new computer after not keeping up with hardware changes

[soicanstabyou]

i last built a computer several years ago and since have not really been keeping up with advances in hardware. because im going to college next year i thought it was time for a new one.

here is what i think so far. i'm posting it here because im not sure about it.

Athlon64 3500+ (939 pin)
Asus a8v deluxe (or abit av8?)
Radeon x800 pro ( or nvidia? they seem to be in bed with microsoft these days)
enermax eg475ax-ve ps
lian li pc-v1000 case
seagate 120gb sata
plextor px712a dvdr

im not sure about ram yet. any suggestions would be appreciated.

thanks

ed

 

[Mik3y]

wow, ur the first person i've met who is getting pc-v1000. i really like that case. great choice. as for the psu, get an antec. their cheaper and stronger for their price class. go wtih teh x800 pro cuz its cheaper for a bit better performance and i'm not sure how much ram you want, but i say get a gig of corsair xms, ocz, mushkin level 1, or hyperx. along with the 120gb sata drive, you should get a 36gb raptor drive (10,000rpm) as your primary windows drive to keep it fast. if you have more money, get the 74gb one. it is actually faster then its lil brother. go with teh asus a8v since that has embedded wireless, which is a plus.

 

[Mik3y]

btw, welcome to the forums.

 

[jhurst]

Stick with your Enermax PSU. Noone who has ever owned an Enermax has complained about it I believe, can't say the same about Antec owners. Like the guy previously mentioned about the RAM, depends on if you are going to be overclocking or not, PC3200 Mushkin or OCZ EB, if you are planning on overclocking might want to go with PC4000 HyperX (can find a GB for around $210-230).

~500 for a processor and another ~400 for a video card, thats going to be one kick-a$$ system. Might as well go all out and get dual raptors in raid 0, and you will have like the fastest system available.

 

[MichaelZ]

*complains about enermax*

 

[Tostada]

Going with Socket 939 is good if it fits your price range, although personally I would wait for the Socket 939 nForce 3 250Gb boards.

If you want your system to be silent (or as quiet as possible with that video card), get an Enermax Noisetaker PSU and a Zalman CNPS7000A-AlCu heatsink (the pure copper one is heavier, more expensive, but doesn't cool any better according to silentpc). If you're not so worried about going silent, save some cash and get an Antec PSU.

You haven't established whether or not you're looking to overclock or not. If you want to overclock a lot, you won't be able to get CL2 memory. Probably the fastest thing you can get is 2 x 512MB OCZ Enhanced Latency PC4000 CL 2.5 for $310.

If you want to overclock a little, get 2 x 512MB PC3500 CL 2-3-3. You can get Mushkin Level 1 for $275.
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-146-294

If you're not going to overclock, get 2 x 512MB PC3200 CL 2-3-2. OCZ is $244 for CL 2 x 512MB CL 2-3-2-5. Kingston is $281 for CL 2-3-2-6. If you really want to blow a lot of money to make your machine 1% faster, get Musnkin CL 2-2-2 for $335 directly at mushkin.com.
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-146-889

It's barely any more to get a 160 GB drive instead of a 120 GB. I would get a Hitachi, since it's faster and cheaper, but a lot of people seem to still hate Hitachi because somebody told them a lot of 75GXP's went bad several years ago...

 

[myocardia]

I recently replaced a 480 watt Antec TruePower with a 460 watt Enermax, and I couldn't be happier. Every one of my rails was low with the Antec, all of them pretty much dead on with the Enermax. Oh, and the Enermax cost less than the Antec TruePower 480.

 

[jhurst]

Originally posted by: myocardia
I recently replaced a 480 watt Antec TruePower with a 460 watt Enermax, and I couldn't be happier. Every one of my rails was low with the Antec, all of them pretty much dead on with the Enermax. Oh, and the Enermax cost less than the Antec TruePower 480.

Same situation, replaced my Antec 480 with an Enermax 460 and now have more stable rails, especially my 12V rail.

 

[soicanstabyou]

thanks everyone. i think im going to go with 2 x 512MB PC3500 CL 2-3-3 Mushkin Level 1. im not sure though. i keep thinking that i may want to watercool it later.

for now im just going to overclock it a little. i read that socket 754 heatsinks work on 939. is the zalman the best choice or is there something else? i know zalman would be silent, but will it keep it cool enough?

 

[soicanstabyou]

i have to shave off 400$ any suggestions?

 

[CtlAltl33t]

939 is insanely expensive right now, might wanna scale it back to save some cash

 

[Cawchy87]

Originally posted by: soicanstabyou
i have to shave off 400$ any suggestions?

Thats a little much. What are you going to be doing with your computer? That would narrow it down to what we could shave off.

 

[soicanstabyou]

im going to be playing games and doing college stuff. i also do some 3d animation sometimes. im thinking of going 754 instead, but will that be upgradable at all in the future?

 

[Tostada]

Originally posted by: soicanstabyou
i have to shave off 400$ any suggestions?

Shave $400 of of what? It's hard to suggest anything when you never stated your budget to begin with.