Specific Hardware Recommendations

[imported_Kudos]

I'm going to be running an AMD 64 system with PCI-E and an SATA Hard Drive, running Winxp Pro 64. I need some help selecting other components like a PSU and memory

Currently I have an Antec P180 Case, an Asus A8N-E mobo and an AMD64 chip.

I need recommendations for a good 500W+ power supply (as cheap as possible yet very reliable with SATA power I guess)
1Gig of memory (I'd like to spend ~100.00 on this and I believe the mobo only supports up to PC3200 memory)

also looking for a great deal on a 250+ Gig Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 SATA

My Dell now has 320 Gig of space and that got filled up pretty quick, so I may be in the market for a few HDDS. I don't want a WD Raptor, as it seems to make too much heat for a desktop computer and the Barracuda is pretty close and I doubt I'd notice a difference anyway(plus I need more space).

Computer is used for gaming mostly, but also for watching DVD's & MPEGS, making CD's and DVD's, doing video and picture editing, streaming audio...all that good stuff.

Eventually I'll be buying a 50inch DLP TV and hooking up the computer to this to play games on a huge screen, so I'm thinking about just getting a 6600GT or a 6800GT and waiting a while to upgrade the video card

 

[suicidalpigeon]

x800xl is good for its price and how close it performs to the 6800gt on pci-e. if you still want that sm3.0, then the 6800gt. for the psu, seasonic s12's would be good if you want it as quiet as possible, otherwise check out ocz, fortron, thermaltake, or antec. i cant really pick one for you because i dont really have a budget to work off of. corsair value would work just fine at $80. dont know any specials on the harddrive but thats an excellent choice.

 

[fishstickz]

Just make sure your power supply has enough amps on the +12V rail. I recommend 20A+, as AMD64s are heavy on the 12V requirement.

Corsair ValueSelect runs about 80 dollars for a matched pair of 1GB PC3200, and their XMS line runs about $120 and generally has better timings + pretty heatspreaders.

 

[imported_Kudos]

I forgot to mention I plan on overclocking this CPU, so would I be better of getting the XMS Corsair memory, or would the value select work just fine?

I'll look for a PSU with those specs also, thanks!

 

[fishstickz]

I think you would be okay with the ValueSelect, although the slightly better timings and such on the XMS make it superior IMO. I use 2 matched pairs of the XMS on my board- however, I have little experience with overclocking (I do not have my Winchester OC'ed). Someone else, perhaps, will chime in with some better advice here.

This link about Power Supplies will set you straight on choosing a good one, and what requirements you will need.

 

[suicidalpigeon]

if you are going to oc, get a dfi ut nf4 ultra-d and ocz vx.

 

[imported_Kudos]

I already have the ASUS motherboard

 

[imported_Kudos]

ok, so far I have the following parts:

Antec P180 Case
OCZ Modstream 520W Modular PSU
AMD Athlon 64 Venice core
Asus A8N-E Mobo
1GB Corsair XMS PRO PC4000 Memory
250GB Seagate Baraccuda 7200.8 SATA HDD

So now I need a good DVD Burner, and a Video Card =/

I only want to spend like 125 bucks on the video card though, which is going to be a little difficult. Eventually I'm going to pick up the 7800GTX, but I need to save a while for that.