Homebuild planned, any advice on my config?

[fo3]

Planning on building a new pc which would last a few years with somewhat decent performance. I've chosen the parts which more or less fit into my budget, and would appreciate any feedback on them.

Cpu: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ AM2 Box [anything over this would probably be out of my price range, and the similary priced pentiums seem to have lower performance]
Mb: Abit KN9 Ultra MCP55 [The KN9 seems to do fairly well in reviews, and since I won't be using SLI anyway, there is no point in taking the SLI version. There shouldn't be any other differences? I kind of squeezed the motherboard in the budget, but it should do fine for me?]
Ram: 2 x DDR2 1GB 4300-533 PQI [Another squeeze in the budget, but I think that anything under 2GB will be old before I take it home. How much difference would be expected from DDR2 1GB 5300-667 PQI?]
Hdd: Maxtor 250GB, MaxLine Plus III SATA II 7200rpm 16MB cache FDB [I think it will be enough, so I don't bother getting a bigger one at this moment]
Graphics: 256MB Sapphire X1900GT [I found this to be the best I can afford right now. Or is there a reason why I should pick a different one?]

 

[apt403]

so um what is your budget?

 

[fo3]

Well the problem is, I'm not buying online, but from a local store, and the currency conversion and pricing differences would make it a bit difficult to tell the exact amount, but the direct cost would be around 1200$

Edit: And thats including the case and power supply and mouse/keyboard and speakers. The described components will be a bit over 1000$, but the local prices may be a bit higher than online stores.

 

[fo3]

From the lack of comments, I take it that it is mostly ok?

Edit: For example, should I rather go for a 3800+ cpu and better ram? Or is the current option better?

 

[fo3]

Ok, thanks for feedback, guys :roll:

 

[apt403]

HAVE NO FEAR apt403 IS HERE!
ok i cant tell you what the prices are there but if you can get it, buy the asus version of the 1950pro. on newegg right now its $164 and should give you similar performance to the 1900gt . instead of the AMD proc. go with a E6300 or E6400 if you can swing it, better processor and about the same price. as for the mobo looking at the prices of the Abit KN9 Ultra your only choice would be the MSI P965 Neo-F which should be fine as long as you arent OC-ing. RAM looks good but i would go for higher speeds 533 is standard for the C2D's. 667 and 800 are the faster varieties that will give better performace but push you system out of budget not sure about the ram speeds on AMD procs though. as for PSU something along the lines of 480W should do, get an antec, OCZ or another name brand NEVER SKIMP ON THE PSU!!! everybody says that, probably because it's true, short of throwing you PC off a cliff under-powering a system is the worst thing you could do. with the case, just pick one you like, make sure its big and will stay cool. as far as the price goes you might want to bring in a few print outs of an e-tailer like newegg or zipzoomfly and try to hagle. and thats all ivie got.

EDIT: just checked the specs on the 1950pro and the 1900gt, you should get better performance with the 1950pro since there almost exaclty the same except the 1950pro's memory is 90mhz faster.

 

[fo3]

Ok, thanks for the reply first.
I couldn't find the e6300 from the tomshardware charts, but the e6400 really does seem to outperform the 4200+. It is a bit more expensive too though. But I could get a e6300 for the exact same price as the 4200+. So you think I should rather go for that?
And would the e6300 support ddr2 memory too or should I go for the ddr memory?
And do you suggest only the asus 1950pro? I'm not sure I can find the asus one, but the others wouldn't be as good?
I'll try to follow your suggestions about the PSU, but I got to admit, I was going to get some standard one that comes with the case.

And another question. Should I go for 533 ram with 2GB, or maybe 800 ram of 3x512MB? How good is it anyway to put three sticks, instead of 2 or 4?

 

[apt403]

if you can find the E6300 my advice would be to get that one. with the RAM i think the C2D's only support ddr2 but there might be a board by like foxconn or something that can take ddr.I suggested the asus version os the 1950pro because its the cheapest right now and at $164 its one hell of a deal but yeah the others are just as good and maybe even better since they support VIVO which isnt a really big deal unless you want to like watch TV on your comp. im getting the sapphire version when they drop a little in price. with the ram speed get 800 if you can afford it, im not sure if the neo-f supports ddr2 800 though. it might only do 667 so 800 would be a waste since the mobo would just down clock it. as far as ram grouping goes you'll have to ask somebody else, its like 2:30AM here and im getting kind of tired, the only thing i can think of pertaining to that right now is duel channel something and i cant really remember what that is. ill be of more use on the ram issue once ive had a couple hours of sleep.

 

[fo3]

Ok, thanks for the advice mate. i will be back later with my upgraded config

 

[I-am-crazy]

with the ram speed get 800 if you can afford it, im not sure if the neo-f supports ddr2 800 though. it might only do 667 so 800 would be a waste since the mobo would just down clock it.

I have a MSI P965 neo-f with a core 2 duo E6600 with 2*corsair 1gb 800mhz ram-sticks and it runs fine @800mhz!

first the neo-f could only run the ram at a max of 667mhz, but they fixed that with a bios update!

so 800mhz ram is possible in a neo-f!

 

[apt403]

yep its true!

screen from newegg:

 

[fo3]

Ok, what do you think about ASUS P5B, P5B-E or P5B-VM for motheboard?

 

[kanoobie]

What are you going to mainly use your computer for?
Do you want to overclock it?
I agree that you should go with the E6300, but if you are trying to keep the costs down and don't plan on overclocking, 2 GB of 533 MHz DDR2 memory (2 x 1GB sticks) should be decent enough for you. Motherboards vary in prices and features available. If you don't plan on adding more components than you listed, you might be better off saving some money by choosing the less expensive board with fewer features. It all depends on your budget; if you spend some more, you might get some more life out of the system. No system is completely future proof, and eventually you will need to upgrade or buy a new system.

 

[apt403]

Ok, what do you think about ASUS P5B, P5B-E or P5B-VM for motheboard?

most of the P5B and P5W series are highend boards, there better then the neo-f but cost about $200-$250. if you can afford to get one get the P5B deluxe or its P5W counterpart.