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Would someone kindly look over my first system build?

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Hi and thanks for reading this

I'm fed up with my five year old Dell Dimension 8100 (noisy fan, glitchy and keeps rebooting randomly) and want to replace it with something quieter.

I've never built a computer before, but I've been reading articles, books and websites for the last couple of months and have done a little upgrading before.


I want something cheap, stable and quiet rather than powerful and would like to play a few older games such as Morrowind, Neverwinter Nights and Half-Life 2. To that end I've selected this list:


CASE: Antec p180 £73.07

PSU: Antec Phantom 500w £109.90

Motherboard: Gigabyte K8N SLI £56.88

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice Core 64 bit 512k L2 £86.92

RAM: Corsair Memory VS512MB400 PC3200 512MB CAS2.5 (x2) £58.65

Graphics card: Gigabyte GeForce 6600GT 256MB(128bit)DDR11 PCIE SLI £75.54

Hard disk: Western Digital Caviar 250GB S300 16mb 7200rpm £58.43

Operating System: Windows xp home SP2 OEM + Linux £60.92

TOTAL: £580.31
I already have keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers and an old audigy card PCI card.

I will probably be upgrading again in three years (by which time I figure that the current sockets will have been replaced anyhow), I really need a computer quite soon and can't justify spending much more than this on it. I figured that if I buy a good case and power supply, these would do me for my next computer as well.


Are these components compatible? Are there any parts that perform better for the same cost? Is stable and quiet? And uh... Would it run World of Warcraft decently? :D 

One last question: If I buy the windows xp upgrade disk instead of OEM, would I be able to use the license on another computer I built, if I retired the one I had previously installed the license on?

Thank you very much for taking the time to read this. Don't be afraid to tell me I've been a complete idiot for choosing some of the components...or the Dell five years ago.

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I agree drop the 6600GT and pick up a 7600. Dont even think about the 6800, it is only a hair faster than the 6600GT. The 7600GT will out preform both of the cards, so it would say its worth the extra $30.

Also seriously look at a dual core cpu.

If you're going to play MMO's, get at least a GB of RAM - they'll love RAM, especially in big, crowded cities. The quicker things get loaded into RAM, the better things run, and having more always helps.

If you're going to upgrade again in three years but need a cost-effective system, go with Intel. Their stuff is cheaper, particuarly in the dual-core arena, and you'll be able to upgrade to the (maybe) AMD-killer, Core 2 Duo/Conroe.

Intel's run hotter, and therefore need a louder or more expensive cooler, but you may have to deal with it for now. The stock cooler will be fine, even for some mild overclocking - which I suggest at your price point. The Pentium D 805 runs hot, but OC's really well. I hate Netburst, but Conroe should be incredible. For you, Intel may be the better choice.

Quote:
Chanage the 6600GT for a 7600GT. It shouldn't cost too much more, and it will perform quite a bit better. The rest of the system looks nice; I really like that case.


Can't disagree with that.

OP - check Overclockers.co.uk - they have a clearance every Thursday (I think the 3500+ is cheaper there than dabs as well)

It looks like you selected a gig of ram, but if not do it. Also, I agree with the others that the 7600 vid card is a big step up for not a lot of money. Your new PC will be "future proofed" fairly well. It will play newer games very well if you decide to.

Thank you (kindly!) for all the input everyone.

I've had a look at the 7600gt and they look VERY tempting, though I have a slight problem. My current monitor is a dell p991 CRT with D-SUB input whilst the 7600gt only have dual DVI output and I wasn't planning on upgrading for a year or so.


Does anyone have experience with DVI to D-SUB converters? Would I experience any loss in quality or blurring if I bought this and used it with my current monitor?


Would this be a good card for what I'm looking for?
XFX GeForce 7600GT XXX 256MB DDR3 PCIE Dual DVI £141.58 (+£66.04)

or since I'm worried about noise, how about this one?

Gigabyte GeForce 7600GS 256MB PCIE DVI Silent Pipe RoHs £86.50 (+£10.96)

edit: Found a review that says the XFX 7600gt includes DVI to D-Sub cables. Problem solved!
Looks like I'll be ordering the XFX, thanks again everyone.

Concur with lots of what is being said.

You definitely need at least a gig of RAM.

Go for the 7600GT

DVI to DSUB i use all the time, you lose a bit of definition but it saves buying a new monitor.

If you want to drop the cost a bit consider the E6 Venice 3000 or 3200 and overclock. The 3000 runs at default 9 x 200 i.e. 1800 but i have mine up to 9 x 278 (2500) with everything stock including the cooler and a max temp of 42C. This equate approx to a Venice 3900. :D .
Others have had the 3000 up to 2800 but with scary voltage and good coolers ie not for me 8O .

