First Time Builder.... Please Critique My Build....

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Onefastdak02

Member
Apr 30, 2005
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I'm a first time builder, and love this forum, I have been reading tons of posts and have found it extremely helpful, but before I order all the parts I just need a double check to make sure I am not making any huge mistakes..

I don't plan to overclock anytime soon, but I would like to have that option down the road, once I get everything running. I plan to use this machine for the occasional game, photoshop, illustrator, and the 3d model building. My budget is $1500 with a monitor. I plan to just order everything from Newegg to keep things simple.


Parts:

Case:
AMS Gmono CF-2029SW-BK Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 350W Power Supply

Motherboard:
ASUS A8N-E Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

Processor:
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Winchester Integrated into Chip FSB 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Processor - Retail

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

Video Card
POWERCOLOR R43CG-TVD3 Radeon X800XL 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 VIVO AGP 4X/8X Video Card - Retail

Hard Drive
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 ST3200822A 200GB 7200 RPM 8M Cache IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive ? OEM

Optical Drive
LITE-ON Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 4X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache IDE DVD Burner - Retail

PSU
Antec TRUE430 ATX 430W Power Supply 115/230 V UL, TUV, CB, VDE, FCC CLASS B, DEMKO, NEMKO, SEMKO - Retail

WiFi
D-Link DWL-G520 IEEE 802.11, 802.11b/g PCI Wireless Adapter up to 108Mbps Data Rates 64/128-Bit WEP, 802.1X, WPA

OS
Microsoft N09-01152 Windows XP HOME Edition With Service Pack 2

Monitor
HYUNDAI L90D+ Silver 19" 8ms LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 700:1 Built in Speakers 0.294mm Pixel Pitch - Retail

Speakers, and input devices will come later...

Couple of quick questions:

PSU, The Antec seems to be well respected here, but does it have 20 or 24 pins? How important is this with the mobo?

Is there a better harddrive in the same price range? What difference is there between OEM and Retail for hard drives. With the seagate its $30 more for retail.


Thanks!
 
UsandThem

UsandThem

Elite Member
May 4, 2000
16,068
7,383
146
Originally posted by: Onefastdak02

Couple of quick questions:

PSU, The Antec seems to be well respected here, but does it have 20 or 24 pins? How important is this with the mobo?

Is there a better harddrive in the same price range? What difference is there between OEM and Retail for hard drives. With the seagate its $30 more for retail.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

The Antec True430 has twenty pins. I would get a Seasonic or OCZ with 24 pins. Since new motherboards are coming with 24 pins, I would just get a nice 24 pin power supply now.

Really the only difference with the hard drives is that you probably won't get any software with it. It will be a bare drive. It should still have the same five year warranty.

The software is really not a big deal or anything I have ever really used.

Also, I would get a case that does not have an included useless power supply. Try to get one that has two case fans. One in front and one in back. 120mm case fans are the best as they move a good amount of air and are quiet since they don't have to spin as fast.

Cooling and airflow are very important.

 
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Silversierra

Senior member
Jan 25, 2005
664
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0
Have you considered A. the Chaintech vnf4ultra mobo if you're on a budget.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813152049
B. The dfi ultra d mobo if you want the best mobo and will pay $45 more for it.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813136152

Also, I'd look at the venice core cpus now that they're out. They support 4 memory dimms right, and oc well.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103535

I'd recommend the tagan 480w psu or the Enermax whisper 2 460w, both are good, both are 24pin.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103464
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817101509
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817101516
 
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wisdomtooth

Golden Member
Dec 21, 2004
1,155
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0
Agreed with UsandThem on the PSU-- Get a Seasonic.

Definitely modify your vid card choice as Twitchee says-- Not compatible with your mobo!

Also, you might want to buy a Venice-core A64 3000+ instead of that Winchester-- The Venice OEM A64 is $150 at Newegg, and add a Zalman CNPS7000 CPU heatsink, and you are set.

HTH.
 
UsandThem

UsandThem

Elite Member
May 4, 2000
16,068
7,383
146
Originally posted by: wisdomtooth
Agreed with UsandThem on the PSU-- Get a Seasonic.

Also, you might want to buy a Venice-core A64 3000+ instead of that Winchester-- The Venice OEM A64 is $150 at Newegg, and add a Zalman CNPS7000 CPU heatsink, and you are set.

HTH.
Click to expand...

However, you don't get a three year warranty from AMD with an OEM chip. I believe Newegg gives you a 15 day warranty on OEM CPU's.

The Zalman is a good choice.



 
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Onefastdak02

Member
Apr 30, 2005
119
0
0
Opps, yeah I posted the wrong video card...

How about

CPU
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 1GHz FSB 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Processor - Retail

Video:
POWERCOLOR R43C-TD3D/BULK Radeon X800XL 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI-Express x16 Video Card - OEM

I guess this is the PCI-Express verison, from Newegg. It says OEM, but in the detailed description it says it includes Accessories DVI to VGA Adapter S-Video Cable RCA Cable HDTV Cable Manual Driver CD, what would justify the extra money for the retail version? I don't see anything about a warrenty?

PSU:
ENERMAX Whisper II EG465P-VE FMA(24) ATX12V 460W Power Supply 95V~135V or 180V~265V (selected by slide switch) UL, cUL, TUV, CB, DEMKO , NEMKO , SEMKO, FIMKO - Retail


Thanks for the lightning fast replies! This is a great forum!
 
UsandThem

UsandThem

Elite Member
May 4, 2000
16,068
7,383
146
Originally posted by: Onefastdak02
Opps, yeah I posted the wrong video card...

How about

CPU
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 1GHz FSB 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Processor - Retail

Video:
POWERCOLOR R43C-TD3D/BULK Radeon X800XL 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI-Express x16 Video Card - OEM

I guess this is the PCI-Express verison, from Newegg. It says OEM, but in the detailed description it says it includes Accessories DVI to VGA Adapter S-Video Cable RCA Cable HDTV Cable Manual Driver CD, what would justify the extra money for the retail version? I don't see anything about a warrenty?

PSU:
ENERMAX Whisper II EG465P-VE FMA(24) ATX12V 460W Power Supply 95V~135V or 180V~265V (selected by slide switch) UL, cUL, TUV, CB, DEMKO , NEMKO , SEMKO, FIMKO - Retail


Thanks for the lightning fast replies! This is a great forum!
Click to expand...

What did you decide about on your case?
 
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Onefastdak02

Member
Apr 30, 2005
119
0
0
Thinking of keeping the case, I will discard the powersupply and add 2 additional fans. I mean I have got to look at the case, and I don't want something thats all exaggerated and covered in LEDs, that and I dont want a door over the drive bays. With the suggested changes it pushed my budget right up to my max, so its probably going to have to stay...


Thanks everyone for the help!
 
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Suspicious-Teach8788

Lifer
Feb 19, 2001
20,155
23
81
Wait for Venice to drop. They're supposed to replace Winchesters. The only reason they're so high priced right now is demand/availability issues.

I like your choice with the Antec, but wtih TP2.0 out I think you should get that. They're damn efficient and stable. The rails under load barely fluctuate from their supposed voltages.

How much does ur X800XL run? I think the Powercolor one was the loudest among a 6 X800XL review. ATI's card was #3, and the softest was the Gigabyte one with heatsink + heatpipe (no fan). Since X800XLs don't OC that well, I personally would get the Gigabyte board.

Have you thought about the Seagate 7200.8s?
 
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