My first build, AMD

[nort]

I'm planning to build my first pc for college and gaming. This is the first time I've ever built one, and I've ever built one so I'm not completely sure if everything is compatible and will run fine.

I'm building it on a budget, under $1300 including shipping and warranties.

Build:
Mobo
GIGABYTE GA-M57SLI-S4
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128014

CPU
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5400+ Brisbane 2.8GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103289

RAM
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231122

Case
COOLER MASTER Elite 330
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119115

PSU
XIGMATEK MC NRP-MC751 750W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817815002

Graphics Card
BFG Tech BFGE88512GTOCE GeForce 8800 GT 512MB OC at 625mhz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143118

Hard Drive
(2x) Western Digital Caviar Sata 3.0 500GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136073

Monitor
Acer AL2216Wbd Black 22"
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009094

Dvd/cd drive
LITE-ON Black Sata combo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106100

Case Fan
(2x) Scythe 120mm "Slipstream" Case Fan
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185057

Heatsink/fan
Sunbeam CR-CCTF 120mm "Core Contact Freezer"
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835207004

Wireless NIC
GIGABYTE GN-WP01GS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16839121008

OS
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 32-bit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116485

I want 2 hard drives, one for vista, another to backup or for ubuntu. I initially planned to get xp, but learned that directx10 is only for vista, so since vista sp1 fixed many of the bugs and the 32 bit wasn't horribly priced, i decided to go ahead and get it. Frostytech said that the heatsink was about14.3cm, so i had to get a wider case than the one i chose first, this case is 8 inches wide, leaving over 2 inches extra space (simple conversion math). I also wanted a dvd burner, but i don't think I'd ever use it. I want either the 8800gt from evga or bfg, both seem very similar and very good for its price. I'll get a second video card to run in sli and a second monitor for dual screen. I read that video cards for pci 2.0 are compatible with x16 so that would should work with my motherboard which is a lot cheaper than a mobo with 2 2.0's. My psu is 750w which should be more than enough for 8800gt sli. I plan to OC later on, black edition has an unlocked multiplier and the heatsink should be able to keep it cool.

I checked on newegg and all together, shipping and warranties i wanted, it was $1281.21 (including junk like arctic silver 5, anti static wrist strap, etc.)

What i want to know is if all of this is compatible since it's my first build, and if i could make it cheaper while still being a good budget computer, like if there are any other parts you would recommend that work better while still on budget.

 

[englandr753]

You should get Vista 64 bit so you can use all of the 4 gigs of ram you are paying for. Otherwise you will see 3.25 of the 4 gigs with home.

I know Xigmatek is a good brand but I dont know about their power supplies. I would rather go with this one and get free shipping an 10 bucks cheaper than the one you picked. Mine is 22 bucks less overall:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006

 

[dirtmountain]

I'd make these changes. I'd go with a different motherboard that support PhenomFX/Phenon/ athlon 64 x2 to leave yourself an upgrade path in case you want to upgrade your CPU in the future. This one does, it's $20 more and uses an AMD chipset instead of the Nvidia. This means that instead of SLI upgrade in the future, you will go crossfire.
Biostar TA 790GX with a 750 SB $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146731
it has a combo deal of -$20 with the CPU you selected, so no extra money for the motherboard upgrade.
Instead of the 750w Xigmatek power supply, order the Corsair 750w power supply from buy.com for $92 with free shipping, saving $30
http://www.buy.com/prod/corsair-tx-750w-atx-12v-power-supply-corsair-tx-cmpsu-750tx-atx12v/q/loc/101/206178325.html
Replace the 8800GT with a HD4850 for higher performance and it can be crossfired in the future with the Biostar motherboard at 8x/8x
Gigabyte HD4850 $149 after rebate The $30 saved from the PSU pays for the upgrade.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125238
go with Vista 64, not the 32, it's pretty mature now and will allow RAM to be expanded in the future.
Basically same price for the system, with clear improvements in mobo, GPU, OS, and PSU with clear upgrade paths for the future.

