Building a computer

Princess Skye · Sep 26, 2005

I am planning on building a computer with the following - it is for games, work, internet, and watching dvd/tv. Would appreciate any comments.

CPU - Intel Pentium 4 650 Processor Prescott 3.4GHz, 800MHz FSB, Socket 775, 2MB Cache

I chose this cpu because it is 64bit compatible and it out performs all but the most expensive AMD and intel processors that I can't afford. Also I do a lot of multi-tasking as well as gaming so this seemed the best cpu to get for me.

CPU fan (not sure whether to use the one that comes with the cpu or this one) - Thermatalke CL-P0114 Big Typhoon 4 in 1 Heatpipe Cooler with Heatpipe Cooling Tech (22db)

Motherboard- Asus P5GD2 Premium 915P P4 800FSB LGA775 DDR2 ATX Motherboard with audio, Dual gigabit LAN, RAID/Serial ATA

Video Card - Sapphire Hybrid Radeon X800 XL PCI Express 512MB DDR3 Video Card with HDTV-Out, Dual DVI & VIVO

PSU - XION XON-600F 14T-201 PowerReal Series 600W Ver. 2.0 ATX Power Supply (21 db)

Memory - Crucial Ballistix 1024MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz Memory

Hard Drive - Samsung 160GB/7200/2MB/ATA-133/EIDE/OEM/Hard Drive

Case- Aerocool AeroEngine II - Black ATX Mid-Tower Case with Clear Side, Front USB, Firewire and Audio Ports (27db case fan front and back)

DVD - Pioneer DVR-509A/16x6x16 DVD +-RW/4xDVD-R DL/40x24x40 CD-RW/ Black DVD Burner

FD - Ultra Black 3.5" Floppy Drive with Built in 6-in-1 Flash Card Reader

Mouse - Razer Plasma Diamondback 1600dpi Gaming Mouse

Monitor - Viewsonic/VX724/17"/SXGA/1280x1024/4ms/Analog/DVI/Black & Silver

Keyboard - Adesso Keyboard with Scrolling Wheel and USB Hub

Is there anything I am forgetting (strictly need) or I have made a mistake on? (I plan to get a decent sound card at a later date with some decent speakers but they are not essential just yet). This set up is basically the max of my budget for now.

Thank you

Skye

t3h l337 n3wb · Sep 26, 2005

3 words:
Oh God no...

Clock speed doesn't matter at all. A 3500+ Venice for $220 will kill that P4. It also creates a lot less heat and has much more overclocking headroom. You should only get a P4 if you do very heavy multitasking and need to make use of Hyper-Threading.

Go with a better power supply. That thing is crap. I recommend the 450W Fortron @ Newegg for $50, or if you want something more powerful, a Fortron Blue Storm 500W for about $90, or the Sparkle 550W monster with 36A on its +12V for $103.

I'd get a SATA hard drive instead of a PATA, becauses they use slightly less power, and the cables are a lot thinner and easier to work with.

I've heard good things about the BenQ burner, forgot what it was called. Get that instead.

GuitarDaddy · Sep 26, 2005

Hi! Welcome to Anandtech

Since you mentioned you do alot of multi-tasking I would suggest you look at dual core CPU's. Dual core is the future and rules multitasking and video encoding, and within a few years all applications will be multi threaded.

Most here would recommend and AMD X2 system. Whats the total on the parts you've picked? Whats your budget

Hacp · Sep 26, 2005

Everything looks good, except the video card and maybe the DVD player. Benq 1640 DVD player and just a regular x800XL(non 512 MB).

Princess Skye · Sep 27, 2005

Hello,

My budget for the main computer is $1200. I don't want to overclock the cpu though.

Skye

GamerExpress · Sep 27, 2005

Originally posted by: Princess Skye
Hello,

My budget for the main computer is $1200. I don't want to overclock the cpu though.

Skye

NO, not a good choice at all.

This place is full of AMD fanboys, but that is with good reason. AMD PWNS INTEL right now, I am sure this might change again in the future, but right now AMD is the direction you want to go.

Crescent13 · Sep 27, 2005

WOW.... 5 words

DO NOT BUY THIS SYSTEM!!!!!

AMD PWNS INTEL!!!

You're wasting all your money.

AMD Athlon 3200+ venice
EVGA 7800GT mobo deal
OCZ Ram
Hitachi SATAII 160GB hard drive

sorry for this list being so basic, I'll get a more complete list of parts later

GuitarDaddy · Sep 27, 2005

x2 3800+ $353.01
1gb Corsair VS $85.99
Epox EP-9NPA $95
WD 160gb sataII $79.99
EVGA 7800GT $349 after MIR
NEC 3540A DVD burner $42.99
Antec Performance TX Case with 500w 2.0 power supply $139

That totals $1,144.98, add a floppy, mouse and keyboard and your still under $1300. You may can even upgrade to 2gb of memory. This system would kill the P4 system in everything

knothead34 · Sep 27, 2005

if your stuck on intel i would get a 925x chipset or 955x chipset of that same board.

Sunrise089 · Sep 27, 2005

The Intel processor is not good. Since you do not want to OC I would get a Athlon 64 3700+.

The 512 meg version of the x800xl adds nothing at all. I know you may see 512 and think "wow, thats like double anything else" but it does not double your performance. The good values are 7800gt, x800xl 256 meg, and ATI refurb x800pro.

