I'm getting ready to build my first computer; thoughts?

[Draccius]

This is the first system that I am building and I am not an overclocker, so please forgive my ignorance! I will be using this rig for gaming. I would appreciate any comments, especially on the few topics below. Thank you!

This is what I have picked out, right now:

Antec Sonata Case (includes 380w psu), with an additional 120mm Antec Smartcool fan (for front intake)
ASUS K8T800 Motherboard - Retail
AMD Athlon 3400+ processor with retail fan
128MB ATI Radeon 9800PRO - Retail
1 GB Corsair XMS PC3200 (Cas 2-3-3-6)
Seagate 160GB SATA HD (with SATA power adaptor)
Samsung Floppy Drive
Lite-On DVD Drive
Lite-On DVD-Dual Drive (DVD/CD Writer)
Creative Labs SB Audigy2 ZS
MS Windows XP Pro

Total Price for this: $1794

I already bought a set of Logitech Z-5300 speakers and I am going to recycle my monitor from my current system.

My main questions that I have are:

Will I need additional cables for the HD, Optical Drives, and Floppy Drive? Or do they come with the motherboard?

Is my RAM choice good, or is there another brand that perfoms better for non-overclockers?

Is there any other make of the 9800PRO that is better than the Made by ATI one?

Have I missed anything?

Again, thank you for your consideration and input. I look forward to seeing your thoughts!

 

[labrat25]

floppy drive... why???!!!!

get a usb drive, IMO!

 

[Cogman]

floppies are ok, but they are seriously showing their age. this system looks very nice. I would make sure to buy some round ata133 cables, to be on the safe side. Also, I would not go with retail cooling for a system like this, Get a Thermalright SP-97, or just about any thermalright product. Make sure you have enough case fans, and You might look into getting a monitor as well (unless you already have one). With the motherboard, um, An nforce 3 might be a better buy, with duel channel ddr (did not see, but does the Nforce 3 support Duel channel DDR?) In which case it might be better to get 2 sticks of 512 ram.

 

[Draccius]

I understand the aging of the floppy drive. I guess it just seems wierd not to have one! I have been looking for an excuse to get a USB drive, though!

The RAM I am getting is 2 sticks of 512. I guess I should have mentioned that!

I haven't looked into a nForce 3 board yet, but I will now.

If I go with a Thermalright fan, do I need the retail processor, or can I just get an OEM and save a little money?

The case is maxed out at 2x 120mm fans - I haven't came across anyone having problems with that case and cooling yet.

Also, I do have a 19" Sony CRT that I am going to reuse.

Thanks for the suggestions so far! This is really helping.

 

[jazzhound]

Get a thermalright heatsink and a 92mm lowspeed fan. Whenever I buy AMD, they seem to package the cheap heatsink/fan. Honestly, I have not seen anywhere around town that sold just the processor.

 

[Zinn2b]

Install the floppy also GO with Corsair PC4000 not for overclocking its so you can keep your timing tight you will want that for gaming.someday that floppy may save your butt

 

[Draccius]

Originally posted by: jazzhound
Get a thermalright heatsink and a 92mm lowspeed fan. Whenever I buy AMD, they seem to package the cheap heatsink/fan. Honestly, I have not seen anywhere around town that sold just the processor.

Will the Thermalright heatsinks fit correctly on the A64 motherboards without modifacation? They are not listed as compatable on their website (as far as I can tell).

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

I'd get the floppy drive. I've heard to load the drivers onto a serial ata drive you need to make a boot with the sata drivers on it while installing windows. Socket 754 doesn't support dual channel period. Paired memory will still work in it as they aren't required to be run in dual channel(their just tested and checked to try to make them as identical as possible as dual channel is picky about that). If your willing to spend the money zalman has some really sweet heatsink/fans for the processor, and I'm pretty sure they fit the k8v motherboard. The corsair pc4000 timings are really loose... 3-4-4-6 I think. I don't understand why you'd want it if your not overclocking unless while set to ddr400 you can tighten the timings a lot I don't know I'm not that experienced with this stuff. I personally like the look of the asus 9800 pro; the main difference is the cooling system and I think asus has some utility software. I'd go with the retail processor over the oem. Even if your not using the stock cooling, retail parts generally have longer warenties.

 

[Markfw]

Athlon64 does NOT use dual channel ddr, but single 1 gig sticks are exspensive, so 2 512's are fine. Get some Mushkin or Kingston Hyperx PC3500 CAS2, (you won't be sorry)

In answer to your questions, some cables come, I think you will have enough.
Motherboard, is that a K8V ? if so they are great.
Memory, I already answered above.
Video ATI or Sapphire is fine (they make ATI cards)

And as to what you missed, I don;t have a calculator running and you didn't list prices, but that should be a $1000-$1200 system I think. Where is $1800 come into play ? Please post individual prices, and is this USD currency pricing ?

 

[Draccius]

Prices:

Antec Sonata Case $99.99 (+ $19.99 for additional fan)
ASUS K8T800 (K8V Deluxe) Motherboard - Retail $159.99
AMD Athlon 3400+ processor with retail fan $424.00
128MB ATI Radeon 9800PRO - Retail $295.00
1 GB (512 x 2) Corsair XMS PC3200 (Cas 2-3-3-6) $209.00
Seagate 160GB SATA HD (with SATA power adaptor) $131.50
Samsung Floppy Drive $10.99
Lite-On DVD Drive $37.00
Creative Labs SB Audigy2 ZS $89.00
Microsoft Multimedia Keyboard/Mouse $39.00
MS Windows XP Pro $137.00

With a couple of small other items, that comes $1664.95 (I dropped the DVD burner, I am going to wait on that for now). Everything here is from NewEgg.

