Seeking help on first build

[irians]

In someway I am totally new to computer hardware because I've only used laptops in the past. But now since I know that I will probably stay in my apartment for 2 and a half more years, a desktop should be more cost effective (I think).

So I will be primarily using it for gaming (such as WOW), some photoshop, downloading with bitorrent, internet and music, and maybe all those things at the same time... My budget is around 1500~$1700 including everything coz its my first desktop, and after some research, I came up with the following parts:

Motherboard
-ASUS A8N-SLI Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard $125

Processor
-AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 1GHz FSB 1MB L2 Cache Socket 939 Processor - Retail
$222

Memory
-Kingston ValueRAM 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM System Memory - Retail
$88x2=
$176

Video
-XFX PVT42GUAD7 Geforce 6800GS 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
$205.00
-or SLI

Hard Drive
-Western Digital Caviar SE WD2500JS 250GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM $108x2=
$216
or
-Western Digital Caviar Re series, SATA 250GB

Optical Drive
Write
-PLEXTOR Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 4X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache IDE DVD Burner Retail
$80

Read
-low noise
~$25

Earphones
-AKG26P
~$50

Keyboard and Mouse
-Longitech MX 3000 laser
~$72

and the above things adds uo to around 1200 already. And I still need to choose
-case
-power
-monitor (17" LCD)

Also, I wonder if I would need an extra cooling device for all the parts mentioned above and what kind of power I would need to run those thing. Overclocking is probably not what i will/know how to do, so are these configuration alright for me? And I also need suggestions for the case, power and monitor, or any extra tools I will need for building it.

Thanks so much~ Have a cup of coffee

 

[discochan]

For your HD get the one I have in my sig instead. Its about the same price and the WD 2500KS has 16 mb of buffer instead of 8 mb

 

[WCES Ryan]

I would probably say go for a dual core system. As you say, you want to do blah blah and blah, all at the same time. Dual core would be IDEAL for you, it's made for that application.

I'm not sure about the performance of the video card, maybe go for a cheaper 7800GT, the peformance will be kick ass, and it's not a TON more money. I think the performance would be worth it.

I just built my first new system in 3 years, 3 days ago. For the PSU I went for an OCZ Modstream 520w. Seems to be pretty good

 

[irians]

Problem is that I am not too familiar with dual core systems and they seem to be mostly more expensive that the 3700+. Are there any good suggestions for a dual core?

I will probably upgrade my video card in a year or 2, when the price comes down. And my MOBO seem to support SLI, so I may consider that in the future. So I am just buying one that is good enough but not THAT expensive.

And I was thinking about the Antec Sonata II that comes with 450W power supply. Wonder if it would satisfy my power usage?

 

[WCES Ryan]

Yes it should satisfy your power usage. I have a 7800GTX and a 450w PSU is recommended for it, so a 450w for your card would be just fine.

I would recommend the x2 3800 for you. it is the cheapest x2 and only 200mhz slower than the 3700+.

 

[irians]

So, it finally comes down to these:

Case + Power
-Antec LifeStyle SONATA II Piano Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 450Watt SmartPower 2.0 ATX 12V V2.0 for AMD & Intel systems Power Supply - Retail
$108

Motherboard
-ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
$170

Processor
-AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Manchester 1GHz FSB 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Dual Core Processor - Retail
$323

Memory
-Kingston ValueRAM 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM System Memory - Retail
$88x2=
$176

Video
-XFX PVT42GUAD7 Geforce 6800GS 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
$205.00

Hard Drive
-Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 300 MB/s Hard Drive - OEM $110x2=
$220+10 shipping

Optical Drive
-PLEXTOR Black IDE DVD Burner Model PX-740A/SW-BL - Retail
$88

Monitor
-SAMSUNG 740B Black 17" 8ms LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 600:1 0.264mm Pixel Pitch - Retail
$248

Earphones
-AKG26P
~$50

Keyboard and Mouse
-Longitech MX 3000 laser
~$72
--------------------------------------------me is happy separator------------------------------------

Just some last questions before I place my orders：

1. Is the power supply enough for all these? And I saw something about the need to buy more cables for the power supply?

2. Is my choice of ram good enough?

3. Do I need to buy an extra cooling device?

4. What other misc tools will I need when I build the thing?

5. Is newegg the best place to buy these parts?

Thanks so much~ Have a sandwich