You will probably want a 19" Display as well.

t3h l337 n3wb · Sep 27, 2005

Originally posted by: GuitarDaddy
x2 3800+ $353.01
1gb Corsair VS $85.99
Epox EP-9NPA $95
WD 160gb sataII $79.99
EVGA 7800GT $349 after MIR
NEC 3540A DVD burner $42.99
Antec Performance TX Case with 500w 2.0 power supply $139

That totals $1,144.98, add a floppy, mouse and keyboard and your still under $1300. You may can even upgrade to 2gb of memory. This system would kill the P4 system in everything

OP: This rig will rape/destroy/kill/pwn/outperform the setup you have chosen.

Princess Skye · Sep 30, 2005

OK I have managed to up my budget considerably and have taken on advice in this forum and others. Can someone please advise on this system (especially a good psu [pref. 20 pin modular, 500-550W, quiet and 110-240v).

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Processor Socket 939 w/fan

Mobo: Asus A8N-SLI Premium nForce4 SLI Athlon64 (FX)/Sempron/Athlon64 X2 Skt939 DDR w/Audio, Dual Gigabit LAN, RAID/Serial ATA

V/Card: Asus Extreme N7800GT GeForce 7800 GT PCI Express 256MB DDR3 Video Card w/TV-Out, Dual DVI & Dual VGA

TV Tuner: Asus TV FM Card 7135 w/Remote

Case: Aerocool AeroEngine II Mid Tower Case (Black)

DVD: BenQ DW1625 16X Dual Layer DVD +-RW Drive (Black)

Memory: Crucial Technology CT6464Z40B 512MB DDR400 PC3200 (x2)

HD: IBM Hitachi Deskstar 7K250 160GB Serial ATA 7200RPM

Screen: Viewsonic/ VX724/ 17-inch/ SXGA/ 1280x1024/ 4ms/ Analog/ DVI/ Black & Silver/ LCD [note I prefer 17" to 19" and this is the only 4ms monitor I can afford]

FD: Ultra Black 3.5" Floppy Drive with Built-in 6-in-1 Flash Card Reader

PSU: ????? undecided

Keyboard: Adesso
Mouse: Razer Plasma Diamondback 1600dpi

I really could do with help with the PSU. I like the look of the Ultra but I know it has a bad reputation amongst a lot of people.

Thank you

Skye

CreasianDevaili · Sep 30, 2005

Well...

First off dont go SLI right now. It is a waste. The plain thing isnt that it wont boost performance or that crossfire might be better but that it is certainly better to go for a nf4 ultra board unless you have a better case for cooling and know and realize that you will be spending 100+ on a good SLI psu unless you want to risk burning something out.

To go SLI and have it all work out without severe heating issues and power supply issues you will need to up your costs even more and you do realize that a single 7800GTX will beat those two 7800GT's in SLI right now right? And the nvidia 16x sli driver isnt due out till middle of next year correct?

For the psu if you dont go sli.. Forton AX500-A. If you must go sli then get a OCZ Powerstream 520w psu.

Save some money and get a good Ultra board, a AX500-A forton Blue Storm PSU.

Princess Skye · Sep 30, 2005

If I change the card to the 7800GTX does it matter if I don't use the SLI of the mobo? Only that mobo seems to be well suited for the cpu.

Thank you

Skye

notanotheracct · Sep 30, 2005

what's your new budget, how soon do you need it together, and how often do you plan to upgrade? (in a year, two years, five years, whenever you need/want to?)

Princess Skye · Sep 30, 2005

My budget is about $1900 and I don't need to start buying (actually can't buy) until late October/early November. I hope not to upgrade too much for the next 5 years but want a system that is going to carry me through that long but is going to be easy to upgrade in the future (hence 64bit and dual core cpu).

Skye

CreasianDevaili · Sep 30, 2005

Yeah you can have a sli mobo and just use 1 video card no problem. If that is what you wished to do then there isnt a reason not to. However before you buy the mobo check to see if any motherboard revisions are coming out. I am unsure for asus but most mobo's need a bios flash to utilize dual core cpus since they came out after the mobos did. The board is good as you mentioned so just see if they are going to make the hassle less of a hassle for you. Plus revisions sometimes brings better stability but if its months and months away or not even up in the air dont worry about it.

As said for the psu.. look for Forton/sparkle and OCZ {non modstream}. Both the forton ax500-a and the ocz powerstream will being stability to the parts and are excellant companies to buy from. Plus the bluestorm can be had off ewiz for 71 bucks right now. Not a bad thing at all. Just remember on ewiz you need to filter the psu's by sparkle not forton since they dont list it as a forton bluestorm but a sparkle 500w psu unlike other places. When you go into details it will say on the model # AX500-A and that is the bluestorm.

notanotheracct · Sep 30, 2005

that's a healthy budget that should accomplish what you need. since you can wait, i wouldn't consider anything you put together right now too seriously, just put together something that seems to do everything you need then come back when you're ready to buy and see what's newer/better/cheaper etc. ati has some new cards coming out and a new motherboard chip (might not be out in a month though).

at any rate, try posting prices of your items if you can, it'll be easier to see if better stuff can be found. another thing to consider is where are you buying the parts from? in-store or online? can you shop at multiple stores/websites? if you're flexible you can save some cash.

for PSU's i'd say a seasonic s12 - quiet, powerful, efficient.

Hough NutZ · Sep 30, 2005

Originally posted by: notanotheract

for PSU's i'd say a seasonic s12 - quiet, powerful, efficient.

I, Hough NutZ, fully endorse this statement.

Building a computer

Junior Member

Platinum Member

Lifer

Lifer

Junior Member

Banned

Diamond Member

Lifer

Senior member

Senior member

Platinum Member

Junior Member

Member

Junior Member

Senior member

Junior Member

Member

Senior member

Senior member