New Computer Help

[TxSteve]

Hi all.

I'm a computer moron. I know practically nothing. I use my computer for: surfing the internet and for playing games -
Dungeons and Dragons Online
Lord of the Ring Online

Would like to play in the future:
Age of Conan
Hellgate: London

and would like to be able to play most/all games that come out in the next 2+ years

Below is what I bought for a comp; anyone point out any problems or obvious errors I've made?

Thanks in advance if you offer your advice (I have a monitor already):

222-9468
1 Intel® Core™2 Q6600 Quad-Core (8MB L2 cache,2.4GHz,1066FSB)

311-7250
1 2GB Corsair Dominator DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz OC'd to 1066MHz-2 DIMMs

310-7963
1 Dell USB Keyboard

320-5341
1 I will select a 27in wide flat panel monitor from the large display section

320-5186
1 Dual 768MB Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX

341-4828
1 160GB - WD Raptor 10000RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 16MB Cache

341-3764
1 No Floppy Drive or Media Reader Included

310-8617
412-0688
420-4927
420-5586
420-5769
420-5924
420-6995
420-7142
420-7244
1 Genuine Windows® XP Media Center 2005 Edition with re-installation CD

310-7966
1 Dell Optical USB Mouse

313-4822
1 56K PCI Data Fax Modem

420-7468
1 Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 8.1

313-4339
313-5447
420-7205
420-7206
420-7207
1 Single Drive: 16X CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) w/double layer write capability

313-5449
1 Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ XtremeMusic (D) Sound Card

313-4062
1 Dell AS501 10W Flat Panel Attached Spkrs for UltraSharp™ Flat Panels

420-6585
1 Microsoft® Office Home and Student 2007

420-6915
1 McAfee SecurityCenter with anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall, 36-months

950-3337
950-9797
960-8700
982-9360
987-0777
1 1Yr In-Home Service, Parts + Labor, 24x7 Phone Support

461-3063
1 No ISP requested

464-9572
1 No Entertainment software pre-installed

310-8591
1 Windows XP™

[LuckyTxGuy]

Looks good to me. Should be a nice rig!

[Witzo]

Why only a 160 gig HD? I'd also bump the ram to 4 gigs. I also would bite the bullet and run Vista. I personally like it and if you're looking to the future it's going to replace XP in the long run.

[funkyworms]

[ QUOTE ]
Why only a 160 gig HD? I'd also bump the ram to 4 gigs. I also would bite the bullet and run Vista. I personally like it and if you're looking to the future it's going to replace XP in the long run.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ignore this.

1. 160 gig because it's the biggest 10k rpm hard drive around.
2. You can't utilize 4gb RAM without a 64-bit OS.
3. In the long run we're all dead. I say use XP until you absolutely have to use Vista (which may be a very long time)

Edit: I would say drop McAfee and go with a better Anti-Virus program. Other than that this system is very nice.

[LuckyTxGuy]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Why only a 160 gig HD? I'd also bump the ram to 4 gigs. I also would bite the bullet and run Vista. I personally like it and if you're looking to the future it's going to replace XP in the long run.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ignore this.

1. 160 gig because it's the biggest 10k rpm hard drive around.
2. You can't utilize 4gb RAM without a 64-bit OS.
3. In the long run we're all dead. I say use XP until you absolutely have to use Vista (which may be a very long time)

Edit: I would say drop McAfee and go with a better Anti-Virus program. Other than that this system is very nice.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree with all but #3. I like Vista for everyday normal use and have no problems with it. XP is great, stable and easy to work with. There is no need to upgrade to Vista, but if a new pc comes with it and all you do is surf the web and other everyday things, Vista will be fine. But on the other hand XP is great.lol

Seriously though, the Vista/XP debate isn't a big deal. The other issues Funky addressed are dead on accurate.

[Beavis68]

[ QUOTE ]
Why only a 160 gig HD? I'd also bump the ram to 4 gigs. I also would bite the bullet and run Vista. I personally like it and if you're looking to the future it's going to replace XP in the long run.

[/ QUOTE ]

Why would you bump the RAM up to 4GB? Most of the 4th GB is useless and 2GB is more than enough anyway.

If he finds the computer memory contrained he can always add a GB later. I do way more memory intensive stuff at work than anyone will do on their home system and my usages never goes above 1.4GB.

Consider ditching the MS Office and going for Open Office? It is completely compatible with MS Office products.

[LuckyTxGuy]

Beavis, "More RAM, more RAM, more RAM!!!" That seems to be a common battle cry for people who don't really understand that much about the modern computer. I've got 2 GB and a Core 2 processor and it's more than I need for my home video editing, DVD ripping/burning, Photoshop-ing, Poker Tracker/PAHUD-ing. Granted I know that some people do more intensive stuff than me but 99% of the average users don't.

I go into homes and businesses every day and work on computers for people and I can tell you that almost NONE of them do anything even relatively memory or CPU intensive on their machines. Computers might as well be called "internet machines" because besides storing a few digital photos and listening to music, all people do is surf the net.