I'm building a PC and I want your advice on how to improve it. Here are the parts:

Case - Coolermaster Centurion 5 case w/ window
PSU - Ultra X-Finity 500W
Motherboard - Asus A8N-SLI
RAM - Corsair 1GB PC3200 DDR DIMM Memory Kit
Video Card - GeForce XFX 7900GT
Wireless adapter - Dlink Wireless G PCI Adapter 54MPBS 2.4GHz
HDD - hitachi deskstar 80gb
Processor - AMD 3700+
Monitor - BenQ 17" LCD
Cooler - ArticFreezer 64 cpu cooler
Total Cost - $1,059.50

There are a couple changes that I'm considering right now, but I want your opinion on them:

1) I'm thinking of waiting out for the Intel Conroe processor (July 23), but how much will it cost for me to get the 2.66 GHz version?
2) I want a bigger HDD, but I don't want to spend too much. Is 120 GB HDD good? I'll be using it strictly for gaming, music, and movies. I have a laptop to do my business on.
3) The RAM. Same deal as the HDD, I want more but don't want to spend too much. I'm thinking of 1.5 - 2 gigs, but I want your opinion on it.

Thanks for any feedback.

Hopefully that asus a8n-sli mobo that you're looking at will come with the latest bios & stable chipset fan. hell, pray that it does LMAO because if it doesn't, you'll be running into TONS of problems, with you just stressing out in the end. just read all the reviews on newegg from people that ordered one that came with an older bios and bad chipset fan.

you can get a 200-300GB SATA HDD for like 120. i'm using an 80GB SATA HDD in my system with another 200GB external which fits all my needs. if you're going to store movies and such, 2 inexpensive 300GB's should do the job for you. i was going to do all that raid crap or go with a raptor drive but i have pretty good patience to save me the cash.

as for your ram needs, i think 1GB will be enough unless you're looking to do something with editing software. i have 2GB in my system and my system doesnt lag but i dont really put the full 2GB's to use very much..

at first i told myself i wanted a pc that doesnt lag at all, and that i wanted something that'll be able to handle games if i ever wanted to play one. but i never play games on it and i think to myself now, that i couldve been better off with some brand name pc from the store instead. i'm happy with my system though, learned a lot from building it and all that good stuff.

Well I do plan on using it for a lot of gaming. I also want to be able to play DX10 games without a hitch after the DX10 cards come out.

Oo i think you should get the 2 GB of RAM if your gonna play games with DX10 and also i think you can afford to spend a little bit more on a bigger HDD because 80 GB isnt all that much these days unless your gonna get an external drive later.

I think you should wait the 23 of july because prices of all processors will go down ...
But about the hdd, you need a bigger one : have you considered that nowadays, everything installed requires more and more space ... I think at least, 200 Gb or more will be better ... Anyway, it depends on how much you like games and movies on it ...
About the ram, you can buy another one of 1 Gb after a litte period of time :-)

If your gonna play games with that rig then i recommend you still with the AMD CPU instead of the Intel ones, cause AMD is like a gamers fav for CPU, if your getting a dual core mobo then you might want to check out the AMD dual core CPU, they cost around 600 on newegg. Other then that i still think you should go for a bigger HDD, has others say before me 80 gigs is not enough, and 2 gb of ram is also good for gaming.

What everyone has said here is pretty much the solids....we all have no lives :S :(

RAM is a must if your going to be HEAVY gaming or HEAVY rendering pictures and programs such as Bryce 3d landscaper

Lol, that setup looks very similar to how I wanted mine to be. Too bad the prices are a bit higher here in The Netherlands and that sweet Ultra X-Finity isn't available in Europe :(. About the processor: yea, it's better to wait, not in the first place because the 3700+ isn't that special nowadays, considering it's just as good as an overclocked lower 3 serie AMD A64 processor (like my 3500+).
Looking at the specs, you like to play games, so let's wait and see how the Conroe performs in that, otherwise, let's see how much the price of an AMD drops. You could be thinking about a 4 serie or even X serie Athlon.

And yea, you can't be serious about that HDD, lol. 80GB is defenitely too less. I just found out myself my 200Gig ain't big enough O_o (shared some stuff at LAN Party, lol).

I've decided to go with 2GB of RAM. I'll be getting Corsair XMS: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16820145015. I think a 120 GB is enough for me because I don't download movies, but I do play a lot of games and I download music. I still haven't decided about the brand yet, but that decision will come sooner or later. I might change the motherboard/processor to fit the Intel Conroe process coming out July 23; however, I don't know how much that will run me. I know that it has better performance over AMD's latest and greatest processor, so I'm really looking forward to that. However, AMD has announced a 50% price cut in their top processors the day after Conroe is released, so I may end up with the AMD after all. Any other suggestions?

Thanks for the feedback so far. :)

Oh, and about the ram. the a8n-sli is REALLY picky about the ram. i had to go with 2x1gb sticks of plain kingstons just because of what i've read. the manual also says it can only accept a small list of certain brand ram..

If you are not realy in a hurry i would sujest to wait for the new Core Duo2 CPUs by Intel. The improvement is huge since p4 and the new chips are able to beat the amd ones with ease.Or alternatively get a cheap 775 cpu with a motherboard Core Duo Ready to be able to upgrade in the future.The Core Duo lauch is expected at the end of the month. The entry level CoreDuo i think that costs about 180e for the 1000+ piece order.So i think that i would cost no more than 250e to the consumer.

As for the graphic card, to not haste to buy the first DX10 support ones.The history shows that the first models lack the 100% support considering the upgrades we will see after a short time on DX10 itself (like DX9a,b,c)

Lol, RetroXi, you really hate your A8N-Sli, don't you? But I'm affraid you're right. The mobo works fine as long as you handle it the way the manufacturer wants. I don't quite know about the RAM, but I've read about that small selection indeed. For now, I just got the most avarage 1G Kingston in it, gonna buy a second one next month.

And yes, if you are looking for the best hardware, you better wait a while. Then again, there are so many developments atm, you can't just wait forever. So you have to make decisions. Newest processor (Conroe) or cheaper AMD // Newest videocard with DX10 or just the latest 7900GT or even SLi.
Choice is all yours.

I've got a pretty standard rig thinking about what you want
But a 120gig is not enough, I'm sitting with a 160gig and it's killing me( I also thought I would never be able to fill 160gig but alas I have and can't keep up with buring DVD's)!!
I'm going to get a 350gig in next week or so coz space a prob.

Memory wise 1gig should suffice if you don't have the $, I'm running 1gig Corsair in mine a.t.m and with normal apps like Photoshop and most games it fine loading times can be little annoying with some high end games but waiting never killed anyone!

Asfor graphics do not squirm on it, get a slower processor if you have to but get the best possible graphics card that is where my fatal mistake was I went for high end processor and left the graphics and now I can't play some games to their full potential coz I've squirmed on my graphics card, most game a.t.m use your graphics card power to do the physics processing and not your CPU power so can relax with that for now.