First Pc Build

[DanManIt]

This is going to be my first build, I plan on ordering the parts at the end of the month.

Case - Cooler Master Centurion 5 ($54)
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16811119077

Motherboard - Asus A8N-E ($97)
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813131530

Video Card - eVGA 6800GS ($169) (also considering a 7800GT)
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814130271

PSU - FSP Group 450W ($52) (Would need a better one if I chose to go with 7800GT)
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817104954

Processor - AMD 64 3700+ ($213) (also considering X2 3800+, but don't know a lot of info on dual core processors)
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16819103539

RAM - Patriot 2GB (2 x 1GB) ($149)
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820220079

Hard Drive - Seagate Barracudea 7200.9 250GB ($100)
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16822148111

DVD Burner - NEC ($40)
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16827152058

Total - About $900

 

[Bobthelost]

Ok, first of all the 7800GT uses less power than the 6800, so you'd be fine with that PSU either way.

For gaming you'd get better performance buying the 7800GT than the 3800X2. For the casual gamer then the X2 would be much faster for stuff like encoding/transcoding video.

Good build either way.

 

[CraKaJaX]

Looks like a nice machine for a grand, but if you only have about $100 left, the 7800GT would put you over your limit. I would definitely put the extra $100 toward the X2 3800+. ~$290ish on newegg. You can overclock the 3800 very nicely, saving a lot of money and getting better speeds.

 

[bamacre]

Do yourself a BIG favor and check out...

http://www.zipzoomfly.com

 

[alimoalem]

here's my recommendations:

CPU: Opteron 165 - $328
motherboard: DFI UT NF4 board - $116
GPU: eVGA 7800gt - $265
RAM: 2gb kit of g.skill value ($144 - CAS 2.5)
hard drive: Western Digital SE16 250gb - $96
psu: fortron 450 w - $50
optical: NEC DVD Burner - $40
case: Cooler Master Centurion 5 - $54

this comes to $1093, before shipping (all prices from newegg). i know this is almost $100 over your budget but this is without shopping around (check out zipzoomfly, monarch, etc.) and you can save a little over $30 by dropping down to a 3800x2 cpu. i think this would be a significantly better computer than what you put together and be very overclockable. enjoy building

 

[markkleb]

Great comp, I have used the same stuff,
The coolermaster cases are amazing for the money, but I would use 2 smaller hdd's in raid 0 instead of 1 big one.
And definately look for a 7800 video card (try Newegg Refurbished)If u got extra money.

The 3700+ ROCKS! I have one oced to 2750 no prob..
Dont worry bout X2 yet cause pretty soon there is gonna be X4.
If you want to save money on hdd's go to Justdeals.com. I use them and never had a bad one. Make sure you get 7200 rpm and 8 or 16 mb buffers.

 

[theMan]

Originally posted by: markkleb
Great comp, I have used the same stuff,
The coolermaster cases are amazing for the money, but I would use 2 smaller hdd's in raid 0 instead of 1 big one.
And definately look for a 7800 video card (try Newegg Refurbished)

The 3700+ ROCKS! I have one oced to 2750 no prob..
Dont worry bout X2 yet cause pretty soon there is gonna be X4.
If you want to save money on hdd's go to Justdeals.com. I use them and never had a bad one. Make sure you get 7200 rpm and 8 or 16 mb buffers.

definately dont get raid. its more expensive and offers no performance gains in most apps. also, you would get half the space. also, the X4 will probably be only for AM2 socket, and he would need to get a new computer to get it, and there would be no point in getting it unless its for some sort of server. however, there are current benefits of getting an X2, and it will be a lot more future proof. you might feel bad when games become multithreaded and a dual core proc will get you over 50% more performance than single core.

 

[stelleg151]

I recommend DC and waiting until 7900 series comes out. I also agree about no raid, not worth the loss of stability IMO.

 

[markkleb]

I have no loss in stability, and RAID 0 does NOT give you half the space!
It costs no more and is much faster to load and write to hdd's.([http://shop.store.yahoo.com/justdeals/gsdia120gb8m.html
Free shipping also!

Have you guys EVER used raid? As far as X2 goes, people much smarter than me agree the single cores are better in gaming.

Also the ORIGIONAL (6800)video card is pretty darn good for the money.

I say for a first build you are looking pretty good.

PS Listen to what everyone is saying but make sure you get facts before you buy.

