Please take a quick look at this setup...

[Frugn]

I'm building a computer for my brother, and I have put together a list of things. I've been out of the loop for a while so I'm not entirely sure what the best things are at the moment. We're aiming for 'good but not the best' - something that'll play the lastest games well and will continue to play games on mid settings for several years into the future.

Processor: Pentium 4 930D 3.0GHz
Motherboard: Abit AW8
Memory: 2x OCZ® Value Pro 1GB DDR2 PC5400 667Mhz with Copper Heatspreader
HDD: 250 GB Western Digital Caviar SE16 SATA2 7200rpm 16MB cache HDD
FDD: Sony Black (I assume I can't pimp this out much more)
Case: Antler Supercase SK-352 BL Black midi
PSU: ThermalTake 560W PurePower PSU Black/Silver, silent dual fan, Active PFC, dual SATA
Vidcard: Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out Dual DVI PCI-E
KB/Mouse/Speaker - just cheapo ones
Monitor: 19" Samsung SM920N Monitor 8ms Silver TFT analogue
DVD: Lite-on SHW-16H5S-15C lightscribe DL DVD +/-R/RW beige & black bezels Retail

1. Firstly, is everything here compatible with each other? (i.e. memory with mobo, processor with mobo, PSU big enough etc)
2. What's the motherboard like? I know it doesn't support SLI or Crossfire, and doesn't have Firewire. Is there a better alternative for the same price? (I really don't have a clue which motherboards are good).
3. Memory: looks OK to me. Won't be overclocking so latency and speed aren't much of an issue. Are OCZ good?
4. Vidcard: similarly, won't be overclocking so the consensus seems to be go with ATI (their VIVO support sounds good too). Any thoughts to the contrary?
5. Monitor: It's just a fairly cheap one, but it's big and seems to be quite good. Is DVI really worth the extra cash?

Thanks for your time

 

[Frugn]

Anyone? You'd really be helping me out.

(By the way, I changed the case to a ThermalTake Soprano.)

 

[HaMMerHeD]

Looks ok to me. No glaringly huge problems. I would go with AMD+NVIDIA rather than Intel and ATI, but that is just me. I wouldn't worry about DVI. There is a difference, but it isn't huge.

A word on the cheap-o mouse: Don't do it. Get a Logitech G5 or G7 or the equivalent snake from Razer. He will be glad you did.

Also, a good, or even decent, keyboard will make things much more tolerable. Flimsy feeling buttons can really screw up an otherwise good gaming experience.

Other than that, it should be alright.

Just consider the mouse carefully. If your brother is a lefty, go with the Razer. Otherwise, you cant go wrong with the G5 (unless he wants wireless, in which case: G7).

 

[firebyyrd]

You might not need such a top grade G5 laser mouse.

I would just buy a MX510 which would most likely suit the purpose..

Wireless mouses however .. G7 ^_^"

 

[NulloModo]

Seems like a decent system overall, but I have som suggestions:

Get an NEC DVD writer, actually, get two of them, best on the market for the price, and disc to disc burns are worth the extra $40.

Mobo: Go with the Intel 975XBX or the Asus D5PW2E- Premium, might as well spend the extra cash on a board that has been confirmed to work with Conroe, it will make the current P4s and A64s look like the shit they are.

 

[general]

Ditch the Intel all together. AMD X2 is a better platform. You'll also save money on ram. I'd also suggest using two drives for storage in RAID-1 and one main drive for the OS and apps.

 

[Astra]

No good Intel for gaming. I mean for the same price you might get more powerful AMD which would beat Intel in any gameing benchmark. AMD is better for gaming nowdays.