Oh yeah, this'll make it real easy to find good hardware to buy. Thanks!

*edit* and if someone has an uber-PC configuration, I'd enjoy the chance to drool

Well my new rig will come close to your specs only I went with the 3700+ for the extra cache (as per Strekos suggestion), an ASUS DRW-1608PB DVD RW, and added a RED side fan just because. The guts were from ZipZoomFly.com as I like their Free 2nd Day ship on most components. The case and power supply were picked up at NewEgg.com.

Good call on the hardware picks Grumpicus! I build a lot of systems for people (however, it must be said that I must not be the BEST at it: I’m to impoverished to afford what I sell!!) and just a couple days ago, and after a LOT of research (my how things change!!) I independently decided on basically what your suggesting here. However, I chose an Enermax “Noisetakerâ€?, 485 Watt PS instead of the one you mentioned. Why? Because I believe the Enermax to be THE premier Power Supply AND, after having built thousands of systems (literally), I’ve yet to see one of them come back and haunt me. I’m not saying that the Coolmaster isn’t a great choice, on the contrary! The Coolmaster is a great PS and it is good to see that you’ve chosen to stick with “known-valueâ€? products as well!!

I chose the Enermax on this most recent occasion, because of the “ATX 2.xâ€? specification AND because it comes equipped with the needed 24-pin connector as well. Some PS’s come with an adapter, which is fine but does not meet the newer ATX 2.x specs.. Furthermore, I chose the Leadtech gForce PCI-E card over the Radeon card simply because of price/performance AND because I just prefer the gForce cards.

But the wisest choice I see here that you made was, for one, going with an AMD64 processor over an Intel Pentium 4 (read: ancient, 32-bit, history) and I can see you’ve done your homework as well: the “Venice Coreâ€? it rocks!!!! MOST places that sell components right now either do not KNOW the difference OR they are simply trying to get rid of their “oldâ€? Winchester stock on hand first (I’m going from memory here so this name might be incorrect). The Venice core is built on AMD’s newest die and has many new features of which their “olderâ€? core didn’t have when the produced them. AMD themselves are saying very little about this new “featureâ€? and are saying little or nothing about it to the general public. I would have to look up the specs for you but I do know there were and are many good reasons to go with this new core AND, BEST OF ALL, IT IS PRICED THE EXACTLY THE SAME AS THE “OLDERâ€? COREâ€?!!!

Uh..well, then there is the Maxtor drive(s): in my opinion and experience, not THE best choice, yet not a BAD choice by any means I’m sure. However, out of the thousands of drives I have seen put into operation, it has been the Maxtor that has caused me the most grief by far. These WERE, however, the older Maxtor units and if they HAVE changed or revamped their quality control, AND from what I’ve been reading about them, the Maxtor is just as good as any of the other what I like to call “Big Threeâ€? (Seagate, Western Digital, Maxtor).

The drives that I’ve had the fewest problems with are the Seagate drives by a HUGE magnitude!! These drives are have more armor (I am truly, truly sorry to say) than the militaries “HUMVEEâ€? and are exceptionally well behaved and forgiving of end-users (you KNOW who YOU are!!). And although they may not average the lowest (lower=faster) access-times, the average application is not going to suffer from these numbers alone.
Other drives to consider would be, of all companies, Samsung. Yes that’s right, Samsung! Now, I have no experience with Samsung hard drives but I DO have experience with their VCRs (kidding) I mean their CD/DVD R/W drives and they too are very well built and very compatible with most of the media you can throw at them. One great place to look for information on the latest components, and to read some VERY thorough reviews as well, is at Toms Hardware (http://www.tomshardware.com) â€" they’ve been in the business for many years and really push the envelope when it comes to testing products.

