Please critique first build

[BillyRubin]

I am in the early planning stages of a first build. Please critique. It will be used for light gaming and I would like to be able to run most games. I want it to by upgradable in the future too. Also, my wife will use it for creating cards and some possible video editing.

-Asus A8N 5x, Socket 939, nvidia nForce4
-AMD 64 3200, Venice core, 1 Ghz FSB or AMD 64, 3200, 2000 Mhz FSB
- Geforce FX 5500 (already have)
- maxtor 80GB hard drive
-Corsair 1024 MB PC3200

Comments are appreciated, especially if i am way off on compatability issues. Also, if anyone can recommend a case with power supply. Nothing too fancy but a good one. Thanks.

 

[alanore]

Thats a PCI-e motherboard and I'm going to guess that your FX5500 is a AGP graphics card. So it wont work in your proposed computer you'll need to find an new PCIe graphics card.

 

[BillyRubin]

Actually it is PCI. I am positive of it. I just put it in my old computer.

 

[Cheezeit]

The mobo you picked is okay, but you might as well just get Nforce 4 ultra and get the epox board. Very highly rated around here.

That video card will have a hard time runnign the latest games. If you are on a tight budget, I would suggest a 6600gt. (around 140 bucks)

i don't know about now, but maxtor has had some big issues with crappy drives. Get a Seagate or WD sata drive if possible.

A good case with psu is the antec sonata 2. Good cooling, quiet, and comes with a real psu.(not some pos) I think it is about 100 bucks or so?

 

[alanore]

Well if its a PCI graphics cards then it would work in the new motherboard. Although I would imagen that its not good for modern games although it you get away with it now then it should be okay.

 

[halw]

Remember PCI is not PCI-e.

 

[BillyRubin]

what is the difference between PCI and PCI-e. THe board says it has 3 PCI slots. Basically I am trying to spend 500 to 600 total and have a much better machine than the HP I currently have.

 

[halw]

PCI slots are the normal expansion slots that all Mobo's have. PCI-e as it relates to video is a replacement for AGP. PCI video cards are very old technology and if you try to install one in a PCI-e video slot anything could happen. That is anything bad.

The ASUS A8N series mobo has PCI-e for video. If you're not using that technology, your not taking advantage of one of the features of a modern mobo.

 

[Cheezeit]

Originally posted by: halw
PCI slots are the normal expansion slots that all Mobo's have. PCI-e as it relates to video is a replacement for AGP. PCI video cards are very old technology and if you try to install one in a PCI-e video slot anything could happen. That is anything bad.

The ASUS A8N series mobo has PCI-e for video. If you're not using that technology, your not taking advantage of one of the features of a modern mobo.

I doubt that the pci card will even fit into a pci-e slot. The PCI-e interface is 16 times faster than pci. Thats why it's called pci-e x16, and agp is named agp x8 for the same reason.

 

[alanore]

Yes but the motherboard still has the legacy PCI slot which the graphics card will fit into and should work perfectly well.

 

[eXx08]

Originally posted by: alanore
Yes but the motherboard still has the legacy PCI slot which the graphics card will fit into and should work perfectly well.

but the bios is set to boot off PCI-e so i doubt it will even post with a PCI card

 

[alanore]

I have a AGP graphics card, if I take that out and stick in a PCI graphics my Computer still boots, so why shouldnt it?

 

[pkrush]

It'll work just fine, but you could just get a motherboard with nVidia 6100 integrated graphics (like the Biostar TForce 6100) and it will be BETTER for 3D games than your fx 5500.

 

[BillyRubin]

Why do Dell and HP put such cheap graphics on thier motherboards? Would the Biostar work with the processor I selected? This gets more confusing the more i get into it.

 

[eXx08]

Yes it should as long as they are both s939