Bare Bones PC problems check

[rogue-monkey]

ANTEC ALUMINUM SERIES SUPER LAN BOY MINI TOWER CASE with Clear Side Acrylic Window and FREE Case Carrying Strap -RETAIL

$79.50

CD drive

Optorite Black IDE/ATAPI 52X32X52 CD-RW Drive, Model CW5201, Retail

$21.99

Hard Drive

Maxtor 80GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive, MODEL 6Y080M0, OEM Drive Only

$69.00

Memory (System Memory)

pqi TURBO Series Dual Channel Platinum Kit 184-Pin 2GB(1GB x 2) DDR PC-3200 - OEM

$379.00

Motherboard

ASUS "P5GD1" 915P Chipset Motherboard For Intel LGA 775 CPU -RETAIL

$117.80

Power Supply

Aspire Turbo Case Series 500W 12V Blue Aluminum Power Supply, Model "ATX-AS500-BL 12V" -RETAIL

$55.00

CPU

Intel LGA775 Pentium 4 550 3.4 GHz, 800MHz FSB, 1MB L2 Cache, Hyper

$249.20

Sound Card

Turtle Beach 6-Channel PCI Sound Card, Model "Santa Cruz" -OEM

$32.99

Video Card

Connect3D ATI RADEON X800 XT Video Card, 256MB GDDR3, 256-Bit, DVI/VIVO, 8X AGP, Model "6064" -OEM

469.00

I am planning on building this computer. If you see any problems with it or have any suggestions for better parts please reply to this thread. Thanks again. All my prices were obtained via newegg, I am hoping to find some better ones on ebay.

[Catweazle]

If that's intended to be a games PC, you'd be better to choose an Athlon64 processor and a suitable motherboard. Performance will be better, the system will run cooler, and you'll probably get it all cheaper ;)

[rogue-monkey]

Ah thanks a bundle, I would be using the computer for, essentially, gaming. I had griped about using Intel, but I had heard that it is substantially faster than AMD... but if you are sure AMD is faster I would be more than happy to switch back. Would the 3400+ 64 bit one be good? Or do you have another suggestion. Also, right after I posted I realized that I had a PCI express motherboard and an AGP vid card. I really want to go with PCI express, is there a good video card you can reccomend? If it is more practical to just go with AGP let me know. Thanks for the help!

[rogue-monkey]

CASE
ANTEC ALUMINUM SERIES SUPER LAN BOY MINI TOWER CASE with Clear Side Acrylic Window and FREE Case Carrying Strap -RETAIL

CD DRIVE
Optorite Black IDE/ATAPI 52X32X52 CD-RW Drive, Model CW5201, Retail

HARD DRIVE
Maxtor 80GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive, MODEL 6Y080M0, OEM Drive Only

MOTHERBOARD
ASUS "K8V SE Deluxe" K8T800 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket 754 CPU -RETAIL

POWER SUPPLY
Aspire Turbo Case Series 500W 12V Blue Aluminum Power Supply, Model "ATX-AS500-BL 12V" -RETAIL

CPU
AMD Athlon 64 3400+, 512k L2 Cache, The Only 64-bit Windows Compatible Processor - Retail

SOUND CARD
Turtle Beach 6-Channel PCI Sound Card, Model "Santa Cruz" -OEM

VIDEO CARD
Connect3D ATI RADEON X800 XT Video Card, 256MB GDDR3, 256-Bit, DVI/VIVO, 8X AGP, Model "6064" -OEM

Ok this is my updated list, I am the least sure about the motherboard and CUPU socket, I had heard that 754 was the best, but I am open to suggestions for a different motherboard/socket. Also, I am back to undecided for ram. Could suggest a good speed for decent quality yet cost effective ram. Also, another gig of ram is pretty expensive, I was wondering, will there be a significant increase in performance by getting 2 gigs rather than one? Thanks again for the help... feel free to post any suggestions.

[Catweazle]

A Gigabyte of RAM should be ample for most purposes. Only add more if you find you need it.

I'd suggest that the NVidia NForce3 250 chipset is the motherboard chipset of choice, rather than the VIA K8T800 that you've suggested.

I think Socket 754 is the realistic choice just yet and in the next few months. Socket 939 will accept more powerful processors in the future, but current Socket 939 motherboards for Athlon64 don't offer any better features at present than Socket 754 ones do, and by the time you change processors you'd probably want to upgrade to a better featured motherboard anyway. In upcoming months, NForce4 chipset, PCIE motherboards will become available for the platform, so if you aren't upgrading for a while yet that could become a realistic alternative.

Ditch the soundcard! The onboard audio with a decent motherboard will be just as good as the soundcard you've chosen.

Get a bigger hard drive. Games need lots of drive space lately, and that 80Gb would soon be filled.

The X800XT card might be claimed as the 'fastest' by Gaming magazines, but it's expensive and hard to obtain. The NVidia 6800GT is only very slightly slower, and is the best mix of price and performance currently available. Quite simply put, it's the best value gaming card on offer. That will help with balancing the budget.

