and the internet.
I want a computer that will be fast and that will last a good couple of years for these same purposes.

Here's the parts I have come up with. Please let me know if any of them are overkill, incompatible or if there are more appropriate parts for my purposes.

Thanks for your help!


Processor:
Intel Core2 Quad Q9400 2.66GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80580Q9400

Motherboard:
ASUS P5N7A-VM LGA 775 NVIDIA GeForce 9300/nForce 730i HDMI Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

Memory:
G.SKILL PI Black 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL4D-4GBPI-B - Retail

Hard Drive:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive

Case/Power Supply:
Antec Sonata III 500 (with Antec EA500)

DVD Burner:
SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe

Monitor:
Benq M2400HD 2ms DVI Full HD HDMI widescreen (white)

Windows Vista Home Premium:
32 or 64bit??

 

[Outlander_04]

The seagate hard drive is a poor choice .

The 7200.11 shipped with a firmware problem and all drives die sooner rather than later unless you do updates which often dont work . Avoid like a plague rat
WD black series or Samsung . 320 and 640 gig hard drives re faster than 500 gb drives .

Definitely 64 bit if you are buying an OS , but consider downloading the win 7 RC on may 5 and using that till 7 is released so you are not stuck with an OS thats about to be made redundant .

I like your case . Good quality .


It may also be possible to build a more powerful amd quad system for the same money , but I hear intel have cut prices [ or are going to ]

 

[dyingbreed]

Sorry, don't mean to hijack, but real quick... do you have a link for that May 5 Win 7 RC date?

 

[Outlander_04]

Sorry, don't mean to hijack, but real quick... do you have a link for that May 5 Win 7 RC date?

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/windows-release-candidate-rc-download,7632.html

 

[buzznut]

I wouldn't get lightscribe myself, those drives (typically) are noisy and the media is expensive.

Definately 64bit with 4 gigs of ram.