Hi there. Thank you very much for this feedback. Regarding the video card, 
I only chose that particular card for dx10 compatibility; thought I'd need 
it if/when I decide to upgrade to Vista, but I agree with you that I won't 
be making use of any of its high-end capabilities. I just picked that one 
because it was the least expensive dx10 card available at the time. With 
that being said, would vista be able to run using a non-dx10 card?
Also, I have sort of been looking at a different motherboard: the Abit 
9Quad, or something like that. I have two reasons why I'm considering 
making the change in motherboards:
Firstly, from what I read, the Abit board will take Quad-core processors, 
so again, It's a feeble attempt at future-proofing my system. I also read 
that the Abit board has blue leds on it, so thought it would be nice to add 
to the bluness factor of my new system.
Regarding the case, I'd be more than happy to use a mid-tower case if it 
will hold everything I want to put into it; I had, in fact, had my heart 
set on using the blue Apevia Dremer case, until I was informed that it 
wouldn't be able to provide enough cooling.
Speaking of cooling, thanks for the tips regarding extra cooling devices. I 
guess I just want to make sure verything is taken care of; even though I 
probably won't be doing much to cause the system to run hot, I want to try 
and do everything I can to prevent any over-heating.
Regarding the power supply, I guess I figured that it would be better to 
have something too powerful than to end up not having enough power. Most of 
what I've read suggests that the Etasis power supplies are some of the best 
ones available, but I could definitely downgrade to the 750 wat model.
All-in-all, I'm glad I'm taking some more time to think everything through 
before I place my order.
Thanks again for all your insiteful comments, and I hope that you're having 
a great day!
Missy

I've provided my comments to Missy Hoppe's questions regarding the parts 
for
a new computer, which was posted Wed, 28 Feb 2007.

1. Regarding RAM.  You shouldn't need heatspreaders on value DDR2 ram.  It
doesn't get that warm at default voltages.  Unless you are overclocking or
concerned about getting the highest benchmark scores, the performance gains
between using the more expensive RAM and the value RAM are not that
significant, especially with the new Conroe Core 2 Duo processors.  The
large amounts of onboard cache, as well the internal architecture of the
processor, do a good job of hiding any memory latency issues.

2. Regarding fans, since you aren't going to be running software that 
pushes
the processor and the video card that much (for example, you aren't going 
to
be playing 3D intensive games or compressing large amounts of vide), I 
would
give more thought to what can be done to keep your system quiet than moving
a lot of air through the case.  A couple of 120mm case fans should be 
plenty
for this purpose (one pushing and one pulling).  Likewise, if you look for 
a
better than stock fan, I'd be looking for one that uses a large lower rpm
fan, compared to what is on the stock heatsink.  (The Zalman 9500 you have
listed is capable of running in "silent mode", for example.)  On the other
hand, the Intel motherboard should be capable of a configuration that
regulates the speed of the CPU depending on how warm the CPU is.  It should
run nearly silent when the system is more idle and only speed up when 
placed
under stress.

3. I've not used an Apevia case, myself.  This is a large full tower case.
You could just as well use a mid-tower case for your purposes.  It also
looks like it comes with 4 fans (2x120mm and 2x80mm fans) with blue LEDs;
so, you wouldn't need to buy any more fans for this case.

I wasn't sure why you were selecting a high-end gaming video card.  Unless
someone else plans on using this computer to play 3D intensive computer
games, I don't see the need for all that 3D processing power.

An 850 watt power supply is probably a lot more than you will need.  People
running two high end video cards in SLI or crossfire configurations might
have a need for that, but you could easily make do with something in the 
550
to 650 range, especially if you are rethinking the need for a high end
gaming video card.

There really isn't a need of an actively cooled chipset heatsink.  Folks
that are overclocking their systems might find one helpful, but for stock
bus speeds, the stock chipset heatsinks will be fine (and quieter).  I'm
also not sure that there will be any need for the passively cooled Zalman
chipset heatsink,either.  I believe that this item is more targeted at 
users
who have an actively cooled chipset cooler as the stock item and want to
replace it with something silent.

Anyway, those are my thoughts on the information that you provided.  Take
them as just something to think about, since everyone will have their
particular opinions on what will make for a "super" computer.

John Sproule

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