 

[faithful]

I must agree with dirtmountain, basically 100%. I would rather use Asus becaue here in SA they have better service. But otherwise Biostar has come a long way. 4850 is a much better choice than 8800GT. If you do not want to Crossfire in the future, you can get away with a much smaller PSU. Having a big psu, but only using say 350W, is very inefficient. You can save quite a bit of money as well by buying a 500W or 600W.

If you go for a 4850, try using one with custom cooling, like the Sapphire toxic. It is very quiet, very cool and even clocked faster. I have sold quite a few of them.

 

[chihlidog]

I have one suggestion. If you are a first time builder, I would be wary of that CPU cooler. It looks like it has a clip design. I built my first PC last year, and used a clip design on that exact motherboard, and it was an absolute nightmare to get on.

That one may not be, mine is a coolermaster and that one isnt. Take that for what it is worth, but unless you plan on OCing, you can probably get away with any cooler you want for that CPU and be fine.

I would just try to make sure that you can actually install whatever you buy without breaking your Motherboard (as I almost did!)

 

[Zenthar]

As englandr suggested, get 64bits Vista. Vista loves RAM and 64 bits allows you to have plenty.

 

[nort]

Ok, i looked over the advice you guys gave, which i greatly appreciate, and i made some changes to the build.

I really want sli because it seems to be a lot simpler and more reliable than crossfire imo, but i did find a really well priced mobo that i liked. I liked the biostar 790 you suggested, but it was crossfire, the one i chose was similar, just sli. I agreed and got the cheaper psu, the only big difference was that the corsair is non modular. I changed the video card, i stayed with sli but got a 9800gt, works well and was a lot cheaper.
I was going to use the ram you suggested, but since the mobo supports 1066, i got a faster pair. I also agreed with going with 64bit, i originally suspected that 32bit would register all 4gigs, since it cant and 64bit was the same price i should get it.


mobo
BIOSTAR TPower N750
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138108R

PSU
CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006

Graphics Card
EVGA 512-P3-N975-AR GeForce 9800 GT
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130380

RAM
OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227298

OS
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116488

current price with shipping/warranties :$1,319.71
a little over my preferred cost, but no biggy

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

One thing. I WOULD NOT go with an open box board. You may get a board that's fine, but then you may get one that a newbie who didn't have a clue what they were doing got hold of and messed up or fried and sent it back.

I know you prefer SLI, but here's a crossfire board brand new for the price of your other board.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138128


Also, check out Gigabyte, I have used biostar as well as gigabyte, and both seem good. I have a gigabyte in my amd rig, and it's a very stable board. No complaints on it whatsoever.

 

[megamanx00]

I agree that you should just get 64-bit windows. You should check to see if your college offers Windows for free or at a cheap price though before buying a copy. I only installed Vista since my University allows us to download a copy thanks to their MSDN partnership. 570 based boards are fine, but very few of them will support the Phenom. I believe the Asus board supports up to the 9750 with a BIOS update, but won't go beyond that, does not support all the cool n quiet features of the phenom, and will operate with a lower HT connection. If you're going with an nVidia build then get a board based on the 750a. Right now though you should consider getting a crossfire board since the Radeon 4850 is a much better card for a little more money. The 4830s should also be coming out soon if you are going to wait. Getting a crossfire board will allow you to crossfire two such cards. Personally I like the GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-DS4

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128075

But getting a board with the SB750 should help you overclock better. Such as this GIGABYTE GA-MA790GP-DS4H

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128352

You may want to also think about just getting a single, bigger hard drive instead of two 500GBs. I can't see you using as much space on your linux partition as you would on your windows partition, but then that just depends on how you use it. After all you can just mount your windows partition in Linux to access your media files while it's a little more effort to get Windows to properly recognize your Linux partitions. The big benefit I see for having two drives though is to allow you place your swap partition at the end of the windows drive instead of on your linux drive to get a little bit better performance.

 

[Onus]

I just built a rig for my wife using that 790GX mobo ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128352 ) and it was a quick and painless installation with a 5400+ X2. When I tested it, it actually ran Guild Wars at 50+ fps on a 14x9 LCD. She's not a gamer, so the onboard video will suit her just fine.