New PC

[SerialPrecision]

I am thinking about building a new pc. I have some questions. First question is about the case. What do you guys think about this case? It comes with 6 fans.
case

I am going to buy the AMD Athlon 64 3400+ retail version. It comes with a fan and heatsink. Are these any good, or should I buy some better fan/heatsink combo? It's this one here:
CPU

For this CPU I'll buy this motherboard: MSI K8T800 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket 754 CPU. Is this good? It's over here:
motherboard

Then I was thinking of buying the Maxtor 6Y160M0 160GB Serial ATA 7200rpm 8MB Hard Drive, found here
HD

Also I want to get a Plextor 52x24x52 CD-RW Drive. This is here:
Burner

I am going to buy PC 3200 RAM but I'm not sure how much 512 or 1024? Also what manufacturer do you recommend? I am also thinking of buying a Radeon 9800 XT with 256 mb. Is this a good setup? Are there any incompatibility issues? Also, the HD and burner are OEM, is it a good idea to buy OEM stuff or should I stick to retail?

Thanks for the help.

 

[Markfw]

Don't skimp on the memory. PC3500 is better and CAS2. I don;t have to time copy all your links. I would recommend using the http thing while posting to make it easier.

Welcome to the forums.

 

[SerialPrecision]

ok I fixed the links, anyone have any advice/comments ?

 

[SerialPrecision]

I heard the people here are helpful, but I guess no one can help ?

 

[Likwit]

Nice case but I question the need for 6 fans.

Will you be overclocking?

I suggest looking at something like the Antec Super Lanboy. It has two big 180mm fans (front and rear). You still have heat sinks and fans for your CPU and video cards along with a fan on your PSU to move the heat.

 

[Likwit]

I am going to buy the AMD Athlon 64 3400+ retail version. It comes with a fan and heatsink. Are these any good, or should I buy some better fan/heatsink combo? It's this one here:

The fan and heatsink that is included should be fine. However, you may want to buy some thermal paste instead of the thermal sticker thingy.

 

[dnuggett]

Originally posted by: SerialPrecision
I heard the people here are helpful, but I guess no one can help ?

We are helpful, but you need to relax.

The case is ok. Personally a case is all an opinion as far as looks go, as far as functionality I never heard of it or read a review so I don't know.

The chip is a good choice, but you can buy a 3000+ and OC it. It's about half as expensive, and you will lose some performance due to the loss of cache.

As far as RAM, it can be touch and go depending on your board. Get to know that board and find out what works and doesn't work. Yuo best brands are in no particular order, Kingston HyperX, Mushkin, Corsair XMS, and OCZ. Just a step below, Crucial makes some the best and most compatible RAM at good prices.

 

[KnightPalatine]

You didn't say what you intend to use your new rig for.

If gaming is high on your priority list, some of the new games already are into 1GB RAM territory. As Markfw900 said, don't skimp on the quantity or quality of your RAM. Kingston HyperX PC3500 seems to work well with the A64.

Unless you've gone deaf from too much heavy metal or rap, I think you'll find that living with six case fans will get old very quickly. Even if they're "quiet" fans, the cross-flows will generate noisy turbulence inside the case. Get a case with good air flow, pay a bit of attention to your cable management, and you should be fine. Otherwise, you may want to look into a water cooling solution such as the Koolance EXOS.

I've never had a problem with OEM drives. If you have the necessary cables and mounting hardware, I see no point in shelling out the extra coin for retail packaging.

 

[jdogg707]

For that chip I would get the Asus K8V Deluxe over a MSI board any day. Also, go with 1GB of good quality memory (Corsair XMS, Kingston HyperX, OCZ, Mushkin). As far as the hard drive I would get either the Hitachi 160GB SATA 7200RPM Hard Drive because it should be faster and also have a three year warranty; you may also want to consider the Western Digital 160GB SATA Hard Drive. As far as the Plextor burner, they are great drives, but Lite-On makes just as good a drive for basic CD Burning that will perform on par with the Plextor for half the money.

