Building my first PC - any advice?

[amnuts]

Hi there,

I'm in the market for a new PC, and thought for the first time ever I'd have a go at building my own. I want this to last me a fair old while (providing I don't blow it up on boot-up, of course!) so am thinking fairly big on hardware (though nothing super huge), and was hoping I could get a little advice on the hardware I haven't decided upon, or the hardware I have?

Now, bare in mind this is my first build and I've never over-clocked anything before, so this is a big all round first for me.

Here's what I'm thinking of in the way of hardware:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ (don't see the point of paying over double for .2 clock increase if I can overclock?)
Asus A8N-E motherboard
ThermalRight XP-90 heatsink (worried about weight of XP-90C)
Thermaltake 92mm SilentCat fan for heatsink
Radeon X850XT Platinum
Audigy2 ZS Platinum
Corsair TWINX2048-3200C2PT XMS3200
400Gb Seagate Barracuda (possible 2 in raid for main bulk of files, then smaller drives from programmes/games)

I can't decide on the case or PSU, though. I was looking at the Tsunami Dream, but then found the Antec P180 yesterday. Can't decide which would be best for me? And the PSU? Sheesh! I was looking at sound around 500 or 550W. Any suggestions?

I'm also not too bothered about Nvidia SLI, as I'm waiting to see how ATI Crossfire comes out.

So there we have it. Do you have any thoughts or suggestions on the above? Does it sound quite good, or are there some real lemons in there? General use machine, but also want it to play games in great quality (thinking primarily FarCry and HL2) and, as I mentioned before, want it to last me for some time.

Many thanks for any guidance!

Andy

 

[amnuts]

Oh, just as a follow up... If you have any pointers for building a system in general, or resouces you think a newbie like me really needs to read first, then I'd also appreciate knowing those.

Many thanks!

 

[CreativeTom]

Wow, I guess money isn't a problem for you??? looks nice, I would go with a diferent MOBO if you are planing on overclocking, not to sure if you are from your explination.

Maybe the DFI Lanparty Ultra D motherboard if you are gonna overclock.
If you go with that board get some OCZ value VX instead of the Corsair.
I would think about going with the NVidia 7800GTX for a video card (if you don't mind the cost).
The Antec P180 is for sure the way to go for a case!!!
I think you should give the Fortron PSU's a look, very nice for a good price.

 

[amnuts]

My wife got made redundant a little while ago and she gave me her redundancy package, God bless her! (Mind you, it was on the condition that I don't buy another computer for quite a few years to come, hence the 'buy big' while I do have the money.) That said, I don't want to spend money like water so might give the 7800GTX a miss. (From what I read Crossfire could end up better than SLI anyway - is that true?)

I'm not sure I'm going to overclocking to start with, but might dabble a little later on after I know the system is stable and so on.

Many thanks for your advice. I'll look into the PSU and OCZ memory, and it's good to get confirmation about the case.

Cheers,

Andy

 

[hootpie]

Ground yourself while you are putting it together.

 

[furballi]

I'd go with a good board like Abit AN8 or Epox EP-9NPA. Add a 3000 Winchester and overclock it to at least 3500 speed using Corsair Value Select RAM. Buy two 200GB 7200 Seagate drives with 5 yr warranty. Avoid RAID 0. Put the $ you saved in the bank and use it to upgrade the PC in two years. Perhaps more RAM or a faster video card.

Enermax 495 Noisetaker V2.0 or a 500w Fortron can be had for under $80.

Buying high-end CPU and RAM is a waste of $. These items will be outdated in 6 months. The video card is the key to fast games.

 

[Topweasel]

Don't Make a choice about either Vid card based on SLI if you don't plan on using it. Crossfire has as many downers as SLI and some of them are getting taken care of in SLI. Also crossifre need special Express 200 boards and ATI is haivng problems with their southbridges. 7800GTX is a faster single card solution. Becareful of the Seagate 400GB it is lsower and usually more expensive then the 7k400 from hitachi, also hitachi is just now sending out their 7k500. You didm't list a case I would suggest a Antec P180.

As for pointers aways read a manual specially for the Mobo, i do everytime i get a new one. Wok one stage at a time but try to think about what you need to do, This helps most when running cables. Make sure Cable will reach as far as you need them and make sure your PS will provide enough amps for what you need (mostly deals with things using 12volt line usually supply less amps). Don't get angry. And always have a computer near by with web access (to ask us questions).

