beginner building new diy pc needs pro help

outcastkid

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Dec 13, 2007
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hi guys..i'm planning to built my own rig and its like my first rig.so i like to ask u guys who has a very wide knowledge some questions.niwae the rig specs is as stated below:


cpu:AMD Athlon64 X2 5000+
video card: POWER COLOR Radeon X1950Pro 256MB DDR3

so the questions is:

1st ques:
what motherboard chipset is the best and suitable for the cpu and the video card?

2nd ques:
is CRUCIAL BallistiX 1GB (PC2-6400/CL4) 800MHz DDR2-800 perfect for the cpu,video card and *chipset*?or should i use other memory card?if i shouldn't use this memory card cud u guys recommend me other models?

3rd ques:
niwae,i'm looking for a motherboard that has firewire,usb 2.0 ports,lan.what brand and model is the best and not that expensive.

4th ques:
so once i know what to get for the memory and motherboard.i need to know what amount of watts(psu)for my rig?aniwae,does it matter how many watts i use?



niwae,guys i hope i could get some answers and recommendations soon.opinions will also be consider and i'm very sorry if my question sounds stupid but i'm just a beginner in diy comp.thanks


p.s im building a rig that able to support 3d max,photoshop,premiere pro smoothly.i'm not going to use it for overclocking and pls forgive my poor english
 

pojomofo

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May 19, 2006
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1. Chipset, depends on if you plan to go Xfire at any point. I personally like nvidia chipsets, but obviously wont support xfire. For a budget build, I like the Gigabyte shown here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128056
For a more expensive one, look here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131095

2: Both of those mobos are built for DDR-800. Crucial is a great brand, along with Geil, G.Skill, Patriot, OCZ, Corsiar.

3. Most new mobos have those features standard now, so just look at the descriptions to make sure, but that shouldnt be hard to find.

4. With that rig, i wouldnt be too hung up on how many watts the PSU has, since you only have one GPU. Just make sure you get a good brand. I got a cheap 450w PSU with my case, fried after 2 months. I would get a Antec, OCZ, Thermaltake, Silverstone, colermaster area all good choices. I would try to get about 30A on the 12V rail, or dual rails, but that gets a bit more expensive. Couple of good ones for good price.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171018
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817189005
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153023

not stupid questions at all, this should render fairly well with that video card, too bad it wasnt 512MB VRAM thoogh, that would have helped a lot.

Hope this helped at least some
 

KekaiGenkai

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Oct 3, 2007
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xfire or crossfire, is just like nVidia's SLI, or, it is two graphics cards placed on a single motherboard. Very few people use a crossfire/sli configuration and it isn't very cost effective because of the inefficiency of their overall processing power. x1950 pro's are capable of crossfire using two standard pro cards with a separate dongle.

As far as psu's are concerned, you should be looking at psu's that provide 30 amps on the 12v rail. I have a card similar to yours and if it doesn't get enough amps, it has problems. Most psu's that have 30 or more amps are in the 500 watt and above range, use that as a guideline.

My motherboard is similar to the first that pojomofo lists, though it's a bit more expensive, and it's a great mobo. Here's a link:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128034

Good luck.