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Building My First PC

J

joe722

Junior Member
After hours of research, I've finally come up with a pc configuration. Please tell me what you think and offer any suggestions 🙂

Case: Thermaltake Tsunami - $95
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811133132

Motherboard: Epox 9npa+ ultra - $105
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813123236

Processor: Athlon 64 3200+ (Venice) - $163
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80701-5

Power Supply: Fortron 450W - $50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104954

Hard Drive: Seagate 7200.8 SATA 250GB - $110
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=101571

RAM: OCZ Platinum 1 GB (2x512 Mb) - $146
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146890

Video Card- XFX Geforce 6800 GS - $205
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150118


Extras: Arctic Silver thermal compound ($6) and anti-static wrist strap ($6)


Total price of the hardware after shipping and rebates - $893.


A quick question- All the parts I'm buying are retail, except for the hard drive. The only additional things I'm getting are the thermal compound and wrist strap. Is there anything else I need to get- cables, fans, etc. (especially for the hard drive) or am I set? And is Windows XP the only software I need to have- will everything else come with the needed drivers, etc.

So is this a good system for the price?

 
Well-balanced system! All the components look very good and will give you no problems... Usually you'll get IDE and SATA cables with the mobo, so that's no problem...

That Tsunami hass standard mounted fans, so there is no need to buy some extra ones... Windows XP is indeed all you need... Drivers etc. are always supplied when you buy retail products... Don't worry...

The system is very good for its price, after some overclocking (CPU and graphics card), it will be a very fast system... (Not that's not fast right now, but it has the capacity to be much faster...)
 
Yeah that's why I'm spending so much money on the memory, I plan on overclocking the cpu to 2.4GHz or so. The video card comes overclocked, but I'll see if I could take it farther 😉
 
I've already stretched my budget about $100 more than it originally was, so an extra 1gb is too big of a jump. Besides, this is a gaming pc so I think 1gb should be enough.
 
Like Xanis says... More memory is about the only thing that would make a difference... Instead of buying such expensive DDR just to go overclocking, buy yourself a cheaper set like this one ... They don't have the tight timings like the OCZ and will not overclock as much, but they do give you 2GB, which will be more beneficial than 1GB with very tight timings...

Setting a divider nearly doesn't hurt your performance, because of that efficient built-n AMD64 memory controller...

EDIT: Gaming pc's are the ones that benefit from extra RAM...
 
I suggest getting either a Corsair ValueSelect or G.Skill value 2GB dual-channel kit if you want 2 gigs.
 
Can you still overclock well with 2gb? Is cheap 2 gb of memory with a 3200+ at stock speeds better than better 1 gb memory with an overclocked cpu?

I'm not going to be multitasking while playing games so I don't see what benefit I'm going to get other than slightly better load times. Won't a faster cpu have a greater effect on frame rates than extra ram? Now I'm confused 😕
 
Overclocking doesn't mean you need RAM that can go high too... If you set a divider, your RAM will stay low, but your CPU will be able to go high... 2GB means you'll have no chugging when a new "level" or room has to be loaded... With 1GB, games like F.E.A.R. tend to have these slowdowns... It means that the harddisk needs to "cache" that piece of the game, needs to swap for it, whereas it's otherwise only stored in the RAM...

EDIT: For example, take RAM that runs at 200MHz with timings of 2.5-3-3-6... This RAM will be able to hit maybe 220MHz with those timings... But 220MHz wouldn't mean a very high overclock on your CPU...

If you set a divider, e.g. you tune down the RAM to 166MHz (5/6) and let it rise accordingly with your CPU... By the time you'll have a 240MHz "FSB", your RAM will be at (240:/6*5) 200MHz... So there will be nothing of the timings lost (you could even tighten them some more with a voltage increase), but in the meanwhile, your CPU will be running at 2.4GHz, which was your goal...

If you tune down even more, 133MHz (4/3), you can hit 300MHz, and your RAM will still be running at 200MHz... Of course, 10x300 = 3GHz which would be nearly impossible without heavy voltages and WC, but lowering your multiplier could give you 9x300 = 2.7GHz, and that's a speed your CPU should be able to handle...

It's not that difficult, just simple mathematics...
 
Originally posted by: joe722
Can you still overclock well with 2gb? Is cheap 2 gb of memory with a 3200+ at stock speeds better than better 1 gb memory with an overclocked cpu?

I'm not going to be multitasking while playing games so I don't see what benefit I'm going to get other than slightly better load times. Won't a faster cpu have a greater effect on frame rates than extra ram? Now I'm confused 😕
Click to expand...

First of all, the RAM you choose will not impact CPU overclocking in any way. You could get the cheapest piece of junk memory on the planet, and your CPU will still overclock as well as ever.

The answer to your second question is "no." 2GB isn't going to make *that* big of a difference with today's software. Since you're already pressed on your budget, go ahead and stick with 1GB. But you don't have to spend more than $85 or so on it. That $146 memory you had picked out is a waste of $61.
 
get corsair value select ram instead. maybe try to get dual core? also, if you are overclocking, just get a 3000+ (if you want single core). it will easily get 2.4ghz.
 
Originally posted by: joe722
Can you still overclock well with 2gb? Is cheap 2 gb of memory with a 3200+ at stock speeds better than better 1 gb memory with an overclocked cpu?
Click to expand...

As others have pointed out, you don't need superfast RAM in order to overclock your CPU. Cheap RAM will often overclock just fine (I'm running Corsair ValueRAM @220MHz stock timings) and if it won't, you can always use a memory divider to put the RAM back in spec while still overclocking your CPU.

Personally I'd go with cheaper RAM (like this for example, what I'm using) and put the extra money into a faster CPU (or for a little bit more, a faster vid card like the 7800GT). Or you could go with 2Gigs. Either way you will see more performance gain than low-latency RAM would give you.
 
There shouldn't be a need for stress testing when your pc is brand new and stock clocked... But if you like to, take Memtest86 for the RAM, OCCT (or Prime95) for your CPU, and RTHDRIBL for your graphics card... A run with 3DMark05 also is a very good stability tester...

But actually those tests are to find errors in an overclocked environment, nonetheless you can still give them a run...
 
I would suggest another case, I have the Thermaltake Tsunami and am not to thrilled with it. What else to get I dont really know maybe one of the new p180's or something.
 
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