Building First System - Thoughts/Advice Please

[lizardboy]

(replacing my 2-year old Dell P3-500)

This will be the first system I've ever built myself after using Dells over the last 5 or 6 years.

Antec SX830 (300W)
Athlon XP 1700+ (retail)
ECS K7S5A mobo
GForce3 Ti 200
256MB Crucial DDR Ram (2100)
Western Digital 100GB 7200RPM

I picked up everything above for about $525 through various hot deals. I'm going to try the onboard NIC & sound with the ECS...If I have problems with either one I can pull the NIC or sound card out of my old PC. Not planning to overclock, so I think the retail HS/Fan should be fine. I'm pulling a DVD drive and a Lite-On 16x12x40 CD-RW from my old PC, I've also got an old floppy drive laying around.

Any thoughts/advice appreciated.

 

[187]

Looks good to me. you might wantto try a 70$ audigy card

 

[majewski9]

If you want to spend the $$$ for GF3 and a 100 gigger then there is no reason you shouldnt get an audigy or at least an sb live.

 

[zsouthboy]

Is that 300 watt gonna be enough for the xp 1700+??

My tbird 1400 needs at least 350 to purr.

other than that, good choices.... just take putting it together slow and don't get in a hurry (like i do) or you'll end up making an expensive mistake.

zs

 

[lizardboy]

thanks guys, i'll look into the audigy sound card

i hadn't planned to spend the money on either the WD drive or the GForce3, but the deals that came along last week/this week were too good to pass up ($99 for the GForce, $120 for the WD)

i just read through the AMD guide on how to install your heatsink - i'm ready to take it nice & slow

2 more questions - i had thought about buying a nicer/more expensive heatsink...if i was to spend the ~$40-$50 on an ALPHA PAL8045, would it be any easier to install than the retail HS ??
(and would it be any quieter than the retail HS if i matched it with a fairly quiet fan ??)

 

[187]

i dont know about the retail hsf, but if you are not gonna OC you dont need the ALPHA hsf. not neccessary.

 

[wasamicron]

nix the ECS board and get a Shuttle AK31.

 

[Henny]

I would up the power supply to a min. of 350 for higher end P4's and Athlons. What OS do you plan to run? If it's XP than I'd up the ram to 512M.

 

[pay]

<< nix the ECS board and get a Shuttle AK31. >>



Took the words right outta my mouth

 

[DN]

<< thanks guys, i'll look into the audigy sound card

i hadn't planned to spend the money on either the WD drive or the GForce3, but the deals that came along last week/this week were too good to pass up ($99 for the GForce, $120 for the WD)

i just read through the AMD guide on how to install your heatsink - i'm ready to take it nice & slow

2 more questions - i had thought about buying a nicer/more expensive heatsink...if i was to spend the ~$40-$50 on an ALPHA PAL8045, would it be any easier to install than the retail HS ??
(and would it be any quieter than the retail HS if i matched it with a fairly quiet fan ??) >>



You are saying you paid $120.00US for the WD 1000BB 100Gb ATA100 7200 RPM hard drive..? LOL! Ok, how "stolen" was that item..?

In any case, I'd get better sound, I'd can the ECS and get a more stable motherboard..

 

[Jerboy]

<< (replacing my 2-year old Dell P3-500) >>



Seems like you just bought it and its already retiring eh?




<<

This will be the first system I've ever built myself after using Dells over the last 5 or 6 years.

Antec SX830 (300W)
Athlon XP 1700+ (retail)
ECS K7S5A mobo
GForce3 Ti 200
256MB Crucial DDR Ram (2100)
Western Digital 100GB 7200RPM

I picked up everything above for about $525 through various hot deals. I'm going to try the onboard NIC & sound with the ECS...If I have problems with either one I can pull the NIC or sound card out of my old PC. Not planning to overclock, so I think the retail HS/Fan should be fine. I'm pulling a DVD drive and a Lite-On 16x12x40 CD-RW from my old PC, I've also got an old floppy drive laying around.

Any thoughts/advice appreciated. >>



*This is just my opinion and it is not to be taken personally*

1. ECS K7S5A has been problematic for me and many other users and it has problems with losing CMOS setup and memory errors. Mistake #1. If you could afford a GeForce3 Ti200, I certainly would not cheap out on motherboard and get a K7S5A. Motherboard is like the foundation of your house. If I was on budget, I would have gone for cheaper videocard such as ATI Xpert2000, TNT64 16MB or GeForce2 and allocated more money on mobo so you can get an Asus A7V266, Gigabyte GA-7DX, Abit KG7 or Epox.

2. I'd go for 512MB DDR

 

[ThatDumbGuy]

I say the power supply in an sx830 (300 watts) should be fine, people are paranoid alot of times. Antec has high quality power supplies. If you do get another power supply, just make sure it is approved.

 

[lizardboy]

<<
You are saying you paid $120.00US for the WD 1000BB 100Gb ATA100 7200 RPM hard drive..? LOL! Ok, how "stolen" was that item..?
>>




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