Building my first comp on $1000 budget. Feedback Please.

[miaheatfan]

After much deliberation, I have decided to build my own comp instead of buying a prebuilt. I am considering a Athlon 64 3800+ XP X2(also considering 4200), since I want my computer to be good at multitasking and gaming and I know this processor excels in both categories. In the future, I might attempt to do some light to moderate overclocking to boost performance. I have already picked out some of the parts and need some feedback on the overall build. By the way, I already have a 19 inch LCD monitor, keyboard, mouse, Windows XP Pro, and speakers. And I just bought a 300 GB Seagate Barracuda for $109 AR from Buy.com.


This is what I have so far:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+-$296
BIOSTAR TForce6100-939 Micro ATX-$69(cheap and has good reviews)
NEC Black IDE/ATAPI DVD Burner-$38
Seagate Barracuda 300GB SATA 150-$109 AR from Buy.com
ASPIRE X-Dreamer II ATXB4KLW-BK Black Computer Case With Side Panel Window 420W Power Supply-$55
VGA Geforce 6800GS 256-P2-N386-AX-$165
Corsair 2GB XMS Dual-Channel DDR-$149.99 AR

Please provide feedback or suggestions if you can.

 

[Ken90630]

You might wanna consider replacing the stock fans that'll come with that case. All inexpensive cases (no offense) come with cheap fans, and the best time to replace stock fans is before you put all the components in (obviously). Panaflo, Nexus, Delta, and Cooler Master's best fans are quite good and are usually not too expensive from the usual suspects (SVC.com, Jab-Tech, et al.). Newegg prolly carries some of them as well (I haven't checked).

You should also definitely replace the PSU that comes with that case, as it's almost certainly of very poor quality. Most throw-in PSUs that come with cases are (except for some Antecs and a few others now & then). You definitely want a nice high quality PSU running that nice rig. A high quality 450- to 500-watt unit from the likes of Seasonic, PC Power & Cooling or Enermax would be advisable.

This is also a much better quality case (very high quality aluminum with beautiful fit & finish), if you're not set on the 'bling' of that Aspire case. And the stock fans in this case are pretty good right off the bat and wouldn't need to replaced for at least several years down the road. Just a thought.

Good luck w/your build.

 

[imported_fx]

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+-$296
ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 ATX AMD Motherboard-$70
NEC Black IDE/ATAPI DVD Burner-$38
Seagate Barracuda 300GB SATA 150-$109 AR from Buy.com
Antec LifeStyle SONATA II Piano Black Computer Case-100
VGA Geforce 6800GS 256-P2-N386-AX-$165
Corsair 2GB XMS Dual-Channel DDR-$149.99 AR

Fixed. :thumbsup:

 

[ta8689]

I say bump up the vid card to a 7800 gt and get at least a 500 watt psu. A good one....

 

[MrX8503]

I have a very similar build and heres my input.

Keep the stock fans that come with the case, how bad can fans be really made? Its only a fan. PSU, now that is something i would replace. Throw out the stock psu that comes with that case and replace it with a fortron 450w psu from newegg for $50. Looks like you arent going SLI, so dont get a PSU that is 500w psu or sli certified. I never understood why people spend more money on SLI parts when they arent going SLI. There are good PSU's out there that arent 500w+.

everything else looks good, i would go 7800gt but it seems that would push you over 1000. so the 6800gs is a good choice. I would also look at x800gto2. X800gto2 has better performance, but doesnt have sm 3.0

 

[Ken90630]

Originally posted by: MrX8503
I have a very similar build and heres my input.

Keep the stock fans that come with the case, how bad can fans be really made? Its only a fan.

I respectfully disagree. Fans can be pretty bad, actually. Cheap sleeve-bearing fans that usually come with inexpensive cases are typically very noisy and move very little air compared to higher quality fans. They also tend to start chattering after awhile and become even noisier. Many are virtually worthless.

Higher quality fans are recommended by most 'enthusiasts' because they cool computers much better and do it more quietly than cheap fans. And they last longer, don't cost much, and perform much better when connected to a fan controller (to optimize cooling vs. noise in different usage situations). Try undervolting a cheap no-name fan & see what happens. To each his own, but using cheapy throw-in fans in an otherwise nice computer is kinda like putting vinyl upholstery in a Ferrari.

Read some fan-oriented threads in the Cases & Cooling forum for a few months & then decide for yourself if fans matter.

 

[ta8689]

HAH... how bad can fans be made? I used have a case with 2 120 mm fans. I swear to you that one of them spun at about 70 rpm. i didnt have a typo there. 70, not 700, not 7000. 70. Of course i took it out and replaced it. But that was 4 weeks of use and it wore out. No it wasnt a lack of voltage. It was the fan. Get good fans. Especially if you only have 2. My cpu temp shot up like 13*C when that happened.