Questions on Computer Building

I have decided to build, for the first time, a computer, as opposed to buying another pre-built hunk of junk. So, seeing as I'm not all that computer savvy, I thought I'd ask you guys what you think of what I've picked out.

Below I have the components that I have (blindly) picked out. What I need to know is whether or not these components are quality, and, most importantly, whether or not they will all work together.

Aspire X-Navigator Silver Aluminum ATX Mid-Tower Case

Biostar NVIDIA NForce4 Chipset Motherboard

AMD Athlon 64 3400+

Corsair XMS 512MB DDR

Western Digital 200GB Hard Drive

Pioneer DVD+RW/-RW Drive

Asus 52X CD-ROM Drive

Sapphire ATI RADEON 9250 Video Card, 256MB DDR

Chaintech 6-Channel PCI Sound Card

 

http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/index.html



Someone used to have montly/bimonthly articles for 3 types of roll your own systems - gaming/office/home based on cost/value/features.

I don't remember which site...

 

Hey bro, I just finished building my fourth rig a few months ago, and you are very smart for doing this. It would be much more helpful if I could get a price range you are looking to stay in, and what you are paying for those parts and where. Personally, I do not trust nor like Biostar,Western Digital,ATI, Or Pioneer. It is not because I don't approve of the preformance, just have been doing this for years, and have learned of the best companies for warrenty,quality,overclocking etc. Repost the info I asked for if ya can. Glad to help anytime bro!

Peace and Love,
Blissful Thinking

 

I like the list, but here are my suggestions:

Instead of seperate CD and DVD drives, get one combo. The LG one is very nice, and never gave me any problems. Also, if you can, find a CPU that's not Socket 754 but 939. Good to see that you're going with AMD, though.

 

You're going all out with Corsair XMS, a 200 gig HDD and an Athlon 64 and yet still buying a cheap, REALLY slow video card? I don't get it. I would personally go with either an ATI X600 or Nvidia 6600GT*any maker* they both should be in your price range, seeing as you're not going cheap and you'll get MUCH better results in games/video creation apps/etc. Go with a Seagate Hard drive too. They have a 5 year warranty, and are MUCH more reliable than any western digital. The sound on your board *Nvidia Soundstorm* should do really well...and would probably slay that soundcard you want. As for the DVD drive...you wont need that cd drive, save your $$ and put it in something else. Hope this helps!

 

I have a max of about $1500 for everything, right down to the mouse, keyboard, speakers, etc. As for the prices of each component, I gave the links in my original post for each item at newegg.com. Since I've heard good things about them, I will likely order from them.

Yeah, I suppose you're right. Direct CD copying isn't all that important.

There's this one, for $45 extra. If you don't mind me asking, why is it important to spend the extra cash for one that's Socket 939?

Would this be a better choice?

So... forgive my ignorance, but does that mean that I won't even need the soundcard?

Thanks for all of the information so far.

 

It's not that important, but if I was buying a computer today, I'd spend the extra $45.http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/20040601/socket_939-02.html

Indeed.

 

All right, that sounds good. I'll take your advice.

All right, great. Thanks.

 

Ok, another question...

Would this motherboard support this video card and this RAM?

 

Your better off with two 100g hard drives than one that's 200g.

 

That motherboard is PCI Express, and that video card is AGP, So it wont work. The ram will fit as its DDR. Youll want PC-3200*400MHZ* ram to go with your CPU...which the XMS is, and its VERY quick due to the timings of 2-2-2-6. If you want the 9800 Pro..it is a FAST FAST card. I would highly recommend it, if its in your price range. PM me if you want a good breakdown of everything, I'm very computer knowledgeable.

 

I agree here,

much rather have a drive with my media and such, and another drive with my OS on it.

 

or better yet, a RAID 1 system.

 

I also agree. It won't be much more expensive, and you'd be safer in case one of the hard drives has some problem and dies on you (better lose 1/2 of the data than all of it, no?)

 

I couldn't agree more.

 

I think that may be a bit much for a personal application. IMO

 

BTW All, It was finally proven that RAID has no better preformance than a regular setup except for a small boottime jump. RAID is risky and un-needed.



Wow, that is a great budget, my machine has receive two awards in the last month from local LAN parties for preformance and I kept it at liuke $1400.

My Rig/Suggestions

Lian-Li PC74 Case
Antec Tru 550w PSU
DFI Lanparty UT 250gb NF3
Athlon 64 3400+
nVidia 6800 Ultra(mine is eVGA)
160gb Seagate Barracuda HD
Corsair XMS Pro RAM 1gb (2x512 for dual channel)
And I got a combo drive for like 20 something off of Newegg, a little loud at 52x speeds, but a nice drive itself(Lite-on)

 

RAID 0 (striped disk array w/o fault tolerance) - agreed.
RAID 1 (mirroring/duplexing) - completely disagree.

The RAID system should be hardware not software based.

Re: http://www.acnc.com/04_01_01.html

 

i think you are just bragging... holy shit 150$ case...

 

Hey. Just thought i would add a few suggestions. First, that motherboard and the chosen CPU are not compatable. The motherboard is a socket 939, and the CPU is socket 754. And as mentioned by someone else, the video card is also not compatable. I'm not sure if you need a monitor to fit in that $1500 budget, but even if you do it is very possible to build a nice rig w/ your budget. I do however respectfully disagree w/ some of the suggestions in this thread. A case is a very important part of a PC, you don't want to put good components in a poorly ventilated case. Newegg is a good place to start, but you already know that.

I would go w/ a motherboard w/ pci express, it is the future. I would also choose an ATI x800xl for the video card, these are priced around $300 and currently are the price/performance champ. If you are a gamer you will be very pleased, if you're not so much into games then you can skimp and save a little money. For CPU a 3200+ or a 3500+ (remember to make sure the motherboard is the same socket as the CPU, ie 754 or 939) the 3200+ comes in both sockets. Personally i would go w/ the 3500+, it's not much more and is quite a bit cheaper than when i bought one. I would also not skimp on the ram but "Budget/value" might be fine, but you might also run into problems. Add Ram, OS(you might already have one you can use), floppy for loading sata drivers when installing windows (what else are floppies good for anymore monitor, and your keyboard and you should have a complete system. All this below adds up to Around $1008 shipped, i used a calculator and added the shipping by head which all shipping at newegg is free or .99 cents now so it would be a decent time to buy. As mentioned, the above items are not included and i would do some research to make sure the RAM you choose is compatable w/ the rest of the selected components before buying. Good luck. Let me know if i messed anything up. I'm a little delirious due to too much blood in my THCstream.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-502&depa=1
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-129-115&depa=1
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=27-152-039&DEPA=1
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=26-104-150&DEPA=1
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=22-148-039&depa=1
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-521&depa=1
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=36-121-118&DEPA=1
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-131-530&depa=1