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Building my first Comp: Please Help!

L

lpj8

Junior Member
Hey, I'm looking to build a new rig. This will be my first time, so go easy on me.
I currently have:

P4 2.0
512 Rambus Ram
64 MB GeForce 420

One of the main reasons I'm building this is so that I can play The Elder Scrolls Oblivion. Other than that, I typically use my comp for data management (SPSS, SAS, Access) surfing, burning DVDs, CDs, word processing.

I have $700 to work with. I don't need a monitor, keyboard, mouse, or speakers.

Here is what I've come up with thus far:

AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 1GHz HT Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3700BNBOX

CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model VS1GBKIT400 - Retail

eVGA 256-P2-N389-AX Geforce 6800GS CO SE 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail

NEC 16X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE/ATAPI Model ND-3550A - OEM

ASUS A8N5X Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

Antec LifeStyle SONATA II Piano Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 450Watt SmartPower 2.0 ATX 12V V2.0 for AMD & Intel systems Power Supply - Retail

All of this will be $654 shipped, after all of the rebates go through.

My main questions are:
1. For my budget $(700) is this a reasonable rig?
2. Should I go with a single core? Or is it worth it to get a dual core?
3. Is the motherboard I've selected adequate? are there better/cheaper alternatives?
4. Is the PSU included with the Antec case adequate?
5. Am I missing anything?

Thank you so much in advance.



 
1.) Yeah, $700 is reasonable for a reasonable rig. You're not going to get the best, but you'll get something good enough to get the job done.

2.) Dual core processors are nice, but don't look for a huge speedup. They basically only ensure that your computer won't slow down. So unless you plan on running a lot of programs at one that are rather intensive, don't worry about it. It will be a while before the software is to a point to really utilitize multiple processors.

3.) Better, yes. Cheaper, not really. Asus are good, solid motherboards for the most part. You shouldn't be disappointed.

4.) As long as you're not doing SLI, 450W should be plenty.

5.) Unless you need a new hard drive, looks like you got everything to me.
 
1.)Yes
2.)Yes...but with Oblivion specifically dual core is very good.
3.)Yes/Yes...but Asus is a very good brand.
4.)Yes
5.)Nope

Good luck.🙂
 
STOP FOR A SECOND PLEASEEEEE. lol actually just wanted to recommend the x850xt for only $160 @ newegg, too lazy to post a link, it's a sapphire. That thing will probably smoke(ok maybe not smoke)the 6800gs. I see no reason why you couldn't get a 3200+(even a 3000+), OC it, and drop money on 2gb of ram, because I see that as a better choice. Is it because that mobo won't OC well? Get an EPoX 9NPA+ Ultra, or something else.
 
Ya, 2 GB would be ideal.

Let me also suggest a 7600GT instead of a 6800GS. Its a little bit more, but its faster.
 
people have already answered your questions in your original post so i'll just tell you what i would change:

motherboard: get the Epox 9npa+ Ultra. very stable and overclockable

video: get the x850xt or the 7600GT

ram: get either this G.SKILL DDR500 2x1gb kit for $157 or this DDR400 2x1gb CAS 2.5 kit for $146. i would recommend the first one if you'll be overclocking.

after these upgrades, you'll be at around $760-775 so just save taht $60-75 by getting either a AMD 3000+ or 3200+. the 3700+ is an awesome CPU but the performance loss you get by downgrading your CPU is worth it for what you gain by getting the GPU, RAM, and motherboard i recommended
 
Looks almost identical to a rig I'm building for a co-worker, except I chose the A8N-E as it supports SATA 3Gb/s. It's only $12 more; however, that will only help with your burst transfer speeds, not sustained speeds. I personally chose Asus over Epox b/c according to all the user reviews on Newegg Epox has even worse customer support than Asus. According to buyers, Asus' customer support is a pain in the butt, but Epox' is practically non-existent. Don't take that as gospel, though, I'm just going by the reviews as I've never owned an Epox board.
 
Thanks for everyone's replies! I will certainly look into the x850xt or the 7600GT. I decided to go with the 3700 because I plan on adding another gig of ram in the near future (couple of months). I figured it would be easier to upgrade the RAM later than upgrading the CPU. I have no idea how to overclock, but:

1. Would I need anything other than stock cooling if I overclock up?
2. How much relatively speaking is the performance difference between the 3700 and 3200?
3. How much faster would this rig be than my current rig (P4, 2.0, 512 Ram)?

Thanks!
 
1. Yes. I like my Zalman CNPS9500 but it's rather expensive at $60 or so. Perhaps pickup the Thermalright XP-90 for ~$30.
2. Not all that much. We're talking about only 200MHz + 512Kb less cache. Just overclock it to 2.6GHz and you'll be set!
3. A lot faster.
 
