Hey everyone, first time posting here but I've been reading up on the suggestions here for high-performance parts for a while. I have looked at couple other tech forums and you guys here really seem to know what you're taking about. I'm out to build my first desktop and was hoping for some guidance. I do have a budget, its around 1500 but any ways to save money on my current build would be much appreciated.
This desktop is going to be oriented towards games and multitasking with no problem. I want this to last for a while without having to upgrade, but I do want an easily upgradable system. The parts are as follows:
Case: Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER Centurion 532 RC-532-SKN1 Black Aluminum bezel, SECC chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail Mobo: Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 (rev. 1.3) LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail Graphics Card: Newegg.com - EVGA 640-P2-N825-AR GeForce 8800GTS 640MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SUPERCLOCKED HDCP Video Card - Retail PSU: Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-520HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 520W Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CUL, CE, CB, FCC Class B, TUV, CCC, C-tick - Retail GPU: Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail RAM: Newegg.com - G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail HD: Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM Monitor: Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM CD/DVD: Newegg.com - LITE-ON Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache E-IDE/ATAPI DVD Burner with LightScribe Technology - OEM Cooling: Newegg.com - ZALMAN CNPS7000B-AlCu LED 2 Ball Cooling Fan - Retail Speakers: Newegg.com - Logitech X-530 70 watts RMS 5.1 Black Speaker System - OEM Subtotal: 1380
A couple things I am concerned with:
- Is the power supply going to be efficient?
- What other sorts of cooling will I need?
- I thought the monitor was a great price for the specs offered but wanted a second opinion.
- Thirdly, is it necessary to have the 640 over the 320? I have the money, and yes I would like to play games out right now and in the future on high settings...
- Also, do I need a sound card? I've heard if you have the right motherboard you don't need one.
- Should I go ahead and get Windows Vista with this build, or go ahead and just load my old copy of XP? Also, will there be a price drop in the near future with graphics cards/intel's dual core chips? Because I can afford to wait a couple more weeks before ordering
- Finally, and I know this is a bunch of noob questions (but I am in fact a noob at this), I was hoping someone had a suggestion on the speakers I have picked out... I have heard a bunch of different reviews. If there were a replacement they would need to be the same price range.
I really do appreciate the help, thanks.