My New Comp

[chicsdiggit]

Hello all, what do you think of me new comp? I was mulling over a new comp for ages, and I finally just decided to get one on whim. Would you have made any changes? I was going for a powerful comp, but not top of the line. In the more affordable range, but still snappy, and can game. What do you think?


AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Manchester 1GHz FSB 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
SAMSUNG 940B-Silver Black 19" 8ms (Gray to Gray) LCD Monitor
ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce SPP 100
Leadtek WinFast PX7800GT Extreme TDH Geforce 7800GT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 VIVO PCI Express x16
CORSAIR XMS 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered
LITE-ON Black 16X DVD-ROM 52X CD-R 32X CD-RW 52X CD-ROM 1.5M Cache IDE
Microsoft FA6-00010 Black USB Wired Ergonomics Keyboard Mouse
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS SB0350 7.1 Channels
Microsoft Windows XP Professional With SP2
Logitech Z-5500 970181-0403 315 Watts 5.1
Antec TRUEPOWERII TPII-480 ATX12V 480W Power Supply
Lian Li PC-60USB B2 Silver Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

 

[Powermoloch]

You'll be happy with a 2 x 1 gb ram sticks these days.

 

[Bobthelost]

Need more RAM if you can get it, 2gb of budget RAM is much better than 1gb of expenisve stuff.

 

[chicsdiggit]

hmm, darn. I wish I did that. I ordered the 1gb already. I wonder if I can cancel that? Do you recommend any budget RAM?

 

[Bobthelost]

Yeah pretty much any budget RAM is good.

The PSU is not one i'd recomend either, the TPII range isn't bad, but it's far from the best around, or even the best in it's price bracket.

 

[chicsdiggit]

Ok, any recommendations on the psu as well? I just made the order yesterday, and if I want to change anything, the time would be now. Thanks a lot!

 

[Bobthelost]

To save a bit of cash the fortorn 450W, for quieter the seasonic s12 430 or 500, and for allround goodness the 400W or 500w enermax liberty.

 

[chicsdiggit]

Ok, cool, I will check it out. I will prolly go with the enermax.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

haha just a day ago bobthelost says no system needs more than 250 watts from psu. now he states that this system requires at least 400-500 watts. gg bob =\

 

[Bobthelost]

Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS
haha just a day ago bobthelost says no system needs more than 250 watts from psu. now he states that this system requires at least 400-500 watts. gg bob =\

Not even close, by all means try and find a quote where i said that.

But please, share your wisdom with us all, which antec PSU are you plugging this time?

 

[chicsdiggit]

******, it already shipped. Oh well, it's not the end of the world, since at least it's not like a bad product or amount of ram, right?

 

[Bobthelost]

nope, but 2gb is much better i'm afraid.

 

[cKGunslinger]

Originally posted by: chicsdiggit
hmm, darn. I wish I did that. I ordered the 1gb already. I wonder if I can cancel that? Do you recommend any budget RAM?

I know this is OT, but you seem to have 'already ordered' after only 11 minutes from your initial post, asking us to review your system. What was the point in asking if you weren't going to wait for advice? Your OP even says "Would you have made any changes?"

I mean, discussing new systems is always fun, and mostly why we are all here, but I'm not sure I see the point of this post-purchase critique.

 

[chicsdiggit]

Ya, I ordered the system on a whim yesterday. I should have posted this before I ordered, that's for sure.

 

[cKGunslinger]

Thousand dollar+ impulse purchase, FTL.

That said, you certainly could have done much worse.

 

[chicsdiggit]

phew thank god it's not all bad. Ya, kinda crazy, eh? I was rather surprised myself when I clicked the order button. What does FTL stand for? What changes/adjustments would you have done based on my first post theme?

 

[Bobthelost]

FTW = For The Win

FTL = Guess

The PSU and the RAM would have been picked apart, the DVDRW drive (or lack of it) too. Maybe the brand of the graphics card, but it's mostly nitpicking, the biggest flaw is the RAM, which won't kill you.

 

[chicsdiggit]

ya, I figure I could just order more if need be, but I shoulda gotten the ram right the first try, which would have occurred, along with the other things, if I posted here first. FTL !

 

[cKGunslinger]

FTL - For the Lose (the opposite of "For the Win!")

RAM is weak. Like it has been said, 2x1GB of cheaper ram would probably better serve that system.
The Mobo may be a bit overkill, but more a personal opinion, I suppose. Ditto for the aluminum case.

 

[chicsdiggit]

Before I put together my first system, do you guys have any tips/advice that you found useful? What should I do before I start unpacking stuff? Get the latest drivers, bIOS, etc? Or just try to install with the basics?

 

[pkrush]

Make sure all the power connectors are plugged in before you try to boot it up, put the memory in slots 1 and 3 for dual channel mode, when installing Windows, upgrade to Service Pack 2 before installing the motherboard drivers, don't install the nVidia IDE drivers or firewall (they cause problems), don't upgrade the BIOS unless you have problems.

 

[chicsdiggit]

cool, thanks pkrush for those tips. Any more that anyone has is much appreciated!