 

[alimoalem]

how do you not get half the space? it gives you AT MOST half the space. RAID0 requires 2 drives, right? if you have one drive at 160gb and a second one at 250gb, your MAXIMUM usable space is 160gb. if you have 2 identical drives that are 250gb, you have a max space of 250gb. that sounds like less than or equal to half to me.

second, it's performance gain is only seen in multi user environments and sometimes when moving big files. read benchmarks if you want facts. go to the storage section of anandtech.com and search RAID.

i would also wait for the 7900 series. i heard the 7900gt will be $300 and it'll be a lot better in performance than the 7800gt so just wait a little.

i still say go dual core. i agree with theman when he says X4 will be on AM2...why would they make new CPUs for the older socket?

 

[imported_rod]

Originally posted by: markkleb
I have no loss in stability, and RAID 0 does NOT give you half the space! It costs no more and is much faster to load and write to hdd's.

Yes - but if one of your HDD's die, you lose all the data on BOTH drives.

Originally posted by: markkleb
As far as X2 goes, people much smarter than me agree the single cores are better in gaming.

That was the case not long ago, but it's starting to shift away from that now. CoD2 really benefits from dual-core, and as new games come out, they're going to benefit more and more from a second core.

RoD

 

[markkleb]

First- To all of you that do not know what raid is , Raid 0 uses 2 of the same hdd's (I use 2 80 gig seagates) My comp sees the aray as 160 gigs.
Info is split into the 2 drives half and half. ITS A LOT FASTER.

Second- I have built hundreds of systems and NEVER had a hdd failure.

Third-at the link I posted there are 120 gig 8mb buffer hard drives for $48.95 each (free shipping) How is that more expensive than 1 hdd for $100?

Come on guys if ur not sure dont give advise.

 

[Bobthelost]

Originally posted by: markkleb
First- To all of you that do not know what raid is , Raid 0 uses 2 of the same hdd's (I use 2 80 gig seagates) My comp sees the aray as 160 gigs.
Info is split into the 2 drives half and half. ITS A LOT FASTER.

Second- I have built hundreds of systems and NEVER had a hdd failure.

Third-at the link I posted there are 120 gig 8mb buffer hard drives for $48.95 each (free shipping) How is that more expensive than 1 hdd for $100?

Come on guys if ur not sure dont give advise.

Ok, hows this, RAID0 with matched drives does not reduce the space availible, but it is still a bad idea.

Older drives are slower drives, we're all happy with that, also smaller drives are slower drives. Add two cheap (thus old and slow) smaller (thus slower) drives together to match a single larger drive and system performance drops like a stone. For some things such as boot times and opening large (50mb+) files you get a speed increase, but for things like gaming you take a performance hit every single time.

Every review i've seen of RAID0 shows that it's slower than a single drive, let alone a single faster drive, for gaming be it load times or data throughput.

You've built over 100 systems without a HD death? Either you don't provide tech support for that long or you're a lucky boy.

 

[bamacre]

I'd never go back to RAID 0 on a desktop.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

looks good to me, maybe i'd go with a dual core processor but other then that

 

[RussianSensation]

Look at Extelleron's build in this thread

You could also get DFI Infiniti motherboard for $90 and put the rest into a DVD burner or Opteron 165.

 

[mazeroth]

Originally posted by: markkleb

Second- I have built hundreds of systems and NEVER had a hdd failure.

If you've built hundreds of systems and never had a hdd failure, you might want to go talk with the major hdd manufacturers and tell them your secrets. I'd say, on average, one out of five hdd fail in the first five years of use. Anyone here will agree with me. You, my friend, have no idea what you're talking about.

Do NOT go RAID 0. Total waste of money and redundancy. If anything, go RAID 1 (if you must RAID) so you'll have a mirror image of your drives.

 

[Extelleron]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation
Look at Extelleron's build in this thread

You could also get DFI Infiniti motherboard for $90 and put the rest into a DVD burner or Opteron 165.

The only problem with my build there is it didnt include a hard drive...... but as you said just get a cheaper motherboard and there you go.

 

[vicveco]

its a good pc system for 900$ ill say get the 3700+ San Diego it overclocks like heaven, maybe get a dual channel kit with more agressive times and overclockeable capabilities, OCZ and Corsair are good choices and 2GB dont make such a difference, get 1GB of premium RAM its enough, maybe another mobo also , an ASUS A8N SLI premium its pretty stable and mid range overclock, for hard overclockin get the DFI Lanparty. The 6800GS from EVGA also overclock like heaven, buy the CO version (copper heatsink) and overclock it, you can get 515mhz of that card. And finally a better PSU I bought an antec truepower II 550W and it works perfect. I think these changes will get you to 1070$ from newegg shipping included...

 

[thebigdude]

i have that case and really love it

 

[atybimf]

Looks pretty good, but what are you using this PC for and how long do you plan on using it before upgrading.