Here’s my current thoughts. I’m pretty set on the motherboard and processor. I’m getting the RAM so I can use the dual-channel memory features. I could go cheaper on the video card. That wouldn’t be hard to do. The hard drives aren’t necessary, but I would like to put them in a RAID 1 configuration.
Still need a case. I’m looking at two deals right now. Telman has one for sale and Justin, Liz’s cousin, has one for sale too. I’ve decided not to be brave and take the Vista plunge. I took the plunge on Windows 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 3.1, 95a, and 98. I think by now I’ve learned my lesson. Besides, hardly anybody has drivers out yet.
Mb - ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Processor - AMD Opteron 165 Denmark 1.8GHz Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model OSA165CDBOX - Retail
RAM - Kingston ValueRAM 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Desktop Memory Model KVR400X64C3A/1G - Retail
Video - GIGABYTE GV-NX76T256D-RH GeForce 7600GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Silent Pipe II, Lead Free Video Card - Retail
HDs - Western Digital Caviar RE WD2500YS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Or, for $140 you could have twice the RAM…
http://shop2.outpost.com/product/4416996
Good video card guide here:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/01/05/the_best_gaming_video_cards_for_the_money/page2.html
I’ve always been happy with Corsair’s Value line of RAM for general use, as I don’t overclock.
I’ve also heard very good things about MUSHKIN.
I’d stay away from cheap RAM with heatspreaders, the tech support team @ my work has caught a few low budget companies using spreaders to cover the fact that they’re using mismatched chips on their DIMMS.
Steve,
Thanks for the link. I usually try to stay away from Fry’s because of a bad experience I had once. I’ll check it out though.
Justin,
Thanks for the link. That card I listed is the high end I would go with. I might do something a little cheaper. Haven’t completely made up my mind yet.