First PC build

[Kyle W]

First I would thank you for looking at my thread and hopefully giving me some pointers. A friend of mine finally convinced me to just build then buy a Compaq. My current PC is a Compaq 500Mhz 128MB ram. So anything will be better. I'll use this as a reg computer I'm not a heavy gamer as in FPS but I will get many RTS games. That might effect my price. Also I would like to add that I'm on a budget on about $740 even the shipping has to be included heh. Alrighty then!

MSI K8N Neo4-F NVIDIA Socket 939 ATX and AMD Athlon 34 3000+ 1.80Ghz with Fan
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications...m-details.asp?EdpNo=1739996&CatId=2018
$234/w shipping at tigerdirect

Cooler Master
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16811119068
$49.99

FSP Group (Fortron Source) AX450-PN 450W Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16817104954
$49.99

Asus Black IDE DVD-ROM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16827135136
$25.99

Kingston ValueRAM 512MB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820141424
$39.95 Will buy another 512MB afew weeks later.

Western Digital Caviar SE 80GB 3.5" Serial ATA150 Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822135106
$55

XFX GeForce 6600 GT / 128MB DDR3
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications...etails.asp?EdpNo=1118390&sku=P450-8532
$134

Windows XP $100 bucks

TOTAL: $737 including shipping roughly but not tax..wasnt sure if newegg taxed or not..meh

 

[ShellGuy]

I take it you plan to do no CD burning nor DVD burning. Just reading.


Will G.

 

[Kyle W]

I kinda want the PC now so I thought I would get 512ram and a dvdrom then when I get my next paycheck I'll buy a cd/dvd burner, ram, better monitor.

 

[Operandi]

Go with a 400-450 watt Forton-Source PSU, just as good if not better and cheaper.

 

[Kyle W]

Like one of these? http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductCo...7104974,N82E16817104953&SubCategory=58

I was really going to get an Antec SONATA with TruePower 380w but wasn't sure if it would work with the MSI board. I think I should be looking at the 12volts or maybe its the amps? heh but the +12V is 18A on the truepower 380w. I just wasn't to sure if it would work or not.

 

[Somniferum]

Go with this PSU instead, which is $40 cheaper but still a very solid unit:

Fortron AX450-PN 450W $50

Then with the money you save, buy this video card instead:

XFX Geforce 6600GT PCI-E x16 $126

That card will absolutely destroy the X550. Your gaming experience will be GREATLY improved.

If you order that particular card by 12/23 you even get a $15 rebate.

Or if you insist on ATI, try this card:

SAPPHIRE Radeon X800GTO $130

That one has a $20 rebate until 12/23.

Either way you will be MUCH happier, trust me. A cheaper (but still solid) PSU is a small trade-off for a video card that's in an entirely different class. :thumbsup:

 

[Operandi]

Originally posted by: Kyle W
Like one of these? http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductCo...7104974,N82E16817104953&SubCategory=58

Yes, but becareful, only this one has the 24pin ATX connector you'll want for your 939 board.

 

[Kyle W]

Okay thanks a lot both of you! Does it matter which PSU I get?Both have 24pin connectors but the only difference is that this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16817104953 has Input current 8A @ 115V, 4A @ 230V and Output is +3.3V@22A, +5V@21A, +12V1@18A, +12V2@16A, -12V@0.3A, +5VSB@2 and this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104954 has input current 10A @ 115V, 5A @ 230V and Output at +3.3V@30A, +5V@28A, +12V1@18A, +12V2@18A, -12V@0.5A, +5VSB@2A. It probably wont even make a difference at all but I think I should go ahead and ask. Also Somniferum would you perfer the XFX Geforce 6600GT PVT43GNDF3 over the Radeon X800GTO? Thanks again!

 

[Somniferum]

I think the second PSU (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104954) is slightly beefier, but either one will probably work fine.

I have a 6600GT and I'm quite happy with it. I've never used an X800GTO, I just read that it's comparable to the 6600GT on the ATI side. My previous card was an ATI 9800pro, and to be honest I have become somewhat disillusioned with ATI. Their newer .NET-based drivers really irritate me, and finding the "classic" versions and getting them working can be a pain. NVidia's drivers just seem more polished and stable to me lately. That's just my personal preference though. I've owned several ATI and NVidia cards over the years and generally they all worked fine.

If there is a particular game or games you want to play, you may want to research and see if it runs better with ATI or NVidia cards, because sometimes it makes a difference. Half-Life 2 for example, tends to run better on ATI cards, while Doom3 and Quake4 run better on NVidia.

As long as you stay away from that X550 you should be fine!

 

[Kyle W]

heh okay I'll just stay with the 6600GT thanks!

 

[Kyle W]

After lookin at newegg what about this card its alittle more but but not much more maybe it may be worth it? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814130214

 

[Somniferum]

Looking good now ... that should make an excellent budget system and it will be far better quality than anything you could order from Compaq. Especially once you get the extra 512Mb of RAM and possibly overclock it a bit, you'll be flying.

Make sure when you buy the second stick of RAM that you get the exact same brand and type as the first stick -- that way you won't have any problems running in dual-channel mode, which will give you an extra speed boost.

Good luck!

 

[Somniferum]

Originally posted by: Kyle W
After lookin at newegg what about this card its alittle more but but not much more maybe it may be worth it? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814130214

Honestly I can't see any difference between those two cards -- both have the same 6600GT chipset, the GPU and memory clock speeds are exactly the same (500/1000), both are PCI-E ... only difference is the brand and the price, unless I'm missing something.

 

[Kyle W]

The only difference that I can tell is that the eVGA has OpenGL 2.0 but only 1 DVI. I have no clue what those 2 do when it comes down to compareing. the eVGA is only 5 bucks more because I'll probably order the other off tigerdirect unless theres a way around the whole "combo" thing on newegg.