Advice on Hardware for new system

[dmatech]

If this is the wrong place to post this, let me know

I'm going to be building a system in the May/June timeframe and would like some advice on hardware components. This is what I've come up with so far:

MMI Triton-ATX Mid Tower
Enermax 530W ATX Power Supply
SMP Motherboard based on 760MP/nVidia/Micron Chipset w/onboard U160
(Is there a significant performance difference between onboard SCSI and a seperate adapter?)
1.5GHz Athlons based on Palomino Core x2
512MB PC2100/PC2600 DDR SDRAM
nVidia NV20 based Video Card
Cheetah 18XL or X15 (18GB) x3 (I want to avoid active HD cooling if possible)
Internal SCSI Zip 250
Plextor UltraPlex 40x CD-ROM
Plextor SCSI PlexWriter 16x10x40
Sound Blaster Live Platinum 5.1
Altec Lansing ADA880 Speakers
Triple Boot: Whistler; WinME; Debian Linux
MS Office 10

I Already Own:
Viewsonic P815 21" Monitor
MS Natural Pro USB Keyboard
MS Intellimouse Explorer USB Mouse
Brother HL1240 USB Laser Printer
Wacom USB Graphics Tablet
APC 650VA Back-UPS

I am going to configure the 3 drives as follows:
Drive 1 - Partition 1 - Win2K; Part 2 - WinME; Part 3 - Debian Linux
Drive 2 - Partition 1 - Win2K Apps; Part 2 - WinME Apps; Part 3 - Debian Apps
Drive 3 - Partition 1 - Win2K Data/Swap; Part 2 - WinME same; Part 3 - Debian same

Keep in mind that since this will be May or June, I have several components listed that don't exist yet. I'm basically looking for advice on what you would add, remove, change, do differently, etc. Also if there are better components coming out before then that I haven't listed, I would like to know that as well. Thanks

 

[AMB]

Fong Kai FK-320?
Enermax 530W ATX Power Supply
SMP Motherboard based on 760MP/nVidia/Micron Chipset w/onboard U160
1.5GHz Athlons based on Palomino Core x2
512MB PC2100/PC2600 DDR SDRAM
nVidia NV20 based Video Card
Cheetah 18XL or X15 (18GB) x3 (I want to avoid active HD cooling if possible)
Internal SCSI Zip 250
Plextor UltraPlex 40x CD-ROM
Plextor SCSI PlexWriter 16x10x40
Sound Blaster Live Platinum 5.1
Videologic DigiTheatre
Triple Boot: Whistler; WinME; Debian Linux
MS Office 10 - Will it be out by then?

 

[Kingofcomputer]

It's too early to decide.
5 months things can change a lot.

 

[dmatech]

I don't think that Office 10 will be out by then (or Whistler for that matter) but that is the eventual plan, so I thought I'd put it Where can I see information on the case and speakers you mentioned?

 

[snow patrol]

In 5 months time, who know what will be available or how much things will cost?

I'd say you'd be far better off choosing your hardware much closer to the actual purchasing time

 

[dmatech]

I suppose that makes sense, I'm just trying to get a vague feel for what and when I am saving for.

 

[dmatech]

Any opinions on who makes the best U160 PCI SCSI Card?

 

[dmatech]

Basically, I will need three channels: A U160 Channel for the 3 Cheetahs, An Ultra-Wide Channel for the Plextors, and a SCSI-2 Channel for the Zip 250. I'm thinking I'll probably just go with a seperate card for the zip.

 

[joeryu]

id say go with the Philips acoustic edge rather than the live, unless you really need all the i/o's of the live drive, the AE has MUCH better sound. Also, the digitheatre is nice, but i chose the Boston Acoustics BA4800 over them and the Klipsh Promedias. Another option is the Digitheatre DTS, which is one kick ass sound system, but will cost ya around 600 i think.

btw, i have MS Office 10 beta copy, but havent come around to installing it. Anyone know the major differences from Office 2k is??

anyways, you got a kickass system coming your way there