In a bit I will get to the meat of the post, but right now there are updates to the list. Upon further research I’ve learned that the motherboard I choose is not SLI capable. For SLI you need a nvidia northbridge chipset. This means you are looking at a 780i or 790i (recently released). As a different option there is the 9800 GX2 which is recently released and it is a factory made SLI card that works on non SLI motherboards. (I told you research is important.) With the production of the 790i motherboards we will finally have DDR3 and SLI boards. (Prior to now it was one or the other for the most part.) nVidia is starting to roll out their 9000 series cards so look for prices on the 8000 series to begin to drop.

…and now for your regularly scheduled programming:

We have a computer and it’s peripherals. You should have a lot of Driver CDs, perhaps some free games and plenty of ad pamphlets. Software choices are exactly that, a choice. This is where you can truly customize your computer and make it your own. I do not condone piracy. However, I do know that it happens and I will say that the one thing I extremely advise against pirating is your OS. A legal version will make your life easier and aid in keeping you virus free. (Unless you consider windows a virus to begin with.)

Operating System

First things first, choose your OS (operating system). Since my aim with the computer is to play games among other tasks, I will be going the Windows route. Vista will be our choice since it is the “future” and SP1 should be out sometime soon. I’m not an expert on the different flavors of vista, but I would recommend getting one of the top tier packages. It will allow more control over your computer as well as some nice features. (Pure speculation, but if it’s comparable to XP Home and Pro, yea… go bigger.) Pay attention to whether your processor is 64 bit or 32 bit. As you will need to get the appropriate OS type.

My Selection: Windows Vista Ultimate
Price: ~$550

• I’m a sucker for fancy titles
• I like as much control as possible

Office Suite/Tools

Right after getting taken to the cleaners purchasing windows, it’s time to find a suite of professional tools. The most basic choice is to pick up a version of Microsoft Office. If you can find one for cheap or you just can’t do without brand name toys, then go ahead and spend more money. I however will go the opensource route.

My Choice: Open Office
Price: Free, but donate for Karma!

• Free
• Open Source
• Saves in condensed xml format (about 30% the size of a MS filetype)
• Can save to many different file types, so you can still interact with your MS buddies
• No Bloat

Internet Browser

Without a browser how else would you waste your time? IE will likely be on your system because of the OS install. I suggest getting a better browser that is less susceptible to hacks.

My Choice: Firefox: Everyone should be using Firefox!
Price: More opensource Freeness!

• So many useful plugins
• Opensource
• Free
• Safer for less experienced users to surf the web (No one can truly protect you from yourself.)
• Handles CSS properly

E-Mail Client

If you purchased MS Office, then you will have Outlook and it’s a nice program to use for email. However, it is often targeted by hackers because of it’s wide spread use. This is why I suggest using the Mozilla (firefox) email client: Thunderbird.

My Selection: Thunderbird
Price: Free, More opensource

• Nearly all the same features as Outlook
• Free
• Not targeted by hackers
• Low footprint
• Doesn’t hog resources

Other

The rest of the programs that you install are all preference. I will list a few here that I have on my computer and a brief description of what they do. If you are interested you can Google them to figure out more or ask me and I’ll do my best to help.

• Hijackthis: great for figuring out what is running on your computer
• Superantispyware: Great for removing spyware and other malicious code
• WinPatrol: Amazing tool for seeing what your computer is doing and what is doing it
• Hamachi: If you’ve ever had trouble playing WAN/LAN games with your friends, this is a nice program that will set up a virtual LAN for you.
• Alcohol 120%: Wonderful burning program and tool for utilizing virtual drives (Reads .mds and .mdf)
• Nero: Great for burning
• Notepad++: If you code and want an opensource editor that is like Notepad but much better, this is for you.
• Adobe CS MasterSuite: Graphically inclined, apply within!
• Audacity: Free editor for MP3s (actually audio editor, not just ID3 tags)

In addition to these great programs, it’s a good idea to upgrade and update all software and BIOS. Also you will likely need to download some video and audio codecs as Windows doesn’t always supply the necessary codecs. A quick google search can net you some positive results. Good luck and good building.

Total Cost: ~$4400