seeking system build advice

[nikko]

I'm helping out a buddy upgrade his system. He's basically going to be using it for audio. He's a musician and does all his stuff on that computer. So, that said, on to the upgrade...

I think we've settled on the Opty 165 and DFI NF4 Ultra-D as the cpu/mobo combo. He also needs to upgrade his PSU, video card and RAM. That's where I need help.

He needs a PCI-E video card. He probably isn't going to be doing much gaming on this machine, so it doesn't have to be the greatest of whatever is out there. With that in mind, what would video card would you recommend?

Finally, he wants to have 2 GB of RAM. Right now he has two 512 MB PC2100 dimms. I'm inclined to have him scrap those and just buy 2 GB of DDR 333 or 400. Any recommendations on that front?

Finally, how powerful a PSU will he likely need? Any specific models you would recommend?

Thanks in advance for your help.

UPDATE: Upon further review, I am open to other mobo suggestions. I didn't realize noise was an issue with the DFI and overclocking is not imperative for this machine. Also, as far as a video card goes, he would like to be able to watch TV on his monitor, so I guess the video card needs to have whatever input that would require. Thanks.

 

[Bobthelost]

PSU: Fortron 450W for $50 for a budget option, any good name 400W PSU should be sufficent (the 450W fortron is $8 more than the 400W so why not?) The Ultra has a chipset fan so you're not going for a low noise system, it's not a gaming machine so bling is probably negligable, i'd just get the fortron and be happy.

Videocard : X300? How little gaming is planned here, a 7600GT is the highest i'd recomend for a casual gamer, even that is overkill for the most part.

RAM: 2x1GB DDR400 is the best stuff around in terms of bang/buck. Since you're looking at the DFI boards which are rather picky for RAM i'm going to have to pass on a recomendation. DFI overclock very well, but you pay for it with compatability issues and a fiddly BIOS.