Building one for the first time, Need feedback

[alwaysfriends2004]

Hi I am building a new pc for the family and the details are given below. I will like to know your opinion and do's and dont's from you guys who have done this exercise before. All suggestions are welcome.

1. Our PC will be used for three things a)Video COnversion 2) Games 3) Internet and Household stuff (taxes etc)

2. The budget is around 700 to 800 USD. Every time I see a new motherboard it goes up.

3. I will be buying parts from either COMPUSA or NEWEGG so in US.

4. For motherboard I am eaning towards ASUS, for processor I am firmly Intel fan. For hard drive either WD or Seagate. For Case Antek.

5. No

6. I have read similar threads and I have selected my configuration.

7. I do not plan on overclocking yet. May be after research.

Now here is the configuration Plese review and let me know if they are compatible. I am also looking for specifics do's and dont's for building a PC.

ASUS P5K DELUXE/WIFI-AP LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail
CORSAIR Dominator 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail ($160)OR
G.SKILL 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5S-2GBPQ - Retail ($50)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3160815AS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM


I need your input in selecting following components and also provide your input about choice of other components mentioned above.
1) Video Card 256 MB
2) Sound Card , Do I need one ?.
3) Case and power supply.

THanks for reading this and helping me out.

Sam

 

[DSF]

A sound card is not a must.

What kinds of games do you want to play? For some people, games start and end at 2D flash games online. You can play those with nothing but integrated graphics. For some people, games mean power-hungry FPS titles like Crysis, which demand much more processing.

Another consideration as far as the video card is concerned, is what monitor will this be driving?

 

[alwaysfriends2004]

Thanks for your reply.

We plan to play kids PC games mostly but I may play games like "call of duty" and "world of conflict" etc. The current monitor is CRT 21 Inches but we will upgrade it after a few months to a LCD 20 inches monitor. Something similar to "Acer AL2216Wbd 22-inch LCD Monitor, Black" , 1680 X 1050".

Again Thanks.

 

[heyheybooboo]

Here is the Asus QVL Ram List in PDF format. I know that 2gb sticks aren't on the list and I can't recall if GSkill is on it . . .

That GSkill ram may work great but these days a mobo can go bizarro quite quickly if you don't follow single/dual channel, single/double density, DIMM socket, speed, vendor, etc., recommendations . . .

The onboard sound is 'primo'

With a Crossfire mobo you may want to consider the GECUBE Radeon HD 3850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 but it just went out of stock!

Edit: I fergit

If you are doing the video/photo thang you may want to consider a second hard drive as a 'scratch' disk - helps a great deal . . .