Need advice on a computer purchase

[Doombot]

Just copy the data from the old drives one at a time, shutting down the computer before you remove an IDE drives, or boot partitions SATA drives.

It's the fastest option, even including the time it takes to switch drives. Most motherboards have atleast a single IDE slot still.

Did you find a store where you wanted to buy, and I'll give it a check before you buy?

Oh, and let me know if you want me to take a few pictures of the monitor so you can see it..

I figured New Egg would be the place to check but PLEASE suggest other places for me. =) This is all kinda new.

I saw a picture of the monitor but go ahead and send me some. =) Just in case...

[Silver Dragon]

Oh! I think I'll get Chucara's Monitor! I like the look of it!

You might want to be careful with ordering that one online; I did a little googling of that model monitor and found an article about how its been shipping with several different series of the model, with different qualities of LCD display panels (some made by Samsung, some farmed out to AU Optronics, which ended up being inferior to the Samsung panels), one of the main problems with the inferior panels being a blue color dominance.  Since you do a lot of photo editing work, that's probably something you'd want to avoid. 
 
Although the article is from May of 2007 (and possibly only affecting users in France/Europe as I think the website is based there) and Samsung may have straightened things out by now, still you'll want to be careful.  Here's the article so you can check it out http://www.behardware.com/articles/667-1/samsung-226bw-a-and-s-series-the-verdict.html

Anyway, just wanted to give you a head's up so you might avoid any potential headaches.

btw, just looked at Newegg, the user reviews for the monitor confirm some people having problems with the color dominance/color problems with it, though it does seem the majority of the reviews are positive, still a potential for big problems http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16824001096

[Doombot]

Oh! I think I'll get Chucara's Monitor! I like the look of it!

You might want to be careful with ordering that one online; I did a little googling of that model monitor and found an article about how its been shipping with several different series of the model, with different qualities of LCD display panels (some made by Samsung, some farmed out to AU Optronics, which ended up being inferior to the Samsung panels), one of the main problems with the inferior panels being a blue color dominance.  Since you do a lot of photo editing work, that's probably something you'd want to avoid. 
 
Although the article is from May of 2007 (and possibly only affecting users in France/Europe as I think the website is based there) and Samsung may have straightened things out by now, still you'll want to be careful.  Here's the article so you can check it out http://www.behardware.com/articles/667-1/samsung-226bw-a-and-s-series-the-verdict.html

Anyway, just wanted to give you a head's up so you might avoid any potential headaches.

btw, just looked at Newegg, the user reviews for the monitor confirm some people having problems with the color dominance/color problems with it, though it does seem the majority of the reviews are positive, still a potential for big problems http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16824001096

Ah. Good to know. Thanks. =)

[Doombot]

Ok. So I'm going to start to buy my stuff. I think I'll get half with one check and the other half with the other. So what things should I go ahead and get first? I take it the case and power unit, monitor, keyboard are non volatile with price?

[BlueCross]

Ok. So I'm going to start to buy my stuff. I think I'll get half with one check and the other half with the other. So what things should I go ahead and get first? I take it the case and power unit, monitor, keyboard are non volatile with price?

about that non-volatile bit...

[Doombot]

 
Case+Power  Supply Antec Atlas 550W Server Black ATX                         $143

If I want another model (that looks pretty) is the 550w what I need to look for? I assume Case+Power includes a fan?

Or I assume I can get whatever model I want (with consideration to fitting all the components inside the case) and get a 550 power source? I assume this mother board requires a 550 and that's why your suggesting it?

[Brugdor]

 
Case+Power  Supply Antec Atlas 550W Server Black ATX                         $143

If I want another model (that looks pretty) is the 550w what I need to look for? I assume Case+Power includes a fan?

Or I assume I can get whatever model I want (with consideration to fitting all the components inside the case) and get a 550 power source? I assume this mother board requires a 550 and that's why your suggesting it?

Don't know if it's come up yet as I haven't been reading all the posts but a 550W power supply might be a bit low if you are going with the 8000 series (8600, 8800) Nvidia cards.  You might want to double check what kind of power the card you are ordering requires.

[Doombot]

 
Case+Power  Supply Antec Atlas 550W Server Black ATX                         $143

If I want another model (that looks pretty) is the 550w what I need to look for? I assume Case+Power includes a fan?

Or I assume I can get whatever model I want (with consideration to fitting all the components inside the case) and get a 550 power source? I assume this mother board requires a 550 and that's why your suggesting it?

Don't know if it's come up yet as I haven't been reading all the posts but a 550W power supply might be a bit low if you are going with the 8000 series (8600, 8800) Nvidia cards.  You might want to double check what kind of power the card you are ordering requires.

OH yeah.... (burst through the wall) I want one of those cards. Thanks for the heads up.

[TK]

Remember that 550W is the maximum peak output that a 550W PSU will supply, at worst the machine you're looking at would draw a peak of around 580W but that's assuming around 200W for the 8800, 180W or so for the processor and motherboard and 25W each for the drives.  I'm pretty sure the new 8800 cards come in at about a 150W draw or less and I doubt that every component will peak at the same time so 550W should be fine.

