Since my last post, I have put the "off the shelf" purchase on the back burner and have read more and assembled a machine for my Photoshop and video rendering work. My kids could possibly do gaming, but this is mostly mine. Of course, there will be a lot of other useage, but the PS and video will probably be the toughest work for it.
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz 2X4mb L2 cache
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115017
MOBO: Gigabyte GA-EX38-DS4
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128089
Video Card: GeForce 8800GT 512mb 256-bit 600MHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130318
RAM: Corsair XMS2 4gb DDR2 (2X2gb)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145176
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Extreme Gamer
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829102006
HD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 500gb 7200rpm
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148288
O/S: Vista Home Premium SP1 64bit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82e16832116488
PSU: OCZ Game X Stream 700 watt
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817341002
Card Reader: Koutech IO-ROM620
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820162016
DVD-ROM Drive: LITE-ON
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82e16827106095
Case: Cooler Master
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119068
Monitor: Samsung 2253BW 22” Widescreen
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824001268
CPU Cooler: Arctic Cooling Freeze 7 Pro
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835186134
Some notes:
Future upgrades - A second monitor. A second hard drive. Another 4 gb of RAM.
I have a DVD writer with Lite Scribe that I plan to install.
Why a 700w PSU? Because the 600w psu costs the same.
Why 64bit Vista? Because I'm still a bit on the fence, but am falling into the yard with 64. My printers, scanner, tablet, et al, all have available 64bit drivers.
Do I need a CPU cooler? or is that going WAY overboard? I don't mind going a bit overboard. Heat
is the enemy
Also, I tend to keep my machines for several years, so I would like to "over build" and then let it be useful for a long time - if that makes any sense.
Any comments would be appreciated. If you can, please list WHY I'm nutty using a particular component.
Thanks in advance for all the help,
Jon in American Fork