Any bottlenecks in this computer?

[flexorz]

Hi, I'm building a new PC for general use, as well as some gaming. It doesn't need to run Crysis or anything like that, but I'd like the graphics to be decent, and to be fast when using general applications (I don't do video editing or anything intensive like that.)

My budget is somewhere around $500 for the new parts, give or take, but I do have a few pieces I'm going to transition from my existing computer. No preferences as far as brand names go, and I don't plan on overclocking it.

Here's my list so far, can anyone tell me if it needs improvement in any area? My main concern is a bottleneck component that is going to hold everything else back.

GIGABYTE GA-MA69GM-S2H AM2 AMD 690G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - $80

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Brisbane 2.6GHz Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor Model ADO5000DOBOX - $100

G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ - $90

XFX PVT84JYAJG GeForce 8600GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card - $100

Undecided SATA Hard Drive ~ $100

Undecided Antec Case with 500w PS ~$100

Optical Drive, Windows XP, LCD Monitor, Speakers, Mouse, Keyboard - already have them - $0

Are there any considerations that I'm missing? Also, I have some thoughts.

1. Should I go with 2GB, is 4GB overkill?
2. I'm a little concerned that the video card is underpowered.
3. Is Windows XP 64-bit much of an improvement?
4. I currently have IDE hard drives that I'd like to use with the SATA compatible hard drive. Can I have both types connected at the same time? I may just use the IDE for now and then get a SATA later. Any issues with doing that? I'm guessing I need some kind of adaptor.

Thanks for your time and thoughts!

 

[DSF]

1. As cheap as RAM is, I would normally say go ahead and get 4GB. However, spending only $500 on parts, I would say that the extra money would be better spent on the video card rather than an extra 2 gigs of RAM if you're looking to play games. For some tasks, like major photo editing, the RAM would be of more use than a faster GPU.
2. That's all relative. For some users it's overpowered, and for some it's underpowered. The question is what you want the PC to do. You don't want to play Crysis, but what do you play? I would probably try to stretch for something like an HD3850 or 9600GT now though.
4. Your board has 1 IDE port and 4 SATA ports. You can support at most 2 IDE devices, but you can absolutely use them at the same time as SATA drives. I'm not sure what kind of adapter you think you need, unless you have more than two IDE hard drives. If so, I would look into getting one newer, bigger hard drive (a nice 500GB is only ~$105 if you can scrape up a little dough) and consolidating.

 

[Roguestar]

If general use doesn't include "high quality gaming" then you're all set.

 

[MarcVenice]

Thing is, a 100$ 8600gt doesn't even come close to a HD3850 512mb for 150$ when gaming, it's like 2-3 times as slow. So you really want to add 50$ to your videocard, it'll make a huge difference and you'll enjoy it a lot longer.

 

[flexorz]

Thanks for the responses guys, I think I'm going to go with the higher end video card for $50 more.

 

[hoovie]

To answer the unanswered question, IMO vista 64 bit is the way to go - in addition to being able to fully utilize the 64-bit architecture of your CPU, it will also be able to handle more memory. For example, vista 32 bit home premium can theoretically handle 4gb, but in reality only 'sees' around 3.25 due to the way it addresses the memory and devices and peripherals, by going with 64-bit home premium, it will allow you to use up to 16GB of memory, thus giving you better upgradebility. That being said, it's rare for the average home user to need more than 4GB of memory, at this time.

Some things to keep in mind are that using Vista 64 bit will come with some benefits and prices. One such is that you will get increased security and programs compiled around the 64 bit architecture will likely run faster. While driver support in the past(such as for xp64) has been flaky, more and more device manufactures are producing good 64bit drivers, but as I understand it, the driver MUST be signed by MS, or you won't be able to use it, also you can pretty much forget about running a 32 bit driver under vista 64 as well. Also, if you like to run a lot of really old programs, vista 64 will not be able to run them(16 bit programs, that is).

Do some looking around and see what you can find out about peoples experiences with vista 64 and hopefully you will come up with a more definite answer to your question. Of course, if you purchase vista 32 bit, you can order the 64 bit version from MS for about $10.

 

[2112Rush]

Not to hijack, but how do you know if you have a 16 bit program? I'm going to be using Vista 64 in my new machine. I have Photoshop 6, Corel IX, Bryce 5 and some other programs. Will they not work with Vista?

 

[Roguestar]

^ Really really old programs that run in DOS are 16-bit. If you're dead set on playing Duke Nukem 3D then you could run virtual PC and emulate a windows '95 box. All your new programs (or any released in the last 6 years) will be 32-bit and will run fine under Vista x64.