Maximum PC

I built the computer I have now almost three years ago so with graduation party and college coming up I thought I'd build a new box. I haven't been paying as close attention to hardware and whatnot since then so I'm not sure if there are some things I can improve on. The two things I'm not quite sure of are the motherboard and hard drives. Is nForce still better than VIA when it comes to AMD procs? And for the hard drives is there much difference between 7200 and 10K RPM? I originally went with two WD Raptors, but they were only 36GB and were about 60 dollars more each.

Give me your suggestions and comments!

Cooler Master CAC-T05-WBA Blue/Black Computer Case
Antec NeoPower 480W Power Supply
ASUS A8N-E ATX AMD Motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor
Corsair 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Dual Channel Kit System Memory
Two Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 3.5" Serial ATA150 Hard Drives (will be in RAID 0)
XFX PVT45GUDF3 6800GT 256MB Video Card

That's a pretty sweet parts list! A 10K RPM HD will be a little faster than a 7200 RPM Drive, so if you can fit 10K RPM SATA drives into your budget go for it. Note, I just finished a new box using a 10K RPM SATA WD Raptor and it is pretty noisy so keep that in mind.

Also, if you are not a gamer you can save a bundle going with a 6600GT video card.

I agree with Tec and want to emphasize something he said. "If you are not a gamer..."
He should have put, if you are not an extreme gamer then the 6600GT is a great deal. I know a lot of casual and mid level gamers that have no problem with their 6600GT.

Bottom Line: Unless you are a hardcore gamer or just have the expendable money, go with the 6600GT.

For a college comp, you certainly want it to be as quiet as possible. Even if the drives are Seagates, the acoustic level of the total noise coming from the drives would theoretically be twice as loud as one. You also get twice the heat. You wouldn't want the rig distracting you while you write a paper, would you?

Eschew the two drives in favor for one of Seagate's 8th gen drives or Maxtor's MaXLine III/DiamondMax10.

And about the 6800GT - they run hot. Not only that, but you're never going to run SLI with that nForce4 Ultra mobo. Go with a X800XL for about a $100 cheaper and you'll be much happier.

Thanks for the suggestions. I guess I was under the impression that nVidia was "winning" right now. I wasn't planning on running SLI, but if I can save money and get an ATI card (I've always preferred them, underdog maybe?) that would be nice. The heat doesn't bother me so much since we get free A/C from the school (thank God my roommate has allergies and "needs" it ) but thanks for letting me know what drives are quieter because I was definitely in the dark on those, just kinda went with what sounded nice.

What OCNoob is getting at regarding the 6800T running hot is that you would probably need to add extra cooling fans inside the box. Also, as to whether or not NVIDIA or ATI is winning the graphic card war just select the one you prefer. Both are very good and the so-called war is pretty much a marketing game.

Hah, duh, I was thinking of that because my computer runs kinda hot now and it's in my bedroom. If I leave it on and close the door it will actually warm my room up a bit... I feel dumb.

Hey, don't feel that way. Actually, an air conditioned room is an idea environment for a computer. The newer, high end systems do have many parts that run hot due to such things as chip miniaturization, etc., some more than others. OCNoob was pointing out is that the NVIDIA 6800GT is one piece of hardware that does run hot and and can benefit from additional in-case cooling.

And because the 6800GT runs hot, the stock fan is going to ratchet up. The X800XL consumes less power, thus reducing overall heat, while keeping in line with the big dogs. It's one hell of a card.