Building comp for senior project

[lacktorium]

i would like every ones opinion on the hardware i have picked out. i do a lot of gaming, web design and programing, extra...i am thinking about running Linux for OS but not sure on what distribution to go with. i am familiar with Ubuntu but want to be able to get every thing i can out of the computer. I am not opposed to visa just don't like paying for it

all on newegg.com

case: Rosewill Conqueror Series WBK Black Computer Case with Side Panel Window
PSU: Rosewill RX750-D-B 750W
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM-S2H Micro ATX AMD
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ 3.0GHz Socket AM2 125W Dual-Core
CPU cooler: Rosewill RCX-Z4 120mm 2 Ball
Video: GIGABYTE Radeon HD 4850 GV-R485OC-1GH
Memory: Patriot Viper 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
cd/dvd burner: ASUS Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 14X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe - Retail

hard drive: i dont really have much every thing above is kinda pushing my buget...so im using an old hard drive i have its an (asus ATA 133) i belive.

[White-Rabbit]

Everything looks pretty good. I wouldn't go with AMD but thats more a matter of opinion. (Intel tends to outperform AMD at high performance levels)

A tip for your OS is that make sure it is a 64 bit OS, (you'll probably already know this), but if it's 32 bit then everything will work fine although the OS will only utilize around 3GB of the RAM.

Also, you should really buy a new hard drive there not expensive, at least a small one to run the OS off of, you should run the OS off of a separate drive from your storage drive and it will help with stability.

IF you must use an old drive then load it up in your computer and run a couple of checks and cleans. If you've got a windows machine to check it in then I suggest running a Defrag from control panel > Administrative Tools > Computer management.

Then download the following tools ~(Or equivalent if your using Linux) : ( All of these tools are free and run on windows)

CClean - Cleans Temp files and Registry on windows hard drives.
CleanUP! - Similar to the above although they both seem to clean different bits
AVG - Virus Scanner (Run a full system check and remove trackers, worms etc.)

Stop me if you already know all this, just some tips.

[lacktorium]

thx for the reply. i really don't have a choice to get a new hard drive because i also have to get a monitor which i forgot to mention below.
the hard drive i have (now that i finally found it) is a Maxtor DiamondMax plus 9 120gb ATA/133 HDD i also found i have an 15.3gb Seagate Barracuda ATA 2. xp may be installed on one of them so i will be running a disk wipe, i belive i have used cclean thx for the other suggested ones.
i use an external hard drive that i store all my media on and use it for my laptop as well so the only thing on the hard drive will be the OS and installed programs.
yes i did plan on using a 64bit system that is one of the things i checked on. i belive i will end up going with Ubuntu 64bit version, and installing wine to be able to play WoW.

[White-Rabbit]

Sounds good, I also use a external for my media and it works really well.

Is Ubuntu any good, I ordered a disk from them but it was missing a file and would not complete the installation when | wanted to test it.

[lacktorium]

yes ive found Ubuntu to work rather well, great for beginners. i downloaded it and used it on a xp system via the wubi installer. but i just ordered the disk which takes 6 to 10 weeks to get here. i may end up downloading it again.
Its not set up for hacking like backtrack is but the programs are still available just with out the nice GUI's that people have made for backtrack.

[screamthepoetry]

i would keep at least 1 copy of windows on a partition becuase of running games..without tools like WINE then running games on linux can be a pain. also AMD processors are ok..i run Crysis on high with no lag at all. the original Phenoms are a lil ehh....but the dual-cores are pretty sharp..i got the 6000+