PC assembly: Help me please.

[Spidee]

first off all my budget would be only $400-$500 (actually im using philippine peso because im from philippines) and im planning to buy it in my area

what i mostly do is downloading torrent files, browsing, sometimes encoding, playing games like Need 4 speed underground 2, not much of high end games, ive always got my Yahoo Mssenger On. and i use my pc as 24/7. i also use corel ng adobe.

i only nid 5 things
1. processor
2. mobo
3. memory
4. Vcard
5. Hard disk
6. of course casing

1. processor - im finally determined to have
A64 3000+ socket 939 Venice E6 ($115 - in my place)
because 3200+ is $157
(problem here, is the dumb persons selling this that dont
even know where to look at box to know its model)
what im doing for now is calling the shop to save money.
can u give me a guide to know if its venice E6?

2. mobo - im confused. rily. very very confused. what i shud take
options:
(these were only the available mobos in our place)
Epox 9NPA+ ( $88 )
Epox 9NPA3 Ultra ($112)
ASROCK 939Dual sata2 ($70)
Gigabyte K8NF9 ($83)
ECS K8T890-A ($63)
ECS RX480AL ($63)
ECS nForce4-A939 ($85)
*would u please give me ideas about these boards. also of
course the pros and cons. im also taking note of the prices

3. memory - id like to take

corsair value select 1G 2x512 value
pack (no price yet) (VS1GBKIT400C3)

or


corsair 1x1G (VS1GB400C3)($103)
(comments pls.) it seems im having a hard time with
these memory bcoz i still nid to order it to them. shud
i take a non branded ones?

4. vcard - actually i dnt know what i would take.
if pci express or agp

5. hard disc - well i only nid 80g. and im planning to take seagate sata.
does this HD would do?

6. casing -a simple 1 may do because i got a full tower casing with 475w
PSU (HEC) ill just nid a simple casing to transfer my p3 which
is residing on my tower.

**About OVERCLOCKING. i would like so but im afraid. if so, without modification in cooler with 100% sure that the OC will not damage my cpu
only a small OC'ing may do. but maybe not reaching the borderline that may cause instability and damage.

Hope u could help me about this.
ill b waiting 4 your ideas and suggestions.
it seems im already exhausted reading ang reading facts. i wish
bcoz especially for the mobos for the unstable feedbacks and hard to use
thank you.

 

[fishmahn]

1) good choice on CPU. If it is the socket 939. then it is either the Venice or Winchester core. Either core is good, though Venice is newer. Go to Newegg and look at their site for the AMD part numbers for the Venice & winchester cores - that's the part #'s you should be getting.

2) Epox is my first choice, the Gigabyte or ASrock next. I put ECS at the bottom especially if you want to try overclocking. If the 9npa+ has all the features you see yourself needing get that one.

3) Sounds OK. Get the 2x512 kit for now so you can run it in dual channel mode. Cheap non-branded ones are ok for non-overclocking I suppose.

4) Get PCI Express. If you want a good gamer, get a 6800GS. If you ahve more money get a 7800 or the newer ATI XI800. If 6800gs is too expensive, an X800 or 6600GT are less expensive and still ok. Video cards are a whole new list - ask in the video section as I'm not an expert by any means.

5) I like Seagate, any will work.

6) Get a case and PSU separately. Most PSU's included with cases are cruddy PSUs (Antec cases and a few other name brands excepted). Antec, Fortron Source, Seasonic, OCZ, Enermax are all good brands, get 350w or higher, depending on what's available to you at a good price.

What kills a CPU is extra voltage and heat. The stock cooler is usually good for up to 20% or so overclock, and many times the CPU can do that on stock voltage as well. The key to overclocking is to raise the speed a little and test - make sure its stable and not overheating, then raise it a few more and test again. When you find your limit (it won't harm the CPU though the computer will crash - just reboot and reset the speed slower and it'll be fine) you back off a little and forget it - just check temps occasionally in case a fan fails (you'd do that anyways...)

Mike.

 

[pat]

first off all my budget would be only $400-$500 (actually im using philippine peso because im from philippines) and im planning to buy it in my area

what i mostly do is downloading torrent files, browsing, sometimes encoding, playing games like Need 4 speed underground 2, not much of high end games, ive always got my Yahoo Mssenger On. and i use my pc as 24/7. i also use corel ng adobe.

i only nid 5 things
1. processor
2. mobo
3. memory
4. Vcard
5. Hard disk
6. of course casing

1. processor - im finally determined to have
A64 3000+ socket 939 Venice E6 ($115 - in my place)
because 3200+ is $157
(problem here, is the dumb persons selling this that dont
even know where to look at box to know its model)
what im doing for now is calling the shop to save money.
can u give me a guide to know if its venice E6?

