I am planning to put together a gaming (and general use) computer for my son
as a high school graduation gift.

Here are my specs so far:

MSI K8N Neo4/SLI motherboard (w/built in SoundBlaster Live chip)
Althion 64 3000+ CPU, Socket 939 version
2 GB DDR400 Corair Ram
256MB Nvidia GeForce 7800 GTX video card
Antec Performance TX640B Series Case
Plextor PX-716A dual layer DVD 16X
Maxtor 300GB DiamondMax hard drive
Viewsonic 17" Thinedge VP171B LCD flat panel monitor
Windows XP Professional OEM

He already has a decent keyboard, speakers and optical mouse. I will also
add a DVD player so he can record copies of the DVD's he owns.

I can do this for around $2,000.

Any suggestions or comments?

Yer monitor's way small ... as is the PS (400W) if you intend to add a
2nd 7800gtx at a later date (which is why SLI). I like my asus A8N-SLI
with Seasonic S12 PS (600W, all the right connectors). Maybe I'll get a
case for it one day. Here's a link ...
http://www.slizone.com/object/slizone2_build.html ... and good luck
with that. Ok, back to browsing for that new boat.

On Mon, 9 Jan 2006 17:56:31 -0500, " JimH" jimh_osudadATyahooDOT com
wrote:

I am planning to put together a gaming (and general use) computer for my son
as a high school graduation gift.

Here are my specs so far:

MSI K8N Neo4/SLI motherboard (w/built in SoundBlaster Live chip)
Althion 64 3000+ CPU, Socket 939 version
2 GB DDR400 Corair Ram
256MB Nvidia GeForce 7800 GTX video card
Antec Performance TX640B Series Case
Plextor PX-716A dual layer DVD 16X
Maxtor 300GB DiamondMax hard drive
Viewsonic 17" Thinedge VP171B LCD flat panel monitor
Windows XP Professional OEM

He already has a decent keyboard, speakers and optical mouse. I will also
add a DVD player so he can record copies of the DVD's he owns.

I can do this for around $2,000.

Any suggestions or comments?


Isn't he going to college?

--
John H.

"Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to resolve it."
Rene Descartes

"bowgus" wrote in message
oups.com...
Yer monitor's way small ... as is the PS (400W) if you intend to add a
2nd 7800gtx at a later date (which is why SLI). I like my asus A8N-SLI
with Seasonic S12 PS (600W, all the right connectors). Maybe I'll get a
case for it one day. Here's a link ...
http://www.slizone.com/object/slizone2_build.html ... and good luck
with that. Ok, back to browsing for that new boat.


The case comes with a 400W ATX 12V 2.0 power supply with a PCI-E power plug
and comes with variable speed cooling fans. It was highly rated (including
the power supply) by a couple of PC gaming magazines and is more than enough
power as I see it, although I will look into the ps you recommend.

Regarding the monitor, a 17" is all he needs, especially considering it is a
flat panel LCD. He can upgrade later to something bigger as I did want to
stick to a budget (I am trying to keep it at $2,000).

What are your thoughts on the motherboard, CPU and memory?

"JohnH" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 9 Jan 2006 17:56:31 -0500, " JimH" jimh_osudadATyahooDOT com
wrote:

I am planning to put together a gaming (and general use) computer for my
son
as a high school graduation gift.

Here are my specs so far:

MSI K8N Neo4/SLI motherboard (w/built in SoundBlaster Live chip)
Althion 64 3000+ CPU, Socket 939 version
2 GB DDR400 Corair Ram
256MB Nvidia GeForce 7800 GTX video card
Antec Performance TX640B Series Case
Plextor PX-716A dual layer DVD 16X
Maxtor 300GB DiamondMax hard drive
Viewsonic 17" Thinedge VP171B LCD flat panel monitor
Windows XP Professional OEM

He already has a decent keyboard, speakers and optical mouse. I will
also
add a DVD player so he can record copies of the DVD's he owns.

