How is this setup looking?

[Bona Fide]

He does mainly gaming and graphic design, and asked me to help him pick out parts. I'm not going to be running tech support or anything - he's pretty good with hardware.

Athlon 64 X2 3800+
XP-90 + Panaflo L1A
MSI K8N Neo4/SLI
2GB OCZ Performance RAM
200GB Seagate SATA150
eVGA 7800GT w/ BF2
Cooler Master Praetorian 730
Antec TPII-480 480W PSU
NEC 3540A DVD-RW
Samsung DVD-ROM (not sure of the model #)
Logitech MX518
Logitech Elite Keyboard
Viewsonic VP191B
Creative i-Trigue 2.1 3300

I believe that's it...any opinions/suggestions/comments? 🙂

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Very nice. Just wondering, how come you chose the XP-90 over the XP-120? Looking forward to when you get this setup....
Tas.

 

[Fresh Daemon]

Nice rig. He'll enjoy that.

Only things I'd do:

1) pick a different PSU. Antec has been hit-or-miss lately in quality control, so go for a nice Fortron, Sparkle, Seasonic, Enermax, or OCZ. PCP&C if he can stretch the budget for it.

2) go for a DFI board instead of the MSI. It's a myth that they're harder to set up. But DFI has great support, is built for long-term reliability, and if he wants to overclock one day it's the best board to do it.

 

[Cheesetogo]

If you choose to get a different psu, I recommend the Enermax Whisper II 535 watt psu.

 

[Bona Fide]

Thanks all, time to answer the questions 😛

Tas - I went with the XP90 because it should be easier to install and it's quite a bit cheaper (almost $15 w/ cost of fan).

Daemon - I myself have the TP-II 550W and I absolutely love it. My previous PSU was the True380. Both have served me well, and I have faith in Antec. Also, I picked MSI because DFI, in all honesty, is not for the faint of heart. MSI allows for almost as good overclocking, and much more ease of mind. Plus there's a built-in Creative Labs sound codec 🙂

Cheesetogo - I don't think I'll be changing it. If I do, it will only be because he wants an SLI-compliant PSU.

😀

 

[Fresh Daemon]

I myself have the TP-II 550W and I absolutely love it.

Like I say, hit-or-miss. It's up to you, but personally, I wouldn't want to risk getting a dud.

Also, I picked MSI because DFI, in all honesty, is not for the faint of heart.

Nonsense. I installed my DFI, loaded performance defaults, and off we went. No hiccups at all. By all means, take the DFI if you want the onboard Creative, but don't let the "DFI is hard to get running" BS influence you.