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My First Build - Hammered down

T

teddyv

Senior member
I've finally hammered down to specifics, going to be used for general office, video & photoshop, some 2D gaming (Ultima Online.) Please let me know if anything jumps out.

--Antec Sonata II Black ATX Mid Tower Computer Case w/ 450W PS
--eVGA Geforce 6600GT 128-P2-N368-TX 128MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16
--AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Socket 939 - Retail
--Western Digital Caviar SE WD2000JS 200GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
--CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model VS1GBKIT400 - Retail
--EPoX EP-9NPA+Ultra Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

I chose the Epox because it has onboard Firewire, SATA II, and seems to be the easiest setup, most stable and have the fewest problems.

Any comments most welcomed.
 
Originally posted by: teddyv
I've finally hammered down to specifics, going to be used for general office, video & photoshop, some 2D gaming (Ultima Online.) Please let me know if anything jumps out.

--Antec Sonata II Black ATX Mid Tower Computer Case w/ 450W PS
--eVGA Geforce 6600GT 128-P2-N368-TX 128MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16
--AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Socket 939 - Retail
--Western Digital Caviar SE WD2000JS 200GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
--CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model VS1GBKIT400 - Retail
--EPoX EP-9NPA+Ultra Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

I chose the Epox because it has onboard Firewire, SATA II, and seems to be the easiest setup, most stable and have the fewest problems.

Any comments most welcomed.
Click to expand...


Looks good...this setup is even pretty good for some of the latest games.
 
Looks good to me. I'd use it 😉 WD drives are perhaps a bit louder, but seem to be just about as reliable (in my own experiences) I'd still go Seagate though
 
Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
No 3d gaming with it? 6600gt might be overkill for you.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the replies!

I thought of that, but the price difference between a eVGA 6200TC and the eVGA 6600GT is about $75 - I had $50 in the budget left over from the initial build with the 6200 and thought it might be best spent there.

I'd still go Seagate though
Click to expand...

I originally had the Seagate 7200 160gig Sata150, but the WD 200gig SataII was only $5 more - I figured with the Sonata II case I probably wouldn't notice the difference. Hard decision though, as the Seagate sure does get top honors for reliability.
 
Originally posted by: teddyv
Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
No 3d gaming with it? 6600gt might be overkill for you.
Click to expand...


I thought of that, but the price difference between a eVGA 6200TC and the eVGA 6600GT is about $75 - I had $50 in the budget left over from the initial build with the 6200 and thought it might be best spent there.
Click to expand...

Yeah that's cool.

Looks really good :thumbsup:
 
Looks like Seagate is the winner - worth getting over the Seagate tho even if it is in a quiet case, is Sata2, and has 40 more gigs?

Thanks again for the comments!
 
Any problems with replacing the 6600GT with this?
MSI RX800-TD128E Radeon X800 128MB DDR PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
 
I just built a computer last week with that case, I thought it was pretty good. I have the original Sonata for my own case.

The case is billed as quiet, and it has some nice features, but if you put anything loud inside of it you will hear it clear as day. It's not like the P180 where it has sound deadening panels, so if you put anything loud in there you will notice it.

Seagate or Samsung would be good for the hard drive.

I'm not sure if that motherboard has a chipset fan or not, if it does you may want to consider the Zalman NB47J.

Also, look into the Zalman 7000 ALCU HSF for the processor. I installed one last week in the same computer and I was very impressed with the cooling, and the noise level. The 92mm fan on the Zalman puts the stock heatsink fan to shame.

Gigabyte also makes passively cooled video cards (I think Asus has a line starting up as well) so if you don't mind them running a bit hotter than fan cooled cards you could try one of those out as well. I have the 6600GT passive, it's quite a good card though it runs warm.

Good luck!
 
System ordered, prices and shops:

From ClubIT.com (with free Fedex shipping):
--Antec Sonata II Black ATX Mid Tower Computer Case w/ 450W PS - $99.97
--AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Socket 939 - Retail - $129
--Microsoft Windows XP HOME Edition With Service Pack 2 - OEM - $83
--Logitech Internet Pro Black PS/2 Wired Standard Keyboard - $10
From NewEgg:
--EPoX EP-9NPA+Ultra Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail - $105
--MSI RX800-TD128E Radeon X800 128MB DDR PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail - $119 (After $30 rebate)
--Western Digital Caviar SE WD2000JS 200GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM - $90
--CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model VS1GBKIT400 - Retail - $80.50
Shipping for the Egg was $14.

Total after Rebate in the neighborhood of $735 - I'll be re-using a MS optical wheel mouse, Benq and Lite-on opticals, and Dell M991 19" Crt.

I will update with the order process, etc.
 
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