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Help me with a new build

N

NeezyDeezy

Senior member
Hi, I am going to build my first computer this holiday while I am off work and can fiddle with learning and building up a new comp almost from scratch. I will be doing no gaming on this comp. Instead, I'll be doing a lot of multi-tasking, with multiple torrents open with bit-torrent, music, watching HD video, and browsing. My plan is to wait for the new line of dell monitors to pick up the 2407 and use this rig sortof like an HTPC. I may not need high-end components for these purposes, but my budget is no more than $1100 (w/o monitor... prefer 1000 but if there's something that would really help that bumps it over, I'll consider). If I need better equipment later I'd like to be able to upgrade when I buy the tv card, etc.
I am starting with the following from my old system, a 16x NEC burner, a 200GB PATA HD, and logitech z-2300 speakers.

So I figure I would go with the best CPU and MOBO for the money, which I've been told might be based on something like this from monarch:

Pre-Tested and Setup AMD Athlon 64/FX/X2/Opteron 100(939) Combo


Motherboard: 110799 - DFI Lan Party UT nF4-D Audio/GB-LAN/IEEE/ $115.00

Processor: 120338 - AMD Opteron 165 Dual-Core 1.8GHz 1MB $339.63
(the 170 is only $30 more... what to do?)

eatsink Fan: 130956 - Thermaltake A1770 AMD Opteron/64 Heatsink $11.95

Memory: None

2nd Memory: None

Round Cables: 270153 - Round Cables UV Kit 2-24" IDE 1-18" FDD 1 $22.00

Warranty: 800056 - Motherboard-CPU Warranty - 90 Days $5.88


and then for RAM, maybe this:

1 GB (2 pcs 512) DDR (500) PC-4000 PQI Mirrored Black (PQI4000-1024DB) $116.00

PSU: Antec TP2-550EPS ATX 2.01/EPS/SSI 550W Power Supply $86.99

Total = $743.09

The only other thing I need would be a good boot drive, but I defer to your suggestions on that one because I don't know what would be best. And as for a case and videocard, that shouldn't be too much more $, whatever is necessary for tv watching/capturing.

I'd really appreciate any input... I won't OC the CPU until I'm sure I know enough about it to safely make a conservative adjustment. In the meantime, I just want to assemble my first system. When I do, I guess I will need a better fan. Any suggestions? Sorry for the lengthy post.

If you want to throw out the component ideas here and start from scratch, please do so, just explain why.

Thanks a ton!
 
You'll definitely need a better heatsink. Look at the Thermaltake Big typhoon, Thermalright SI 120, or Scythe Ninja. I'd buy 2 gigabytes of RAM too. If you don't really want to do any gaming, I'd just get a Radeon x300 SE (Not the HyperMemory version ,since that uses system memory).
Also, why are you buying it from Monarch? I'd just get everything seperately from Newegg so you get the boxed CPU and the full warranty.
 
Thanks for the advice. I'm buying from monarch because Newegg doesn't have opterons and probably won't be getting any.

That said, I am tempted to just go with the venice 3200+ for a lot cheaper and OC it to save money for a larger hard-drive like this:
Western Digital Caviar RE2 400 GB SATA 16MB Cache 7200 RPM (WD4000YR) $219.00

hard decisions...
 
Why are you set on the Opeterons and not looking at something like an X2... I would agree with the 2gb ram and your current Hdd would work fine.


Will G.
 
Yeah, I decided I was just getting greedy with that 400GB drive... I'm just going to use the 200 and if I have to get another I can later on down the road.

About the opterons, they have a huger cache and their thermal properties are more conducive to OCing, which, when you consider they cost pretty much the same as the x2 the difference is worth it, IMO, but I am still open to other opinions. This is up in the air unless monarch starts to run out of stock.

And about the extra RAM, I can always add that later if I feel I need it once I get the system up and running.
 
You're probably trying to help, and thanks, but I'm not going to order from flickerdown because the payment system is shady, also a search here got no results...
 
Note: I'm not sure how you're buying this so some of my comments may not apply.

That motherboard is the current best line for overclocking.

For that kind of stuff, you don't need to spend all that money on an Opteron. A higher-end single core AMD would do just fine (especially with overclocking)

If you're looking to save money, you can use the stock AMD cooler.

As for RAM, AMD does better with better latencies, not with better speed, so you can go with some plain-old DDR400/PC3200 OCZ RAM of the same capacity.

For the power supply, you could save some money and go with a Fortron 400W. They make a version that comes sleeved and also a cheaper one thats not.

For the boot drive, I reccomend a WD 400GB with 16MB cache. I think the performance difference between that and a 74GB raptor is less than 1%.

Other things you didnt have listed:
Video card: For your uses, an eVGA 6600GT will be fine.
Case: Antec, Lian-Li and Chenming are of the highest quality. If you're going to be using this mainly as an HTPC, check out PCAlchemy.com for some great HTPC cases. (Note: Dont buy anything not directly related to HTPC stuff theyre. Its a ripoff)
Sound Card: You might want something besides onboard sound if you're going to be using it for that much audio stuff. You'll probably want to look at Creative's cards.

 
Thats an excellent price on the Opterons, I looked high and low and cheapest I found was at Monarch for $339.

EDIT: If he has them in stock, which after reading his site it does not look like he does.
 
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