Advice for new system - motherboards, processors, a power supply, case and ram

[ftcnt]

I'm looking to buy a new computer and want to get some advice and opinions on motherboards, processors, a power supply, case and ram. It will be a home desktop pc. I'm going to be doing a lot of multi-tasking, running different programs at once like ms word, dreamweaver and statistics programs. I'd like it to be very quick so that I can switch between programs as my current machine is sluggish but it is very old. How much RAM should I be looking at and what type ? As well, what are some above average video cards that you would recommend? As for a power supply, how much juice do I need? I'd like to use my old CD drives & DVD drives but I want to get larger hard drive disks. At this point, I'd like to keep my system under 1000 USD. thanks for your help!

[mbucari1]

If you want a good pc w/o breaking yourself, you will want to start w/ 1GB of DDR2 667 RAM (XP) or 2GB (Vista). I'd get the E6600 core 2 duo on silghtly OC it to 2.7 GHz. A mobo that supports OCing, the core 2 duo, and 4 slots of DDR2 RAM (and preferable one that will support quad cores as well, for upgrade). A decent vid card w/ at least 256MB of GDDR3 RAM. Use integrated sound.

Another thing that will keep your apps running fast is to install your OS on a small HD and install all your apps on another larger HD. I'd also downloads diskeeper 11 and increase the allocation size for your MFT.

[yudisan]

I agree with mbucari, if you're going for vista build up a powerhouse of DDR cause you'll need it.

[mr. nails]

cpu

mb

sys mem

vid crd

psu

i recommend @ least this, but it will exceed ur budget by $200. this is the higher end mid-range and it is what u'll be looking for minus the chassis. i'll let u pick ur frame.

[mbucari1]

Hey mr. nails, for such a high end psu, mobo and RAM, kinda seems like you're cheaping out on the vid card and cpu. Don't you think it's a little unbalanced?

[mr. nails]

Hey mr. nails, for such a high end psu, mobo and RAM, kinda seems like you're cheaping out on the vid card and cpu. Don't you think it's a little unbalanced?

he said hi mid-range. not top of the line. besides this build is already $200 over budget. u wanna go another $200 more? ask him.

[Virtualbody1234]

Hey mr. nails, for such a high end psu, mobo and RAM, kinda seems like you're cheaping out on the vid card and cpu. Don't you think it's a little unbalanced?

I agree. Unbalanced. Bring down the PSU, Mobo and RAM a bit to fit his budget. Especially the $215 PSU.

[mr. nails]

i just don't see it. why do u guys want this guy to have 667 or slower ram? and the psu, well, i could knock off $50, but the one i chose is future proof or at least somewhat of for future upgrades he mite wanna do. the cpu is the lowest end for it's cache class and the mb is the latest chipset. the vid crd is spot on imo. my initial read made me think this guy wanted a decent up-to-date machine that he's gonna be keeping for a long while. where are ur guys' recommendations? lol, maybe i did recommend terrible products, but we have yet to see others...

Even within good manufacturers quality varies. Heres a good deal though.
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/mess...keyword1=antec

as he said. save u $150 if ur not gonna upgrade to a better vid crd down the road. that should put it within budget.

[clocker]

Wait till late April and see what the Intel price cuts look like.
Could save enough money to make it worthwhile.

[mr. nails]

Wait till late April and see what the Intel price cuts look like.
Could save enough money to make it worthwhile.

true. e6600 will drop in price to $222.