First Computer Rig.

[Atls]

I am building my first computer. Is everything okay?

Motherboard: ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail --- $140
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131540


Processor(AMD): AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 2.0GHz 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Processor - Retail --- $62
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103535


Video Card: eVGA 256-P2-N554-AX Geforce 7600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail --- $140
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130017


Power Supply: COOLMAX "SLI" CXI-500B ATX v2.01 500W Power Supply 115/230 V - Retail --- $70
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817159054


RAM Memory: Kingston ValueRAM 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Desktop Memory - Retail --- $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820141307


Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 ST3200822A-RK 200GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive - Retail --- $110
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148036


Sound Card: Onboard Sound (Supplied with Video Card)


Disk Drives: ASUS Silver 16X DVD-ROM 52X CD-R 32X CD-RW 52X CD-ROM 2M Cache E-IDE/ATAPI Combo Drive - Retail -- $30
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827135095


Fans: Scythe S-FLEX SFF21D (800rpm) 120mm S-FDB (Fluid Dynamic Bearing by SONY Corporation) Case Cooling Fan - Retail -- $15
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835185004


Case: Still Looking. (Recommend?) <----- Recommend a case please, anything but white.


Operating System: Plan to buy Vista Home Basic.

It seems I also forgot to find a Modem Card. Recommend one please? I'm not an expert with Modems.

* ALL from New Egg.

 

[Atls]

Anyone willing to help? =)

 

[amdskip]

I would use this hard drive instead: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148140

No thrills basic case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811119068

Personally I would not mess with vista yet. From what I hear, way too many bugs, etc.

I would get a good hardware modem from newegg. Is dsl/cable internet not availble by you yet?

 

[Randybob]

It all looks like it should work together. One thing I like to check though is a motherboard's compatible memory list. It is usually on the vendor's website, though I couldn't find the list or get the manual (which sometimes has the list) of compatible RAM sticks. Speaking of RAM, I saw you only got 1 RAM stick. If you get two, you'll get a dual-channel performance boost. What I mean is two 512 MB sticks will be faster than a single 1 GB stick. Of course, I would personally get two 1 GB sticks. If you buy 1 GB sticks, you'll actually be able to upgrade your motherboard to its full RAM capacity later (4 GB). Me, I've got two 512 sticks in my machine so I'll only be able to have 3 gigs of memory in here unless I want to replace em.

I would also get a SATA hard drive. Your motherboard has the slots, why not. Besides, I saw a bigger hard drive with the same speed and cache for $30 less. And it is SATA II. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148146 The only other difference is you don't get the nice box and the poster for setting it up and the setup utility CD. You'd need to download that for free off of Seagate's site and burn it.

Vista Home Basic is the short bus version of Vista. From what I've read, I wouldn't recommend anything less than Home Premium. Furthermore, if you want to run Vista, you will probably want 2 gigs of RAM. You could get it now, or when you get Vista.

As for a case, you could pay a little now and get a new one in a few years, or pay more now and keep it for a long time. BTX is supposed to come eventually, and a BTX motherboard won't fit in an ATX case. There are a few cases that will support both form factors, but they cost more than what you could get by on for now.

 

[Atls]

Okay. Thanks alot. =)

Amdskip: Yes I have DSL/Cable.

 

[Randybob]

Originally posted by: Atls
Okay. Thanks alot. =)

Amdskip: Yes I have DSL/Cable.

In that case, you don't need a modem. You hook the cable or DSL modem up to your Ethernet port. Or to a router, which would then go to your ethernet port or wireless adapter.

 

[Atls]

Woot. Thanks again.

One more question. I found some good Corsair 2GB Memory Sticks, and was wondering if they're any good?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145579


Thanks in Advance. =)

 

[Randybob]

Originally posted by: Atls
Woot. Thanks again.

One more question. I found some good Corsair 2GB Memory Sticks, and was wondering if they're any good?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145579


Thanks in Advance. =)

Those that repped it over there have spoken. I find those mini-reviews helpful, personally. Corsair is a good brand, but I have never used their memory. The real question is, will they work well with your mobo.

 

[Atls]

Oh. Well thanks. =)

 

[Howard]

When I read over those parts, it felt like it was 2004. :Q

Why not AM2 instead of 939? For that matter, $110 can get you much more hard drive than that. Also, I'd get this power supply instead of the Coolmax.

As for the case, this one is excellent.

 

[Operandi]

Your hardware will work but you've made some poor choices in my opinion.

CPU / Motherboard Socket 939 is set to be discontinued and uses DDR1 RAM that is set to be replaced by DDR2. For an AMD build you want socket AM2 for DDR2, better board, and a future upgrade path. AMD Athlon64 3200+ AM2 | Gigabyte GA-M57SLI-S4

Videocard: The 7600GT is a good chip for the price but I would go with this passively cooled Gigabyte for its reliability and silent nature.

RAM: Both AM2 and 939 are dual channel are dual channel chips. If you want 1GB of RAM you should look for 2x 512MB sticks, not a single 1GB stick. GeIL 1GB (2 x 512MB) DDR2 800

PSU: Coolmax is not a name I would recommend. You don't need a ton of power and Seasonic make some of the best PSUs available. 380 watt Seasonic S12

Hard drive: IDE is over and done as a hard drive interface. 320GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10

Optical drive: Going with a drive that is unable to burn DVDs doesn't make any sense at this point as it's practically free. Samsung 18x

Case: The PC-7B is a great entry level Lian Li and as a bonus is currently on sale.

Fan/s: $15 is bit much for a fan. If you are looking for something quieter for your case go with Yate Loon.

 

[Bruizer]

Originally posted by: amdskip
I would use this hard drive instead: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148140

No thrills basic case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811119068

Personally I would not mess with vista yet. From what I hear, way too many bugs, etc.

I would get a good hardware modem from newegg. Is dsl/cable internet not availble by you yet?

I deffinatley would have to agree with the case. Coolermaster makes good stuff, i had that same one. It kept everything cool and was very simple. Just recently i upgraded to a CoolerMaster Centurion 532 and i like it even better than my old Centurion 5. Either way you cannot go wrong. As for the hard drive, get something with 16mb cache, makes a world a difference. Also might go with a little more name brand hard drive. I like my Apevia(Aspire), but antec, rosewill, and kingwin seem to be pretty good.

 

[oynaz]

Yep. Socket 939 would be a mistake. Definitely go with a C2D or AM2 processor, unless you can get a very good deal.

A Barracude 7200.7 drive? But why? Get a 7200.10 or 7200.9.