What i don't get is why you have gone for a £100 PSU. There are lots out there for half of this that deliver just as well (Hyper.Enermax etc eg. http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProdu...).

You could reduce the case as well but its personal choice just make sure whatever you pick takes 120m fans as they are a lot quieter.

Saving money on the power supply would enable you to afford the other key components like the graphics card.

Changed my mind again! :D 

I'm going for the Gigabyte fanless 7600gt

And I've changed the two 512mb sticks of CAS3 for a 1gb stick of CAS2, seeing as the memory slots are rather close together on this board and this leaves me abit of room to upgrade to 2gb at a later date if I choose so.

I sent off an email to Gigabyte as I was worried about how much room the cards would take up on this reportedly cramped motherboard. Lo and behold in less than an hour I get a reply with pictures of the card in single and SLI configuration on the motherboard (with the shots timestamped today)!

Best support I've ever seen. Thumbs up to Gigabyte!





I'm a little unhappy about overclocking. It sounds fun and worthwhile, but it isn't something I've researched. Who knows? Maybe in a few years.
I've gone with the Phantom as it is quiet, a reliable make and will definately fit the P180 (I've heard certain PSUs have trouble fitting it).
Plus it has that dinky little blue LED on the back...

Quote:
I sent off an email to Gigabyte as I was worried about how much room the cards would take up on this reportedly cramped motherboard. Lo and behold in less than an hour I get a reply with pictures of the card in single and SLI configuration on the motherboard (with the shots timestamped today)!


Are you planning on running 2 7600GT's in SLI, or just a single? In general, its just not worth it to run mid range cards in SLI, because a single high end card usually costs less than 2 mid range cards (+ the cost of buying an SLI MB over a single slot MB), and will usually outperform them.

A single 7600GT should be more than good enough for older games, and does respectably well even in modern, GPU crippling games (ie Oblivion).

Not bad for a first build. But here is my $0.02.

Unless you want a silent computer, a fanless psu is overkill. You can save nearly 50£ if you got an antec psu with a fan. Antec's psu are really quite, regardless. Also 500watt is overkill for your system, but thats good so your psu has some upgrade headroom. 600watts is not needed unless you plan on getting sli + raid (multiple harddrives) + high performance dual core cpu.

Definitely get the 7600gt as a few here have recommended, 7600gt is really fast. But if you want to go silent and not lose to much performance, get a 7600gs if possible. They use passive cooling and is about 30% slower than the 7600gt, but you can overclock the 7600gs if need be. However I still recommend the 7600gt.

And one gb of ram is almost manditory in todays systems. Just make sure you get a reliable brand, and 2x 512mb is your best bet, so you get dual channel.. if your trying to keep the price down I recommend 2 of these...
http://www.dabs.com/ProductView.aspx?Quicklinx=3W8F&Cat...

Hope I was some help. Good luck with your new system ^-^

That's the card I'm getting. Looks great!

I changed the Western Digital Caviar to a 250gb Samsung Spinpoint SATA II as I've heard there can high pitched whining for people with sensitive hearing with the caviar, whilst I've read good reviews of the Samsung being very reliable, quiet and reasonably fast. I've changed the GA-K8N-SLI for the GA-K8N-SLI PRO for the reliability of the Dual Boot bios system and I've made sure the p180 case I'm getting is the newly updated one with room for larger fans. The Athlon 3500+ venice has also been changed to an Athlon 3800+ venice.
These changes add an extra £40 to the build.


I dont plan on buying SLI yet, who knows, maybe another card will fall into my hands and I'll be lucky enough not to fumble and drop it, smashing it into useless chunks upon the acursed earth! (Oh you acursed earth... :(  )


As for the PSU, I figure when I retire this machine I can reuse it, either in a new computer or a media centre. I know I'm paying a premium for the case and PSU, but I have rather sensitive hearing (what others feel is comfortable TV viewing, I often find painful, can still hear bats in my twenties etc and so forth).

If you are looking for a quiet system, I would recommend an aftermarket cooler for whichever video card you choose to buy and maybe even the processor, too. If your ears are sensitive, you might find spending extra money on the coolers to be a good thing.

Quote:
If you are looking for a quiet system, I would recommend an aftermarket cooler for whichever video card you choose to buy and maybe even the processor, too. If your ears are sensitive, you might find spending extra money on the coolers to be a good thing.

YOu can go with one of these VGA cards, they don't have fans, completelly pasive cooling, yet very effectuve
1-http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E1681...
OR
2-http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E1681...

Just popped in to say it's been working for a week now (hurrah!) with no crashes.

The stock fan has become steadily noisier as the weather gets hotter here so I ordered a scythe mine cooler. Now I just have to wait till I can get some arcticlean to clear off this nasty heatpad.


Scrub scrub scrub! :twisted:


Thanks for all your help again everyone.
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