I've been saving up my money. Thinking of making a big purchase, I have two things on my list. A car, and a computer. So in that last month or two, as i've been pondering what im going to do, i've also bene didling around on NewEgg, asking people what parts are good, what I should go with, etc etc. By this time I have a good assortment of parts picked out, here is my final revision of my "dream PC".

Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813127197

Case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16811156019

CD Drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16827106819

Floppy: (Not that it matters)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16821103109

Hard Drive: (I already have one so im not worried about size)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822148040

Memory:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820145440

Monitor:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16824116201

OS:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16837102153

Power Supply:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16817192002

CPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819103502

Sound Card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16829102177

Speakers:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16836121118

Video Card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814145099

I left out some stuff like keyboard and mouse, but in the end the price is $1322.58. I checked on the monitor at local stores because I know shipping is a lot, but even with shipping it is still cheaper at NewEgg.

So anyway, I decide I want to buy a computer first, before a car. I have maybe $1200 saved up for this and i'm about to buy it. My parents come to me, and basically say that they are going to pay for it. Every last part and accessory, they're going to pay for it all. In a way I almost feel guilty! Part of me wants to go through real quick and upgrade everything a notch, but the other part of me tells me I shouldnt push my luck I just hope I dont screw something up building it

What do you guys think of the parts I picked out?

ABit's offerings in the 939 market are rather...subpar. I'd go for the Asus SLI-Deluxe board, seeing as how it's only like 160-170. Why aren't you getting a DVD burner? They've got one on sale for FORTY DOLLARS. They're cheap man. Ten bucks more and you have a burner. Also, that's a LOT to be spending on a 19" CRT.

Other than that it all looks okay. I'd personally spend more on the 6800 but that's just me.

Gah, theres always some doubt in my mind. What the difference between the Asus A8N SLI, and the Asus A8N SLI Deluxe?

To be honest, I don't know, but I think it has more slots for RAM, and a couple other things. Also the onboard audio's better, I think it comes with a RAID controller whereas the non-deluxe does not.

So, say I go with this board over the Abit

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813131524

Do you really think i'd be that much more happy? The reviews on the bottom for either one arent very encouraging. I know I should take those with a grain of salt or less, but I cant help but let them bother me.

I've got the Asus A8N-SLI in my new PC, and its worked great for me. No problems whatsoever.

Dang buy the car first. Trust me, you'll thank me later.

His parents are buying the PC :p.

Also, the A8N SLI is the best 939 board out there--every review site agrees. I generally go with review sites more than I do with personal accounts.

Make sure you get a good case. I don't think $30 usually affords a decent case, but I could be wrong. You probably want to buy a decent heatsink/fan instead of using the one that comes with the CPU. I use a nice Thermalright one with a quiet fan, does a fantastic job. You might want to try and get an Athlon64 with a Venice core if they aren't that much more.

Definately switch to the Venice Core AMD64. If I remember correctly, its only $5 difference.

I'd get a DVD burner too, with the price drops.

Finally, your onboard sound will end up being better than the SB Live, I believe. So unless you want to use the old EAX (SB Live only supports up to EAX2, if I remember correctly), there's no reason to get the SB Live. Plus SB Lives are known for driver problems and resampling problems.

I'm thinking about upgrading to the 6600GT over just the 6600.

The 6600 GT is only 128mb, however the regular 6600 is 256. Which is better, and is it worth the extra money to upgrade to the 6600GT? I'm not going to get the 6800. Its between these two:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814145099

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814145098



And actually for the CPU, the Venice core is the same price.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819103535

I guess i'll get that instead.

Get the 6800. The 6600GT is a deadend card, whereas the 6800 you can softmod it to be basically an underclocked 6800GT, and overclock it. It won't be PERFECTLY like one, but you'll get a hell-load more performance. Not to mention 6800s are around 200 or less on newegg.

What do you mean deadend card? The cheapest 6800 at NewEgg is $226, by MSI as opposed to the $166 6600 GT that I have picked out now. I really dont want to make that jump, you guys will have to do some serious convincing for me to get the 6800. So with that, please try to convince me because if you know it is worth it, I want to have the same reassurance if I am going to spend that much more money.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814122207R

Once you unlock all the pipelines (you usually can) you can imagine that as a very far underclocked 6800 Ultra. Overclocked you can maybe reach 6800GT speeds. Trust me, it's worth it.

Ok, can you explain that a bit more? I hadnt planned on overclocking anything, at least not until I learned more about overclocking and how to do it without destroying anything.

To open the pipes (ask buck about this) you get RivaTuner when you install the card, and do some stuff (you can also find guides online) and it's all done through software, meaning that you don't destroy anything. If all else fails, reinstall the drivers, and it's undone. Overclocking is even easier for the GPU--get CoolBits which is an entry into the registry, you open up your video card properties go to Clock Frequencies and then just knock it up until it becomes unstable and artifacts (games like HL2 or UT2k4 are both good games to use to see if there's any artifacting).

CPU is just a BIOS setting.

Heres how I see it.

I dont plan on doing any overclocking or similar tweaking, at least at the moment. If I spend (Ok, my parents are paying for it, but still I respect the ammount they will have to spend) $166 on the midrange 6600GT, it will perform well enough for me at the moment, and down the road if things get that bad, I will have no problem replacing it with a bran new video card, whatever there is to offer. I consider the card I am buying now to be an "interim" card, for lack of a better term. Now, the 6600GT is pretty good for just a "temporary" video card, dont you think? Maybe I sound like a fool, but I dont want to get a card that I have to tweak to get full performance out of it right off the bat.

Suit yourself, but the 6800 would last you a lot longer. That's all I'm sayin.