Re: I'm looking to buy a new comp...
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I'd suggest you get a 750MB hard drive rather than getting a 1TB since you can actually save 100 bucks from that and the difference in storage is not that great. Even if you are downloading movies and/or games 24/7 the 750MB drive will last you for a while.
nVidia 8800 GTS is indeed a great choice both in price and performance.
When it comes to extreme sound I seriously have no idea. Nowadays, I always find the onboard mobo sound cards really good and combined with quality headphones you can have great quality sound and volume.
If you are going for a 4GB RAM bundle, (a thing I find necessary for a new PC at this time) go for ddr2-800 which is not that pricey but way better compared to the ddr2-677, then I would suggest you install Windows Vista 64bit version. Do not get discouraged from things they say about Windows Vista. In general I'm not a big Windows supporter but I'm telling you, with the right machine Windows Vista will rock your world
I'm not just saying that, I have a quite good PC that I built myself (I paid for that 2500 CAD) and I used both XP and Vista. XP was REALLY slow compared to Vista. In the worst case scenario that you will have to use Windows XP do not forget to install the 64bit version since the 32bit will only recognize up to 2.75GB of your 4GB RAM.
The only thing I'm adamant about is buying a good motherboard. It is REALLY vital for a good performing PC. I would definitely go for a top of the line ASUS. Just make sure though it will support ddr2-800 ram modules (some of their last motherboards will only support ddr3)
When it comes to mouses and keyboards I hate spending a lot of money. Microsoft keyboards have to be the worst there are out there. A 5$ no-name keyboard most probably will prove to be better than the 80$ Microsoft one. They do make nice mouses though but the Razer you picked is really good, especially for gaming since it has great precision. Its always a matter of taste though. I personally don't like wired mouses. For great keyboards you can have a look at Logitech's inventory. The dinovo series are great but expensive and imho not worth paying for.
Hopefully that helps.
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Edit: Oh and something else. At the moment, Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 and E6750 CPUs are faster than the Quad-Core ones. Which means you can get the E6850 pay less than the cheapest Quad-Core and still have a faster PC.
ya might hate them also 