thoughts on this rig?

[spywolf138]

Okay, to start off, this will be my first rig that i am building on my own. I need some thoughts/suggestions on this equip and possible alternatives. I only want to spend $600-$700 max.


Processor, $167 AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 1GHz FSB 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Processor

Motherboard, $68 ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 Socket 939 ULi M1695 ATX AMD Motherboard

Case, $59 COOLER MASTER CAVALIER 3 CAV-T03-UK Black Computer Case

Power Supply, $39.99 Thermaltake TR2 W0070 430W Power Supply

Memory, $69.99 pqi 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Dual Channel Kit System Memory

Video Card, $120 ASUS EN6600/TD/256 Geforce 6600 256MB 128-bit DDR PCI Express x16 Video Card
*note, I can get the same card in AGP for nearly exactly the same price. Since the mobo has both AGP and PCI-Ex16 slots, which would be the better buy?

Hard Drive, $53 Western Digital Caviar SE 80GB 3.5" IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive

Disk Drive, $39.75 NEC Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache IDE/ATAPI DVD Burner

Total - $616.73

Now, I don't know if I will need any extra cooling devices, so reccommend me some of those too, if you feel they are needed.

 

[suicidalpigeon]

if you're overclocking, it wouldn't hurt to pair it off with an opteron 146 and an epox 9npa. otherwise, that current combo is fine. get 1x1024 so you won't have any problems upgrading ram later. pcie and agp has very little difference from what i've heard/read, but that was a while ago. wd is great, but seagate is where its at if you want 5 year warranty. switch that nec to a benq dw1640, best burner on the market with similar/same price.

 

[ub3rnewb]

Get the PCI-E version. Normally, performance would be identical, but on that board, the AGP slot generally does not perform as well as AGP only boards. Plus PCI-E is more future proof.

 

[xanis]

In this case I would do the following:

-Change that mobo to a PCI-E one
-Change the case to a Coolermaster Centurion 5, which will save you $9
-I suggest an Antec TruePower 430W instead, which is only $30 more and will get you a much better PSU
-Get 2GB of that RAM you listed, if you can
-Downgrade the CPU to a 3000+, you can OC later to way past a 3200+

 

[theMan]

chage the psu to either the antec, or a fortron 450w.

 

[fire400]

wow... one of those boards with both PCI-e and AGP8x!

get the PCI-e video card, higly recommended.

so I take it that you're gonna use integrated sound?

 

[spywolf138]

awesome, thanks for the suggestions/comments!

 

[python023]

Originally posted by: spywolf138
Okay, to start off, this will be my first rig that i am building on my own. I need some thoughts/suggestions on this equip and possible alternatives. I only want to spend $600-$700 max.


Processor, $167 AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 1GHz FSB 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Processor

Motherboard, $68 ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 Socket 939 ULi M1695 ATX AMD Motherboard

Case, $59 COOLER MASTER CAVALIER 3 CAV-T03-UK Black Computer Case

Power Supply, $39.99 Thermaltake TR2 W0070 430W Power Supply

Memory, $69.99 pqi 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Dual Channel Kit System Memory

Video Card, $120 ASUS EN6600/TD/256 Geforce 6600 256MB 128-bit DDR PCI Express x16 Video Card
*note, I can get the same card in AGP for nearly exactly the same price. Since the mobo has both AGP and PCI-Ex16 slots, which would be the better buy?

Hard Drive, $53 Western Digital Caviar SE 80GB 3.5" IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive

Disk Drive, $39.75 NEC Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache IDE/ATAPI DVD Burner

Total - $616.73

Now, I don't know if I will need any extra cooling devices, so reccommend me some of those too, if you feel they are needed.

Processor - I would go with an Opteron 14X.
Motherboard - Thats a good one(make sure you go PCI-E), or an Epox like previously mentioned.
PSU - Get Antec or Fortron if your on that kind of PSU budget, Seasonic if you have more $$.
Memory - definitely try for 1x1024. Corsair VS or Crucial Value.
Video Card - Upgrade to the 6600GT, or the x800gto.

Everything else looks good!

 

[pkme2]

Go with the Fortron.