Need advice Distro needed, no gaming needed.

I remember Daniel still using Windows 2000 and refusing to upgrade to XP...
I remember Cliff too... he lives in AZ near me and used to have a car shop that his Dad owned.
I have his email address.

I still use Enermax power supplies because of you guys at AOA. All 6 of my PC's have one!

If they're the same price, I think I'd go with the Hyper X.

I can't find any good data on the Sonata, but since it's an ATX case, I'd have to guess the Firepower WON'T fit. It would be worth asking the question of the vendor though.

Actually, I've been considering a new build of my own. If you can hold off for a month or so, I've got a EATX case, and I would be willing to take that PSU off your hands if you don't need it.

EATX is friggin HUGE! Gizmo do you have a pic of your case somewhere?

This is exactly why you need to post your parts list!
The right ram, the right power the video card and the right drives can save you endless headaches.

Super-fast ram can be a waste of money if everything else isn't up to the task as well. This applies to any purpose built machine. Why buy what the rest of the machine isn't up to using.?

It looks like you want a middle of the road box that will see you though the next 5 or so years.

You can build a really fine machine these days that fits that description
Just be sure your builder has the same goal in mind as you do.":O}.
T

Good load George! If you've been plodding along in Win 7... Mint 17.3 is really going to wind you up and blow you away!

I can't begin to tell you what you have is store for you...I'm actually envious! ":O}

Now...let's stop clowning around in the rain and let's get your freedom ship launched.

Where's that parts list??
Does your builder itemize his pricing and parts?
I need to know these things George I'm losing sleep!! LOL

Agreed! Windows 7 has some great features and stability, but its amazing how many older games won't run properly. It does have compatibility mode, but some games are full of bugs and artifacts.
In Mint I've noticed that Wine has even better compatibilitiy with Direct X 8 & 9 games than Windows 7 does.
One thing that has bugged me for a long time is when offline, Windows 7 has a problem launching 32-bit games. It has something called GameUX that connects to the internet every time you launch a game. Apparently its looking for game-art, game information, etc... but when offline it causes a run32.dll to peak your CPU from 60-90%! So annoying and Microsoft has yet to patch this problem.

I found that Mint is extremely stable, has a lot of free/open-source replacements for Office, Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Audio editors, video editors, media players and more...
Then if you HAVE to play a non-native game or program, try using PlayOnLinux/Wine and you will be surprised how well most of them run.

I also love how you can adjust and tweak everything in Linux!
From the Menu, Panels, screensavers to updates, installers, packages
You can set everything up to your own needs and not be restricted like in Windows or OSX.
I never realized how free I was until I used Linux and explored its many features.

It's an old Enlite Server Case I bought eons ago for an Intel Dual PIII server mobo with RDRAM.

Uh-oh. Now you're sounding like a fanboi. LOL

What? An it has all the proper stand-off placement for an EATX motherboard?

All things considered...$150 doesn't seem out of line at all. I'll check out page six but your real help with parts will have to come from someone more familiar with the current market place.

Yep, sure does.

Yup, its hard to find Windows 7 and get support for it. Plenty of updates, but its like Microsoft is treating Win7 the same way they are treating WinXP. Windows 7 is still "new" to me. I used Windows XP for 10 years and only been using Windows 7 for 4 years.... that is NEW in my book