The CD-DVD RW drive? Take your pick. As many people know, Lite-On is a very popular choice, not only amongst systems integrators but amongst drive manufacturers as well. Like many VCRs and other consumer electronics, only a handful at best actually design their chipsets “in-houseâ€? (I believe there are only 4-5 in Taiwan) and large drive companies such as Sony et. al tend to use a particular chipset (I believe they do use Lite-On’s chipset) that wasn’t produced by their designers, but rather someone like Lite-On. Of course EVERYONE on the PLANET has at LEAST HEARD of Sony but few people fail to realize that the drive they are using is probably either based on the Lite-On chipset (“Mediaâ€? something was the name given to this chipset I just can’t recall ) OR is possibly just a “re-badgedâ€? “Big Nameâ€? drive that was actually designed and manufactured by Lite-On. The only difference (usually), is price: your going to pay a little more (depending) for the “name brandâ€? than you would if you had just purchased a (in this case) drive that Lite-On builds and ships to the stores and actually SAY’S “Lite-Onâ€? on the unit.

Memory: GREAT choice here as well!! Corsair is, bit-for-bit, some of the most reliable, as well as some of the quickest-accessing DDR DRAM you can find without starving the children. Something to note here too: just because it might say, “Value RAMâ€? on it, do NOT be fooled â€" I have found no difference with RAM labeled THIS way converse to RAM labeled, for example, “Ultra-FASTâ€?. I’m not saying that this DDR RAM is THE stuff you want to use IF YOU ARE OVERCLOCKING but, for general purposes, Corsair or Kingston’s “Valueâ€? RAM is quite good, highly reliable, and you can go ahead and feed that child as well!!

What I do is go to Alienware’s website, see what THEIR SPECS are, and then see if I can BEAT those specs with even BETTER hardware (just wish I could get those darn Alienware CASES though!!) and, so far I have yet to kick-booty on them in the performance area. For instance, that Asus MOBO you picked is one of THE best Socket 939 MOBO’s on the market bar none! Go to Alienware and look WHERE and/or WHAT they use this motherboard: you’ll find it in their HIGH-END SYSTEM, average price before rebate (sit down first no, I mean really sit down!!) well over $5,000.00 US!!! I know I know, Alienware’s High-End system is using Liquid-Cooling (water) and they DO have some VERY cool features AND yes, liquid cooling IS very QUIET (usually)...HOWEVER if you DO feel the need for such an ultra-fast BEAST of a machine, simply purchase a water-block and some tubing and a pump, etc, OR perhaps just purchase a KIT for less than $200.00 US and you are ALL SET!! Savings: around $2000.00 US and brother that is one heck of a LOT of money in my wallet!!

LAST thing then I’ll go (I hope I’m not giving you too MUCH boring information!!) and that is: FANS and CPU COOLERS!!! IF you purchase the BOXED version of the AMD CPU, it should come with a fan and that fan (unless you are overclocking) is sufficient to cool the processor, therefore, no need to purchase a “Monster Coolerâ€? from a third-party outfit.

If your purchasing a case though, it may or may not come with adequate ventilation and QUALITY fans already installed in it!! If the case has no fans, I recommend purchasing a good-quality BALL BEARING FAN â€" AVOID “SLEEVE BEARINGâ€? FANS AT ALL COST!!! The ball bearing fans are EXTREMELY reliable but the sleeve bearing units, although usually MUCH less expensive, tend to freeze-up and die within as little as 6-months. And besides, the ball bearing fans are usually only a few dollars more than their sleeve bearing bretheren. Most cases have cutouts for at least two, usually three fans and they measure 80mm or sometimes even 120mm (Fanzilla!!) or the smaller 60mm size which is great for placing in the FRONT of the case because, as a rule (Note: this is a HIGHLY controversial subject, so don’t flame me for it!!!!), you want MORE AIR flowing OUT of the system (i.e. extracting) than you have air coming INTO the system!! Take a look at AMD’s website and their you will find good specifications on how THEY believe cooling should be accomplished.

IF, however, opting for the Water-Cooling solution, you of course won’t WANT to have a ton of air traveling through your system, but you will want some air because not ALL components are cooled by the liquid!! Components such as CPUs, GPUs, RAM, and of course the processor are, generally the things that most “overclockersâ€? tend to cool and, in some cases the hard drives are cooled “in the loopâ€? as well.

WOW this “replyâ€? turned into a “how-toâ€? article instead BUT I’ll post it anyway: just remember, much of this information is simply MY OPINION, NOT SRIPTURE so please do some researching on your own, find out what is best for YOU, and take it from there BUT, I really think that the components mentioned in this post ARE INDEED EXCELLENT, HIGH-QUALITY PARTS so I wouldn’t vary TOO much from them ESPECIALLY (AGAIN IMHO) on the ASUS BOARD!!

