New Computer Need Help?

Question

I am looking to build a new computer for college. My budget is around $500. The current setup I wish to purchase is
Spire BlackFin Case
Ultra X-Finity 500W Power Supply
Asus P5L-VM Motherboard
P4 461 3.2GHz Processor
2GB Corsair DDR 667 Ram
Asus Nvidia GForce 6600 256MB Graphics Card
Seagate 500 GB Sata Hard Drive
Samsung DVD-RW Dual Layer Burner
Generic 3 Port Firewire Card

Tell me what you think or what you would change about the system. Thanks.

Dual core seems a liitle out of my budget. However for the graphics card I can uprgade to a Asus Gforce 7300 256 Mb for under 15 bucks

I could also do a Motherboard and CPU swap. going to an Asus P5VD2 and a Pentium D 930. But then I have to downgrade my ram to 2GB of 533 Mhz.

I got a solution...

Spire BlackFin Case
Ultra X-Finity 500W Power Supply
Asus P5GZ-MX Motherboard
Pentium D 930 Processor
Coolmaster GeminII with 2-120mm Fans
2GB Corsair DDR 533 Ram
Asus Nvidia GForce 7300 256MB Graphics
Seagate 500 GB Sata Hard Drive
Samsung DVD-RW Dual Layer Burner
Generic 3 Port Firewire Card
Wireless Keyboard and Mouse

Grand Total .... $550.00

Answer 1

that system is like 3 years old. get an intel core 2 duo, and at least a nvidia 7000 series gpu. other than that it looks good.

Answer 2

The nearest match on Asus website is a P5L-VM 1394 motherboard which I presume is the one in question?
http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=194&l4=0&model=1324&modelmenu=1

Assuming this is the correct board :-

Is there a reason that you are buying a motherboard with onboard graphics AND a graphics card? - maybe you are planning on starting by using the onboard graphics and later, when money allows, upgrade?

The motherboard has 2 onboard firewire (one on the rear panel and a header from the board), add to that the expansion card you plan, that is 5 firewire ports, do you need that many?

Maybe I have the wrong motherboard? If not, you may wish to reassess your choice in boards?

... everything else looks fine :)

Answer 3

You don't mention the OS but I would go for a Core 2 Duo CPU which your mobo supports and depending on what you want it for maybe 2gb of memory, your board will support up to DDR 800. Corsair is good, but some cheaper options may suit you as well. Two 250gb drives could offer RAID capability which could be good for important data if supported.

Answer 4

actually. i wouldn't change anything. for 500$ thats a good setup. your on the right path. and from there you can always upgrade later.

Answer 5

if it's 2GB of ram and 500GB hard drive then it's absolutly fantastic as long as you setup your computer my reccommended way from my website below

http://computersguide.blogspot.com/2007/01/install-computers.html