I've already started ordering -- should I finish?

[Koggit]

** I've ordered:
CASE -- Antec Nine Hundred [$79]
PSU -- Antec 550w Truepower Trio [$60]
GPU -- MSI GeForce 8800GT [$208]
Total Spent: $350

** I plan to order:
CPU -- Intel Q6600 [~$275]
MOBO -- Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L [~$90]
RAM -- 4gb, 2x G.Skill (2x1gb) DDR2 800 [~$100 (~$50x2)]
HD -- Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320gb [~$85]
OD -- Sony DVD/CD-ROM [~$20]
Additional costs: $570

Total system price: $920 (excluding OS)


My big question is should I wait until January when Intel is supposedly releasing their new CPUs?

If the answer to that is no, my smaller question is what should I do about the operating system? I want Vista, but there are so many choices. Home Premium, Ultimate, 32-bit, 64-bit, OEM, retail... any input would be appreciated, especially from people who are familiar with the Home Prem./Ultimate differences, and whether or not I would benefit from the 64-bit version.

Third, once the above two have been sorted out, is there anything I'm missing? Little cables I'd need... extra fans or heatsinks? Also, is everything compatible? I'm particular unsure regarding the motherboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128059).

Finals are next week, I hope to have all of the parts in by the time I get home from my last final, so I can begin building. Help me get this sorted out! Please. :D

[CaptainPlanet!]

I'd recommend the 32 bit vista home premium, its what im using and from your setup, its probably all you need

[darthbudge]

I suggest 32 bit Vista Ultimate, there is a huge differene from Home Premium and Ultimate. Ultimate is way better.

[Koggit]

It's $169 Ultimate vs $104 Home Premium. Is Ultimate really worth the $65 extra bucks? 67.6% more expensive.

I found this thread (http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=285139) which seems to indicate that Ultimate Extras is the primary difference. But then I Google "Ultimate Extras" and get a bunch of results saying "Ultimate Extras is a sham", etc, all people severely disappointed in the (lack of) content. Any particular reason you recommend Ultimate?

But still, my biggest question is whether I should wait the month and a half or so for Intel's new processors. What kind of difference should I expect from their new processors? Half the price? Twice the power? Marginal differences? If it's night and day I'll wait, but if it's just a small step I'm going to build now.

[Vinny]

Home Premium vs. Ultimate
* No advanced complete system backup tool
* Small business apps, such as Fax and Scan
* No Ultimate "extras", which could include games and special utilities
* No BitLocker hard drive encryption software
* No automatic "Shadow" copies of your documents
* No Remote Desktop
* No advanced group policy editor
* Inability to run UNIX-based applications (through SUA)
* No support for dual CPU's (2 physical processors) or 128GB of memory

http://techgage.com/article/windows_vista_version_comparison/

Honestly, it doesn't seem like it's worth for those extra features for most people.

My laptop has Vista Ultimate and I honestly don't think I've even noticed any of it's 'extra features'.

[Swingman]

I ordered Home Premium Retail from Amazon.com. It's $218 but you get $50 credit on Amazon.com

Home Premium Retail - $219 ($50 back) - $169
Home Premium Upgrade - $140 ($50 back) - $90
Ultimate Retail - $356 ($75 back) - $281
Ultimate Upgrade - $250 ($75 back) - $175

Money back expires December 1st.

I prefer retail because I can install it on any pc i want and i don't have to scrap my xp disc in the process. I don't like being restricted. OEM version is the worst unless you don't plan on ever upgrading your pc.

[Koggit]

After extensive reading, I've decided to go with the OEM Vista Ultimate for $170 from NewEgg. It sounds like the only real limitation to the license versus a retail license is that it can't be transferred... but I won't be transferring it anyway, so I don't see the point in paying extra. I've decided that Ultimate's system backup and restore is worth paying for over Home Premium. And hey, who knows, maybe Microsoft will eventually put out some Extras worth getting.

Now, to bite the $740 (+tax and shipping) bullet...

[Koggit]

Sorry for the double post but I'm hoping for a speedy reply so I can finish up this order -- do OEM hard drives come with the required SATA cable? Or does my motherbaord (which is Retail)? Or must I buy one separately?

Newegg doesn't list contents. I'd hate to get all these parts in but be missing a required cable. They don't have a retail version of the hard drive I want.

[Swingman]

motherboard has the SATA cable. At least mine did and the pic for your MOBO on newegg shows SATA cables.

One thing about OEM though is that if you upgrade just one part of your PC, it could screw up your license and you'll have to call Microsoft and get them to let it work again. It might not be a problem but lot of people have posted about having issues with just minor upgrades. Then there is always the risk of getting a new pc down the road before next version of windows is released and then you're out of luck.

