Opinions on build

[bamacre]

ENERMAX CS-5271LBFS-B Black Computer Case With Side Panel Window
$54.22
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811124111

Antec SmartPower 2.0 SP-500 500W Power Supply Retail
$64.99
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=273503

Gigabyte GA-8N-SLI nForce4 SLI Intel Edition P4/Pentium D 1066FSB LGA775 DDR2 ATX Motherboard
$97.50
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=242659

Pentium® D Processor 940 3.2GHz, 800MHz FSB, Socket 775, 2x2MB Cache, Dual Core Retail
$257.00
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80852

Corsair VS2GBKIT667D2 2GB Kit DDR2-667 PC2-5300 Value Select Memory Retail
$147.50
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=85016-47

Western Digital Caviar SE WD2500JS 250GB Serial ATA II 7200RPM Hard Drive w/8MB Buffer
$84.90
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=101220-11

BenQ 16X DVD±R DVD Burner
$39.32
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827101010

XFX PV-T71G-UCF7 GeForce 7900 GT 470M Xtreme PCI Express 256MB DDR3 Video Card w/VIVO Retail
$299.99
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=321068

Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Sound Card
$69.99
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=290240

Total Price $1,115.41

Prices are with shipping and TN sales tax where applicable (newegg).

No OC'ing. No SLI will be used. Budget is pretty tight, already a few bucks over. This isn't for me, btw.

 

[fire400]

nforce4 on Intel doesn't look very attractive

I'd recommend the 805 Pentium D and OC it with a good hundred dollar LGA mobo with a pure intel bred chipset, with PCI-e, the benchmarks for the higher dualcore chips don't really make sense to me, because an AMD x2 3800 would be a better choice if you're going to spend that much on a CPU

I'd get an NCQ drive for a few more bucks instead of the western digital, on newegg.com they offer ncq drives with 16mb cache for under 90 bucks

you should just get the X-fi card, I see no point in settling for an Audigy 2 ZS when you're only going to pay 50 dollars more for the latest X-fi Music card on a more expensive rig like this one

two DVD burners would probably be ideal, don't you think?

good memory from Corsair

I'd get an x1800XL for a little over 200 bucks. it matches speeds of the higher end x1800 cards.

if you're serious about spending that much money on a new build, go with an AMD based build.

 

[bamacre]

Originally posted by: fire400
nforce4 on Intel doesn't look very attractive

I'd recommend the 805 Pentium D and OC it with a good hundred dollar LGA mobo with a pure intel bred chipset, with PCI-e, the benchmarks for the higher dualcore chips don't really make sense to me, because an AMD x2 3800 would be a better choice if you're going to spend that much on a CPU

yeah, 805 is a good cpu for the money, but no OC'ing. The X2 is about $40 more than the Pentium 940. That would kill the budget. You got an idea on the chipset, think I'll hunt down a 945P board.

I'd get an NCQ drive for a few more bucks instead of the western digital, on newegg.com they offer ncq drives with 16mb cache for under 90 bucks

Good advice, but this is the biggest sata drive that fits the budget. I'm ok with it.

you should just get the X-fi card, I see no point in settling for an Audigy 2 ZS when you're only going to pay 50 dollars more for the latest X-fi Music card on a more expensive rig like this one

Well, you say "only $50," but that's almost double the price.

two DVD burners would probably be ideal, don't you think?

Yes, but again, budget.

I'd get an x1800XL for a little over 200 bucks. it matches speeds of the higher end x1800 cards.

I think for 300 shipped, this is the best bet. If anything, I'd go for the eVGA for $15 more.

if you're serious about spending that much money on a new build, go with an AMD based build.

Again, cheaper, plus I can use DDR2 memory. At stock, both cpu's are going to be almost the same performance. No need to spend another $40.

 

[Operandi]

Spending $50.00 on a $1000+ build dosn't make much sense to me but that case looks absolutly horrible, not even worth the $50.00.

Its sometimes hard to judge build quality from pics like that but a very good indication is the air flow design. If you look at the rear of that case you'll notice the very restrictive exhausts. Judging from those pics this case is among the worse I've seen; you are also paying for (most likely garbage) PSU you won't use.

If you just want something basic InWin make great cases, here is one example, its only about $10 more then that junk Enermax. For $85 you can have the WaveMaser II, something a bit more upper class.

Also, change the PSU to a Forton-Source like this one or if the budget is really that tight this one.

 

[bamacre]

Originally posted by: Operandi
Spending $50.00 on a $1000+ build dosn't make much sense to me but that case looks absolutly horrible, not even worth the $50.00.

Its sometimes hard to judge build quality from pics like that but a very good indication is the air flow design. If you look at the rear of that case you'll notice the very restrictive exhausts. Judging from those pics this case is among the worse I've seen; you are also paying for (most likely garbage) PSU you won't use.

If you just want something basic InWin make great cases, here is one example, its only about $10 more then that junk Enermax. For $85 you can have the WaveMaser II, something a bit more upper class.

Also, change the PSU to a Forton-Source like this one or if the budget is really that tight this one.

Thanks for the ideas!

 

[DaveSimmons]

Antec SLK3000 is a very nice $50 case if you don't need the bling-window

Get an intel chipset motherboard and forget about SLI, just buy a nv 8000GT next year instead of a second 7900GT.

I'm not an overclocker so I'd stick with the P4 3.2, it's fast enough to keep a 7900GTX from bottlenecking and should be fast enough for a 8000GT next year too.

 

[Gagan]

Looks solid to me, IF Anything I'd kick up the dvd to the 3550A but that's about it.

About hte gigabyte board, well I'm just an asus guy and I'd go an A8nSLI permium overthat board, even a slightly used one..

Solid choices though!