I couldn't find a board for general questions, so I hope no one minds that I ask here for thoughts on a new system I'm planning on building. I've been doing a fair amount of research, but I'm definitely not going to make the purchases until those of you in the know give me a thumbs up about it.
To start, I'm looking to build a system mostly for gaming with a fair amount of upgradeability. I'm aiming to hit the "sweet spot" where components still perform extremely well but have dropped out of the "new" price-range. Overclocking isn't a big issue, as I don't have much experience with it at the moment. Mostly I want to spend under $1000 (aiming for more like 7-800) for a system that will hold me for a few years, but that I can also upgrade as I go (barring earth-shattering changes in technology). I was hoping someone could check over my picks and let me know if they're sound, or offer some suggestions.
What I'm thinking about currently is:
Mobo: DFI Lanparty Nforce4 Ultra. I want a 939 Pci-express mobo for said upgradeability reasons, and I've read that this one is one of the best out there.
Cpu: Amd Athlon 64 3200+ or 3500+. Is the 3500+ worth the extra $100? I'm leaning toward the 3200+, but if the 3500's a sufficient upgrade I'd opt for it instead.
Graphics card: Geforce 6600 GT, PCI express.
RAM: 1 gig of something PC 3200 - whatever I can get for under $100, be it Corsair or Crucial, I'm not too picky here.
I was also wondering if someone could provide a suggestion for what size power supply I should look for? Would 400 watts be enough? This is my first time putting a comp together from the ground up, so is it much of an issue that the Lanparty uses 24-pin power connectors (I think I read that somewhere)?
I'm planning on moving my two HDs (a 30 and 60 gig I believe) from my old comp into this new one, as well as my DVDRW and CDRW drives. Is this likely to be a problem, what with the new hardware and all? I'm currently running Windows XP on both drives, though I only boot from the older one (the 30 gig) and am thinking about switching over to the 60 gig as my main booting HD as it has a clean (i.e uncluttered) version of windows on it.
I have a fairly decent grasp of computers, but as I said, this is new territory for me, so I'd really appreciate some input from the experts. If I think of any more questions I'll post em. Thanks much everyone.
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by ajvessey on 06/13/05 03:19 PM.</EM></FONT></P>
To start, I'm looking to build a system mostly for gaming with a fair amount of upgradeability. I'm aiming to hit the "sweet spot" where components still perform extremely well but have dropped out of the "new" price-range. Overclocking isn't a big issue, as I don't have much experience with it at the moment. Mostly I want to spend under $1000 (aiming for more like 7-800) for a system that will hold me for a few years, but that I can also upgrade as I go (barring earth-shattering changes in technology). I was hoping someone could check over my picks and let me know if they're sound, or offer some suggestions.
What I'm thinking about currently is:
Mobo: DFI Lanparty Nforce4 Ultra. I want a 939 Pci-express mobo for said upgradeability reasons, and I've read that this one is one of the best out there.
Cpu: Amd Athlon 64 3200+ or 3500+. Is the 3500+ worth the extra $100? I'm leaning toward the 3200+, but if the 3500's a sufficient upgrade I'd opt for it instead.
Graphics card: Geforce 6600 GT, PCI express.
RAM: 1 gig of something PC 3200 - whatever I can get for under $100, be it Corsair or Crucial, I'm not too picky here.
I was also wondering if someone could provide a suggestion for what size power supply I should look for? Would 400 watts be enough? This is my first time putting a comp together from the ground up, so is it much of an issue that the Lanparty uses 24-pin power connectors (I think I read that somewhere)?
I'm planning on moving my two HDs (a 30 and 60 gig I believe) from my old comp into this new one, as well as my DVDRW and CDRW drives. Is this likely to be a problem, what with the new hardware and all? I'm currently running Windows XP on both drives, though I only boot from the older one (the 30 gig) and am thinking about switching over to the 60 gig as my main booting HD as it has a clean (i.e uncluttered) version of windows on it.
I have a fairly decent grasp of computers, but as I said, this is new territory for me, so I'd really appreciate some input from the experts. If I think of any more questions I'll post em. Thanks much everyone.
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by ajvessey on 06/13/05 03:19 PM.</EM></FONT></P>