Tax time upgrade

Well...that time again My wife is giving me a $1000 to get our son's pc(my old one) back together and in the process, I'm doing a little upgrading to mine as well. First off, a list of things needed to get the boys' pc up and running. Power supply,vid card,hard drive(drives),memory,monitor. I'll be putting the above mentioned parts from my pc into this one and in turn buying upgrades to what I have in my sig. I've already compiled a list of possible hardware to do this, I was wondering what you all think. Keep in mind I have a budget, which to my best negotiating abilities, is non-negotiable

memory-(2x) http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-220-036&depa=0

HD's-(2x)- http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=22-144-200&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE

and for storage purposes- http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=22-135-106&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE

power supply- http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-104-968&depa=0

Vid card- http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=14-122-195&depa=0

DVD/CD-RW drive- http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=27-106-962&depa=0

I am totally open to suggestions on what I have listed, or if you can find it someplace else cheaper, great. This list is not set in stone, so feel free to offer oppinions, I try to stay on top of whats goin on with the latest bang for your buck products but it's hard nowadays. Thanks for lookin and my son is so lookin forward to being able to download the 20 or so mini games he installs on my pc everyday from Cartoon Network, only to find them uninstalled the next

What are you going to do with that 9500? I'd suggest putting that in your sons computer because its fairly good. Maybe I missed something but those upgrades you linked to at newegg are going to be replacing the parts in your computer, then those ones will be in your sons right? I'm sure you can find a 9800 pro you can flash to xt for under 300. Thats still a farily high end card.

Yes, the 9500 is going in the youngins' pc, yea the parts linked on newegg are goin in mine and the ones I'm taking out are going in the other. I was thinkin a 9800 as well, but there are so many versions and models I wasn't sure what one to get. I did some talkin today (keepin it G-rated for the younger folks) and I may be able to get another $100-150 to put with the $300. What might you suggest now for a vid card? Thanks for the suggestion on the 9800, I was thinkin along those lines as well, but like I said, wasn't sure on the model or version etc...

With the quality of parts you're investing in, saving some money on the psu could be a mistake. That brand doesn't have a great reputation ( check the power supply forum ) and you could run into trouble. Personally, I'd look for a fortron/sparkle or an antec instead. Plus, your psu is the one thing you can buy that won't go obsolete, if you get a good one.

Good point garste Thanks, I have updated the list...Think that will be alright? And still plenty left for a decent video card.

Yeah, much better. Now you'll be ready when you get the itch to go A64.

Great...yea that may be next year's project

I want the dualie raptors! *drool* My buddy has them in RAID 0 and it's da*mn sexy!

That said, I must throw in my thoughts that you could nix one of them, and either 1) stick with the 36gb, use the saved money to get a larger storage drive and still have even more money to dump into a nicer video card (nice video cards make a -huge- difference, espeically if you're into gaming), or 2) upgrade it to a 70g and still save some cash to put towards the nicer vid card. I say this because while the 2 raptors are sexy, they're still very expensive. It's nice to have the dualies in RAID 0 going, but extremely far from necessary. I feel that you would see better performance boost for your money if you were to go with a nicer video card. If you plan on upgrading next tax season as well, then go with 10k rpm's then, as I'm sure they will be much cheaper by then.

Just my $0.02

Thanx for the input YoMatta But I think I'm gonna stick with the dual raptors, cause as it stands...I'm going to be going with an X800 for a vid card, and I don't think I can get much better than that Plus I can always pick up a bigger drive for storage, I'm always being asked for overtime, but I turn it down...might take em up on it a few days and I'll have the extra cash

I have been looking at some reviews and benchies, and I'm considering going with a 6800GT instead of the X800 PRO, any ideas on this?...they're comparably priced, but the 6800 beats the X800 in some benchmarks I've seen.

I'd go with the 6800 GT simply because ATi linux drivers are terrible and who knows when and if you might just one day decide to try Linux out. IMO I prefer the 6800 series over the x800 series but thats just me, I guess I'm an nvidia fanboy--they will both relatively yield the same results.

Thanx a lot Tatuya...I'm seriously thinkin about the 6800GT myself. Not really a fanboy of either manufacturers, just lookin for the best performance for the money