 

[shoRunner]

Originally posted by: furballi
I'd go with a good board like Abit AN8 or Epox EP-9NPA. Add a 3000 Winchester and overclock it to at least 3500 speed using Corsair Value Select RAM. Buy two 200GB 7200 Seagate drives with 5 yr warranty. Avoid RAID 0. Put the $ you saved in the bank and use it to upgrade the PC in two years. Perhaps more RAM or a faster video card.

Enermax 495 Noisetaker V2.0 or a 500w Fortron can be had for under $80.

Buying high-end CPU and RAM is a waste of $. These items will be outdated in 6 months. The video card is the key to fast games.

high end ddr ram will probably never be outdated if its 2-2-2 RAM. they could come out(and have) come out with 1.5 CAS but motherboard support will/is nil.

 

[coomar]

the enermax 495 is a nice psu, good for the price as well, works well with the dfi board as well

 

[Topweasel]

If it is Your first system don't over clock till your ready. As for going with a slower Proc sometimes they are right if you over clock but the 4400+ is much better then having a faster proc, Multitasking is so much better with an X2. I would still get the larger drive not much difference in price between 2 200s and one 400 and you use less power and add less heat to the sytem. Furballi is right on the Motherboard Even though i Love Asus those 2 motherboards are the best signle 16x PCIe boards out their for overclocking.

 

[coomar]

and i have a silentcat, its horrendous as a cpu sink (i used it with a sp-97 which is comparable to an xp-90), i ended up using it as an exhaust fan

i remember someone saying there was a bias with this article with the shogun's or something but it still has some worthwhile information
http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&number=1&artpage=1293&articID=224

an x2 was overclocked to 3.0 ghz with a thermaltake tower, if you a 120mm case fan on it, its easily the quietest option

 

[amnuts]

Thank you all for the really excellent input. I knew I could count on your collective knowledge to help me out (and give me a dozen extra things to think about!)

I definitely will be doing multi-tasking as a primary function with gaming coming a close second, so I think I'll be sticking with the X2. It seems to be the way chip makers are looking (multi-core), so might be good future proofing anyway.

Fortron has been mentioned a couple times as a possible PSU, and I was also looking at Enermax yesterday, so I'll try to scopre those out a little more.

As for the board; it's still really hard to decide. How much overclocking would I really be doing, considering I've never even thought about doing it before (and would probably be very nervous about it even if I tried, so doubt I'd overclock much)? That said, it's always nice to have the option to do it and the hardware that allows for it. I take the point of Weaselboy and Furballi on the video card, and as I'm not too bothered about SLI then I can concetrate of getting a good single-card solution and not even consider SLI mobos. I still like the layout of the ASUS - having the PCI-E 16 over the 1x/4x slots seems to make sense to me seeing as you wont effectively remove usage of one of the PCI slot with a double-slot sized graphics card - but will look more into the Abit and Epox and try to weigh up things like SATA2 and layout against overclocking ability. Lots to think about there!

I'll reconsider the silentcat fan - maybe go back tot he panaflo they recommend, if I stick with the xp-90.

Thanks also, Weaselboy, for giving me sound advice like cable run and, silly as it may sound, not getting angry, because I know I'd probably have done if the system kept crashing on me or I could work things out!

Again; thanks to everyone for all the advice so far - it's really appreciated! (Though I know you guys are going to cause me many more late nights trying to decide on hardware!) Oh, and beware when I get this rig built and running okay, because I may very well be hunting down some newbie overclocking advice, too.

 

[keeleysam]

Go with that ThermalTake Big Typhoon.

BTW:

WELCOME TO ANANDTECH!

 

[furballi]

I would go to a PC store and check out a high end PC with the X2 processor. Try it out with some multi-task stuffs and compare this performance with a 3500 to 3700 class AMD 64 processor.

It is very rare for my overclocked 3000 Winnie to hit 100% CPU load. I'm reluctant to jump on 1st or 2nd generation dual core processor. The best strategy is to spend $150 on a 3000 Venice, then wait a year or so to upgrade to a dual core CPU. By that time, the technology will have mature, and you can probably buy a faster processor at 40% of the current cost.

 

[SlitheryDee]

Excellent PC building guide.

Excellent A64 overclocking guide.

I also like the big typhoon.