Agreed! Give up a little cpu power or o/c a 3000 or 3200 and get 2gigs of ram now and a better vid card ie....x850xt or the 7600GT. I have an Epox m/b, and I like it a lot.

p.s. Consider doing the ram now as four sticks would slow your memory timings down slightly. Also, the cpu's you're considering do better with a 1T timing instead of 2T.
 
combined with a well-ventilated case, a scythe ninja+a yate loon with an exhaust right next to it would be the optimal air-cooled cpu. I strongly agree to choosing the 3200+, we never said you'll be upgrading the cpu, especially since the difference between the 3700+ and 3200+ is the cache, and they're both single-core, so it'd be ridiculous to pay $50+ just for speed you could easily achieve with OC'ing, and cache that you won't miss at all. Now, if it was single-core vs dual-core, that'd be a different story. btw, get the sonata II from clubit.com, excellent service and $99 shipped. I really do think the x850xt+an ati silencer+OC will give you great gaming performance even for oblivion, combined with 2 gigs of memory and that OC'ed 3000+/3200+(will probably easily reach 2.5ghz if not higher). A comment on memory, timings rarely have any noticable performance impacts, so I would suggest value ram and using a divider, there's no difference in using OC'ing mem other than you get some faster speeds, which again won't affect your fun factor playing whatever game you desire. I was wondering what resolution/monitor you are going to run? I understand you do have the money to buy a 3700+ and all, but as games get more demanding, I would suggest saving whatever money you can to dump on the next generation dual-cores and GPUs.
 
Thank you for everyone's suggestions. Based upon the feedback, I've decided to change:

1 gig ----> 2 gig

3700+ -----> 3200+

Geforce 6800 ------> ATI x850xt

I still think the ASUS motherboard looks good to me. It gets pretty good reviews on newegg, and I've heard that Asus makes a solid motherboard. Is the one that I have selected not overclockable?
ASUS A8N5X Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

Also, the case I've selected has a 120mm Fan.

Antec LifeStyle SONATA II Piano Black Computer Case
Would this be sufficient to overclock with?

I really appreciate everyone's help!
 
Personally I cant stand ASUS motherboards.

I like the DFIs a lot. But then again, I'm a DFI Fanboy so don't listen to me.
 
Originally posted by: lpj8
Thank you for everyone's suggestions. Based upon the feedback, I've decided to change:

1 gig ----> 2 gig

3700+ -----> 3200+

Geforce 6800 ------> ATI x850xt

I still think the ASUS motherboard looks good to me. It gets pretty good reviews on newegg, and I've heard that Asus makes a solid motherboard. Is the one that I have selected not overclockable?
ASUS A8N5X Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

Also, the case I've selected has a 120mm Fan.

Antec LifeStyle SONATA II Piano Black Computer Case
Would this be sufficient to overclock with?

I really appreciate everyone's help!
Click to expand...

the sonata II is excellent, and quiet, but that mobo isn't going to do you any good. Oh yeah, there is a MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR problem, and it's a good thing you're NOT getting a 3200+. You forgot a HARD DRIVE!!!!! I would suggest a 250gb WD or Samsung for around $100, but for $20 more you can get a 320gb WD(70 more gigs) and I think that's a smart investment.
calculations so far:
3500+ - $175(@ zipzoomfly)
2gb ram - $134(@ chiefvalue)
sapphire x850xt oem - $165 (@ newegg)
nec 3550a - $42(@ chiefvalue)
Antec Sonata II - $99(@ ClubIT.com)
epox 9npa+ ultra - $98(@ zzf)
this includes all shipping costs
1)first off this comes to ~$713
2)you said you can spare the extra $20, but you could buying fans and other accessories with that money. again, it makes no difference to OC a 3200+ to a 3500+ or just buying a 3500+ except price.
2)2gb value ram should be fine, OC'ing ram is overkill especially since timings and higher speeds won't affect much of your performance, and using a divider doesn't hurt much.
3)X850XT OEM(unless you want the stupid games that come with it, actually not stupid - splinter cell, and prince of persia).
4)The optical drive was a good choice, i have a 3540a, and OEM works fine, don't need jumpers since it looks like the SATAII drive will be your primary drive.
5)Good choice on case, but adding a 120mm fan to the front would be wise because you have a hot video card and an hdd that wants to be cooled.($6 @ jab-tech+shipping yate loon fan, very quiet)
6)The mobo I picked has excellent OC'ing capabilities, superb stability, and includes all the goodies except SLI which you wont need or miss. I highly recommend this mobo.