 

[Zinn2b]

I like your case very much looks great. I am an Intel man myself but, I believe you have made nice choice, on the subject of motherboards I believe I would go with Chaintech ZNF3-150 great performer and it looks great and you do have sidepanels to view. as for your hard drive you seem to be puting together a performer so I would install 2 western digital raptor harddrives running in raid0 they have 36GB or 72GB that would be 72GB or 144 GB that should cover your needs nicely your cdrom choice is nice as for memory i would install Corsair PC3200LL with BR5 chip if you can find very fast timing I have IC7-MAX3 Abit with this memory at 800MHz(2x512) matched, running at 22225 and F1 this is Very Very fast none faster and it runs great in Games you should not need anymore than 1024 of ram, as for the GPU that is a nice choice but the new cards well be released very soon and there going to be way way faster so i would wait just a little Radeon 420 chipset is going to smoke OEM stuff works great and i see no compatiability issues

 

[SerialPrecision]

Thanks for the help everyone.

I guess I don't need the 6 fans because I won't be overclocking. But I want at least 3 fans. I was looking at some cases, but I still can't decide which one to get. I don't like cases that have a door covering the optical drives, I would rather have those exposed. I guess I'll be getting 1 gig of Kingston HyperX PC 3200 or PC 4000?

I'll be using this computer mostly for gaming. If I buy a bare HD only, what types of cables will I need? Will I need any special type of hardware to mount it? I guess I'll go with the Hitachi 160GB SATA 7200RPM Hard Drive you recommended. The Raptor ones are awesome but a bit too expensive for me.

I guess I'm already decided on pretty much all the parts except for the case. I just need to find a good one without a door and preferably with a side window.

Also, any suggestions on monitors? I'm looking for at least 19in. I currently have a Viewsonic G90F 19 in. which is pretty good. I might just get a 2nd one.

 

[SerialPrecision]

I think I found a pretty good case. It was on the same site that the other one was. Check it out here

It has four 80 mm fans. PSU is not included (at least, it doesn't say anything about it on the site) So I need to find a PSU. How much watts do you guys think I need for those parts?

 

[Metron]

Serial,

That case looks cool, but make sure you take steps to make your computer quiet.

Biggest sources of noise are usually:
1) Power Supply
2) CPU HSF
3) Case Fans

My brother pointed me to EndPCNoise about a year ago, and I commend it highly to you.

My brother recently picked up the 19.2 dBA Nexus 350W Power Supply. I think that would be your best choice for a power supply.

For the HSF, go with the 20 dBA Zalman 7000A. It comes in either Aluminum and Copper, or all Copper. Looks cool too with a clear sided case.

In terms of case fans, I suggest either 12dBA Papst 8412NGL case fan or a 26 dBA 120mm Pabst 4412FGL mounted in the front of your case. I run 2 80mm Pabst 8412NGL's, one on the side and one on the back.

After making these mods, the sound coming from my system is barely perceptable. I don't turn on my Athlon box much anymore... it's too loud! (though I have plans to build an ultra-quiet Athlon 64 3000+ soon) Try just those 3 changes, and you'll be amazed how much more quiet your system will be.

Lastly, I second (third?) the suggestion to go with an Athlon 64 3000+, rather than the 3400. A much better deal at just over $200.

<edit>
One more thing... I have this case, a silver Fudin, clear sided. It's strong and light (zinc coated steel, but looks like brushed aluminum), and it has a blue cathode light about which the AT people here like to tease me.

Regards,
Metron

 

[SerialPrecision]

Thx for the suggestions. I am not too concerned about making this pc quiet. I might change some of the fans to quiet fans later on. About the powersupply, I think I need more than 350 watt, but I'm not sure exactly how much. I heard that Enermax makes good PSUs. I think I'll go with the standard HSF that's included with the processor. Also, I guess I'll have to put some thermal paste on the CPU. Which thermal paste is good, or are they all the same?

 

[fireontheway]

as for the thermal paste i think that might be AS5, for the case i just couldnt resist suggesting this one also available in black

 

[dnuggett]

Get a case with good air flow, pay a bit of attention to your cable management, and you should be fine. Otherwise, you may want to look into a water cooling solution such as the Koolance EXOS.

I would never suggest watercooling to someone who appears to be new at system building......

 

[SerialPrecision]

Yeah I can't really do watercooling yet. That is a very nice case, I might buy that one instead, thanks!

 

[SerialPrecision]

Hey guys, what do you think about this monitor? Is it any good? Or would you recommend another one?