Advice on new build

[kanebrasi]

Just wanted to get some opinions on a system I'm about to build. This build is for a small office computer. I needed on-board video and a serial port so I chose the P5B-VM SE. Maybe I should have just gone with an Intel board. Will the price drop on the E6420 July 22?

I know a lot of the people on the mysuperpc boards (especially Rob) are experienced builders. Can any of you suggest where (online) I can get a good anti-static mat to work on? And also a good wrist strap? Do I even need the anti-static mat?

ASUS P5B-VM SE
Core 2 Duo E6420
2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400 800MHz DDR2 DIMM, Corsair XMS2
Antec NSK6500 BLACK ATX Mid w/ 430W ATX12V2.0 (9 bays)
Western Digital 250GB SATA2, 7200rpm, 8MB cache
Samsung SH-S182M DVDRW

[Jamie Nixx]

That build looks good. The E6420 might be slight overkill just for an office computer unless your going to be doing some serious multitasking :p

Why not stick a decent graphics card in and have it for gaming as well :D

[kanebrasi]

I guess I might as well. What would you recommend as far as a decent graphics card for the money? Considering it will only be used for occasional gaming.

Thanks

[Jamie Nixx]

Just for Occasional gaming.

I reckon an Nvidia 6600GT would do you fine.

That will play Call of Duty 1 + 2 on high graphics

It will also play Half life 1 + 2

And Oblivion on decent graphics.

[Rob]

Yeah, the GeForce 6600 GT is a great video card and I still use it in one of my computers. I played Half-Life 2 all the way through on it. The card is a couple of iterations old now, so it's a little harder to find. The GeForce 7600 GT I recommend on my home page is even better and not much money.

http://www.mysuperpc.com

[kanebrasi]

Thanks for all the advice!

It looks like a lot of people buying at newegg are big on the EVGA 256-P2-N615-TX GeForce 7600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130062

You know I chose the ASUS P5B-VM SE because it had on-board video, but putting in a graphics card makes it kind of a waste. I already have the mb so I'm pretty much stuck with it. Do you think it matters?

Installing the new graphics card will just negate the on-board video so it no longer is using system ram, right?

By the way, Rob, thanks for the site and this forum! I'm only on my second build and your site has been a great resourse. I am planning on buying your book too. Are you planning a revision soon. From some of your posts it sounds like your in the process of updating. Thanks again!

[Rob]

Thanks for the good words. There will be a new revision someday, updated with dual-core processor, SLI, Windows Vista and things like that. But it won't be available soon. Probably not until the middle of 2008.

[The Wise Monkey]

You can disable the on-board graphics in the BIOS, which I would recommend doing if you are going to have another card.

I have the 7600GT - its a fantastic GPU. :)

[dadbuilt]

Onboard graphics will not be wasted most boards have them these days. Not much more in price.