Computer building ideas wanted...

[Rayjiano]

I'm currently trying to build a multi-monitor system for under 1500. Its uses will be for school, DVDs, multi-applications running simultaneously, and music - gaming is not an issue, nor do I really wish that this computer beable to run games too well. A goal of this system is also to be as cool, low-voltage and as SILENT as possible.

I've already decided to go with either the Athlon 64 X2 3800 or 4400. I know the Manchester, 3800, is lower voltage (good for overclocking); but the 4400 has a higher L2 cache. Can someone possibly clarify the pros of a higher cache and is it worth the extra money? I chose this over the Pentium D 830, was this a wise choice?

A low-priced video card with DVI capable of showing DVDs, and not so much games - does this exist?

Anyways, everyones input will be grealty appreciated.

 

[IeraseU]

hmm, personal perference here but on a media center PC for me one of the most important things is ROCK SOLID stability along with low noise. In order do achieve both of those, on this type of system I would not personally recomend overclocking. Both the 3800 and 4400 are plenty powerful for media center type applications and multi tasking. For the video card I would recomend a dual DVI ATI 1300 card, terrific media center type card. It has hardware assist for HD playback (very processor intensive otherwise) and also does encoding 5 times faster then a CPU can do alone ( http://www.chip.de/artikel/c1_artikel_17670022.html?tid1=9227&tid2=0 ).

 

[hurtstotalktoyou]

Here's a comparison showing how L2 cache affects performance.