I hope that this is the correct forum to post this under. But I see other posts that are similar here, so I'm guessing that it is.
But it's the same ol' question that I've seen on different posts. However, this is for my own rig and I need so help from people that actually know what they are talking about. My friends are more likely to say "Hey, I like green" as they are to recommend RAM.
And I apologize for it being so long, but I wanted to give you as much info as I thought that you'd need in order for you to give your advice.
To give you an idea of where I'm coming from: I'm using an old AMD 1.8G with an ATI 5600 and K8N board. So, I'll be jumping up a lot.
Anyway, I'm trying to shoot for something around the $1500US range. I do not plan on doing any overclocking initially. Mainly b/c I'm not comfortable enough with my knowledge base. I have enough to be dangerous to myself and others and I'd probably blow up my rig. However, I want to make sure that I have all the proper hardware so that when I do want to overclock, I have the right stuff and I'm not saying to msyelf "Shoot, I'd wish that I bought this rather than that."
Anway, I'm looking at this right now.
CPU: AMD AM2 4600+
Motherboard: Asus M2n32-SLI Deluxe nForce 590 chip
Video Card: 7900GTX 512mb (not dual, not SLI yet)
Memory: Corsair XMS2 2G (2x1G) DDR2800 PC6400 4-4-4-12
Power Supply: FSP Group FX600-LGN ATX 12V
HD: Seagate 160G 7200 (not Raid yet)
Case: Undecided
To give an explanation on this so that you won't waste your time on something that I already thought of.
I chose the AM2 4600 as I knew that I would probably want to upgrade that in a year or more. The price on the 5000+ (or the next big thing) will probably be down as the time goes on (especially with the Conroe coming out today, the 24th). I went with the AM2 as that is the way of the future it seems. I don't want to go Conroe as I know that I won't be able to afford that (it'll push my just a little too far in money). So, I'm hoping that this will keep me warm.
Asus M2n32-SLI Deluxe nForce 590 chip: well, it's ASUS, it's AM2 and the new 590 chipset. I did ALOT of research on this one and this is actually one of the best out there. Eventhough it's first gen, they built the thing right (go figure).
I went with the 7900GTX as the 7950GTX just came out and I don't need that much power (yet). Plus, I can SLI the 7900GTX in a year or so and get pretty good timings off of that. Oh yeah, the 7900GT is only $60 less, and at this price of the rig, what's $60 more??
The memory is, well, the best. But is 2G worth it at this point? Plus, the mobo is really picking on the memory. I just don't know if 2G is overkill at this point. I'm only using the rig for gaming primarily.
I"m a little leary on the PS. I haven't gotten a FSP before, but it got good reviews on Newegg.. Anybody recommed a good PS that is around 600w (I'll take anything over 550w)?
The case is still up in the air. I want to get something with a side panel and at least the 120mm fans (no watercooling, mama didn't make that brave of a boy). I'm still doing research on all of the kinds that I can get. Plus, I don't know if I want to splurge and get stell over aluminum. Still gotta decide that.
The rest of the parts I'm just taking from my old system (Optical, monitor, etc.)
Any thoughts on this are greatly appreciated!!!