Rate my first build please

timrobbins

Distinguished
Feb 19, 2006
7
0
18,510
Case: Xion Solaris $39 (Not high quality, but i like it and it's in my price range, but is it a piece of crap?)
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16811208009

Motherboard: Asus A8N5X nforce 4 $86 (Reviews seem good, but what do ya'll think?)
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813131569

CPU: AMD Athlon X2 3800 $296
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16819103562

GPU: eVGA 7800GT $250 after rebate
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814130256

PSU: Antec Truepower II 550W $89
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817103931

Optical Drive: Lite-On DVD-RW $38
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16827106014

HDD: Hitachi 80GB SATA 3.0GB/s $53 (I'll buy a 200GB external when i run out of space. Good idea?)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822145082

RAM: 512MB PNY Optima (I already have 2x512MB, so this will give me 1.5 GB. Is this a good idea?)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820236111

Mouse: Logitech MX518 $33
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16826104178

Windows XP Home w/SP2 $93

What do you think out of /10? In total it comes out to $982, $18 under budget. Do you think it will play most games on medium/high settings for a year and a half? Then I'll upgrade, but it needs to last that long without one (other than an external hdd and another 512MB stick of RAM). Also, I dont want to go SLI.
 

dvdpiddy

Splendid
Feb 3, 2006
4,764
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22,780
ok dude a few things the ram get corsair its cheaper with shipping by atleast a few bux and the proc if you want to game get the 3200 but multi tasking is what you want then the x2 is for you if you plan to oc get an opty 165
 

timrobbins

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Feb 19, 2006
7
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18,510
Yeah I need it for gaming and multitasking, so I'll go with the X2. Now about the RAM, see I already have 2x512MB PNY, now if I got another stick of 512MB, does it have to be PNY?
 

AngelDeath82

Distinguished
Jan 7, 2006
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18,530
If you are doing dual-channel memory configuration, you don't use an odd number of sticks, meaning stick with the existing 2, add 2 more, or replace the existing 2x 512 with 2x 1GB.

If you add a single 512 to an existing 2x512, you will see a performance drop. As for adding PNY again, add SAME PART NUMBER by PNY (and just hope it came out of a very similar batch).