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Questions with my new PC I am building

Z

zonkie

Member
Ok, I finally decided to build a new PC after getting the last one from Dell.
I am about to place the order for the MB, HDD, Video Card and memory and wanted a little input before I finalize it.

Motheroard-
I chose the MSI Neo4 socket 939 for the MB because I am fine with a single video card and it supports dual core for later upgrades and my budget was $100 or less.

Video Card-
I chose a x800GTO for the video card because it seems to be fast enough for what I will do and is also sub $200.

Hard drive-
For the HDD I am torn between a Maxtor 10 series with 16mb of cache (6L200S0) and a Hitachi T7K250. I don't know if I should be getting a 1.5gbs drive or a 3.0gps hard drive. I currently have a Maxtor 80gb 7200 PATA with 8mb cache. It upgraded the drive that came with the dell and I have enjoyed it. But I read about temps and noise for the Maxtor and wanted to ask you guys. Budget for this is sub 100.

Memory-
As far as memory I am going with Corsair value ram. (VS1GBKIT400).

Just an FYI I don't intend to overclock any of this. It might be a tragedy expecially if the video card can be unlocked to 16 pipes but it's just not my thing. I like building a PC because I know what's in it and I can upgrade better down the road.

I play Warcraft and want to play BF2 at 1280x1024 resolution.

Thank you in advance for your suggestions/experiences.

Quick edit:
I understand i need two identicle sticks of memory for dual channel but can I do two slots at 512 and 2 at 256? Wondering if i should get 2x1gb to save room for other slots or if I need more I can add another 512 down the road
 
I would consider a 6800 GS video card, 250GB Seagate(Doesn't really matter if you go ATA100, SATA, SATA2, the bottleneck is the speed: 7200rpm)

Also I would recommend 1 gig stick of memory for now and then another later if you need it.

What processor do you have?
 
On the HD side there is almost no difference between SATA and SATAII, hell there's only a small difference between PATA and SATAII for desktop users. Check out reviews of the models you're interested in before you buy, http://www.storagereview.com/comparison.html is a good resource.

I doubt you will ever need to buy more DDR RAM than 2Gb, it's reaching the end of it's life now anyway so the next system you buy will probably not be compatibile with it anyway so you could go for 4x512 if you wanted. I'd go for 2x1Gig but there is no reason for this choice other than my own personal quirks though.
 
"can I do two slots at 512 and 2 at 256"

Yes, but not in dual-channel. Must be same on both side, ie, 512/256 and 512/256 or 512 and 512 or 256 and 256.
 
Originally posted by: Lasthitlarry
I would consider a 6800 GS video card, 250GB Seagate(Doesn't really matter if you go ATA100, SATA, SATA2, the bottleneck is the speed: 7200rpm)

Also I would recommend 1 gig stick of memory for now and then another later if you need it.

What processor do you have?
Click to expand...

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice


Originally posted by: Bobthelost
On the HD side there is almost no difference between SATA and SATAII, hell there's only a small difference between PATA and SATAII for desktop users. Check out reviews of the models you're interested in before you buy, http://www.storagereview.com/comparison.html is a good resource.

I doubt you will ever need to buy more DDR RAM than 2Gb, it's reaching the end of it's life now anyway so the next system you buy will probably not be compatibile with it anyway so you could go for 4x512 if you wanted. I'd go for 2x1Gig but there is no reason for this choice other than my own personal quirks though.
Click to expand...

Good point on the DDR. I like the idea of 2x1gb for the simple reason that I will have 2 free slots and won't be switching out ram in the future, just adding it.

My plan is to stay with this MB as long as possible. I hope in 2-3 years to add the fastest dual core socket 939 proc available and hopefully get the best video card a year from now at a good price and add another gig of ram.

If I had done what I am doing now two years ago, I wouldn't be building a new pc but upgrading a few things instead to get my by for another few.


Any other thoughts?
 
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