I can do this for around $2,000.

Any suggestions or comments?


Isn't he going to college?

--
John H.

"Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to
resolve it."
Rene Descartes

Ummm..........yes.

Is studying all you did in college? ;-)

" JimH" jimh_osudadATyahooDOT com wrote in message
...

"JohnH" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 9 Jan 2006 17:56:31 -0500, " JimH" jimh_osudadATyahooDOT com
wrote:

I am planning to put together a gaming (and general use) computer for my
son
as a high school graduation gift.

Here are my specs so far:

MSI K8N Neo4/SLI motherboard (w/built in SoundBlaster Live chip)
Althion 64 3000+ CPU, Socket 939 version
2 GB DDR400 Corair Ram
256MB Nvidia GeForce 7800 GTX video card
Antec Performance TX640B Series Case
Plextor PX-716A dual layer DVD 16X
Maxtor 300GB DiamondMax hard drive
Viewsonic 17" Thinedge VP171B LCD flat panel monitor
Windows XP Professional OEM

He already has a decent keyboard, speakers and optical mouse. I will
also
add a DVD player so he can record copies of the DVD's he owns.

I can do this for around $2,000.

Any suggestions or comments?


Isn't he going to college?

--
John H.

"Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary
to resolve it."
Rene Descartes

Ummm..........yes.

Is studying all you did in college? ;-)



BTW: It is nice to start with a powerful computer that can be easily
upgraded as technology changes. I set a budget of $2,000 for this and it
will make a nice father-son project putting it together.

He will also be running some pretty sophisticated CAD programs on the
computer so this system's power and graphics abilities will not go to waste
just on gaming.

Hey, we all need a little fun to break up the day, no matter what age we
are. ;-)

On Mon, 9 Jan 2006 19:29:55 -0500, " JimH" jimh_osudadATyahooDOT com
wrote:


"JohnH" wrote in message
.. .
On Mon, 9 Jan 2006 17:56:31 -0500, " JimH" jimh_osudadATyahooDOT com
wrote:

I am planning to put together a gaming (and general use) computer for my
son
as a high school graduation gift.

Here are my specs so far:

MSI K8N Neo4/SLI motherboard (w/built in SoundBlaster Live chip)
Althion 64 3000+ CPU, Socket 939 version
2 GB DDR400 Corair Ram
256MB Nvidia GeForce 7800 GTX video card
Antec Performance TX640B Series Case
Plextor PX-716A dual layer DVD 16X
Maxtor 300GB DiamondMax hard drive
Viewsonic 17" Thinedge VP171B LCD flat panel monitor
Windows XP Professional OEM

He already has a decent keyboard, speakers and optical mouse. I will
also
add a DVD player so he can record copies of the DVD's he owns.

I can do this for around $2,000.

Any suggestions or comments?


Isn't he going to college?

--
John H.

"Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to
resolve it."
Rene Descartes

Ummm..........yes.

Is studying all you did in college? ;-)


I'd consider a laptop so he could take it to classes, the library, and the
student center, all common places for studying. That seems to be the
popular thing amongst the folks I know going to college.

When I was in college, we didn't have calculators, let alone computers.
And, since I was married, 28 years old, with one child, and the Army was
paying my way and checking my grades every semester, yes. About all I did
was study!

--
John H.

"Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to resolve it."
Rene Descartes

"JohnH" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 9 Jan 2006 19:29:55 -0500, " JimH" jimh_osudadATyahooDOT com
wrote:


"JohnH" wrote in message
. ..
On Mon, 9 Jan 2006 17:56:31 -0500, " JimH" jimh_osudadATyahooDOT com
wrote:

I am planning to put together a gaming (and general use) computer for my
son
as a high school graduation gift.

