Your opinions before I order tomorrow, please

[quickfix]

Intel E6600 Core 2 Duo
Gigabyte DS4
BFG 7900GT
G.Skill 2GB DDR2 NR PC2-6400 (cas5)
Scythe Ninja
2 x Samsung Spinpoint 250gb
430W Seasonic s12
20" Viewsonic VX2025
Samsung SH-S182D 18x18 DVD±RW
Akasa AK FC-03 Fan Controller Pro
Antec P180
XP 64bit edition

I'm not sure about a couple of things. The PSU calculator said that the load would be just under 430W, but do you think it'd be worth getting the 500W S12 just incase? Also, is the extra cash for the DS4 worth it? I just liked the look of the heatpipe...

If anyone can suggest something better for the same price then that'd be good too. Budget's about £1400-1450.

 

[HicRic]

7900's have terrible failure rates recently, the x1800xt on This Week Only is just £150 and is faster and more reliable than the 7900GT. Go for that instead!

Unless you have any specific need for 64bit windows, just go with the normal 32 bit version - you'll have all kinds of trouble getting compatible drivers and making games work etc...it's not very well supported by a lot of software companies.

I'd probably go with the 500w seasonic instead like you mentioned, even if it's not needed now it'll be there to give you more power in the future.

 

[quickfix]

I was planning to use linux as my main operating system, with windows to run the few programs that I might need to use every so often that don't run using wine. And I thought that the ATI cards had really bad driver support under linux, which is why I was opting for a nVidia.

And I was getting xp64 because I really, really don't want to get Vista, but want an operating system that will be able to keep up with future 64bit apps. Or is it not worth the effort?

 

[HicRic]

I was planning to use linux as my main operating system, with windows to run the few programs that I might need to use every so often that don't run using wine. And I thought that the ATI cards had really bad driver support under linux, which is why I was opting for a nVidia.

And I was getting xp64 because I really, really don't want to get Vista, but want an operating system that will be able to keep up with future 64bit apps. Or is it not worth the effort?

Yep, nvidia are definately better if you're after linux support. Hopefully you'll be okay with the 7900GT but the failure rate I've heard is in the region of 5% - just be aware you might have to send it back a week or two after you get it (errors don't always surface immediately) and wait for a replacement.

Trying to future proof the OS by thinking of upcoming 64 bit apps is fair enough, just as far as I know there's bad support for drivers etc. right now. And of course when Vista hits people will make 64 bit drivers for that rather than XP 64bit, so I'm not sure that situation will improve. I'm not too knowledgeable on this to be honest, probably best to have a look around and check out the things you'd be wanting to use in XP, and seeing what 64 bit OS support is offered.

Everything else looks pretty good to me - you've chosen some nice ram, and of course that core 2 duo will be nice and zippy! I don't know anything about the mobo though, hopefully it's a good 'un. Perhaps someone else could advise on that.

 

[TheVoice]

And I was getting xp64 because I really, really don't want to get Vista, but want an operating system that will be able to keep up with future 64bit apps. Or is it not worth the effort?

I doubt it'll work like that. XP x64 has really just been used as a stop-gap, basically to prove that XP can be 64-bit and will run on 64-bit machines. It doesn't seem to have gained any huge amount of support or backing, and I think most companies are going to be too focused on Vista to ever really bother with XP x64 stuff. If it were me, I'd just go for normal XP Home Edition for now (unless you need the extra Pro features for some reason), and wait and see what state Vista is in a year from now.

Would also change the HDDs to the Seagate 7200.10s too, seeing as they're seeingly the fastest SATA drives this side of the Raptors.