Opinions On This Build As A Dual-Boot Solution

Will be building this as a a dual-booting Windows XP and Ubuntu box. Eventually I'll upgrade to Vista, probably after SP1.

This system will be for the following:
Web surfing, chatting, some web design, lots of photoshopping, some AutoCAD work, downloading 24/7, sending an HDTV signal out to my TV, and some mild gameplay. It will usually be left on all the time (ie needs to be relatively cool and stable).

For Ubuntu I'll be running XGL (Beryl) which might be demanding on the video card; I'm not sure. Lots of 3D-ness and jiggly windows.

Price-wise I'd like to keep this at arund $1000 as it currently stands. I'm open to any suggestions.

Shuttle SD32G2B

Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 Conroe 1.86GHz 2M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 533 (PC2 4200)

(2) 300GB Maxtor PATA drives (from my old computer)

(1) Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 ST3500641AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s

BYTECC BT-380 U2 BLACK 3.5" USB 2.0 External Enclosure - Retail (for one of the PATA Drives)

XFX PVT73GUGD3 GeForce 7600GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail

Samsung 19" 8ms LCD (from my old setup)

Klipsch 2.1

Lite-On DVD-RW Drive (from my old Setup)

Click to expand...

Questions:

Is it okay to switch out the RAM with Kingston Value RAM? Keep in mind I will be doing no overclocking. This system is going to be on 24/7 usually so it needs to be stable.

Although I did look at the sticky which says the 7600GT will fit inside my case I wanted to double check because there are quite a few different 7600GT's available and while the XFX looks pretty slim, there are smaller-looking models available. The link to it is: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150182

Should I have any cooling issues with leaving this on all the time? Is there any extra cooling solution I can purchase for my case? It doesn't look like I can fit any other fans or anything...

Will the 250watt psu be enough to support the 2 HD's, video card, and everything else? The 3rd HD will be powered seperately so I'm not too concerned with it.

I appreciate any help. Have heard great things about this message board from my car forum.

anyone?

Should be fine to swap out for value RAM. The PSU should also be fine.

The Kingston ram should suit your needs well enough, and everything should fit just fine. It looks like a nice build, with the exception of the psu. I'm 99% sure your going to want at least a 350w psu for that card, it will work with the psu you listed, but for a few extra dollars, I'd upgrade. BFG and evga both recommend a 350w psu for the 7600...

digital_exhaust said:

The Kingston ram should suit your needs well enough, and everything should fit just fine. It looks like a nice build, with the exception of the psu. I'm 99% sure your going to want at least a 350w psu for that card, it will work with the psu you listed, but for a few extra dollars, I'd upgrade. BFG and evga both recommend a 350w psu for the 7600...

Click to expand...

When you say for a few extra dollars... where am I actually swapping the psu? It comes with a 250w psu

brohken said:

When you say for a few extra dollars... where am I actually swapping the psu? It comes with a 250w psu

Click to expand...

Um....yeah, good point

I suppose I shoud have read your post a little bit better... and it looks like that psu will have to do. As I said, the 7600 will run on that psu, I just always prefer, when possible, to go a little overboard when it cones to my psu...

thanks man.

any other opinions on the PSU, or possible options? My dad is running the same setup except he has a 6800xt and 1 HD however I heard that the 7series GeForce cards are more energy efficient and req. less power. Is this true?

I run a similar setup with the same PSU in a shuttle with a 7900GT with zero problems. there is a 300watt one out there that you can purchase if you think you need it.