Rookie who wants to build another computer...help me please!

[Pklingen]

I have two computers at the moment. a 1.2 athlon and a 900 athlon. Im ditching em both and want to build two new ones using the BEST or close to best motherboard and processor around 2.4 - 3 ish because what ever I build in mine, my wife's computer will also have to have.(i shouldn't need to explain that) I want the 800fsb because it sounds pretty fancy but other than that I have no clue. I built the two i have now and they work great but I want faster. anyway to make it quick and easy to assist me PLEASE answer these questions only if you have tested or know your answers to be true. Compatibility being a important issue. This is a gaming computer and I will eventually put a new high performace vid card in because im tired of low video setting on my games.

Is my 300w power supply enough or should i upgrade?

What type of motherboard with what type of processor?

Will my current vid card (gefore2 mx 400) work with that motherboard. If not thats fine

What Brand Ram should I use?

Should I look into raid or scsi?

Basically what should my receipt have on it when I leave the store. I have a case, floppy, cd/rw and about $500-$700 per computer not including the video card.

Man I'll appreciate any advise on this ongoing issue. I've read too many posts about good points and bad points and now im all screwed up.


:wine::beer:

 

[lsman]

if its 2.4G ~3G,
i will say upgrade your PS.

 

[Jeff7]

Yeah, get yourself an Antec Truepower; 330 should be enough, if it's an Antec. Operative word there is should - other opinions?

 

[Pklingen]

I went with a 430W power supply....Is this power supply too much for
4-5 case fans, cpu fan,
p4c800-e deluxe motherboard
ati radeon 9600 pro 128
2 sticks of 3200 ddr 512 mb
maxtor ata 133 40 gb
floppy
cd burner
sound card (some cheap 16 bit or something like that)

Is 430watts too much of a power supply or should i put a bunch more lights or something to help consume some of that juice?

 

[klc314]

Don't worry, that looks like a good list. I'm a big fan of that mobo, and I think the psu is more than adequate, but not too much. I think the onboard sound might be better than the sound card you describe, use it if it is. You sure you don't want a bigger hard drive, or maybe a SATA drive? Or better yet, a matched pair of SATA drives in a RAID 0 array? That mobo can hold a LOT of drives. Going SATA will let you separate any optical drives on the IDE channels. If you buy what's on your list though, I think you'll be pretty happy with the result.

 

[santaclaus]

These threads are getting old.

"I am a N00b who wants to build a comp" of course you are

Well, your at the right place!!!