seeking input on new system components

[howardg]

This is where I am so far in devising my new system. I am open to all suggestions, especially for a video card. I am not a gamer but use the computer for digital photography primarily. The prices are all NewEgg prices. Thanks.

Antec Three Hundred Black ATX Mid Tower Computer Case $59.95

2 X Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive $169.98 ($84.99 each)

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Memory $99.99

ASUS P5Q DELUXE & XONAR DX BUNDLE LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard $239.99

Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale 3.16GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor $189.99

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit $99.99

[Vear Heart]

As far as a Video card something like a ATI Radeon HD 4670 would be good for you seeing how its the best in its price range.

Change that OS to a 32 bit if you Wont need 4 gig's of memory or at least get Vista Ultimate 64 bit(cant believe i just recomended Vista)

[slowmo]

I just built a system a few days ago similar to your sytem.
My memory:
20-231-122 MEM 2Gx2|GSK F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ R 1 $66.99

if you could get that deal you would save some money.
I bought my

13-131-299 MB ASUS P5Q PRO 775 P45 RT
and my

19-115-037 CPU INTEL|C2D E8400 3G 775 45N R

as a combo that cost me $265. all on newegg.com

I am pretty happy with my build now that I kept my old Evga 8800GTS 640 mb card.
Good Luck on your build

[Petden]

I would look at atleast 4GB of ram. The ram that slowmo has is a good option. The 4670 is a very good card for the price.

[howardg]

You guys are astute! I always intended to get 4GB of RAM but incorrectly entered the data. Do I really need Vista Ultimate 64 over Home Premium 64? Here is the revised lineup:

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) $65.99


SAPPHIRE 100255L Radeon HD 4670 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 $79.99

Antec Three Hundred Black ATX Mid Tower Computer Case $59.95

2 X Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive $169.98 ($84.99 each)

ASUS P5Q DELUXE & XONAR DX BUNDLE LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard $239.99

Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale 3.16GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor $189.99

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit $99.99

[Petden]

Don't forget to add a PSU.

[howardg]

I will be using the PS from my current setup: a SeaSonic M12 SS-600HM ATX12V / EPS12V 600W Power Supply. Any input on whether I need Vista Ultimate 64 vs. Home Premium 64?

[howardg]

OK -- I went ahead and ordered everything from NewEgg -- incl the Home Premium version of Vista 64. This will be my 5th computer build, so wish me luck.

[Petden]

The premium 64 will be fine. Good luck.

[howardg]

I hope to have everything by the weekend. I will let you know how it goes.

[howardg]

I'm doing my homework for this build and need some advice. I have read many places that the driver CD that comes with the Asus P5Q Deluxe is full of unnecessary and outdated programs and drivers and that I should only install the chipset driver, and even then I should download the latest chipset driver from the Asus website and use that instead. OK, so I went to the Asus website and downloaded the "Intel(R) P45/ICH10R Chipset Software Installation Utility WHQL V9.0.0.1009 for Windows XP/Vista & 64bit XP/Vista." I unzipped it and saw that it has a "Chipset" directory with the following subdirectories: 1) All, 2) Lang, 3) USB, 4) Vista, and 5) x64. The Chipset directory has two setup files: AsusSetup.exe and plain old Setup.exe. How do I install this thing? The readme file appears to be generic and written by Intel and is not specific for this download. For example, it says, "INF files are copied to the hard disk after running the Intel(R) Chipset Device Software executable with an '-A' flag (i.e., "INFINST_AUTOL.EXE -A" or "SETUP.EXE -A"). The location of the INF files depends on whether a '-P' flag is specified along with the '-A' flag." But there is NO INFINST_AUTOL.EXE file, nor is any mention made of AsusSetup. Can anyone help?

[howardg]

The build went well. The computer booted fine right from the start. I had the usual difficulties installing the stock Intel heatsink and fan -- pushing down the locking pins is supposed to result in a click, but I only got a satisfactory click out of two of the four. Nevertheless, when I examined the pins from the underside of the board I could see that all four had the same amount of penetration, with the black pins protruding from the white sleeves equally. So far it's running fine. The Vista install didn't take on the first try because I tried to use the "install drivers" route using the Matrix Storage Manager (MSM) drivers from the Intel web site. The Vista installer appeared to copy the ICHR10 driver, but after reboot Vista said it could not start because of driver problems. I re-ran the install without bothering with the external drivers and it went fine. I had to do the second install on a clean blank drive (which I fortunately had) because the installer would not boot anymore from the DVD after it had finished the first part of the install process.