computer building

[weezarrgh]

my parents finally cracked after many months of pestering! i now can order from newegg! after months of determined research, i chose these components. feel free to tell me what i missed or what i should get instead.

Motherboard: DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D
Case: COOLER MASTER Wave Master (the yellow one!)
DVD Dual Layer Burner: SONY White IDE DVD Burner Model DRU720A
CD Burner: LITE-ON Beige IDE Combo Drive Model
Floppy Drive: SONY Beige 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive
Hard drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 SATA NCQ 160GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive
RAM: OCZ Gold Series 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model
Modem: Zonet 56Kbps Modem
Power Supply: Antec TruePower 2.0 TP2-550 EPS12V ATX12V 550W Power Supply
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice
Videocard: SAPPHIRE 100105SR Radeon X800XL 256MB GDDR3 PCI-Express x16 Video Card

I chose to keep an extra burner just in case i want to directly burn one disk to another. This all totals up to $1537.19 (at the time) and this includes tax and shipping. my parents also allowed me to have the budget bumped up to $1540 for tax and shipping purposes. this is all i have so far, and i am expecting to build during june-july.

 

[indianduddawg47]

most dvd burners are cd burners...

nice ram... that's the gold edtion (2-2-2-5) , right?

 

[KoolDrew]

Get the NEC burner and a 3200+

EDit: Are you overclocking?

 

[Cheesetogo]

Sony optical drives are crap... get the nec 3502a instead. I'd recommend the 3200 and just overclock it. Should be simple to get it to 3500 speeds... just put the fsb up - I doubt you'll have to change the voltage.

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

Ah, don't waste so much money on RAM. The latencies only give like a 2% performance increase, and if you need to overclock, just get some good Corsar/OCZ Value RAM and run a divider. The 3200+ is also a better buy than the 3500+, because the transition from the 3000+ to the 3200+ is a better bang for your buck than the transition from the 3200+ to the 3500+. The 3200+'s are pretty good overclockers too.

 

[theMan]

NEC 3520a. and maybe pick up another cheap dvd-rom so you can copy dvd's. if you bump down to a 3200+ maybe you can get a 6800gt. and especially if you got valueram. maybe even bump up to a 6800U. video card is the best thing for gaming performance. you can easily get that 3200+ to fx55, and if you're lucky, fx57.

 

[weezarrgh]

thanks. i'll definitely consider some of these suggestions.

 

[Muscles]

Since you're not paying for it you might as well try and see if you can get the 6800GT instead of the x800. Just tell the folks it's worth it

 

[DerelictDev]

NEC or Pioneer DL DVD burner.
Instead of the lite-on just buy some decent regular dvd-rom.
Most people dont use floppy drives anymore. I cant recall the last time i used one, but there cheap so ehh
You dont really need as much as 550W for the psu but i guess the more the better?
Better value for money is the 3200+ Venice
The vid card is fine. (more of an ati man the nvidia ;p)

Cool case, kinda looks like the tsunami. Which one is better though? I want to find that out because im going to buy one or the other soon.

 

[SLIorCROSSFIRE]

dude, way to much on the ram, i recomend this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146299

since you are ordering off newegg and all. the latency difference is unnoticable and and its allmost half the price!!! with that extra cash you can buy the "asus a8n sli deluxe" which has 2 built in 1000gb/s LAN connections. and i also recomend this PSU. only 50W's less but $25 cheaper and its the same make too.

in giving all this advice i am only giving you suggestions, and saying what i would do...but on that note it might not be the best thing for you but it seams a better sellection to me and for what i am using my comp for.

i hope my ideas could be of help for i am also building a computer of my own and if my suggestions are no good then neither is my computer lol!!!

here are my specs:

Motherboard: ASUS A8N Sli DELUXE

CPU: same as you (im not overclocking)

RAM: Corsair Value S. PC3200 DDR-DIMM 2048MB Kit w/two matched Value Select 1024MB

PSU: COOLER GIANT 600W ENERMAX Sli

GPU: Club3D GeForce 6800GT 256MB GDDR3 256 bit, PCI Express, 2xDVI (x2)

HDD:Western Digital Raptor 74GB SATA 8MB 10000RPM (x2)

Sound Card: Creative SB Audigy 2 ZS

Screen: LG 17" LCD L1715S TCO-99 Monitor, Silver

CPU HSF: Akasa AK-913 EVO 33

The total cost of the comp including the operating system and microsoft office 2003 and other acessories is around 3100 euro. i am proud to say that i ordered the first part today (motherboard) and i hope that it will be near completion in Aug-Sept.

 

[SLIorCROSSFIRE]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103937
thats the missing link to the PSU i suggested aboove ...sorry bout that lol!!!

 

[weezarrgh]

i'm not so sure about an nvidia card, since i never had one before... i'm leaning towards an ati card because i've used many of them for a while now and none of them crapped out. well, there's my opinion.

 

[DanDaMan315]

Originally posted by: weezarrgh
i'm not so sure about an nvidia card, since i never had one before... i'm leaning towards an ati card because i've used many of them for a while now and none of them crapped out. well, there's my opinion.

I say good choice with the x800xl. Get a 3200, the 3500 has been said to be pretty much a waste of money.

 

[hurtstotalktoyou]

Like everyone else said: that RAM is overkill. A CAS-2.5 will do you just fine.

Also, for $80 cheaper, you can get an Athlon 64 3400+. That's a lot to pay for a 100+ difference. Are you sure it's worth it?

Finally, you're paying $50-$60 extra to get that fancy DFI board instead of a basic s939/PCIe number. Unless you plan on overclocking, I suggest this, instead: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813135177

Look at each component you're getting, and ask yourself if you're really spending your money where it should be spent. A big bonus to building your own system is that you get more for your dollar. With the rig you've designed, you get a lot less!

 

[Supafreak]

If broadband is in your future Id bag the 56k modem. Uses an irq, space, and can save some money (however little it is)

Freak

 

[hurtstotalktoyou]

Originally posted by: Supafreak
If broadband is in your future Id bag the 56k modem. Uses an irq, space, and can save some money (however little it is)

Freak

I'd agree with you for a budget system, but whenever my cable goes out, I revert to 56K/AOL free trial. So, if you want an internet backup plan, I say spend the extra $10 for a modem.

 

[weezarrgh]

the chances of my family switching from dial up to DSL is like the chance of microsoft getting overthrown by a puny company.