My first build

[montego2000]

I finally told my wife that I'm going to build a new box (ie. she gave me permission) and I'm looking for a little advice. I've been cruising the boards the last few days looking through all the great information.

I'm not an overclocker but do like the occasional fps game. I'll also be pilfering some parts from my old pc (keyboard, mouse, dvd-rom, dvd-rw). Also, the quieter the better.


--Motherboard--
DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - OEM

--CPU--
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3200BPBOX - Retail

--Case--
Antec Life Style SONATA Piano Black 0.8mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 380W Power Supply - Retail

--Hard Drive--
Western Digital Caviar SE WD2500JD 250GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM

--Memory--
1GB (2x512) mushkin 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) System Memory Model 991093 - Retail

--Optical--
(stealing from my other computer)

--Video Card--
MSI RX800XL-VT2D256E Radeon X800XL 256MB GDDR3 PCI-Express x16 Video Card - Retail

--Monitor--
Dell 1905fp


Should I choose a differenct/better brand of memory?
Is the Venice core worth an extra $25 over the Winchester?
Do I need a better PSU?

Thanks in advance.
Montego

 

[IanE]

I'd get a better PSU definitely since that graphics card needs 350w minimum. I have an Antec TrueBlue (equal to TruePower but it glows blue...) 480W and a an equal nVidia card, a GeForce 6800GT.

As for Mushkin memory, a lot of people like Mushkin... personally I'm a fan of Corsair's PC3200 Value Select memory. Never had a problem with it. The Corsair memory is usually on sale at Newegg.com for 2x512mb for $81, or at any other online retailer.

I'd suggest using Pricewatch.com and looking up your parts for the lowest prices, or check the Hot Deals forum too.

Good luck with your system, looks good.

 

[akugami]

So long as you're not trying to overclock that PSU should be fine. Get NEC 3520A DVD burner. It's only 50 bucks and it's a very nice drive. http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148065 Get this Seagate. It has a 5 year warranty and is a better drive than that Western Digital.

 

[imported_Kensai]

That PSU should handle it..

 

[Maluno]

Originally posted by: Kensai
That PSU should handle it..

Agreed. Excellent setup, BTW, and good luck!

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I agree that the PSU should work fine for your non-overclocked system.

If you're looking for silence, I think akugami's Seagate suggestion is a good one. I always read how Seagate drives are very quiet.

I haven't been keeping up with this at all, but you should make sure the DFI doesn't have a noisy northbridge fan (if it has one at all, I don't remember)

 

[IntegraGSR]

Originally posted by: akugami
So long as you're not trying to overclock that PSU should be fine.

http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148065 Get this Seagate. It has a 5 year warranty and is a better drive than that Western Digital.

i agree, the PSU should work great for your needs. i also agree with the seagate recommendation :thumbsup:


since you're not interested in overclocking, and the corsair value is about the cheapest good quality ram you can get right now, i'd go with the corsair

again, the DFI is an excellent board, but with the extra price comes a lot of unnecessary overclocking features (unnecessary for you, since you're not overclocking, of course) i'd go with a MSI K8N like this

 

[Ike0069]

That PSU powers my system with no problem.
Very nice setup. I would personally go with a 6800 GT, but I'm probably a little biased.

 

[wisdomtooth]

Originally posted by: montego2000
Also, the quieter the better.

If you want quiet:

1) Replace that NForce 4 NB fan. That sucker is very loud.

2) Replace your video card stock cooling. ATI's stock coolers are also annoyingly loud.

3) Get a quiet CPU HSF like a Zalman CNPS7000.

4) Get the SLK3000B case (similar to the Sonata, minus PSU), and put a Seasonic S12 PSU in there. The dinky 80mm fan in the Sonata's PSU does not vent very well, runs hot, and is not particularly quiet.

5) Put all your fans on fan controllers.

HTH.