Critique My Rig

[randumb]

My dad wants me to build him a comp, so I came up with this rig, all parts off newegg.
$96 - Antec Sonata
$132 - Sony DVD+/-RW Burner
$127 - Seagate 160GB 7200RPM SATA
$157 - Corsair Value Select 1GB PC3200 Kit
$105 - Abit IS7
$213 - Intel 2.8C
$206 - Albatron FX5900
My dad will not be overclocking this rig at all (despite my continual nagging). Any suggestions welcome. I'm trying to get the best bang for the buck parts here. My main questions are:
1. Should I get the Abit IS7, or some other board?
2. What graphics card to get?
3. SATA worth it?

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

What is your dad going to do with this computer?

 

[RaynorWolfcastle]

Originally posted by: JustAnAverageGuy
What is your dad going to do with this computer?

I agree, unless your dad is a gamer/power user that comp is some serious overkill

 

[Sid59]

Originally posted by: RaynorWolfcastle

Originally posted by: JustAnAverageGuy
What is your dad going to do with this computer?

I agree, unless your dad is a gamer/power user that comp is some serious overkill

3rd post. also, interested in what your father intends to do with this rig.

multimedia creation and encoding?
playing games?
both?

 

[randumb]

He's going to do video editing and play CoD/BF1942 (yeah, I'm not kidding ).

 

[RaynorWolfcastle]

Originally posted by: randumb
He's going to do video editing and play CoD/BF1942 (yeah, I'm not kidding ).

In that case those are some very nice choices. I am partial to ATI's cards these days but nVidia's 5900 is certainly no slouch compared to the 9800 non-pro.

BTW, you may want to take a look at the silentpcreviews before buying so that you can keep everything nice and quiet. I'd look into Samsung's SATA hard drives as they are supposedly dead silent and perform nicely, finally I'd look into gettting a Zalman 7000 Al-CU heatsink and running it with the fanmate to keep noise down from the CPU fan too. I'd also look into Arctic Cooling's VGA Silencer as an aftermarket add-on to the video card to get rid of the whiny fan that comes on most video cards. Then again, I'm becoming a silent PC nazi so maybe your dad is willing to put up with more noise than I am

 

[Corporate Thug]

all looks well but i would swap out the dvd burner for the NEC dual format which can be had for ~$105 and use buffalo pc3200 instead since it will run cas 2 @ 200 mhz

 

[randumb]

Thanks for the comments. I'm still wondering if the SATA is worth the extra price over ATA drives.

Shady - Swapping the NEC in. I've heard Buffalo is hit or miss though.
RaynorWolfCastle - Added the Zalman 7000 on. I believe the Seagate Barracuda drives are very quiet, and I'm more comfortable with buying it because of the numerous reviews I've read on it. The rig should be pretty quiet overall, with the Sonata/Barracuda/Zalman.

 

[Duvie]

I would look at the Liteon 401s at www.zipzoomfly.com.....

It flat out blows the NEC away. It has a lot faster cd-r and cd-rw speeds as well as carries the liteon legacy of some of the fastest dae and dvd ripping speeds around....Liteon are usually rebadged pioneers of late so you know quality is behind the scenes...

 

[wake]

If you're really concerned about video editing and gaming you could get him a nice card like
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-277&depa=1

 

[optimistic]

Lots of DVD burners on sale now AR for $89. For example, $129 minus 40 rebates = $90. Same speed / format as the one you chosen.

Search the hot deal forums.

 

[Corporate Thug]

Shady - Swapping the NEC in. I've heard Buffalo is hit or miss though.

the ones with winbond modules are all but a guarantee. what do u have to lose? Corsair value ram is cas 2.5 anyway

 

[JimRaynor]

He said his dad doesn't want to overclock. Do you need a capture card or anything for video editing? And why go with Albatron, of all brands?

 

[randumb]

Originally posted by: JimRaynor
He said his dad doesn't want to overclock. Do you need a capture card or anything for video editing? And why go with Albatron, of all brands?

He's got a capture card from his old machine, a Hauppage I believe. I wasn't really sure on the graphics card company, just clicked on a random FX5900. I remember XFX was good...