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Please advise on my shopping cart (building new PC)

R

raven2005

Junior Member
ETA: Forgot to add processor (see below)

I asked a question on memory and the mb I was looking at. . .well, I figure rather than posting a dozen different threads on different components, I would lay this all out for people to advise me on:

Current System
Antec 635 mini tower (I think) with 350 watt ATX PSU (4 years old)
Shuttle AK31a v3 mb
1700xp processor
512MB RAM (DDR 2100)
Nvidia Geforce3 Ti200 (64MB) card
Couple hard drives
19? CRT
Generic keyboard and mouse
2.1 speaker system
DVD drive
CDRW drive

When I built this system, it was about $1000

This has been the home PC since January 2002. It handled everything thrown at it up until about a year ago. From a gaming standpoint, Half Life 2 and Call of Duty are playable but about the limit. From a video editing standpoint, it is inadequate, and have never been able to run any of those suites (e.g., Pinnacle) very successfully.

New System
I would like a similar system to last 3-4 years again. Below is what I have put together. I do not plan to overclock, run 2 video in SLI.

Antec TX640B Case http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=61640
Includes 400 watt SmartPower 2.0 Power Supply
-I ALREADY OWN THIS (was gift)-
This has an identical form factor to my old case. However, I am slightly concerned about the PSU. It should be adequate. A 7600GT from EVGA wants higher amps than the 15 on the 12V that this has, but I am not planning on SLI or overclocking.

Two NEC 3550A -I ALREADY OWN THIS (UPS goof got me two)-

WD 250GB SATA II w/16MB cache / 3 year warranty ? OEM

MSI K8N Neo Plat. nForce4 Ultra MB
I don?t plan on ever having 2 cards

AMD Athlon 64 3700+ Processor (San Diego)

eVGA 7600GT
The website states 18A on the 12v, but I think that I should not have to worry about that, since I have two 12V and not overclocking, etc.?

MEMORY
I have thought about it, and I just want to start off with 2GB and not worry about in the future. I have looked at both Corsair and OCZ, and there are too many things I don?t understand about memory. Please look at this page, and maybe someone can explain this to me. Literally, I would love for someone to say EXACTLY what I should get.

http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=K8N_Neo4_Platinum&class=mb
(about ½ way down page)
So if I get 2 sticks of 1GB OCZ each in slot 1 and 2 it will run at DDR400 and dual-channel?

Finish it off with some Evercool fans for the case

I will use my keyboard/mouse/speakers/monitor for now. . .

Looking at about $800 ballpark for above. Thanks for helping a guy who hasn't touched the inside of his computer for the most part in 4 years. Please advise.


FUTURE UPGRADES:
20? Widescreen LCD (will need new KVM that supports DVI)
USB Keyboard/Mouse
New USB/DVI KVM

Comments or recommendations on the above are welcome.

Last question: Has anyone used Newegg's deferred billing or 0% until Nov. 6? Thanks.
 
Might as well save money and just re-use old case, mouse, keyboard, speakers. WHy spend on a new case?

If you're a little patient, AMD's new socket AM-2 cpus (940 pin) will be on the market, together with new motherboards to support it, and new RAM and video cards, in just a few months. I'm waiting for that to build my next rig.
 
Originally posted by: scott
Might as well save money and just re-use old case, mouse, keyboard, speakers. WHy spend on a new case?

If you're a little patient, AMD's new socket AM-2 cpus (940 pin) will be on the market, together with new motherboards to support it, and new RAM and video cards, in just a few months. I'm waiting for that to build my next rig.
Click to expand...


Thanks. Like I said, my wife bought me the new case/psu already. I am not interested in playing the waiting game. What I have noticed is that everytime I pick components and a budget, I'll wait because someone says something is coming out shortly. A perfect example is that I can afford about a $200 video card. 3 months ago, I had every intention of buying a 6800GS. . .7600GT has now become the Nvidia card at that price point.