2. mobo - im confused. rily. very very confused. what i shud take
options:
(these were only the available mobos in our place)
Epox 9NPA+ ( $88 )
Epox 9NPA3 Ultra ($112)
ASROCK 939Dual sata2 ($70)
Gigabyte K8NF9 ($83)
ECS K8T890-A ($63)
ECS RX480AL ($63)
ECS nForce4-A939 ($85)
*would u please give me ideas about these boards. also of
course the pros and cons. im also taking note of the prices

3. memory - id like to take

corsair value select 1G 2x512 value
pack (no price yet) (VS1GBKIT400C3)

or


corsair 1x1G (VS1GB400C3)($103)
(comments pls.) it seems im having a hard time with
these memory bcoz i still nid to order it to them. shud
i take a non branded ones?

4. vcard - actually i dnt know what i would take.
if pci express or agp

5. hard disc - well i only nid 80g. and im planning to take seagate sata.
does this HD would do?

6. casing -a simple 1 may do because i got a full tower casing with 475w
PSU (HEC) ill just nid a simple casing to transfer my p3 which
is residing on my tower.

**About OVERCLOCKING. i would like so but im afraid. if so, without modification in cooler with 100% sure that the OC will not damage my cpu
only a small OC'ing may do. but maybe not reaching the borderline that may cause instability and damage.

Hope u could help me about this.
ill b waiting 4 your ideas and suggestions.
it seems im already exhausted reading ang reading facts. i wish
bcoz especially for the mobos for the unstable feedbacks and hard to use
thank you.

From the list of board you have, I actually used the Gigabyte k8nf-9 for my last computer. It was fast and stable, and silent, because it has passive cooling. This board give m no problem at all. And it is doing great in my friend's system now..

I now have the Asrock. It is stable and fast. I don't know which one is faster, because I don't run benchmark.. But both feels equaly fast. This board has passive cooling too which is great. The gigabyte motherboard has one more SATA connector and sp/dif sound output for digital sound out. I had to get a sound card for the Asrock to send sound to my home theater receiver.

The Gigabyte don't have SATA2 specification connector and the Asrock has one, the 2 other are SATA1. But SATA2 IDE drives can be used with SATA1 controller no problem. Fact is, SATA2 is not really worthing anything.. it is just a new bigger number to market. "Hey, it's 2 so it sould be twice as good as 1..bullshit).

I switch to the Asrock because I wanted to put my AGP9600 AIW for capture and video work related. But I wanted to keep my PCI-e video card for gaming..

The asrock is a good overclocker for those who want to experiment mild overclock. I've been able to push my Winchester 3000+ at 2.35 GHz with stock cooling and a light voltage bump (0.05v) on the CPU.

From your list, I would choose the Asrock again, as it is cheap and perform well. I'd avoid the ECS because other in the list are way better choice.

For the video card, go PCI-e, not AGP. Seagate HDD are great, not the fastest, but well backed up with the 5 years warranty. I tried new samsung SATA HDD with my current built and they are quiet and fast. Happy with it so far. Warranty is 3 years while seagate is 5.

I don't know about HEC PSU, so, maybe you should research about the quality. Good quality PSU are a must with current system.

Corsair value RAM is good, and I know that the gigabyte and the Asrock can run with even cheap Samsung generic memory. Get 2 x512 if you want the most performance of your system, as the socket 939 support dual channel and running it single will make it making not better that the 2800+ socket 754..

And for the videocard, well, get the best you can with what remain of your budget.

 

[Spidee]

with my kind of setup wherein the way i would use it,
which is indicated above. BTW im not that big gamer
just slight
where should i invest more with my budget?

is it the processor?
mobo?
memory?
vcard?
or
watever.

thank you for all d ideas

 

[pat]

First should be PSU, then what remain is up to you..Get something nice, between 400 and 450w. then if your not a big gamer, go for mid range video card, that will leave you more room to get a big and fast enough HDD. Then you choose the mobo, the RAM and the CPU..

Don't worry about the model of the CPU. you'll get a venice I'm sure. Which stepping really not matter for casual users. Even a Winchester will do good and you wont notice the difference. People that are picky about those thing either are overclocker addict and has no life outside playing with their computer, benchmark freak that still has to run something else than 3dmark or just want to look like very knowledgeable IMHO..

So, you pick up a psu,mobo, a cpu, ram, video card, hdd and you build the thing. Then you install your game and play with them without caring about not getting the 2-3 more FPS that a E6 with faster RAM and killer bobo would give you ..

 

[Spidee]

what kind of video card would you suggest?

 

[pat]

Better ask in graphic card orum, they are more knowledgable than me for video card performance. But I think the newest ATI, with their AVIVO technology might be interresting.