Building first system

[Anubis08]

I plan to start building on Thursday or so, and I have a person who has built several before coming over, but I was just wondering what experience can say.
AMD 3500+
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum
Gainward 6800 GT
1 GB KVR
160 GB Sata HDD
Thermaltake Xaser V Case

The rest I have done before. Thanks

 

[SLCentral]

Hope you have a floppy drive for the SATA HDD install, otherwise, it looks good.

 

[Anubis08]

I do thanks.

 

[GaceyTheClown]

If you're on 56k dial-up and have an interest in operating systems other that Windows, be careful not to get a WinModem.

 

[mjuarez]

You don't mention a power supply. Make sure you get a nice big one. That GeForce 6800GT will probably like a 400W model or better. Antec and Enermax make great power supplies. You don't mention the brand/latency of the DDR. Hope it's DDR400, maybe even with CAS2 latency.

Also, and just as a comment, the 939-pin 3500+ Athlon64 will enable you to much higher speeds in the future, when 90nm chips are available in a few months.

Great choice in everything else, IMHO.

Marcos

 

[RadioHead84]

exactly the same thing i have...except i have corsair xms XLL to be exact.

how much did it all cost you?

 

[GfW]

Best advice ... read the installation instructions and come here and ask questions for anything you get confused with.

 

[mechBgon]

You may find my photo guide useful. It will help you avert mistake #1 (not having snacks on hand :Q) and maybe some others too The Resources page starts with info about keeping your newly-built computer from catching worms straight from your broadband (or dial-up) connection through no fault of your own, so have a look at that page if you're not up to speed on worm prevention.

 

[AMCRambler]

I've built three systems with MSI motherboards and Athlon cpus and they are great. But make sure you seat the processor in the socket snugly. I usually put it in and put some pressure on the die with my thumb while I lock it in with the lever. Then make sure the heatsink is making good contact with the chip's die and is pretty tight when you clip it on. I've found that if the chip isn't pushed down in the socket hard enough, you can have post issues or problems with hang ups in windows.
Other than that, everything else just plug it in and power it up. You can also lap the bottom of the heat sink with 300-400 grit sand paper to make it smoother and get a better surface contact to the chip. It doesn't hurt, and it's easier to do it now then to take everything out later and have to scrape off the thermal paste.