I'm helping my friend build a new desktop computer, and I wanted to show you guys the parts and see what you thought of it and if you had any suggestions or see any problems with the parts I have picked. He's gonna be ordering it all from newegg. I'll post the links with the parts so you can see the specs of them.

- SUS P5B-VM SE LGA 775 Intel G965 Express uATX Intel Motherboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131178)

- XFX PVT84JUDF3 GeForce 8600GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150230&Tpk=XFX%2bPVT84JUDF3%2bGeForce%2b8600GT)

- Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz LGA 775 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115003&Tpk=Intel%2bCore%2b2%2bDuo%2bE6600%2bConroe%2b2.4G) Hz)

- Kingston 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134488)

- Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320 GB 7700 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148140)

- SONY NEC Optiarc Black 18X DVD+R...CD-ROM 2M Cache E-IDE/ATAPI DVD Burner (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827131038)

- Samsung 906BW 19" 2ms (GTG) DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001094)

- XION Solaris XON-403 Black with Green LED Light Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811208009)

Right now the only concern I have is this: Will a uATX mobo fit inside an ATX case? The case's page on newegg says ATX is the motherboard size so that could be a problem, I would just find another one. Besides that I think it looks great but I wanted others opinions. One thing I'd like to avoid is the "AMD/ATI is better than intel/nVidia", that doesn't help me.

Will a uATX mobo fit inside an ATX case?
Yes but some of the holes won't line up exactly. Looks like it would still be doable though. For details regarding the hole placements see page 8 and 10 of this
http://www.formfactors.org/developer%5Cspecs%5Cmatxspe1.2.pdf)

I'd get a different case because in like 6 months you'll get sick of having green LEDs go on every time you turn your computer on and be like "ugh why did I get those ****ing lights man".

I've always found mid-tower cases to be harder to work with too so I'd go for this one (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811154041) for $10 more.

I think jmac has a good point there. I mean, what's the point in having a case looking like this?

I think I know the answer, but is this rig going to be Vista or XP based ??

Also, re- the case, you can just switch those LEDS off anyway surely ?? :D Its actually a nice enough case.

Im a fan of the smallform myself... if its bigger than a soccer ball, its too big !

Be aware that there are differences between AMD and nvidia, but it really depends of whqat you want to do/play and can afford :D

once you pick a decent gfx card, that rig will be able to handle most things you can throw it with no problem at all :D

btw - what PSU are you going to be using ???

good luck Moels!!

mtfwbya

i personally prefer the mid-towers myself, actually. they're smaller and much easier to move around (which is going to happen since you're making this for a friend). yes, its harder to get the wires routed properly, but that isn't a very big issue IMHO.

otherwise, i'd jump for the 8800GTS 320MB instead of the 8600GT. it doesn't cost that much more, and the performance differential is fairly significant, especially in DX10.

anyways, good luck with teh build, and don't forget to give us updates!! ;)

He's putting XP on it so for now I'm not worrying about DX10, and I think the 8600 will do everything he needs. I'm actually considering bumping down to a 1.8GHz cpu instead of the 2.4, I mean will he even notice the difference, especially on XP?

I think the machine will perform well in the future and right now all he wants to run is Oblivion and World of Warcraft so I'm trying to save him some money instead of going all-out.

if he wants to run Oblivion, keep it (processor) at 2ghz or higher. It'll run on lower processors (despite system requirements) but it doesn't like it...

Experimented on one of my older systems and it choked hard ;)

Thanks for the advice ChAiNz... I've upped the processor to a 2.13GHz Core 2 Duo for $20 more, I think that will work nicely.

I had also already changed the motherboard from that uATX to a normal ATX, this one http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813131177)

He's putting XP on it so for now I'm not worrying about DX10, and I think the 8600 will do everything he needs.if that's the case, then forget about the 8600. a GeForce 7800 or the Radeon X1800 cards and better will give you better performance than the 8600. not to mention that you can get a very powerful Radeon X1950XT for about the same price and get performance that is on par with the new Radeon X2900XT in DX9 games.

the latest lineup from both camps is only worth the money if they'll be running Vista and DX10 down the road. in any other situation, its more cost effective to stick with the top of the line stuff from the previous generation of cards.

that's not just my opinion, its backed by performance numbers and specs. believe me, you'll be doing yourself and your friend a favor. ;)

Yeah, I was surprised by how cheap the x1950s are nowdays... If youre doing XP and focussing on Dx9 games in teh here and now, its definitely a more economic options. The 7900GT also kicks some a$$ in this context as well. Probably better to go that way now - he can always upgrade later when DX10 is more mainstream(and if he actually moves to Vista)

I second the recommendations to avoid a sub 2GHz CPU for a game like Oblivion.. That prettiness comes at a price ! A 2.13C2D will do better, and ou can overclock it up a bit more quite safely if need be..

astro