Need advice on hardware, and some OS questions

[Ultimadark]

Hi

I'm gonna buy a new computer in january, I'm gonna choose the parts and the website that I order it from will build it for me, I will however install the OS myself. I know some stuff about hardware, but for the last year I have become a little lazy on reading up on the latest stuff. So I figured I'm gonna post the parts that I have in mind so far, and if you have any suggestions, please post them.

So this is what I have in mind:

Cooler Master Mystique 631
Silver Power PSU, 600W
Intel Core 2 Duo E6750
MSI P35 NEO-F
Corsair TWIN2X 6400 DDR2, 4x1024 Mb, 4 gigs total (CM2X1024A-6400)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 500GB
Gainward GeForce 8800GT 512MB GDDR3

I also have some questions regarding the hardware and Windows Vista:

1. Which edition of Windows Vista should I get? I've got a student edition of Windows Vista Business edition, is this sufficient or should I get ultimate?
2. Do I need a floppy drive to install SATA drivers during the Vista installation, or does Vista ship with all the SATA drivers needed? In other words, do I need any more parts than this to be able to install vista when I pick up this new computer?
3. Do I really need 4 gigs of RAM, or is 2 gigs enough? The extra 2 gigs aren't that expensive, and I don't want to upgrade later on.
4. I'm also thinking about buying a new monitor, the Samsung 226BW seems like a nice choice, any opinions?

Thanks in advance!

 

[TemjinGold]

Originally posted by: Ultimadark
I also have some questions regarding the hardware and Windows Vista:

1. Which edition of Windows Vista should I get? I've got a student edition of Windows Vista Business edition, is this sufficient or should I get ultimate?
2. Do I need a floppy drive to install SATA drivers during the Vista installation, or does Vista ship with all the SATA drivers needed? In other words, do I need any more parts than this to be able to install vista when I pick up this new computer?
3. Do I really need 4 gigs of RAM, or is 2 gigs enough? The extra 2 gigs aren't that expensive, and I don't want to upgrade later on.
4. I'm also thinking about buying a new monitor, the Samsung 226BW seems like a nice choice, any opinions?

Thanks in advance!

1. Business should be fine.
2. No.
3. 4 gigs is good. I would go 2X2 rather than 4X1 though.
4. I like 24 inchers myself but to each his own.

 

[Ultimadark]

Originally posted by: TemjinGold

1. Business should be fine.
2. No.
3. 4 gigs is good. I would go 2X2 rather than 4X1 though.
4. I like 24 inchers myself but to each his own.

Would this be better?

TwinMOS DDR2 Twister PC6400 4096MB KIT, w/two matched DDR2 PC6400 2048MB CL5

It's not in the configure options for the computer I'm configuring, but they have it on their website so I can probably get that instead.

Also, may I ask why you would go with 2x2 instead of 4x1?

 

[TemjinGold]

All other things equal, using 4 sticks of ram is slightly slower than 2 sticks (more sticks means more load on your memory controller, resulting in higher traffic.) 2 sticks also leaves room for a future upgrade if you so desire.

Just out of curiosity, how much are they charging you for this ram? Ram is usually THE place where pre-configs charge you WAY more than you should be paying (and also the easiest thing to just buy and pop in yourself.)

 

[Ultimadark]

The site I'm buying from is like one of the two big hardware websites in Sweden (where I live), and they're charging me the same as if I would buy the RAM myself and popping it in. The 2 GB kits costs about $80, and the 4 GB kit costs about $140, so the 4GB kit is actually cheaper. They don't have that RAM in the configurator, only on the site, but I'm gonna email them and ask them to help me configure it the way I want it, and their customer support has always been great so it will probably be fine. If not, I'll just go with some other RAM option.

Btw, the 4GB kit I said earlier is not in stock for 2 weeks, this kit is $10 more expensive, and it should be OK, right?

OCZ nVIDIA SLI DDR2 PC6400 4096MB KIT, XTC, w/two 2048MB, CL5-4-4-15

 

[TemjinGold]

Yeah, especially since they're putting it together for you. If it won't work, I'm sure they'll tell you.