Help nuilding comp? new at this :)

Tiusai

Junior Member
Aug 19, 2005
23
0
0
Hey guys.. wondering if you can help me out.. i've been reading up on comps for the whole summer now.. still don't think i've gotten it down right...

so.. here's what i was thinking of in my hopefully-soon-to-be comp...


CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3000+ socket 939. ( i still don't get the winchester newcastle stuff, which one's better?)

Video Card: 6600GT PCI-E (probably XFX or leadtek... pick one :) )

Motherboard: So many, need help picking this one :D

RAM: seriously no idea on what to pick...

P.S. feel free to change any of the choices i've made, and this comp will probably be used for gaming, middle end i guess, overclock a little on the cpu and video card not sure. (clear up something for me, you overclock the cpu using the bios right?)

thanks.. i think that's all the important parts i need... sound card, i'll just get a cheap one, not really concerned about that one...

P.P.S. Don't know how hard drive and ram is compatible with the motherboard (like video cards and motherboard has to be agp, pci-e, etc.; cpu and motherboard has to be same socket, so what about hard drive and ram? )

Thanks a lot :)
 

Bona Fide

Banned
Jun 21, 2005
1,901
0
0
CPU : Get a Venice. Newest, best.
Video : Never ever EVER get XFX. Leadtek for the win.
Mobo : EPoX 9NPA+ Ultra
RAM : Corsair ValueSelect 2x512MB

:)
 

TWills

Senior member
Jan 31, 2005
905
0
0
My 2 cents.


MOBO: So far i've liked the Gigabyte nforce 4 ultra offering. EPoX isn't a bad choice, though. I know a guy that swears by them :roll: :D

Ram: Patriot ram is good. Don't get anything less than 1GB though...

CPU: Winchester, San Diego, Venice are names of CPU iterations/versions. Venice is the latest and greatest. Definitely read up on overclocking before you try it.

 

superfly27

Senior member
Jun 25, 2005
293
0
0
Sites like Crucial and Corsair have a "online configurator" where you type in the model number of your motherboard and you get a list of RAM that's compatible. Still confused? Go to the Corsair forum and ask a question.

Good names for motherboards are: Abit, Asus, DFI and MSI.

Be sure to get a good power supply. Good names for power supplies are:
Antec
Enermax
Fortron
OCZ
PC Power & Cooling
Coolermaster
Sparkle
Seasonic
Vantec
Zalman
Tagan
Zippy/Emacs
Silverstone

By the way, every brand name has their "cheaper" and more expensive models. And do a search to find the models which are sometimes defective/problematic.

Try to find reviews for the specific model number motherboard and power supply you want to get.

And cdrinfo.com has good reviews on DVD burners.
 

Kaifu

Member
Nov 10, 2003
147
0
0
I second the suggestion for the ePoX 9NPA+Ultra and the Socket939 Venice. I purchased one of each after reading a review of socket939 nForce4 boards on anandtech. The 9NPA+Ultra is a solid performer with a nice array of features for people on a budget.

I'm also decked out with 2GB (2x1GB) of Corsair ValueSelect that I picked up for a bit over $80 stick at Fry's (do some online shopping and you could probably find a better deal). Good stable ram that is very compatible (and I ended up getting slightly more than 2GB total on memory check, not less!) with most boards.

Personally, I went an ATI x800xl after having problems with nVidia's GeForce4 line on my old rig. It's a nice PCI-e card that I can upgrade gain later when the need arises.

I'm not much help for a PSU, as I bought a Fudin (Raidmax) case with an included 450w PSU. I just got what I could find in a package deal with a decent +12v rail amperage.