What do you think for a First time build?

Which Cpu?

  • X2 4200+

    Votes: 3 42.9%
  • Opteron 165

    Votes: 4 57.1%

  • Total voters
    7

carpcmelee

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Mar 3, 2006
277
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18,780
This is my first build i know ur annoyed by these stupid posts but plz help me out here. The system is as follows:

Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 SATA NCQ 3Gb/s 160gb 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM $89.99
OCZ PowerStream OCZ520ADJSLI ATX, BTX, EPS12V 520W Power Supply 100~120Vac / 200~240Vac 10/6a - Retail $139.99
MSI K8N Diamond Plus nForce4 SLI Opteron/Athlon 64(FX)/64 X2 Dual-Core Skt939 DDR ATX Motherboard w/Audio, Dual Gigabit LAN, RAID/Serial ATA Retail ***Free 2nd Day*** $194.99
XFX PVT70GUDF7 Geforce 7800GT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 VIVO PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail $289.00
CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory - Retail $179.00
SAMSUNG 940b-Black 19" 8ms LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 700:1 0.294mm Pixel Pitch - Retail $329.99
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Processor Socket 939 Retail ***Free 2nd Day***w/Fan and Heatsink, 3 Years Manufacturer Warranty $356.00
Sony DRU810A / 16x8x16x DVD+RW / 16x6x16x DVD-RW / 8x DVD±R DL / White / Internal DVD Writer- 59.95
Lite-on / 16x4x16x DVD+RW / 12x4x16x DVD-RW / 4x DVD+R DL / 48x24x48x CD-RW / DVD Writer with Black and Biege Faceplates $44.95
Gigabyte GZ-FSCA1-ANB Aluminum Full Tower Case (Black) Retailw/o Power Supply $139.00
SONY Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Model MPF920 Black - OEM $9.99
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Sub Total=$1832.27
 

maxxum

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Jan 30, 2006
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I have four of those HD’s in the 200GB variety, don’t expect them to be very zippy. They are great for data storage (I use mine for movies, songs and storage), but for an OS you might find yourself wanting.

As far as the CPUs, the Opteron is only a valid choice if you are very serious about overclocking. In which case, see what people are saying about that motherboard and memory kit. Also, that means getting a quality heat sink and fan. I’m very process oriented (thinking) and do what is most ‘logical’ verses what may be cool – so take what I say with a grain of salt. IMO I would buy a cheaper board and forgo the better HS/Fan and use that extra cash (cut say 100 off board and 50 on the heat sink) and just get an AMD 64 X2 4400 and then just overclock that one with stock fan by a meager 100-200Mhz. Or, just spend around 60 more and get a 4600. Then again, you could do the cheap MB again and pump up to a Opteron 175 too :) Hey, but that’s just me :)

Many web sites like Tom’s have been saying for a while that the budget MB’s are far more capable than people give them credit for these days. All my boards (non-server) are under 120 bucks and I’ve never had any problems and I put my computers through hell :)
 

177ine177ine

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Jan 23, 2006
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couple of questions before i can answer yours.
1. What are you using the system for?
2. Do you plan to overclock? If you do then the opty would probably perform better if you got a better heatsink for it and got some better memory. If not, you would probably feel more comfortable with the 4200+. Dual core is the way of the future.
You should also consider waiting for the new cards by nvidia to come out and that might drop your price of the 7800gt.
 

carpcmelee

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Mar 3, 2006
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18,780
Well, I know about the 7900 series, so im not gonna upgrade to this. I will also be getting am2, so ill be getting a imilar mobo except a new socket.O ther thanit will be the same. I made up my mind, 170 opty. I will play games on super high setings and some schoolwork. I will oc the opty to 2.8 on air. :twisted:
 

godlyatheist

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Nov 13, 2005
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I notice you chose an overpriced SLI mobo and you are only getting one video card.

Switch the mobo to DFI UT4 Ultra, change that PSU to a non-SLI one. It is true that SLI mobo OC better than non-SLI, but are you going hardcore?

Why two DVD-RW?? are you gonna be putting four optical into your pc and writing two CDs at the same time?

oh, forget the floppy, i don't think you'd need it. Even memtest can run on CD now.

these are just cost saving tips