Need advice from hardware gurus

[Gunner]

I just moved to the US and as a result I left my old pc with my older brother back in France, and now I'm browsing different websites looking for a new core 2 duo pc. I didn't find anything on Newegg.com but I did find this other place: Zipzoomfly.com.

Here's what I'm looking at:

-CPU: E6300 $219
-Mobo: Intel DP965 $119
-Ram: Corsair DDR2 PC6400 1GB $108
-Case: Raidmax Sagitta (/w PSU 450W)

I've already got a screen, mouse, keyboard, HDD, mouse & keyboard.

Total is $526 without shipping. What do you guys think of this setup? Oh and another thing, I'm not confident about installing the cpu & mobo; I was thinking about it bringing it to a bestbuy geeksquad precint and have them install it for $39. Oh and my budget is just that: $600. I have to buy a car too :-(

 

[giant384]

so does this have integrated video because you didnt list a video card and i couldnt find that board on the site so i couldnt tell it if it did or not.

 

[Gunner]

Oh yeah I forgot to mention the video card, I haven't made up my mind on that yet. Was thinking of getting a budget 7300 for a $100 or something, just to hold me over till DX10 cards come out.

 

[DreadLord]

Looks like a good setup.

 

[VictimOfScience]

If you can put Legos together, you can put a CPU in a mobo. Its really not that bad once you do it and if you're building your own PC, then its a great feeling to do it yourself. Good luck! (But maybe buy one of those PC Builder's Guide magazines that are always on the shelves of your local bookshop to tell you exactly what you need to do.) Good luck! The setup should do nicely until the DX10 cards hit--start saving...now!

 

[giant384]

I Love Exspensive Legos!!!!

 

[Gunner]

Okay legos, yeah I mean it can't be harder than putting together an ikea desk or something I guess hehe. Thanks fellas!

 

[giant384]

building computers arent hard at all you just need to be gentle when putting it together.

 

[Gunner]

Well I once put a zalman video heatsink and fan on a 9800 radeon, applying the thermal paste really freaked me out. I didn't know if I put too little or too much. And now if I gotta do it for a cpu it's gonna freak me out even more!

 

[giant384]

on the cpu just put just enough thermal paste so it looks like a grain of rice and for the video card you need to put a thin layer of thermal past all over the core. use a credit card or some kind of thin plastic

 

[The Brick]

Those are excellent budget choices. No incompatibilities, perfect.

Although people here are assuring you that installing a cpu ON a mobo is easy. But installing a mobo in a pc case can be tricky. Biggest tip I can give you that you almost MUST comply is that you must keep yourself grounded with the pc case at all times. Static electricity is lethal for any computer components.

 

[Gunner]

Those are excellent budget choices. No incompatibilities, perfect.

Although people here are assuring you that installing a cpu ON a mobo is easy. But installing a mobo in a pc case can be tricky. Biggest tip I can give you that you almost MUST comply is that you must keep yourself grounded with the pc case at all times. Static electricity is lethal for any computer components.

Thanks Brick, I think I'm gonna pay the geeksquad fellas to set it up for me. I'm really not good with this sort of stuff hehe.

 

[Cole]

To ground yourself just touch the case and don't be working on any plastic.

 

[Gunner]

I'll keep that in mind Cole, thanks

Just one last thing, the intel DP965 mobo is out of stock now so I ordered a Gigabyte GA-P965-SA3 instead. Would anyone recommend this card? I read all the core 2 duo guides on anandtech and they barely mention this mobo.