building new computer

hi guy/girls
im planning on building a new computer, i havent done this before, but am not that bad with computers.
i have a list of parts that i will buy, im just checking with you guys for any suggestions. I need to know if there is something i missed, or if there is something that is redundant in some way. BTW im in canada, so i used a canadian website, tigerdirect.ca, please use this site if u make any purchase suggestions TY

List:

1.K24-3906 :: Kingston 1024MB PC2700 DDR 333MHZ Non-ECC Memory |$294.99|

2.D15-1002 :: Diablo Tek Black Demon ATX Mid-Tower Case with Front USB Ports |$47.99|

3.MBM-K8V64-3000 C :: Asus K8V Socket 754 ATX Motherboard and AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Processor |$369.99|

4.P452-2000 :: EZ-Media / 430-Watt / ATX / Dual 80mm Fan / Power Supply |$54.99|

5. T925-1062 :: Thermaltake Venus 12 / Socket 754/940 / AMD Opteron/Athlon 64 / Ball Bearing / Copper Core / CPU Cooling Fan |$54.99|

6.THD-200A2 P :: Seagate / 200GB / 7200 / 8MB / ATA-100 / EIDE Hard Drive |$171.99|

7.U10-9012 :: Famous Maker 16x4x16x DVD±RW / 4x DVD+R Double Layer / 48x24x48x CD-RW / Dual Format / DVD Burner |$171.99|

8.A177-3034 :: ATI All-In-Wonder 9600 / 128MB DDR / AGP 8X / TV Tuner / AV / POD / Video Card |$232.99|

there, thats about it, i have an OS ready to go, however i have a question about that, i have the "Reinstallation CD Microsoft (r) Windows XP Home Edition Including Service Pack 1" will this work on a new computer, and by that, i mean installing the OS, if not ill probably have to buy a new one. and i have a monitor, keyboard, mouse and mouse pad

Is this something i should do, or should i just wait for 6 months and buy/build a computer then? i will have more money by then.

U see, hardware updates by months. Many people say wait till it gets cheaper and better. But then u'll have to wait entire life. So, it really depends on u. Do u really need a new system and what is ur budget? And then...u really have to see if something really new is coming. First when I saw ur prices, I was shocked, but remembered that u're from Canada, and I lived in Canada myself. About the system, i think it's al right. I'm not sure if ur CPU OEM or not and case with or without power supply, so I'm not sure if u need items 4 and 5.

Seems alright, I personally would go for the 9800 pro AGP card and a Hitachi Deskstar rather than the components you have but thats just personal preference and the fact that the HDD is SATA rather than EIDE. The 9800 Pro because its a good mid range card for not alot of money.

Apart from that it looks like a nice little PC. Is 430w going to be enough for you?

http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/

I find the above link useful when building PCs.

Regards,

the reinstallation windows cd will not work because it will only reinstall over a exusting installation.
In your case, the hard disk is clean and has nothing on it so most likely you need to buy another copy of OS.
i like the configuration of the computer but i think maybe a SATA harddisk may be better.
And also are you planning to use onboard sound?

to answer the questions, the mobo doesnt come w/ a cooling for the cpu, and the case doesnt come w/ a psu, my price range is around 2k, and i do plan on using onboard sound, as for the HDD suggestions, thank you very much.

The O/S you currently have, how did you come across it, was it bundled with your computer at purchase? If thats the case then the company that you bought the PC off should be able to give you a full copy of the O/S and are legally bound to do so seeing as you have purchased it.

I was thinking about your memory. Do you really need Kingston RAM? I know its supposed to be "The Best" but I was looking on that TigerDirect site and found some decent Corsair non-latency RAM cheaper.
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=493106&CatId=1082
Its Dual-Module so the work load would be split between the modules which is better than having just the single module.

the os i got came from dell, but th CD says reinstallation only, and its from dell, purchased by an employee, mu mom. in response to an earlier reponse,and maybe to yours as well, when i frmatted my box, it fully installed the OS AFTER i had done the formatting, iset it to boot of the disk and it did, i had no problems

as for your memory concerns, i do want 1024 megs of ram, the link you gave was for 512, im not sureif the 512 is better than the 1024, but please tell me. the sticks i have shown as on the purchase list are 2 512 sticks. i hope this answered more questions than it created

You CAN use an upgrade for a fresh install, when it asks for a previous version you can put in any older installation of windows...98, 98SE, MW etc...even 95.

I would also rec getting XP Professional instead of home...

is there any real big advantage to pro, i know basic things about it such as file encryption built in and such, but is there anthing not widely known that makes it better?

please, any suggestions about any of the parts will be apreciated, i have to finalize the shopping list by the end of the week

What are you going to be doing with this computer? Games? Video editing? Will you be overclocking? Tell me what you're doing and I can put together a nice rig for you for $2000.

i plan mostly on gaming, and some working, video editing is a hobby and i do it a lot, but not so much recently. I would like to OC and know how to, but my current board doesnt allow me to. its a dell.

remeber it has to be in canadian values please

from great gaming graphics you are going to want to get a 9800 Pro at least ! if you can afford it, get a 6800 ultra or x800

i prolly coudl afford it, i might have to cut back on HDD, but im willing to make the sacrifice

Wait till PCI express video come out...

Apologies, I gave you the wrong link. I didn't realise your current RAM was two modules, I thought it was one so never mind the point I was making there.




If your doing gaming then as I said before and as quartz posted, you really don't want to be going lower than the 9800Pro. The card isn't all that expensive but if your on a budget, you can OC the 9800 to its PRO version with relative ease.

For video editing I would recommend getting TWO HDDs and connecting them in a RAID 0 to increase performance by splitting the workload between two.. Your mobo appears to support RAID so that shouldn't be a problem. Are you aware of the processes of RAID? I realise you are on a budget but you can still have your 200GB's of space, but split between the two. There are some great HDDs out there for this sort of thing.




The ATI x-series is PCI-Express, but for his budget, not really appropriate as they aren't cheap.
http://www.ati.com/buy/pricespccdn.html

Regards,