Oh, the COST of the system I’m putting together? Comes out to be around $950.00 US WITHOUT THE DRIVES so very comparable! Thanks for the great info!

OH, BTW, DITTO ON SOUND BLASTER and YES...ONBOARD SOUND...well, IT SOUNDS GREAT !!

SU27Flyer

FYI... after spending several frustrating weeks with 6 GB's worth of Corsair Value Ram (6 1GB DDR 3200) modules to be precise..

This ram simply does not play nice with DFI and Gigabyte NF4 SLI motherboards.. it will not stay stable unless you relax the timings down AND boost mem voltage up to 2.7 or 2.8.

I'm building my new Asus NF4 SLI Premium system with an AMD X2 and SLI GF7800's so we'll see how it handles 4GB worth of Corsair Value Ram.. since right now its sitting in a shoebox going unused..

I've now switched to Mushkin for all my ram needs... $10 more but runs great and at listed specs.

Googling DFI and Corsair Value Select will show you what I'm talking about.

It really depends on your climate. Leo Laporte once retold a story on one of his TV shows about doing some TV bit with an Intel engineer, and he gasped as the Intel engineer reached into a computer and plucked the CPU out bare-handed. "What about static guard?", Leo asked. The engineer just replied that in the California climate they're in, it's unnecessary. But California is coastal. Citizens of drier climates should definitely invest in a static guard.

I live in California, have built countless computers, and have never even touched a static wrist guard or used any of those pads or other techniques. Never zapped a single component. But it just doesn't get dry enough here. Elsewhere, it's a different story.

On static, yeah, I just touch bare metal on the case with both my hands and the tip of my screwdriver to discharge any static I've built up walking around. Still, I wouldn't say "ignore static", I would say, however, just be careful to discharge before grabbing your new $400 video card or that shiny new 1G RAM stick.

I like my ValueSelect, but you might spend more jack to get more memory. If I were building a box today, I'd go with 2gigs, or just 1x1g, not 2x512. Seems 1G is going to not be quite as much as it was last year.

Damn. Have we reached that point in the pendulum swing where the consoles have driven PC hardware prices so low as to be affordable again? Meaning: is it finally time for me to get a new computer?

The desktop machine I currently own was a little better than mid-range in 2001, and it cost me almost a grand to build. If you'r etelling me that I can build a more modern machine that will play today's games for $500, then I'd say we're at the point I described.

Good to know.

You cannot build a machine today that will play the latest most graphically intense games at higher resolutions with max details and high AA/AF

My rig which other than the processor (AMD FX-55 instead of FX-57) is comprised of every top of the line part cannot run FEAR at higher than 1024X768 at max everything... and cannot run COD2 at higher than 1600X1200 at max everything.

$500 on a PC nets you a machine will not play these games at anything that an Xbox 360 is putting out.

Of course I'm talking a pretty consistent frame rate of 30+ during high action and 60+ during regular action..

Once someone was telling me how great their PC ran games until I went over to their house to see and realized that "great" to this person was a choppy mess of 22fps average at 800X600

Very true, but Fletch should be able to build a rig for $500 that will give him 800x600 medium quality for even todays most demanding games. Thats as good or better than your x-box or PS2 on a normal television so if you enjoy PC games, it may be a good investment.

If you can play Civ4 on your current rig Fletch, it can't be that out of date.

I play Civ4 on my PentiumM laptop. It runs alright, but the laptop is mission critical for a number or personal and business operations, so I'd like to not run games on it if at all possible. The desktop is an 800mHz T-bird Athlon with a variety of new and old parts thrown in and held together with duct tape and good intentions.

A $500 PC can be a functional gaming rig for now, but in another 6 months to a year you'll wish you'd just saved up another $500 and built a machine that will age a little bit better. I'm with GG...either save the cash for a rig in the $800-1000 neighborhood or go with an X360 if you're just itchin' to spend some money.

Thanks for that link CEJ. I was searching for your post last night because I remembered it but the GWJ search function apparently doesn't want to index your thread so I couldn't find it.