My System Specs

[CeilingHoles]

This PC has a $1750 budget, and I'm using it mostly for Web Design, Graphics Design, Photoediting software, Productivity Apps, Listening to Digital Music, Web Surfing, E-mail, Moderate Gaming, CD & DVD Burning, and Some Light Programming. My main goals are for it to be solid, reliable, and capable in the future..Any recommended changes? Is the power supply enough? Thanks a lot...

Motherboard - MSI K8N Neo Platinum (nForce3 250Gb)..........................$130.00
Processor - AMD Athlon 64 2800+ 512KB L2 Cache...............................$185.00
Memory - Corsair Value Select 184 Pin 512MB DDR400 x 2....................$168.00
Hard Drive Samsung 160GB Serial ATA SP1614C..................................$106.00
Video Card - eVGA nVIDIA GeForce 6800 Video Card............................$293.00
Optical Drive - NEC 8x DVD+/-RW Drive ND-2500A/GW.........................$71.00
Case w/ Power Supply - Antec Solution Series SLK2650-BQE (350Watts)..$65.00
Floppy Drive - NEC 1.44MB Black Internal Floppy Drive..........................$12.00
Moniter - NEC/MITSUBISHI LCD1760V-BK 17".......................................$450.00
Keyboard & Mouse - Logitech Black Optical Desktop...............................$20.00
Speakers - Logitech Z640 5.1 Speakers...............................................$55.00
Printer - Canon i960 Photo Printer........................................................$175.00
Total........$730.00

 

[CeilingHoles]

typo - total 1730

 

[hjo3]

So you're $1,000 under budget? Why not get a bigger monitor? Or a bigger/faster hard drive?

 

[Wahsapa]

just a warning, i read about a guy awhile back whos heatsink(stock amd) poped off his msi and landed on his 6800. maybea i different mobo?

 

[jpeyton]

Any Recommended Changes?

Weeping Christ on the cross, YES.

Get the Asus K8N-E instead of your current motherboard.
Get the BenQ FP951 19" LCD instead of your current LCD.

The K8N-E is a no brainer; I've heard about a lot of issues with the MSI board. It's almost the same price.

The BenQ is a personal preference; you're already spending a whopping $450 for a 17" LCD, when a 19" is within reach.

 

[Illissius]

Looks fine, change the motherboard to the K8N-E, but otherwise there's not much else I can suggest that doesn't break the budget. If you downgrade to a good 19" CRT ($250-ish) you can upgrade the video card to a 6800GT and the processor to a 3000+ or 3200+, but I'm not saying it's the right thing to do; just an option.

 

[sisooktom]

Everyone is recommending the K8N-E, but it's barely out a week, no one's tried it yet. I think telling you to switch out the MSI is premature. I think the system looks good. If you're concerned about the PS, I'd just swap out your case for the Sonata. It's got a 380W supply.

 

[CeilingHoles]

I didn't know there were many issues for the MSI board. I've always heard very good things about it. I'd switch to the Asus, but sisooktoms is right that we don't know if this board is as good as it looks.

I'd go with the 19" if I had the money, but I'm already pushing it with with what I have. It was either a new 6800 graphics card and a 17" or a 9800pro and a 19".

Any other input?

 

[NeonFlak]

I would switch out the MSI for either the Chaintech vnf3-250 ($88 at newegg) or the epox 8kdaj3 ($99 at newegg).

 

[Delorian]

For a couple dollars more get the *Official* Dual layer NEC drive 2510 as the firmware should be better. Also a faster HD would be better but specs not too bad all around!

 

[CeilingHoles]

I'm considering changing the motherboard to one of the suggested..

Can't wait to build this thing. I haven't had that warm and fuzzy feeling when using my PC in a long time...(you know what I'm talking about right? Or is this just me)

 

[Soulkeeper]

i recommend getting the abit board and maybe some faster memory if you are gonna be overclocking the thing