Go for higher wattage if you can afford it but don't be dazzled by ratings because mose cheap power supplies don't provide reliable power at just about any draw.  If you buy an Antec 550W you should be more than fine because Antec make some of the best power supplies you can buy. 

I wouldn't recommend it but I've known people who've ran high quality supplies well over the peak draw while I've ran modest machines on cheap 600W supplies and mine blew while their ones kept running happily.

[Doombot]

Well... thanks for the advice from everyone. I think I will be putting together a computer. I think it'll be a interesting challenge. I will of course post my future purchases on the board to avoid mistakes.

eg.

Bluecross: OH NO! You can't use that drive with that motherboard! The combination could start a chain reaction that would unravel the very fabric of the space time continuum, and destroy the entire universe! Granted, that's a worse case scenario. The destruction might in fact be very localized, limited to our own galaxy.

[Doombot]

Well... I went ahead and got the monitor. The blueness concerned me and someone at newegg suggested another monitor. There's a issue with the backlight with some people while others don't really seem to notice.

It doesn't adjust in height but my old ones never did so that's not a issue to me. Here's what I got.

SAMSUNG 2253BW Black 22" 2ms(GTG) DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor with HDCP Support 300 cd/m2 DC 8000:1 - Retail

I'm not sure if I can use the other one with the Macbook but one of the reviewers said he could so that's good. I didn't see any issues about off colors so I went with the other2253BW.

Hopefully I made a good decision.  This one just 'felt' right so it's kinda hard to go against intuition.

Next... I wonder if I should get the RAM right now since it's so cheap. Also based on what I think Brugdor said, I think I'll go with the Nvidia GeForce 8800.

So with this in mind, I want to run Vista. At least I think I do. I'm using XP and I plan on having this new computer for 3 - 4 years. I don't know if a 9 year old operating system might be good. Might as well make the move and uninstall what options I don't need. So is Bluecross's suggestion of a motherboard and processor compatible with one of the cards here and which card should I get? Should I go with the 64 version of vista? Will I be missing out on anything major? If I'm going to be Photoshopping and Film editing is it wise to go with the 64 bit version? Is it worth spending another $100 for the 64 bit version and will my suggested motherboard and CPU run the 64 bit version?

Text Search Terms: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 512

Here why WiseCross suggested as a reminder: ps. I think I'll be spending more than my original estimate of $1500.00

CPU  Core 2 Duo E6750 2.66GHz 4M 1333M 775 Retail                                   $208
M/B  Intel DP35DPM Aud/GbLan/SATA/1394 ATX                                           $123
RAM  4GB(2x2GB) DDR2 PC6400 800MHz Matched Pair HyperX Kingston  $189
HD   2x Seagate 500G 32M 7200 SATA II                                               $276
VID  eVGA GeForce 8600GTS 256M TV-Out/2DVI                                            $169
Case+Power  Supply Antec Atlas 550W Server Black ATX                         $143
http://www.enuinc.com/cas-antec-047.jpg
Monitor  20" Widescreen KDS K-20MDWB 20 5ms DVI Widescreen          $209
http://www.enuinc.com/mon-kds-lcd-001.html
DVD Pioneer DVR212D 18x DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Black SATA                     $ 39
OS  MS Windows Vista Business 32bit OEM 1-Pack                                    $154

Thanks a bunch everyone.

[Doombot]

Well... my monitor came in and it's awe....some. =)

I had to get a miniDVI to DVI adapter so it would attach to the Macbook but it works. =)

No dead pixels. New egg is awesome or eggcellent.

[Brugdor]

Well... my monitor came in and it's awe....some. =)

I had to get a miniDVI to DVI adapter so it would attach to the Macbook but it works. =)

No dead pixels. New egg is awesome or eggcellent.

The true test will be running games on it. If it looks good doing that, it will look good doing anything.

And yes, I have yet to be disappointed in a product I ordered from Newegg. I read the reviews on everything there beforehand and choose appropriately.

[Doombot]

Well... my monitor came in and it's awe....some. =)

I had to get a miniDVI to DVI adapter so it would attach to the Macbook but it works. =)

No dead pixels. New egg is awesome or eggcellent.

The true test will be running games on it. If it looks good doing that, it will look good doing anything.

And yes, I have yet to be disappointed in a product I ordered from Newegg. I read the reviews on everything there beforehand and choose appropriately.

I hope there are no major distortion issues with it. I remember reading about a game that wouldn't play well on 22 monitors. Freedom Force maybe?

[Brugdor]

I hope there are no major distortion issues with it. I remember reading about a game that wouldn't play well on 22 monitors. Freedom Force maybe?

Wow. There's a game I haven't thought of in years and years heh.

Umm...I think most issues that come up in games these days are their support of multiple displays. Some just have issues with it but most don't. So really you only need to be worried about if games look good on the one you ordered. Some don't refresh as quickly as others which can cause blurring and such in some games.