Ok here we go; I'm going to use the computer for 3d modeling, lots of gaming, and graphic design work.
The reason for the over-the-top card is that my parents are going to pay for half of this, and i need it to last as long as possible (soon to be college student). I also had a lot of problems with heating on my current comp and i can't stand the amount of noise pollution it causes in my room; so i bassically want to end these problems for sure.
Buying the highest-end video card is always a bad idea, because you get ~5% more performance for 100-300% more money. The same goes for CPUs. I strongly recommend the 7800GTO. Pour extra money into plenty of HDD storage. On a college connection, you will probably be downloading a LOT and burn through any available storage space quickly. If your experience is at all like mine, in a college dorm you'll meet lots of people and be trading gigs upon gigs of movies, music and games-- you will appreciate the space. Also pour money into better cooling equipment and a more efficient and stable power supply that will last for years, and probably outlast the PC itself.
For noise reduction, use ONLY 120mm fans in the system. NO 80mm or lower fans! Even 92mm is ill-advised. For your CPU cooler, a good bet is the Zalman CNPS7000, 7700 or 9500, -Cu or -AlCu. Do not get the -Al versions, they are not quite as good at dispersing heat. These are all very quiet coolers and close to silent in most situations. GPU fans are very loud, replace your GPU cooler with a Zalman VF700-Cu or -AlCu. I'd advise using Arctic Silver 5 for your thermal interface material if you do the replacement yourself. Maybe Monarch can do it for you.
As for HEAT, the PC is not going to emit less heat no matter how well you cool it. Cooling it better will release more heat into your room, in fact. Just pick lower-heat components. A dual-core processor will definitely run hotter than a single-core one. If this is a crucial issue I advise going with an Athlon 64 X2 for the 'Cool'n'Quiet' technology. When the CPU is not being worked to 100%, it will lower its clockrate and core voltage automatically, dramatically reducing heat output. I've had this make close to a 10-degree temperature difference in my room before, going from 2800 MHz/1.4v idle to 800 MHz/0.8v idle and putting my GPU in 2D mode. You might also consider one of AMD's new "EE" (energy efficient) X2 chips. More expensive, but they run incredibly cool. The best thing on Intel's side right now is a dual-core Pentium-M "Yonah" or similar, but these don't even begin to match the performance level of an X2 in most cases.
Don't bother waiting for a quad-core processor. You won't likely see significant benefits in most of your work, and your 3D rendering application may not even be multithreaded and therefore would only function on ONE core.
As far as 'lasting a long time', you shouldn't have a problem if you pick components that aren't terribly outmoded. For the work you do, you do NOT need the most cutting edge on the market by any means. Just make sure you pick a motherboard with a CPU socket, RAM variety and graphics card slot (should be 1 or more PCIe x16 slot) that is easy to upgrade later.
Blah said:
I usually buy AMD but the last two times I bought from them the system ended up crapping out, so now that I can afford Intel and they finally have a processor that can not only compete with but supposedly surpass AMD, I have decided to go with them.
This isn't the fault of the CPU, absolutely some other issue in your system, like an unstable chipset (VIA, SiS?), bad RAM, a faulty power supply, a poor-quality motherboard... you'd really have to define 'crapping out'. AMD's processors are outclassed on the high end by Intel's right now, but they are a bargain price-wise, still have the heat/power consumption advantage in most scenarios (especially the EE series), overclock remarkably well, and provide a far-superior 64-bit implementation for when Vista rolls around. I stick with them right now because I'm more comfortable with the platforms overall. Especially fond of the nForce 430 chipset. The onboard GF6 video saved my ass when my 6600GT burned out.
