Building new PC

[solid3tate]

Hello people

This is the first time i am building a PC and after doing lots of research, i have finally decided to go the AMD route.

Heres the stuff that i have:

Dell 2005FPW
AMD ATHLON 64 X2 3800+
MSI K8N Neo4/SLI ATX AMD Motherboard
BFG GeForce 7800 GT OC 256 MB GDDR3 PCIe
OCZ Premier Value 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Dual Channel
Antec SLK3000-B Case
NEC Black IDE DVD Burner
Antec SmartPower 2.0 SP-350 ATX12V 350W Power Supply

Total: $1380

I havent decided on a hard drive, but i will mostly go for a Seagate.

Now heres the part i need help, do you think the power supply will be good enough for the system?
I wont be doing any overclocking nor will i be using the SLI in the near future.
I just need a power supply that will be quiet and run smoothly.

Also any suggestions for the specifications would be welcome. Do you think the parts are alright? I tried to do enough research to find a balance between power and price.

And any last words of wisdom before i start building this baby!

Thanks a lot.

 

[mechBgon]

I would get a higher-wattage PSU of equal or higher quality if it were me, and probably the equivalent burner from BenQ instead of the NEC. Welcome to the Forums

PS: if you need nominees, the Seasonic or Antec TruePowerII models in the 480W+ range would be worth a look.

 

[solid3tate]

Thanks.
Is the BenQ better than the NEC, i have the read good reviews for the NEC.
So the 350W wont be good enough?
Around how much do you think the 480W supplies will cost?

 

[Hacp]

Reviews state that BenQ is better than the NEC.

 

[mechBgon]

I have one BenQ and one NEC, and I like the BenQ better.

I may be paranoid, but I wouldn't like running your system on a 350W SmartPowerII if it were mine, and I also factor in the possibility that a gamer may want to upgrade to an even more powerful video card later. Or two of them

If you can't afford $80-100, then here's a possible PSU in the $50 range for you: Fortron 450W with 120mm cooling fan. Fortron has earned a good reputation. For a one-GPU setup, that ought to tow the boat OK.

 

[solid3tate]

Well that was the supply i was gonna go with earlier, but i was told that the lower quality power supplies claiming 450W would anyway supply lower power.

But now i may consider the forton one again.

I do plan to game a lot with this system, but i wont be using 2 graphics card anytime soon.
Also is the motherboard alright for a beginner to set up.

 

[Crescent13]

Originally posted by: solid3tate
Well that was the supply i was gonna go with earlier, but i was told that the lower quality power supplies claiming 450W would anyway supply lower power.

But now i may consider the forton one again.

I do plan to game a lot with this system, but i wont be using 2 graphics card anytime soon.
Also is the motherboard alright for a beginner to set up.

Forton is one of the highest quality PSU companies out there.

Get a benq DVD burner

Great Mobo for beginners

Get 2 GB of ram, it will help ALOT in the long run.

 

[solid3tate]

Well i am inclined towards the Forton one. Most probably will stick to it.

I will get the Benq burner, seems like a favourite around here.

Thats good to know. I was having second thoughts about it after seeing everyone talking about ASUS and DFI lanparty.

I would love to get 2 GB of RAM, but i am on a tight budget and i have already gone higher and another $100 seems too much at this point.

 

[suicidalpigeon]

would be better if you get 1x1024 instead of 2x512 at this point.

 

[foodfightr]

Make *SURE* you get a Seagate 7200.9 hard drive.

Tests have shown that NCQ has great performance implications in a dual core system. Previously there was not much gain to NCQ, but with the "random" pattern of hard drive access in dual core, you'll want this feature!

 

[Crescent13]

Originally posted by: foodfightr
Make *SURE* you get a Seagate 7200.9 hard drive.

Tests have shown that NCQ has great performance implications in a dual core system. Previously there was not much gain to NCQ, but with the "random" pattern of hard drive access in dual core, you'll want this feature!

Quoted For Truth!

 

[thescreensavers]

I have the MSI board it is very good build it and it instantly worked no problems installed win xp then tweaked some settigns in the bios and i was set very good. Look below for my config on my comp

 

[solid3tate]

Originally posted by: wafflesandsyrup
would be better if you get 1x1024 instead of 2x512 at this point.

Well if i had 4x512, would that in any way be less advantageous than having 2x1gb?

Actually i remember reading about a problem using all 4 ram slots in these motherboards. That the rams would run at 333mhz or something like that. Is it because of this you are recommending 1x1024?

 

[solid3tate]

Originally posted by: foodfightr
Make *SURE* you get a Seagate 7200.9 hard drive.

Tests have shown that NCQ has great performance implications in a dual core system. Previously there was not much gain to NCQ, but with the "random" pattern of hard drive access in dual core, you'll want this feature!

Oh ok, I knew that NCQ had lot of advantage for servers and such but didnt know they gave performance advantage for dual cores too.

Will go with the Seagate 7200.9 hard drive for sure.

 

[solid3tate]

Originally posted by: thescreensavers
I have the MSI board it is very good build it and it instantly worked no problems installed win xp then tweaked some settigns in the bios and i was set very good. Look below for my config on my comp

Sounds good. Hopefully my installation goes smooth too.

 

[mechBgon]

NCQ has been available on Seagate SATA drives since the 7200.7, you don't necessarily have to get a 7200.9. It has been available as TCQ on SCSI drives since time immemorial, too... ATA users, welcome to the 1990's :evil:

*hugs 15k SCSI goodness*

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

Yeah, definitely get the Fortron PSU. Fortron is even a better quality manufacturer than Antec. You definitely want to go for 2x1GB value RAM instead. 1GB just won't cut it now.

 

[solid3tate]

Ok so heres the updated config:

Dell 2005FPW
AMD ATHLON 64 X2 3800+
MSI K8N Neo4/SLI ATX AMD Motherboard
BFG GeForce 7800 GT OC 256 MB GDDR3 PCIe
OCZ 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM System Memory
Seagate 80GB Internal Ultra ATA/100 Hard Drive
Antec SLK3000-B Case
BenQ Black IDE DVD Burner
FSP Group (Fortron Source) AX450-PN 450W Power Supply

Does that look alright?
I am just going with the 1x1024 stick for now, will buy another one as the need arises and when i get more $$.
And the hard disk is 7200.7 so i think that should be fine.