And if you can swap that CD burner for a DVD burner, I'd reckon that's a better option. DVD burners will burn CDs as well, and if you use blank DVDs instead, you can back up your data with much less fuss and bother.

Those are my thoughts on the matter, anyway.

Edit: You will need at least PC3200 (400MHz) RAM to get full performance from the processor and the system overall.

[rogue-monkey]

A Gigabyte of RAM should be ample for most purposes. Only add more if you find you need it. I'd suggest that the NVidia NForce3 250 chipset is the motherboard chipset of choice, rather than the VIA K8T800 that you've suggested. I think Socket 754 is the realistic choice just yet and in the next few months. Socket 939 will accept more powerful processors in the future, but current Socket 939 motherboards for Athlon64 don't offer any better features at present than Socket 754 ones do, and by the time you change processors you'd probably want to upgrade to a better featured motherboard anyway. In upcoming months, NForce4 chipset, PCIE motherboards will become available for the platform, so if you aren't upgrading for a while yet that could become a realistic alternative. Ditch the soundcard! The onboard audio with a decent motherboard will be just as good as the soundcard you've chosen. Get a bigger hard drive. Games need lots of drive space lately, and that 80Gb would soon be filled. The X800XT card might be claimed as the 'fastest' by Gaming magazines, but it's expensive and hard to obtain. The NVidia 6800GT is only very slightly slower, and is the best mix of price and performance currently available. Quite simply put, it's the best value gaming card on offer. That will help with balancing the budget. And if you can swap that CD burner for a DVD burner, I'd reckon that's a better option. DVD burners will burn CDs as well, and if you use blank DVDs instead, you can back up your data with much less fuss and bother. Those are my thoughts on the matter, anyway.

First of all, I'd like to thank you profusely for the excellent help! Would the DFI "LANPARTY UT nF3 250Gb" NVIDIA nForce3 250GB Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket 754 be a fine motherboard? Also, how does the 6800GT compare with the X800 Pro? They looked resonably even from what I could see, and roughly same price. Hehe the soundcard was a bit of an afterthought... no idea what I was doing there :o For the hard drive that was actually a typo, is 120 gigs enough storage? Thanks for the advice concerning a DVD burner, hopefully I can find one that isn't too economically draining. Also, could you suggest a good speed for the ram and a good place to find out more about actually constructing the computer? I have never done this before. Finally, do you think that cooling won't be much of an issue? All I have is the retail heatsink/CPU fan and 2 120mm fans that came included with the case. Thanks again for all the great help! :)

[Catweazle]

The 6800GT is a much better card that the X800 Pro. It's a fully 16-pipeline card, whilst the X800 Pro is only a 12 pipeline card. The 6800Gt has Pixel Shader 3.0 capability as well, which is more advanced than the X800 Pros Pixel Shader 2 capability. With a mind to future games rather than current ones, I sincerely believe the NVidia card is the better choice. The 6800 Ultra, of course, would be a better purchase again, but they are very expensive and difficult to obtain.

The DFI 'Lanparty' seems to be a popular board, and I think any implementation of the chipset would be an adequate choice. The 'Lanparty' would be great for a windowed case!

If you're not going to overclock (and there's no reason to with a rig like that) then cooling should be OK with the stock heatsink/fan and the dual 120mm fans of your case. you can always change to a better heatsink/fan later if you need to, or perhaps add an intake fan to the case side panel to blow air directly onto the processor/display card area.

I'll dig up soime system building advice later, when I've more time, and perhaps we might turn that particular discussion into a separate 'stickied' topic, shall we?

[rogue-monkey]

OK thanks yet again! You are by far the most helpful person I have ever came across. And your sticky idea is a GREAT idea... Thanks so much! I look foward to building my computer :)

[Coconut Monkey]

For a DVD Burner, I would recommend the NEC ND-3500A. ;)

Have you given much thought to input devices? A fine keyboard/mouse combination would be the Logitech Cordless MX Duo. There are better keyboards and mice models available, but you can't beat this package for performance and cable-less usage.

[rogue-monkey]

For a DVD Burner, I would recommend the NEC ND-3500A. ;)

Have you given much thought to input devices? A fine keyboard/mouse combination would be the Logitech Cordless MX Duo. There are better keyboards and mice models available, but you can't beat this package for performance and cable-less usage.

Thanks for the suggestion for the DVD burner. I think I will just recycle my current mouse/keyboard for input devices, they work fine and I am used to them :) Also, if knows of a good place that's up to date and can assist with building it please let me know.

[Catweazle]

Coconut Monkey was discussing a topic about system building with me earlier. I'll wait for him to suggest some good help sites and then stickify it so others can add helpful links as well. I've a few of my own to add, I'm sure.

Watch out for it sometime soon ;)

[rogue-monkey]

Ok thanks yet again, Unfortunatly do to unexpected other things I will be unable to build the computer in the NEAR future. However, I plan on reading up on how to actually get the job done in the mean time. Thanks again for all the help ;)