haven't built a pc in quite a while

[moosen]

I'm rather new to these forums and thought it would be best to ask questions here. My last build was almost 5 years ago and I'm currently looking to start from scratch. Although I don't know if I should wait a couple months as I've read numerous times about nvidia/amd coming out with new products soon. The new build will be for recent gaming (as you will see that my current build is lacking and that's an understandment), coding and just the average use of any PC, have never overclocked before too..

Anyhoot, currently what i've looked at so far to purchase is:
amd x2 3800+
asus a8n-sli premium
2gb 2x1 ocz ram
evga 7800gt
antec truepowerii 550w psu
seagate barracuda 7200.8 250gb
gigabyte 3d aurora case

My current rig is:
amd 1800+
1gig kingston value ram
abit 64mb geforce mx400 (laughable I know, but I play lots of ROMs, wc3, sc still)
shuttle ak31a mobo

I would have upgraded my current system, but the mobo only supports 2/4x agp and the ram only scales up to pc2100 and plan on turning this box into a linux to tinker around with.

Am open for suggestions. I've waited this long for a new rig so I suppose another month or 2 won't hurt if I should wait it out, but keep in mind I can't afford the newest of the new. I was just hoping prices might get slashed on the current

 

[eXx08]

looks good

 

[Some1ne]

I don't really know of anything coming out in the next few months that's really worth waiting for. Yes, socket M2 should be coming out soon, but nobody really expects that to be anything more than in incremental improvement over socket 939. Personally I think I'll be skipping that socket entirely.

So given that, your selected parts seem good, and make it seem like you've done your research fairly well. One thing that I would strongly recommend against is the SLI board, it just plain isn't worth it. Other than that, your CPU, RAM, and graphics choices look good, as do the rest of the components. I'm not sure what that case is like, though I'd bet it should be perfectly fine for your needs.

 

[moosen]

Originally posted by: Some1ne
One thing that I would strongly recommend against is the SLI board, it just plain isn't worth it.

Hmm is there known problems with it? Or is it just that SLI isn't worth to go for dual video cards on this board? If not recommend the premium then what board do you prefer over it?

 

[Some1ne]

There's nothing physically wrong with it, it's just that you're paying extra cash for a dubious feature that has yet to justify itself from a cost/performance standpoint.

In terms of the boards I like, this MSI is nice (I have one):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813130484

...and a lot of people recommend and like this Epox one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813123236

...and DFI is still the typical recommendation if you're into heavy overclocking, although it's still a bit pricey:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813136152

 

[pkme2]

Stay with Windows XP Pro as your O/S. I've switched back to 32bit from the new X64 Windows. Too much trouble getting everything to work properly with X64.

 

[theMan]

get a seasonis s12-500 power supply instead.

 

[GarrettZx]

I pretty much have this same exact setup, except I went all out and got two 7800GT's to utilize the SLI. I just built it last night. If your HD is SATA then plug it into one of the BLACK SATA inputs on the board. I made the mistake of plugging it into one of the red ones and spent 4hrs wondering why it wasn't being recognized.

Quake 4 with all settings maxed out runs without a sweat. Online playing has never been this good.

 

[moosen]

just a little update. i built the machine i first posted about, with the exception that i switched the antec psu for a ocz 520w modstream.

runs flawlessly, except that the seagate hdd doesn't recognize all 250gb it only does 130ish on the sata drive. it's the first time i've dealt with serial ata btw. so am i doing something wrong that i should know about?

and thanks for the suggestions to those who gave them!

ill post some pics tomorrow or sometime. the gigabyte 3d aurora case is sweeeeeet.

 

[bamacre]

Originally posted by: moosen
gigabyte 3d aurora case

:Q

I love that case, everything but the bottom section on the front.

 

[moosen]

my only peeves with the case is the feet on the bottom suck with sliding on carpet (kind of just snag here and there, but oh well) and i can't use the tooless expansion slot lock because of the geforce 7800 blocking it from locking...other than that it is superb and extremely silent.