First Build

[MindFlare327]

This is my first time building my own pc. This is what I'm thinking about going with. I'm trying to keep this between $1500-$1600 USD max. Any comments or suggestions are welcome.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Manchester 2000MHz HT 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939
Microsoft Windows XP Pro w/Service Pack 2 OEM
NZXT NEMESIS ELITE BLK Black 1.0 mm ALUMINUM ATX Mid Tower 400 WATT PS2 ATX 12V Power Supply
Gigabyte K8N Pro-SLI NVIDIA Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX AMD
Patriot Signature 2GB DDR SDRAM DDR 400 PC3200
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s
2 Lite-on SHW-160P6S04 16x8x16xDVD+RW / 16x6x16xDVD-RW / 48x24x48x CD-RW
ASUS EAX1900XT/2DHTV/512 Radeon X1900XT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16
ASPIRE CF12SL-UBL 120mm Blue LED Light Cooling Fan - Retail
Sabrent 52-in-1 USB 2.0 Internal Flash Memory Reader/Writer
SAMSUNG 740N-Black 17" 8ms LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 600:1 0.264mm Pixel Pitch - Retail
APEVIA (ASPIRE) ATX-AS520W BLUE ATX 520W Power Supply

I think I'm going to ditch the PSU that comes in the case and use the bigger one. Is there anything that I'm missing? Any components that I should get different? Someone was telling me I should liquid cool it also...is that necessary?

 

[MindFlare327]

So I need to find a different mobo and different processor.

At the risk of sounding really stupid, what is the difference between AM2 and 939?

 

[nashbar50]

So I need to find a different mobo and different processor.

At the risk of sounding really stupid, what is the difference between AM2 and 939?

You will also need to buy different RAM, DDR2 instead DDR

 

[T_Bone]

Go AM2, here are a few suggestions:

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Windsor 2000MHz HT 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2

Mobo: Gigabyte GA-M55SLI-S4 Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD

RAM: G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Unbuffered DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)


T_Bone

 

[MindFlare327]

Ok, I think this is what I will go with.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Windsor 2000MHz HT 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2
Microsoft Windows XP Pro w/Service Pack 2 OEM
NZXT NEMESIS ELITE BLK Black 1.0 mm ALUMINUM ATX Mid Tower 400 WATT PS2 ATX 12V Power Supply
Gigabyte GA-M55SLI-S4 Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Unbuffered DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s - OEM
2 Lite-on SHW-160P6S04 16x8x16xDVD+RW / 16x6x16xDVD-RW / 48x24x48x CD-RW
ASUS EAX1900XT/2DHTV/512 Radeon X1900XT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16
ASPIRE CF12SL-UBL 120mm Blue LED Light Cooling Fan - Retail
Sabrent 52-in-1 USB 2.0 Internal Flash Memory Reader/Writer
APEVIA (ASPIRE) ATX-AS520W BLUE ATX 520W Power Supply
SAMSUNG 740N-Black 17" 8ms LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 600:1 0.264mm Pixel Pitch - Retail


Does anyone know about liquid cooling? Or do you think that 120mm fan will be enough?

 

[MindFlare327]

Yeah, I won't be overclocking. I wouldn't know how even if I wanted to. LOL Thanks for all the help.

One more question. For a UPS how many watts do I need?
I was looking at an Opti-UPS ES1000C 8 Outlet 700 Watt
but I wasn't sure how many watts for a battery backup I'd need.

 

[bitsbytesandboolean]

I would go with two hard drives in RAID 0. Even with a stat 3.0gb/s you smokin' system will be lagging from the hdd's. RAID is the only way to go and isn't too tought to do....

if you don't raid, it might be diassapoitning...well to me atleast

 

[MindFlare327]

So I should get another hard drive, then I probably need to get a RAID Card for that? I don't know anything about RAID. If I need to get a RAID card, what is a good one that would work with 2 Seagate 7200.10's?

 

[sbroadbent]

So I should get another hard drive, then I probably need to get a RAID Card for that? I don't know anything about RAID. If I need to get a RAID card, what is a good one that would work with 2 Seagate 7200.10's?

Most new mobos have Raid, so just make sure your motherboard has Raid 0. The mobo T_Bone listed does have Raid so you should be fine with it.

 

[MindFlare327]

This is what it says for the mobo I got.

Storage Devices
PATA 2 x ATA100 up to 4 Devices
PATA RAID NV RAID 0/1/0+1 JBOD
SATA 3Gb/s 4
SATA RAID NV RAID 0/1/0+1 JBOD

So I just need to get a 2nd HD?

 

[177ine177ine]

Basically ya. Also consider getting Raid 1. It's a waste of one hard drive but if it fails your covered and read times are faster.

 

[bitsbytesandboolean]

You are golden. but remember... if you RAID 0 it adds the size of each drive together to make a lager one. so you won't need to big drives, just two small ones. raid 1 doesn't add them together...they just mirror eachother. I would go raid 0, it's faster too. but you want to backup your data cuz if one drives goes, the whole raid 0 goes...

 

[MindFlare327]

Thanks everyone for all the help. Now, hopefully, I can put it all together right. LOL

 

[MindFlare327]

Just when I thought I had everything set, it was brought to my attention that I will be unable to use the SLI functions (Crossfire for ATI) with a Nvidia chipset based mother/mainboard like the K8N Pro-SLI using an ATI video card. If I want to add another like video card in the future to use the dual card features, I will either have to go with an Nvidia video card or move to a ATI chipset main/motherboard that supports Crossfire. So I'm looking on newegg and there are only 2 AM2 socket mobos with ATI chipsets.

ECS RS485M-M (V1.0) Socket AM2 ATI Radeon XPRESS 1100 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813135011
and
ECS KA3 MVP (V1.0A) Socket AM2 ATI CrossFire Radeon XPRESS 3200 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813135024

Should I go with one of those? Or will the Gigabyte GA-M55SLI-S4 Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail be ok?
Maybe I just won't go with the second vid card later and stick with the board that I have selected, because I really don't want to go with an Nvidia video card...I've always been told that Radeon is better...don't know how true that is though.

 

[bitsbytesandboolean]

don't waste your time with sli.... it's over-rated. just buy a solid card and you will be fine. Save the money on the second card and use it towards better components.