Ready to order... can you critique my first build?

[imported_Tango]

Ok.. after having read the forum and asked millions of questions I am kinda ready to order:

Here's what I would get right now:

Motherboard:
DFI Lan Party UT NForce4 Ultra-D 109$

Case:
Thermaltake Armor Full Tower Aluminum 139$ or (149$-10$MIR if Newegg)

Hard drives:
2 X Western Digital Caviar SE 250 GB SATA3G 16MB Cache 7200 RPM 125$ each

Heatsink:
Zalman CNPS7000B-Cu Silent CPU Cooling Kit 35$

Audio Card:
Creative Labs X-Fi XtremeMusic 7.1 24-Bit Sound Card 129$

Floppy:
Koutech IO-FPM220 3.5" Floppy Drive & Multi Card Reader Front Panel 24$

PSU:
Antec TP2-550EPS ATX 2.01/EPS/SSI 550W Power Supply 86$

DVD-RW:
NEC ND-3550A 16X Dual Layer DVD±RW 49$

Video Card:
6800gs

RAM:
2 GB (2 pcs 1GB) DDR (400) PC-3200 OCZ Dual Channel Platinum 248$

Only doubt left:

CPU:
Opteron 170 410$
Athlon x2 4200+ 400$


I know the opteron is better if OC... but I am a newb and I am not 100% sure I will be able to do so....

Also is the PSU fine? have I any incompatible parts in my setup? Am I forgetting something? Termal paste for the CPU? Cables?

The system will be used as photoshop machine and for video editing... but also as media center....
Monitor is a Dell 24"

 

[EagleEye]

A couple of things:

-I would go with a cheaper case (the Armor isn't "better" than many other $50-70 cases unless you consider how it looks worth the extra money)
-ditch the 6800gs, spending that much on a computer is unwise with such an average gpu. Pick up a 7800gt(x)
-Dont buy you x-fi from newegg i'm assuming. I just picked one up today from Circuit City for $75 plus tax after a $40 MIR
-get the Opteron 170: it has twice the cache of the 4200 and will OC better

 

[imported_Tango]

Originally posted by: EagleEye
A couple of things:

-I would go with a cheaper case (the Armor isn't "better" than many other $50-70 cases unless you consider how it looks worth the extra money)
-ditch the 6800gs, spending that much on a computer is unwise with such an average gpu. Pick up a 7800gt(x)
-Dont buy you x-fi from newegg i'm assuming. I just picked one up today from Circuit City for $75 plus tax after a $40 MIR
-get the Opteron 170: it has twice the cache of the 4200 and will OC better

Thanks for your help!

- The Case: I was also considering the Lian-Li 1000, but I was scared of its "inverted motherboard" feature. I know it's not working with some of the fanless motherboards, and you never know... maybe my next mobo will be a fanless one... Can you recommend a better case than the Armor? I need it big, cause I will soon be adding new Hard Drives, and from the beginning it will have 3 of them....

- Video Card: actually this one is already too powerful for me. I don't game... and many people told me video cards don't affect the performance in the photo and video editing softwares I use (photoshop, adobe an macromedia suites, Phase One)

- I'll look into the Circuit City thing! Thanks!

- The Opteron is better if OC. My question is: I am a complete nooob. It's my fist time trying to build a system. Will I be able to OC it even a little bit? Or am I ending with a system at stock clock because of my lack of experience?

Thanks again!

 

[OdiN]

I also recommend a different case. That is unless you like Thermaltake....I don't like them because they include a minimum of 42,328 useless wires inside the case (not counting power supply)

 

[Powermoloch]

Yes you need an artic silver 5 thermalpaste 🙂

 

[imported_Tango]

Originally posted by: Powermoloch
Yes you need an artic silver 5 thermalpaste 🙂

Done 🙂

 

[imported_g33k]

I'd get the Opteron, OC is something you can do ongoing. yes it takes pracitice, but you can tweek and re-tweek on your spare time. It's not likely you will be burning something up, unless you crank up the volts too high. There is lots of good information that can be found in the cpu/overclocking forums or around the internet. Build your rig with overclocking in mind, its not hard, they are just BIOS settings. The DFI forums are full folks willing to help you oc.

 

[imported_Tango]

Originally posted by: g33k
I'd get the Opteron, OC is something you can do ongoing. yes it takes pracitice, but you can tweek and re-tweek on your spare time. It's not likely you will be burning something up, unless you crank up the volts too high. There is lots of good information that can be found in the cpu/overclocking forums or around the internet. Build your rig with overclocking in mind, its not hard, they are just BIOS settings. The DFI forums are full folks willing to help you oc.

OK! I'm set for an opteron 170 then!

Is the Ram I have selected overkill? I am really lost in front of the millions of different RAM out there...

 

[imported_Tango]

Bump, cause I will order tonight and I need help with the RAM!