Here's the problem, when you cut it to $713, and you build this whole thing up, it's gonna sound like a leafblower with all the stock fans running. If you can just lay a couple more bucks so you can actually sleep in the same room, it would be great for you(quiet) and your components, meaning part life, OC'ability, etc. You don't have to buy all of this right off the bat, just add it later on as you feel more satisfied with the lower noise, and when it reaches a point where you can accept the noise level, don't buy anything more related to silencing anything.

1)The AMD stock cooler isn't bad and you can actually overclock with it, so being budget conscious, let's stick with it for now. If you got a scythe ninja+another yate loon, this would be overclocking heaven for you and your 3000+ would get a much higher overclock, and much lower temps, for much lower noise. That comes at a price however($36 for ninja, then you get discounts on arctic silver 5 thermal paste, yate loon
2)the X850 XT will be the leaf blower, so an ATI silencer for $30 @ ZZF would be wise, and since you got quite a value with the video card, it's worth it for the cooler.
3)the chipset fan on the motherboard will be NOISY!! those 40mm fans running at 5000~rpm AHHHH! you can get a passive northbridge cooler with no fan that'll adequately cool an overclocked NB for $5 @ jab-tech.com This is another reason why you would want the yate loon for an intake.
4)the fans on the power supply should be quiet, and that PSU has plenty of power, no problems there.
5)keep the back case fan on low, and you're good, and if you do decide to get the intake, just plug it into a molex for 12v, it's quiet then. Some rubber grommets for the fans would be nice for about a buck on jab-tech.com also.
6)arctic silver 5 thermal paste will increase your performance by a few degrees and is hell of a lot better than thermal tape or anything like that, so buy this thing for about $5 or so and it would be a good investment, you can use it on like 20+ CPUs using the small 3.5 tube. You can choose not to if you really want your $5 to spend on burger king or something else. I was going to recommend some arctic cleaner, but just use indentured alcohol and it should do the trick. I can tell you the arctic cleaner does clean a LOT better than indentured alcohol, and is only $5-$6 more.
ATI Silencer 5 Rev. 2 - $30(@ ZZF)
Zalman ZM-NB47J Passive NB Heatsink+120mm Yate Loon D12SL-12+Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Paste - $25(@ jab-tech shipping varies by location, but shipping included being shipped to my area) = $55

OR
ATI Silencer 5 Rev. 2 -$30(@ ZZF)
Scythe Ninja+2 120mm Yate Loons(1 for intake 1 for ninja)+arctic silver 5+zalman NB heatsink - $62(@ jab-tech.) = $92
It would be wise to get the ninja and unleash the full potential of your chip and your mobo. spending $700 is a substantial amount of money and I wouldn't let the nice goodies go to waste without letting them stretch their arms out. Being a leafblower is another thing, and if you decide to go the route with the ninja, then you will NOT regret paying for it. You decide. If you really gotta keep the $700 limit, build it, and if you really can't tolerate the noise, come back to this thread and just buy the components above.(or come back if your components are overheating).
That was a lot.... but it was the best advice I could give, since this really is VERY close to my rig.
 
Well, I found a pretty sweet deal on a 3500+ ($175 shipped) and decided to go with it. I can spare the extra 20 bucks for the 3500 as opposed to the 3200.

I can't find this model anywhere: ePoX EP-9U1697-GL ............ any links?

It seems as if the motherboard is most difficult item for me to pick out. I want to get a stable one, that will overclock decently, easy to install, for under $100 if possible. I know some people have given suggestions, but any more?

Thank you again.
 
I just edited the post, LOOK dude the hard drive!!! sorry if you already had one, but in the OP it only said u have a monitor, keyboard, speakers, and mouse. It looks like because of the hard drive, u can't spare any money. never mind the EPoX EP-9U1697-GLi, get the 9npa+ ultra as stated in the post.
BTW, SLI = Scalable Link Interface = currently you can use 2 GPUs(video cards)in tandem and get more graphics power, but it seems useless to me unless you're running ultra-high resolutions because by the time you want to come back and add the same card as an upgrade, that card will be obsolete.
 

Thanks for your help! I do have a decent hard drive for now. I will bide my time until I upgrade it. I don't need a ton of space right now, so I don't see the logic in buying a really nice one right now. I will need a nice HD later this year, I'll probably get one around Thanksgiving.
 
OHHHHH ok... nvm all the stuff i said about the hdd... I already fixed the calculations and it seems you get $713 shipped for everything including the 3500+. Get the 3200+ and you would reach your goal of $700. I still do recommend the 9npa+ ultra for overclocking, paired up with the 3500+ you wanted. Again, the scythe ninja will be very nice for your overclocking although not necessary. The huge post has now been updated.
 
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