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Building a Computer For the First Time...

R

Roygbiv

Junior Member
Hey there, I've never built a computer before but I've done quite a bit of research and (I think) I've come up with a decent build for the money. The computer is going to be used for gaming and stuff for college. I'm not opposed to the idea of overclocking, but I frankly have no idea how to do it, and I don't know how well this system would do overclocking as I know certain components are more apt to overclocking than others. Anyways, here's the computer...

Motherboard:
MSI K8N Neo4-F Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

Case:
Antec Life Style SONATA Piano Black 0.8mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 380W Power Supply - Retail

DVD Drive:
NEC Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 4X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache IDE DVD Burner - OEM

Hard Drive:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 ST3250823AS 250GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM

RAM (x2 for a total of 2GB):
CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory - Retail

Monitor:
ViewSonic G90FB Black 19" CRT Monitor 0.25mm diagonal Dot Pitch 15-pin mini D-sub - Retail

Processor:
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice Integrated into Chip FSB 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Processor - Retail

Video Card:
ATI 100-435500 Radeon X800XL 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI-Express x16 Video Card - OEM

With OS and Shipping it comes out to $1,376.56.

Questions:
1. Is the power supply included in the Antec Sonata going to be sufficient for this system?

2. Would I be better off buying the Maxtor Drive that has 16MB of cache or should I stick with the Seagate? I'm trying to stay away from the WD Raptor because I really don't see a reason to pay that much money for a small (yet fast) drive and a second drive for storage when that money can be put to better use elsewhere.

3. Is 2GB of RAM overkill? I know 1GB is the sweet spot for most systems right now but I've heard that Battlefield 2 runs a lot smoother with 2GB of RAM compared to 1GB, so I can't see games in the future being much different.

4. If the 2GB isn't overkill, should I purchase it as 2x1GB or 4x512MB? Is there even a difference?

Oh, and please feel free to include any recommendations that you might have if you think there is a better component out there for the money, or a guide on how to overclock. I'm trying to keep it under $1500. Thank you very much!
 
1. I would say yes, but only because it's an Antec. If you should ever have problems with it, don't expect to be able to get by on a cheaper noname 380W. If you ever have the money I'd up to a 400 or 450 just to be on the safe side.

2. It depends on what you're going to be doing. My goal from here on out is to buy 16MB-only because I want that extra bit of cache when I'm doing video editing and animation. Makes for slightly faster load times and if you couple that with using SATA instead of IDE then it's a somewhat significant increase.

3. I would say stick with 2GB of RAM, and do 4x512 because it'll be cheaper. Then again, I do video editing and animation and RAM is like candy to me. For games though, you will notice a bit of a difference, and I'm sure your guess is as good as mine that next-gen games are gonna need more RAM.

4. Answered in 3 (4x512)

I would drop the monitor and use Craigslist if you have it in your area. And if not, then go to a local computer shop and buy a used CRT. Spending that much on a CRT these days is somewhat unheard of. By buying used or refurb somewhere you'll save the shipping as well as at least $100 on the overall price.

One final recommendation I would make is to use Pricegrabber.com to make sure you've got the best prices on everything. If not, you can probably save another $200 that way.
 
Wow very nice build, I think you have some great choices there. The PSU that's in the Sonata isn't the greatest in the world, but i think it will work for your system. I am a freak when it comes to PSU's so I would go with more but that one will work. For sure stay away from the Raptor, not really worth it for you, I would stick with what you have here, the Maxtor is also a nice drive, but I don't think you will see that big of an improvement in speed. The RAM will cause a debate on here I am sure, I have heard that BF2 is utilizing a ton of memory, so if you play it often, sure go for 2GB. I personally feel that for gaming your timings are much more important, but then again it all depends on the game and personal opinion I guess. I see that you are trying to overclock too, I think the MSI board will work well for you, it's easy for a novice to still acheive a signifigant overclock, nothing huge, but good enough for starters.
 
^^ wow tom that was hard to read🙂

why don't you wait for dell to get some more 19 inch flatpanels andthen have a sale?
those are awesome.
 
Originally posted by: aplefka
I would drop the monitor and use Craigslist if you have it in your area. And if not, then go to a local computer shop and buy a used CRT. Spending that much on a CRT these days is somewhat unheard of. By buying used or refurb somewhere you'll save the shipping as well as at least $100 on the overall price.
Click to expand...

I saw on Newegg that CRTs seem to be phasing out quite quickly, and on other hardware sites they're hard to find or even nonexistant with nothing but LCDs being sold. I'd love to jump on the LCD bandwagon, but I have no idea what to look for besides response time I know being a big deal with gaming. Is there an ideal screen size? Resolution? Could I get pointed in the right direction to a few decent gaming LCDs that won't break my wallet?
 
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