 

[Draccius]

Thank you for your recommendations!

Would it be better for me to go for a 1GB stick? Does it help performance?

Also, what HSF are you using?

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

1 gig sticks are slow and really expensive with loose timings... unless your doing something that's insanely memory intensive and need 3-4 gigs of ram there is absolutly no point in getting them.

 

[Draccius]

Originally posted by: AyashiKaibutsu
1 gig sticks are slow and really expensive with loose timings... unless your doing something that's insanely memory intensive and need 3-4 gigs of ram there is absolutly no point in getting them.

Thanks, that saves me from another indecision!

 

[Super6]

You could save yourself close to $100. going with an ATI 9700Pro with roughly comparable performance. Sapphire makes cards for ATI along with their own brand.

Super6

Forget the 9700....didn't realize the 9800 Pros were so cheap now.

 

[Markfw]

OK, nits.. sort of.

$20 for an extra fan ?? SVC has panaflos for like $5 or less.
$295 for the Radeon 9800 pro ? I just got one for $229 from newegg shipped.
Memory ?? Mushkin PC3500 CAS2 was $199 last I looked.
Sound card for $89 when the ASUS already has a fine sound card ??? Maybe you are a sound freak, I wouldn't spend the extra...

$1473 with my mods....

 

[Draccius]

Originally posted by: Super6
You could save yourself close to $100. going with an ATI 9700Pro with roughly comparable performance. Sapphire makes cards for ATI along with their own brand.

Super6

As I am not going to be able to upgrade as much as I would like over the next year or so, I was figuring the 9800Pro would allow me to enjoy the higher end games as they come out this year with fuller settings. However, I will look into some benchmarks and reviews to gauge how much (or how little) performance I would be missing with the 9700Pro. Thanks!

 

[Draccius]

Originally posted by: Markfw900
OK, nits.. sort of.

$20 for an extra fan ?? SVC has panaflos for like $5 or less.
$295 for the Radeon 9800 pro ? I just got one for $229 from newegg shipped.
Memory ?? Mushkin PC3500 CAS2 was $199 last I looked.
Sound card for $89 when the ASUS already has a fine sound card ??? Maybe you are a sound freak, I wouldn't spend the extra...

$1473 with my mods....

Thanks for pointing out the videocard price difference. I am going to go with the Sapphire and save the $60 difference. I will also check out the Mushkin memory.

However, I recieved a set of really great speakers as a gift and I would like the sound card to tap all their features.

 

[Draccius]

Ok, I have a question about the memory...

The boards that I am looking at (the Asus or the AOpen) both say that they support DDR 400, however, the Muskin memory (http://tinyurl.com/2sfta), places itself at DDR433. So, these are still compatable, or does this require a different configuration?

 

[stevty2889]

The memory is backwards compatible so it will work,.

 

[Davegod]

V nice setup there

I concur with the suggestions about getting a aftermarket heatsink & fan though, it is hardly necessary since you say you've no interest in overclocking, but you did pick a Sonata so seems a shame not to then go for a spiffy quiet fan.

I'd suggest a Thermalright with a low-ish RPM fan such as a Panaflo L1A; however check the compatibility with your motherboard. I gather 92mm fans arent any better than 80mm ones because in reality a lot of the extra air doesnt go through the heatsink but over the side, and the "deadspot" in the middle is larger. Aviod a cheapo no-name fan, a quality brand will be quieter for the given airflow and will be more reliable. A Thermaltake silent boost might be a cheaper and simpler solution, as it is meant to be a good performing, quiet heatsink, but again check compatibility [edit: thread on silent boost].

 

[Draccius]

Originally posted by: Davegod
V nice setup there

I concur with the suggestions about getting a aftermarket heatsink & fan though, it is hardly necessary since you say you've no interest in overclocking, but you did pick a Sonata so seems a shame not to then go for a spiffy quiet fan.

I'd suggest a Thermalright with a low-ish RPM fan such as a Panaflo L1A; however check the compatibility with your motherboard. I gather 92mm fans arent any better than 80mm ones because in reality a lot of the extra air doesnt go through the heatsink but over the side, and the "deadspot" in the middle is larger. Aviod a cheapo no-name fan, a quality brand will be quieter for the given airflow and will be more reliable. A Thermaltake silent boost might be a cheaper and simpler solution, as it is meant to be a good performing, quiet heatsink, but again check compatibility [edit: thread on silent boost].

Thank you for your input!

I ordered a Thermaltake Silent Boost K8, which is compatable with the motherboard that I decided on. I have read that the retail fan isn't that bad for non-overclockers, but I have seen comments that the retail noise is a bit loud, which encouraged me to get the Thermaltake, especially after everyone advised it.

 

[Dogma420]

i'm a network engineer, and for the small price, i would always install a floppy drive. ignore what anyone else says. It only costs a few bucks, and it's really annoying helping someone who doesn't have one installed....of course there are workarounds, but it's always nice to have it there.

 

[cqcc]

just a little curious, which website r u gonna buy from?

 

[Twsmit]

i told my friend the same thing last week. Thats until we realized there was only a $20 price difference between the 9700 pro and 9800 pro. He ended up going with the 9800 pro.

 

[Yossarian]

personally I think the 3400 is a waste of money at this point, it's too new. 3000 is only $224 compared to $424 for the 3400. also, recent benchmarks show that the performance gain of CAS2 memory is minimal so don't pay too much extra for it above CAS3.