Here are my specs so far:

MSI K8N Neo4/SLI motherboard (w/built in SoundBlaster Live chip)
Althion 64 3000+ CPU, Socket 939 version
2 GB DDR400 Corair Ram
256MB Nvidia GeForce 7800 GTX video card
Antec Performance TX640B Series Case
Plextor PX-716A dual layer DVD 16X
Maxtor 300GB DiamondMax hard drive
Viewsonic 17" Thinedge VP171B LCD flat panel monitor
Windows XP Professional OEM

He already has a decent keyboard, speakers and optical mouse. I will
also
add a DVD player so he can record copies of the DVD's he owns.

I can do this for around $2,000.

Any suggestions or comments?


Isn't he going to college?

--
John H.

"Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary
to
resolve it."
Rene Descartes

Ummm..........yes.

Is studying all you did in college? ;-)


I'd consider a laptop so he could take it to classes, the library, and the
student center, all common places for studying. That seems to be the
popular thing amongst the folks I know going to college.

When I was in college, we didn't have calculators, let alone computers.
And, since I was married, 28 years old, with one child, and the Army was
paying my way and checking my grades every semester, yes. About all I did
was study!

--
John H.

"Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to
resolve it."
Rene Descartes

He does not want a laptop. My daughter (presently a junior at Ohio State)
did not want one either nor found any use for one to date for her college
classes.

Laptops run hot and do not offer the same capabilities as a desktop unit,
nor the expandability or ability to upgrade.

" JimH" jimh_osudadATyahooDOT com wrote in message
. ..
I am planning to put together a gaming (and general use) computer for my
son as a high school graduation gift.

Here are my specs so far:

MSI K8N Neo4/SLI motherboard (w/built in SoundBlaster Live chip)
Althion 64 3000+ CPU, Socket 939 version
2 GB DDR400 Corair Ram
256MB Nvidia GeForce 7800 GTX video card
Antec Performance TX640B Series Case
Plextor PX-716A dual layer DVD 16X
Maxtor 300GB DiamondMax hard drive
Viewsonic 17" Thinedge VP171B LCD flat panel monitor
Windows XP Professional OEM

He already has a decent keyboard, speakers and optical mouse. I will
also add a DVD player so he can record copies of the DVD's he owns.

I can do this for around $2,000.

Any suggestions or comments?


Pirate windows XP and save yourself the bucks...

hey seriously - when you get the rig put together, before loading windows,
get ubuntu linux (free download) http://www.ubuntulinux.org/ and just try it
out for a day. Ubuntu project is bankrolled by this millionaire kid(well
early 30s) that is really something else. It will work with all the hardware
(get the 64 bit version) and it will just fly!!! Just try it to see how you
like it. I have it at work and never went back to windows. It's amazing! I
will be doing the same at home soon...

" JimH" jimh_osudadATyahooDOT com wrote in message
. ..
I am planning to put together a gaming (and general use) computer for my
son as a high school graduation gift.

Here are my specs so far:

MSI K8N Neo4/SLI motherboard (w/built in SoundBlaster Live chip)
Althion 64 3000+ CPU, Socket 939 version
2 GB DDR400 Corair Ram
256MB Nvidia GeForce 7800 GTX video card
Antec Performance TX640B Series Case
Plextor PX-716A dual layer DVD 16X
Maxtor 300GB DiamondMax hard drive
Viewsonic 17" Thinedge VP171B LCD flat panel monitor
Windows XP Professional OEM

He already has a decent keyboard, speakers and optical mouse. I will
also add a DVD player so he can record copies of the DVD's he owns.

I can do this for around $2,000.

Any suggestions or comments?


Oh one more thing Jim - the MSI board is very nice - but there is one issue
with it that I hate. The chipset heatsink has a fan on it. One of my fan's
got a dust bunny trapped in there and it overheated and it killed the mobo.
I would suggest an abit board without a fan, but with a larger heat sink on
the chipset. (on the picture its the little fan next to the cpu)...
something to think about...