Please help pick parts for new comp

[eh2480]

My friend is helping me build a new pc but I can't seem to decide on parts. It would mostly be for gaming and music, but also for school related stuff. My budget is about $1300(I could go 100 more if neccessary). I'll still be using my old comp so I need to every part, except a printer and monitor. My only preferences is that it uses the Antec Sonata II case, nVidia video card, and all from 1 site. The setup I came up with is:

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3500+ $219.00
MOBO: MSI K8N Neo4-F Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX Motherboard $82.99
RAM: OCZ Enhanced Latency 1GB (2 x 512MB) DDR 400 (PC 3200) $131.25
HD: Maxtor DiamondMax 10 200GB 7200 RPM 16mb cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive $91.00
Video Card: eVGA Geforce 7800GT 256MBVideo Card with BF2 $399.00
Optical Drive 1: LITE-ON Black IDE DVD-ROM Drive $19.99
Optical Drive 2: NEC Black IDE DVD Burner Model $39.99
OS: Microsoft Windows XP HOME Edition With Service Pack 2 $91.95
Case: Antec LifeStyle SONATA II Computer Case $109.00
Speakers: Logitech THX Z-5300e 280 Watts RMS 5.1 Speaker $133.00
Mouse: Logitech MX518 Optical Gaming Mouse $39.89
Keyboard: Logitech Media Keyboard $19.95

Subtotal $1,377.01
Shipping $69.51
TOTAL $1,446.52

It's over budget and I don't know that much about computers so if you could recommend some better/cheaper. Also I need this to last at least 3 years and i probably won't be able to upgrade. This might be a lot to ask but any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[pop pop]

Somebody has picked out some fine stuff at great prices. I don't know what I would trim. Those Logitech speakers are going to blow the walls off. 280 watts RMS is a ton of power. You could save the $82.99 on the MSI mobo since Newegg is giving away a K8-NF4 Socket 939 SLI mobo with that 7800GT.

[eh2480]

Hmm... correct me if im wrong but i thought the 1 that came with the free mobo is $449 so it would only save like 30 dollars and i would still need to buy Battlefield 2, and the fact that it is SLI wont matter becuase i wont be able to upgrade. :( But thanks for your help :)

[saphalline]

Also I need this to last at least 3 years and i probably won't be able to upgrade.Ok, so you won't be able to afford any upgrades? And what do you mean by it has to last 3 years? As in it needs to function in 3 years or it needs to be able to play the latest games in 3 years?

To make it under budget:

Pull back on the CPU. The 3500+ is nice, but you can get by with the 3200+ or 3000+ without a problem. Also, make sure you're getting the latest Venice core.

Pull back on the RAM. The onboard memory controller of the K8 microarchitecture gains nothing (performance-wise) from lower latency RAM. Standard RAM will be just as good.

Cut out the second DVD drive. When dual-layer DVD burners can do it all, why get another optical drive? For disk-to-disk copying? Bah! Just make an image to your huge 200GB hard drive and burn it to another disk from there. It may be extra work every now and then, but it saves you money now.

A suggestion:

Spend a little extra for WinXP Pro. A much better OS, IMO, and the only "real" one you should be looking at for a power-user's system. Well, other than Linux...

[eh2480]

Thank you I took your advice on the RAM(Corsair ValueSelect 1GB(2 x 512MB) or $89.75) and the DVD drive. I also went with the 3200+. Plus shiipping it'll cost $1,354.03. Getting XP Pro will cost an extra 50 dollars which i guess I could make up for by getting the 3000+, but is that a good trade-off. ALso by lasting three years i wan tit to be able to play the latest games, but it doesnt have to be at high settings, just passable. Thanks for your help, it's greatly appreciated. :)

[pop pop]

You're right. I've had a bad week reading...anything right.

[saphalline]

Getting XP Pro will cost an extra 50 dollars which i guess I could make up for by getting the 3000+, but is that a good trade-off.If you don't need Remote Desktop and other network-related features, then XP Home is fine. Just make sure you get SP2 and it will all be good.

ALso by lasting three years i wan tit to be able to play the latest games, but it doesnt have to be at high settings, just passable.Hmmm... it will be passable in 3 years, yes. If you can afford to upgrade in 2 years, that would be advisable, but even some of the golden oldies like the GF4 and Radeon 8500 can play the latest games at lower resolutions just fine. Except maybe for Doom 3, but that's a lighting & Z stencil factor in the game engine more than anything else.

[eh2480]

I'll have to think about the XP Pro then, but it'll be a week before i can order anyways so I hope I can make a decision by then. I just hope newegg doesn't change prices till then.