Compatibility and General Advice Needed

[Katiedid]

I'm going to attempt to build my first PC. I need a compy that can stand up to demanding 3D games, and has great "upgrade-ability". I'd like to have this PC for at least the next five years.

I'm still in the planning stages of all my components. I've been reading your site (awesome by the way) and have tried not to stray too far from your recommendations. I'd greatly appreciate your advice on compatibility of all the components I've listed, quality of those components, and if I've gone a little overkill power/speedwise. (The LEDs on the Ballistix Tracers were simply because of the window case. I wanted it to look a little cooler, but I might re-think that idea because of the cost.) :)

Computer case
Antec P160W Aluminum W/Window
Power Supply
Antec Phantom 500W ATX 12V 2.0 Silent Power Supply
Motherboard
Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe Wireless Edition
Processor
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ AM2 W/Fan
RAM
2GB Kit Ballistix Tracer 240-pin DIMM (With LEDs)
Video Card
ATI All-In-Wonder X1900
Sound Card
Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer
Hard Drive
Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB 7200rpm SATA 300 MB/s
Floppy Drive
Sony1.44MB 3.5 Inch Black
DVD RW
Sony DRU830A 18x Internal Dual-Layer DVD Burner
Modem
Zoom Telephonics V.92 V.44 PCI (Model 3025)


Thank you so much!!!

~katie

[Rob]

Hi, Katie:

Thanks for the good words. The PC you have in mind looks terrific. In fact, it's very similar to the one I'm building now. That should come in handy in case we run into problems.

Five years is a long time for a computer to be able to handle top-tier games. The one component I'd suggest you consider further is the video card. The ATI X1900 model line is quite powerful and an excellent choice for today's games. But you may want to go with an NVIDIA 8800 GTS model or an NVIDIA 8800 GTX model. It costs at least twice as much, but delivers a lot more power. The 8800 models are DX10 compatible, which is something you'll probably want for a long-term gaming computer.

[Katiedid]

Thanks so much! I think I will go with the NVIDIA card. I'll post updades as they come along, although that might not be for a while. (I still need a little bit more funding before I can buy all the components.)

Thanks again.

~katie