A few questions for a 1st time build.

[Downey]

Hi to everyone on the boards, i have been reading here for a while and only signed up the other day.

When i first build the PC i most probably *wont* be overclocking. (maybe later down the road)

I will not be gaming untill around christmas because it is my final year at school and need to focus on that.

Q's on the components.

Motherboard: From waht i have read i have decided to choose from 3 boards.
Gigabyte DS3, DFI Infinity 975X/G and the Asus P5B.

CPU: C2D e6400/e6600
I cant decide if i should spend a little extra to get the 6600 and not overclock or get the 6400 and then overclock. Because im on a bit of a budget i think i should go with the 6400 (an extra $143 AUD)

PSU: Antec True power 2.0 430w ($105 AUD) vs Antec Smart power 2.0 500w ($109 AUD)
$4 difference, both in my budget range.

Video: 7300gs/gt 7600gs/gt
Im not sure of how much difference there is between these cards.
Will i need a video card (built in video onboard?) or can i get on later when i need it. If i need one ill buy something cheap for now.

List of other parts:
- Corsair pc4200 (2x512)
- Cheap DVD-RW
- Antec SLK3000B
- Best 19" screen i can afford.
- Standard M$ keyboard and mouse
- Seagate 250GB
- 120mm fan for front of case
I dont mind upgrading parts in the future as i need, i just want a computer i can afford atm, with the ability to upgrade in the future.

Will i need to buy extra cables?

Remember i have no experience in building a pc... Thanks and sorry if i missed something that would make it easier.

 

[Downey]

I really dont know what to choose.

 

[Lord Evermore]

There are dozens of threads asking for advice on parts every day. Please take a look at some of those. I can answer a few anyway.

Go with the 6400 even if you aren't going to overclock. That's a huge price difference for not very much performance difference.

If you won't be gaming right away, and get a board with onboard video, that will work perfectly well for you until you do start gaming. None of the boards you're looking at have onboard video though, and most boards with onboard video tend to be lower-end or have fewer features, as they're intended for non-enthusiast systems or machines where space is the biggest issue. Performance is usually still quite good with those boards though. You have to consider the tradeoffs, if you have a mainboard with onboard video, what features might you be losing (fewer SATA ports, fewer PCIe slots, things like that) versus price difference, along with the price of the better video card later on.

I would say get the 7600GT or GS now. The 7300 just can't compare in performance and you'd probably end up needing to upgrade when you start playing games. The money you save on the slower CPU would be far better used to get the better video card, although keep in mind the possibility of how much video cards will get cheaper by the end of the year and when new cards come out.

Oh yes, and pretty much every cable you need will come with the mainboard. Usually you can get pictures or lists of what cables are included, the biggest thing is making sure that you get a power supply that has the right cables, or that the mainboard or video card includes adapters if needed.

 

[Downey]

Thanks for the help. I do realise that there are lots of threads like this but sometimes they dont give you the answer you need. It is the same on any forum.

I have decided to go with the 6400, 7600gt and probably the DS3 because more people use that board. Still dont know whether to go with true power or smart power.

I will do some more searching.

 

[Lord Evermore]

If you ask people here, they say Antec sucks. I don't know myself, my old TruePower works fine but they say Antec quality these days is terrible.