1st System

[jbh129]

I am in the process of building my first system and am probably going to go with a 754. I have read a bunch of reviews and many threads on the best boards but they dont seem to cover my requirements. I want something that is easily updateable (the chaintech stories make me nervous) and easy to set up. Thanks for any help and I'm sorry for making a recommendation thread.

 

[mechBgon]

If you want ease of setup, then either avoid Serial ATA drives as a boot drive, or else be careful what motherboard you choose. "Regular" ATA is what I'd suggest for guaranteed ease of setup.

Photo guide of computer assembly, if that is of any assistance 🙂 The Resources page covers keeping the worms out of the "raw" Windows installation.

As far as motherboards, that Asus K8N "standard" caught my eye. About $40 less than the K8N-E Deluxe and the main feature I would miss is the native nF3 250Gb gigabit LAN (it uses the nF3 250Gb chipset but only a 100Mbit PHY). I guess they do leave out the software bundle too... 😛 WinDVD Creator and whatnot.

Good luck with your first build, and whatever you do, get a HIGH-quality power supply such as Fortron, Enermax, Antec or PC Power & Cooling, and not a generic one with pie-in-the-sky wattage ratings or a cheapie that comes with a flashy-looking case. Welcome to the Forums by the way 🙂

 

[jbh129]

Thanks for the advice. In your opinion are Intel systems easier to put together for your first time?

 

[Subhuman25]

Nope,same same.
Your choice of CPU should be directed by it's intended use.

 

[Vette73]

The only thing you need to do to use SATA is have a floppy disk for drivers so when installing WinXP you can tell it to use those.


Sata IMO is better then IDE as it leaves your IDE slots open for CD/DVD drives.

I have 2 SATA drives and 2 DVD drives working great on my current Athlon64 system