If you have a lot of important info that needs backup, then i would actually prefer an external hard drive to feature on the OS. never know when the os will have issues, especially if you run into having to upgrade your pc and microsoft plays hardball with the OEM license. Plus, external hard drives can be used on your new pcs down the road (no having to worry about migrating all that data from one pc to another). The money you save from getting HP instead of Ultimate could pretty much buy a good external hard drive if you get in on a good deal.

Anyway, something to think about if you haven't already ordered. I'm sure you'd be happy with ultimate but we are cheap here so

[munch]

Are you ordering a DVD burner? You might want to get one of those instead of a regular DVD Rom.

[rivacom]

Just a heads up, I know this was the case with XP, and I believe it carried over to vista(correct me if im wrong) but your 4 GB of RAM won't be any use unless you upgrade to 64-Bit. Otherwise the most your using is limited to a mid range 3GB. Also what exactly are you using the computer for? Because although I know many people jump on the Quad core cpu's, but very little applications can even use Dual core, let alone quad core. So unless your plugging away some detailed formulas, it's just wasted space. C2D would probably allow you to get a faster speed and save some money.

[Steggy]

Just a heads up, I know this was the case with XP, and I believe it carried over to vista(correct me if im wrong) but your 4 GB of RAM won't be any use unless you upgrade to 64-Bit. Otherwise the most your using is limited to a mid range 3GB. Also what exactly are you using the computer for? Because although I know many people jump on the Quad core cpu's, but very little applications can even use Dual core, let alone quad core. So unless your plugging away some detailed formulas, it's just wasted space. C2D would probably allow you to get a faster speed and save some money.


A bad rumor... Some versions of XP just didnt show the full 4gb on the system info it would show a max 3.5gb HOWEVER If you run any benchmark test or run any games they will all say you have 4gb so no need to worry.

[Koggit]

Burner: I currently have a DVD burner but have never used it, at all, so I don't think I need a burner. I expect the ROM to be faster or quieter or something.

Processor: I've read quite a bit about quad-core before making the decision, and it sounded like any program that was optimized for "multicore" processors make use of the quad-core, so long as the processing is parallel... that's quite a few programs, and I think come next January when Intel releases their new quad-cores and stops manufacturing dual-cores the number of programs taking advantage of it is going to increase rather drastically. It'll also be really nice to have for Alan Wake, and any other game that decides to optimize itself for quad core.

But as for current use, I'm a physics major -- I deal with Mathematica extensively. I occasionally use modeling programs and in Spring quarter I'll be using MATLAB. Mathematica can sometimes take a while to process. On my school's slow machines it often takes a couple minutes to plot complex functions. On my Pentium D 930 that I'm using right now, I've never had it run for longer than 20 seconds on any input, so I'm sure a C2D would be fast enough for that. This machine will be primarily for gaming and school, but also a little media.

Plus, external hard drives can be used on your new pcs down the road (no having to worry about migrating all that data from one pc to another).

That brings up another question. I currently have two hard drives in this PC -- an 80gb with the OS, and a 360gb with media. Could I simply unplug this second HD from my current PC and plug it into the new PC, and have access to all of my media?

[Bretts31344]

I would get two sticks of 2GB RAM rather than four 1GB sticks. Any compatibility issues would be less likely to occur. Then later you could upgrade to 8GB of RAM, lol. Not like you will need that any time soon though.

[Swingman]

Burner: I currently have a DVD burner but have never used it, at all, so I don't think I need a burner. I expect the ROM to be faster or quieter or something.

Processor: I've read quite a bit about quad-core before making the decision, and it sounded like any program that was optimized for "multicore" processors make use of the quad-core, so long as the processing is parallel... that's quite a few programs, and I think come next January when Intel releases their new quad-cores and stops manufacturing dual-cores the number of programs taking advantage of it is going to increase rather drastically. It'll also be really nice to have for Alan Wake, and any other game that decides to optimize itself for quad core.

But as for current use, I'm a physics major -- I deal with Mathematica extensively. I occasionally use modeling programs and in Spring quarter I'll be using MATLAB. Mathematica can sometimes take a while to process. On my school's slow machines it often takes a couple minutes to plot complex functions. On my Pentium D 930 that I'm using right now, I've never had it run for longer than 20 seconds on any input, so I'm sure a C2D would be fast enough for that. This machine will be primarily for gaming and school, but also a little media.



That brings up another question. I currently have two hard drives in this PC -- an 80gb with the OS, and a 360gb with media. Could I simply unplug this second HD from my current PC and plug it into the new PC, and have access to all of my media?

I don't think burners are any louder in general than regular dvd drives. I guess if you don't use a burner though it doesn't matter.

I've never tried moving an internal hard drive from one pc to the other but if you had the connections then it should work. My old hard drive was iDE and my new mobo only has sata so i couldn't do that myself.