The config I'm thinking about...

[Matmi]

I don't know much about PCs at all but need to change mine. There's a shop close to my place (Directron, in Houston) that, on top of selling all the parts, could build the system for $40. That's what I'll do.

Anyway, here is what I came up, based on this thread and other pieces of info gathered on the internet. I'm not a gamer at all and the main use of my PC is Photoshop and other quite heavy softwares :

CPU : Intel E6400 $259,99

Motherboard : Asus P5B $164,99. I have no intent of trying to overclock my PC (although the word "overclocking" looks exciting...)

Memory: Corsair XMS 2GB DDR2 800 $229

Hard Drive 1 : Western Digital Raptor 74GB 10,000 rpm $165

Hard Drive 2 : Seagate Barracuda 250 GB SATA $79,99

Video Card : Gigabyte nVidia Geforce 7600 GT $193,99

Case : Antec Piano Black Sonata II 450W $96,99

DVD/CD Writer : Samsung SH-S162L $35,99

Soundcard : Creative Soundblaster Audigy 4 $68,99

OS : Windows HP Home $84,99

My questions are :

1. what do you think ?
2. do I need an extra fan ?
3. do I need the soundcard, knowing that I listen to a bit of music on my PC and watch some DVDs, from time to time ?
4. is the video card overkill, knowing that I really never, ever play games (well, OK, my 2-yr old daughter has some very basic games...)
5. I may buy a larger second HD but don't need much more at that point. Is that a problem to have 2 HDs with different speeds ? I'd like to put Windows and my programs on the small one and CS2 scratch drive and my pictures, music, etc, on the second
5. I'm not sure I understand the differences between XP Home, Pro and Media Center

Many thanks in advance for your help !

 

[Howard]

1. Looks alright, but you can save by going with DDR2-533 memory. Go with a well-reputed brand and preferably something that runs at 1.8V.
2. All cases should have at least an exhaust fan. The one in the power supply doesn't count.
3. No. Onboard is fine.
4. Probably. And $200 for a 7600GT is a lot, even if it's the passively cooled version.
5. No, not a problem at all.
5 <- you used 5 twice. 6. I'm not sure myself, but Pro allows you to use 2 discrete processors. I believe Home allows you to use one dual-core processor, though.

 

[Matmi]

Thanks Howard, very helpful.

What video card would you recommend ?

Any other opinion ?

 

[Operandi]

I would get your case and PSU separately; the Sonata is nothing special and Antec's PSUs are not the best things around either, with rather questionable reliability.

InWin makes some very solid basic cases; I prefer them to all the Antec's I've used including the Sonata. If you want something a bit nicer Lian Li gets my vote. The PC-7B was going for $89 with free shipping a few days ago from newegg.

For the PSU, 300-350 watts is plenty for what your building so I?ll recommend the Seasonic S12 330.

The P5B has very good on board HD-Audio, there is no reason at all to opt for separate sound card.

For the video card I would go with a passive ATi x1300.

Lastly drop the Raptor and XMS for a more traditional 7200RPM drive and value RAM from Crucial, Kingston, Mushkin, ect.

 

[Aluvus]

4. It's not a problem.
5.2. Home vs. Pro. Media Center is essentially Pro with some network-centric things (like joining a domain) stripped out and some other features added on.

 

[jameswhite1979]

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/evaluation/compare.mspx

Thats a link that will give you all the details on the OS and there differences.