My first finished computer build

[imported_stev]

In case you don't remember, I was the guy who wrote this post. I am happy to report I finished my build with the parts listed in that post with no major problems. It really didn't take me this long to build, but I spread it out over a few hours here and there on the weekends.

I've also taken some pictures and written a little about the experience in an LJ post in case anyone is interested.

Thanks for all the help, especially from the veteran posters who seem to spend a decent amount of time helping the newbies.

 

[fire400]

256mb of RAM as of 2005 for that link up there.... IS NOTHING

I can't even stand the loading times

 

[forumposter32]

Antec Performance TX640B MiniTower Case
MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum Motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice Core Socket 939 Processor
OCZ 2x1GB Platinum Edition Dual Channel Kit RAM
eVGA 128-P2-N368-TX Geforce 6600GT PCI Express x16 Video Card
Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 250GB 3.5" Serial ATA 1.5 Gb/s Hard Drive
NEC ND-3540A IDE DVD Burner

Is that with the power supply that came with the case? Anyway, it's a nice setup.

Have you tried any games on it yet?

 

[imported_stev]

Yeah, that's with the 400 W SmartPower PSU that comes with the case.

I haven't tried any games yet. I'm not a PC gamer, but I'm a console gamer so I definitely like video games. I may hit the stores in a couple weeks and pick something up.

 

[badboyeee]

Hey I would like to bring this post back up.

I am building a system very similar to yours. I have a few questions.

Are you overclocking?
Are you running stable with all those components getting power from your 400w PSU?
Does your NEC DVD burner exactly matches the color of your case?
How are the noise and temperature levels?

Your answer would be deeply appreciated! Your system looks nice btw, nice and simple (what I am trying to achieve!)

 

[imported_stev]

I'm really sorry for not checking my PMs. These answers are really late, but I'll post them anyway:

-I'm not overclocking...maybe I'll try after warranties run out and I need the speed

-Everything is rock solid. Nothing has sputtered or stalled...ever. I should mention that I haven't tried any games on it, though.

-The NEC burner does not exactly match the case, it's a little bit more gray than the deep black of the case. It bothers me a bit, but I'd actually rather have a slightly mismatched color than have white text on it like other burners I saw.

-It's hard to quantify the noise. I don't mind it, but I do hear the fans, although I'm not exactly sure which ones are making the most noise. As for temps, SpeedFan shows low to mid 30Cs on the CPU (with stock cooler) during moderate CPU usage, low 40Cs for the GPU (no gaming), and around 35C for both harddrives. I have the 120 mm fan that came with the case, the CPU fan, the GPU fan, and the chipset fan.

The computer is running great. I do graphics work, some website coding, and of course web browsing and checking email. I've even been doing work through the latest 64-bit version of Mandriva Linux!