Advice on First New Build

[14k]

Going to take the plunge and make my own PC!

I want something that is stable, quiet, can be left on 24/7 - and will be used mostly for www, video authoring/editing/viewing, music playing, usual MS office stuff, and of course games. I do not want to overclock in any form.

After quite a bit of research I have come up with the following:

CASE (Antec Sonata II)
http://www.dabs.com/productview.asp...11145,50882&v=1

MOTHERBOARD (Asus A8N-E)
http://www.dabs.com/productview.asp...26%2c4294959021

CPU (AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200)
http://www.dabs.com/productview.asp...3R2R&PageMode=1

RAM (2 x 1GB PC3200 Crucial)
http://www.dabs.com/ProductView.asp...1150&PageMode=1

GRAPHICS CARD (Asus NVidia 7800GT 256MB)
http://www.dabs.com/productview.asp...1137&PageMode=1

HDD (2 x Western Digital 400GB SATA)
http://www.dabs.com/productview.asp...3WFB&PageMode=1

FLOPPY (7 in 1 Thing)
http://www.dabs.com/productview.asp...&Quicklinx=3FS2
http://www.misco.co.uk/productinfor...?affiliate=2004
If it doesn't become available from dabs

I have pretty much gone with Dabs for everything. The prices listed seem to edge out any other retailer, and I thought it best to get everything if possible from one retailer (save on delivery, returns, etc..)

I do need that much hdd space as I have alot of video. With graphics I have gone with what is pretty much minimum for Quake4. I'm not sure though if this Asus card has HDTV capability - whether I need it or not? Motherboard and CPU chosen for price/performance. The Antec Sonata II case seems a bit dated now - I've wondered whether there is another good value, quiet case on the horizon? DVD Drives/Monitor/KB/Mouse I will utilise from my current system.

I don't think I have ever spent this much money in one go before, so all comments much appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[halw]

Looks pretty good to me. Can't talk about price since your stuff is quoted in British pounds.

If you are going to use the Sonata II case, add a 120mm intake fan for more air flow. Otherwise, give it a go.

 

[Bobthelost]

Think about the p150 if you want quiet, it's the best stock case for noise there is. Better than the p180 which is more overclocker friendly. The PSU is also good, althoug there have been issues with the older ones and asus Motherboards. Should have been fixed by now, but such is life. The best combination would be a P150 with a s12 500W (for the better fan controller), but that means more cash.

The 7800 GT is good enough to run almost any game at good res with most of / all the eye candy on. Think about going for the eVGA one if you're going to swap out the HSF for a zalman or arctic cooling, the lifetime warranty is a godsend.

If you want quiet then think hard about the Samsung Spinpoint range, they are the quietest performing drives out there at 7,200RPM. Look on www.silentpcreview.com for the recomended section.

You've neglected to mention case fans (Nexus 120mms for you, stock isn't as good, ever) or the HSF (SI120 or Ninja with a nexus, 9500, Big Typhoon are some of the top recomendations)

You don't have HDTV capability per se. It's not got the support for the DRM systems that are coming in with Vista and the outputs are standard TV and DVI. That said if you want to convert DVI to HDTV i do belive it's rather easy to do with an adapter. May well be wrong on this point.

 

[Bobthelost]

DON'T use a front fan, in nearly every case (excuse the pun) it will not improve overall temps by more than a degree or two and the sound path is an almost straight line to your ear from the fan.

If you're not overclocking then front fans are excessive 9/10 times.

I've just looked and i can only find one supplier in the UK that sells the eVGA at the moment, i looked before christmass and found tens of them!

I'm assuming you've looked on ebuyer (the old reliable), komplett(Zee germans!), overclockers (never let me down, but has others) and scan (aka Scam, sometimes a good buy, but not all that often).

 

[14k]

Originally posted by: Bobthelost
Think about the p150 if you want quiet, it's the best stock case for noise there is. Better than the p180 which is more overclocker friendly. The PSU is also good, althoug there have been issues with the older ones and asus Motherboards. Should have been fixed by now, but such is life. The best combination would be a P150 with a s12 500W (for the better fan controller), but that means more cash.

The 7800 GT is good enough to run almost any game at good res with most of / all the eye candy on. Think about going for the eVGA one if you're going to swap out the HSF for a zalman or arctic cooling, the lifetime warranty is a godsend.

If you want quiet then think hard about the Samsung Spinpoint range, they are the quietest performing drives out there at 7,200RPM. Look on www.silentpcreview.com for the recomended section.

You've neglected to mention case fans (Nexus 120mms for you, stock isn't as good, ever) or the HSF (SI120 or Ninja with a nexus, 9500, Big Typhoon are some of the top recomendations)

You don't have HDTV capability per se. It's not got the support for the DRM systems that are coming in with Vista and the outputs are standard TV and DVI. That said if you want to convert DVI to HDTV i do belive it's rather easy to do with an adapter. May well be wrong on this point.

Ok, I know nothing about case fans. If I'm buying a case shouldn't this include case fans? If you could just tell me exactly what to get including the link on dabs.com if possible I will go ahead and add to my cart!

I think I must have covered almost every computer component retailer in the UK. Dabs seems to give me everything I want on one site. For a few components I might save a few pounds on another site, but I think it still works out cheaper and is more convenient to get everything from Dabs. However, it looks like I might get the 7in1 floppy and Creative X-Fi from misco.co.uk

Had a look at the P150. Looks impressive with the low temps and elastic band hdd holder, but I don't think it looks all that nice. Would much prefer a black case. The Coollermaster Wavemaster is tempting me, do you know if this is as quiet and cool as the Sonata II?

Thanks, appreciate your input.

 

[Bobthelost]

Ok, if you've got time then a good place to go is http://silentpcreview.com, they are the experts at low noise computing.

Case fans: Yes the case will come with some fans, but they will be good enough rather than good. The best way to make a quiet computer is with the case fans controlled by the motherboard and speedfan (free application to monitor and control fans and temps). The best low speed low noise fans are Nexus orange fans (the black and white may be as good, but i've heard some niggling issues with it). Cost is around £10 each though and not many places stock them.

A very close second on noise is the Akasa low noise translucent orange range (what is it with orange?), reports are good and if you get the 1,400 RPM one it should be both quiet and give you a little more air moved than the nexus does.

For the p150 it's £20 more than the sonata, but worth it imo. quicklinx: 3VTRWS

The akasa 120mm is £10 a time from dabs quicklinx: 3KCXWS

You still haven't mentioned the CPU fan, there's very little wrong with the stock heatsink, but a 3rd party one will be quieter if you choose well.

 

[14k]

Great thanks. I've added an akasa 120mm case fan to my basket. I assume this is just for one? How many do I need.

Do I need a 3rd party heatsink AND cpu fan? How about this one: http://www.dabs.com/ProductView.aspx?Qu...lectedId=11258&PageMode=1&v=3#infoarea
It seems a bit old though.

 

[14k]

bah I'll just use the heatsink that comes with the cpu then! =D