Help Building First PC

[Raider82]

I have been doing some research and searching on the net so I can hopefully build my first PC. This is a great site, and forum, btw. I'm looking to spend around $300 dollars maybe more maybe less, this is going to be my 2nd PC and will be mainly used for the net, school, and games. I'm not really looking to overclock or anything, just want something that I can put together, learn more about computers, and use as a great little 2nd system. I've been looking at the nforce2 motherboard, the A7N8X and the A7N8X deluxe. What's the main difference between these boards? Also what would be a good processor the 2100 AMP is what I'm looking at now, mainly of the price and speed. I'm thinking of getting the retail version because you don't have to do a heat sink is this correct? Would it be better to not get the retail? As far as a hard drive, possibly 60 gig, already have a CD, CDRW, and A drive. Would PC 2100 memory be a good choice? Also two sticks or one? I've heard people claim one, and other swear by two. I'm thinking maybe 256 ram, or maybe 256. The case I'm not to worry about just something basic that will hold everything. Anything else I'm missing? Thanks.

 

[Schadenfroh]

the A7N8X and the A7N8X deluxe. What's the main difference between these boards?

The deluxe model features soundstorm, which has the capacity for dolby digital encoding, it also has a few other bells and whistles, i think like SATA RAID and such. main reason to get the deluxe is for the better sound. not that the nondeluxe has bad sound....

Also what would be a good processor

i would reccommend those T-bred B 1700s that new egg is selling for price/performance ratio, they OC like a mofo.

Would PC 2100 memory be a good choice?

depends on the FSB of the CPU you are getting, if you are getting a T-bred B core (333fsb) or later you should get at least 2700 becuase it runs at 166 instead of the 133 speed that pc2100 works at.

Also two sticks or one?

to utilize the dual channel ddr feature of the nforce2, you will need 2 sticks, my recommendation is 2 256mb sticks

As far as a hard drive, possibly 60 gig

when you go to buy a hard drive, dont make the same mistake i did. get yourself a fast hard drive, 7200rpm.

 

[kuk]

REPOST!

 

[Novgrod]

you're not going to have the best luck in the world building a real speed demon for $300, so believe me when i say that you'll be really much happier if you overclock your cpu.

If I had a budget limited to $300, I would get the XP1700 from newegg (not retail), a good heatsink and fan (i recommend alpha, but that's just my own personal bias), and you'll save more money in the long run.

If you could find a little more money to spend, a 512 meg stick of pc2700 from crucial would serve you well, and you could add another 512 when you had the funds. I think i saw a post on the hot deals forum that would allow that very stick for $54. The advantages of more ram outweigh the advantages of two sticks, i understand/believe.

honestly, i'm a lawschool student and i've overclocked every AMD cpu i've had since a tbird 850, all without a hitch.

 

[yhelothar]

I'd pay the extra for the deluxe... definately worth $20 extra for those featurese.. if you were gonna get those seperatly.. it would cost around $60-80..

I'd recommend getting a 1700+ and overclocking it... it's free performance, you're on a budget.. so it fits you perfectly.. it's no hassle to overclock as you may believe... it's very easy, and takes less than a minute setting it up in the BIOS.. perfectly safe.. 1700+ is guaranteed to do 1.8GHz with no overvolting, stock cooler. AthlonXP CPU yields are going very well now...

PC2700 memory costs next to nothing now... you can get 512MB PC2700 for around $60.. i'd just get one stick, unless if you can find 2x 256MB for under $70.. i wouldn't pay the extra.

 

[Bonesdad]

Save $$$ on the mobo and get the EPoX 8RDA+. Put the $$ toward memory. You will need more than $300. Good luck.

 

[Raider82]

Thanks for the help everyone, I've been looking on newegg.com and have narrowed the motherboard down to either a Epox Ep-8rga+ $139, a Abit NF7-M $126 or a Albarton KM18G $105 the Albarton has pretty much the same stuff as the others but is cheaper, anyone have any experience with Albarton? Also will anyone of these support the new Barton processor? I think the Albarton says it will. (Not that I can afford one now, but maybe down the road) Also what kind of power supply should I get I see some come with the case, what's the norm?

 

[Schadenfroh]

all of them will support the new barton CPUs with a bios update. i have heard that abit has been cutting costs lately, but i dont know if that is true, they used to be the best.

 

[Novgrod]

two things:

i always recommend a name brand mobo, high quality (always liked asus myself for its higher ability to diagnose problems than any other mobo in my [admittedly limited, but unfortunately problem-prone] experience).

other recommendation: antec power supply, circa 350 watts. just worked for me.

 

[yhelothar]

the onboard video is hardly sufficient for today's games... i wouldn't recommend it...