ETA: Here's where I am at (4/8/06)

Western Digital Caviar RE WD2500YD 250GB Serial ATA 7200RPM Hard Drive w/16MB Buffer - Retail $95

eVGA e-GeForce 7600 GT CO PCI Express 256MB GDDR3 Video Card w/DVI-I Retail - $189 - $15 rebate

MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum nForce4 Ultra Athlon 64 Skt939 DDR ATX Motherboard w/Audio, Gigabit LAN, RAID/Serial ATA Retail - $114.50

OCZ OCZ4002048ELDCPE-K 2GB Kit DDR400 PC3200 Platinum Edition Dual Channel Memory Retail - $193.50 - $50 rebate

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Processor Socket 939 Retail - $295

Total of $895 - $65 rebates = $830 (no tax and free shipping from zipzoomfly.

OR $898 (includes shipping) - $65 rebates = $833

Do I need thermal paste, or does a retail AMD processor come with somehting? Also, what about fans?

My case has a large rear fan, two fan openings on the side (an 80mm, and a 92mm over CPU), and an 80mm in the front.

I was thinking of at least one in the front to draw in, but what about those side vents?

Any tips on brand, etc. I am not overclocking, but PC is somewhat confined. I was looking at Evercool fans at Newegg. Leaning towards Newegg over Zipzoomfly for 0% until November and previous good experience.

How does this look above? Thanks.
 
raven2005,

I have about that same OCZ ram (PC3200 Platinum EL) & it works great.

QUOTE
Do I need thermal paste, or does a retail AMD processor come with somehting? Also, what about fans?
END QUOTE

If you buy the cpu as a retail boxed pkg, it comes with a good heatsink (with heat pipes I think) & fan, and a little mounting pad you put between the cpu & heatsink that's impregnated with good thermal interface compound. Is sufficient if you don't overclock.

If you buy the cpu as an oem item it comes without that, so you buy your heatsink & fan separately, of a better type than what comes in the retail pkg. Personally, I'm convinced by tests that it's better to apply Arctic Silver 5 grease between the cpu, & to mount a better-than-retail heatsink & fan on it, with fan blowing down onto cpu. I use Thermalright XP-90 with 92mm fan blowing downward. Also, you don't have to, but it's better if you also remove the motherboard's chipset cooler, & remount that with Arctic Silver 5 too, which results in lower chipset temps.

Also, you may not plan to overclock right now, but that AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Processor is made for overclocking, so you'll likely come around to OCing real soon.

For your graphics card, I encourage you to spend more & get a better one than you planned on. GeeFizzleDizzle gave you a suggestion, or shop around. Shame to scrimp on a gpu with that powerful cpu.

Also, if you're here in California, in addition to Newegg & Zipzoomfly (both are in Calif. so you'll have to pay sales tax) also look at Monarch Computer in Louisanna, prices often about the same, with no sales tax.

Fans: At least one good intake in front. The 80 mm you plan on would be too small for me. Small ones are louder...12 cm at front intake & rear exhaust are quieter.

If your case accomodates it, a blowhole fan pushing hot air up out the top helps lower component temps. Suggest you start without side fans, and look at your under-load temps, then decide about adding more fans.

Trend for future: a dedicated fan directly over & blowing onto the RAM, but you probably won't need. If that OCZ ram has TCC5 chips (mine does, I think the one you're getting does, but not sure), they run cooler, at lower voltage. Observe your temps first, then decide if you need.

Also, that 350 Watt psu is too small, suggest 500 Watt. I happen to like the OCZ Powerstream 520.

Finally: yes you're right, "the next good thing's always comming round the corner," but at this time, I think it's better to wait for the whole new generation of stuff later this year, like socket AM-2, DDR2, new gpu's & the new motherboards supporting all that. If nothing else, once that stuff's out, prices on the models you plan to buy should fall.

Good luck!
 
Originally posted by: scott
raven2005,
If you buy the cpu as a retail boxed pkg, it comes with a good heatsink (with heat pipes I think) & fan, and a little mounting pad you put between the cpu & heatsink that's impregnated with good thermal interface compound. Is sufficient if you don't overclock.
Click to expand...
I don't believe the non-X2/Opteron CPUs come with the stock heat pipe coolers. If they do, they're the 2-pipe ones, which are inferior to the 4-pipe ones (which perform on par with the TR XP-90).
 
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