Suggestions for new computer?

[mike_sanfil]

I am looking at building a new computer for my brother, and i have about $1200 to spend. I just built a computer for a friend a month a go and i really like the motherboard and case i used, so i am thinking of sticking with them, but i am still not sure what to get for a video card.

The last PC I built

Here is the list of products i am thinking of for my brothers new pc.

Antec Performance Plus Case
Asus 865PE P4P800 Deluxe
Intel Pentium 4/ 2.8C GHz 800MHz FSB
ATI RADEON 9800PRO
Geil Value Series 184 Pin 256MB 256X2
Lite On Black 52x32x52 CD-RW Drive
SONY MPF920 Black 1.44MB 3.5INCH Floppy
ViewSonic P75F+B 17" PerfectFlat CRT
Maxtor 120GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive
Microsoft Mouse and Keyboard

I like the 9800 PRO, but it is kind of expensive.

Any incompatibilities, or different parts i shoud use?

And between newegg and googlegear(zipzoomfly), it comes to $1170 Shipped

[VHockey86]

What specifically do you plan on using this for?

[Urban_Squrill]

I would go with 2 512mb sticks of Geil. With that system you ram would be your bottleneck.

What about a Hard drive?

[matsumner1]

Ram could be an issue, but not as much as no hard-drive....

I'd go for a bigger monitor, a 19inch crt, or 17inch tft, all else you listed seems good.

[VHockey86]

Id assume he just forgot to post the link, if you add up all the linked items there it only totals to $1086 (without the keyboard/mouse though, but thats prolly like 30 dollars).

[mike_sanfil]

i plan on using it for playing games like halo, and half life2, nfs. I will also use it to encode video.

..o ya, i just forgot to put the hard drive on there.

[Urban_Squrill]

I you are encoding video I would defenitly get more ram. I used to crunch(encode) divX with 512 duel channel. It sucked. With that system and a gig of ram it would be insaine. This may be just me but I would get a Western digital instead of a Maxtor. Maxtors seem to die alot.(3 in the last year)

This one is cheaper. Lower seek time too. Western Digital

[mike_sanfil]

ya thanks, a WD hard drive sounds good.

thanks for you help!

[slinky]

If you are also planning on burning the video to disc, a nice Pioneer DVD-RW/+RW drive would be more useful than the Lite On.

[VHockey86]

I think a DVD burner would put him well out of his price range though... he'd have to skimp big time on somethign else to compensate which prolly isnt worth it for a gaming PC