Building first comp, is this good?

bluey · Apr 22, 2004

Yeah I know you guys get this all the time but I really want to check what you think about this before I buy it. All prices and such off newegg.com.

ANTEC Black Solution Series ATX Mid-Tower Case with 350W Power Supply, Model "SLK3700-BQE" -RETAIL $75

ABIT K8T800 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket 754 CPU, Model "KV8-MAX3" -RETAIL $152

SAPPHIRE ATI RADEON 9800PRO Video Card, 128MB DDR, 256-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP -RETAIL $218

AMD Athlon 64 3000+, 512KB L2 Cache 64-bit Processor - Retail $223

(2) Crucial 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 8T - OEM $236

SONY Black 1.44MB 3.5inch Floppy Disk Drive, Model MPF920, OEM $15

Seagate 120GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive, Model ST3120026AS, OEM $102

Plextor Black 8X DVD-RW/+RW Drive, Model 708A-BPS/BL, OEM $169

Lite-On Black 16X DVD-ROM Drive, Model XJ-HD166, OEM $32

Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 PCI Sound Card, Model "SB0244" -OEM $69

Arctic Silver Premium Silver Polysynthetic Silver Thermal Compound, Model "Arctic Silver 5", 3.5-gram( 1 cc. ) tube $7.49

$1298.48

Is there ANYTHING else I will need? I have been reading how-to's on here and other sites and it doesnt seem all that hard. I am pretty smart so I am confident that I can put it together. We shall see though, if something goes wrong I'm sure you guys can help.

Thanks

Spitfire_x86 · Apr 22, 2004

Buy nForce3-250 based mobo

I would buy LiteOn SOWH-812S instead of plextor dvd burner.

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jihiggs · Apr 22, 2004

why do you recomend liteon over plextor?

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gobeavers · Apr 22, 2004

Yeah, see if you can get a motherboard based on the nforce3-250

"This means that you can play over a network, just not with each other."-PC GAMER review

trooper11 · Apr 22, 2004

id suggest you get the LG GSA-4081BI 8X DVD±RW/±R/Ram/CDRW burner its only about 110 and its a great drive. use the saved money to up the cpu to a 3200+ or up the sound card to the audigy 2 ZS which is 85 instead of 69. if it was me id go for a Western Digital Raptor 10k 74gb drive, but it would be about 100 extra. It looks fine though.

scottchen · Apr 22, 2004

Go for the Athlon64 3200+, main reason because after seeing you buying AS5, makes me think you're overclocking, and the 3200+ overclocked much better, the 2x cache actually helps it quite a bit. So If I were you the only things I would change is the CPU to 3200+, and as recommended mobo to the Nforce3-250 chipset. The Chaintech ZNF3-250 has been released, it's a perfect mobo every aspect, it's not cheap, but you could cancel your sound card if you buy that mobo. It comes with a 7.1 surround supported soundcard.

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scottchen · Apr 22, 2004

I would also recommend Samsung memory over other generic brands.

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Zivman · Apr 22, 2004

I have the abit board and it is nice, but the OTES fan can be somewhat loud - as I like a very quiet case, but this may not be an issue to you. I agree, if you can find an nforce3 250 based board, get that.

I disaggree with all choices on DVD-RW drives that have been listed. The plextor is nice, but expensive. I would get the new Benq 822A 8X burner. It is beige, but who cares. It is very fast, quiet, and is upgradable via FREE firmware to dual layer burning capabilities and can be found for about $100 even. This drive kicks @ss!

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=27-101-622&depa=0

trooper11 · Apr 22, 2004

i still prefer the LG 8x since it supports all dvd formats

Zivman · Apr 22, 2004

The LG does DVD-RAM, that is the only format that the 822a doesn't support. The 822a does bitsetting, which the LG may or may not do, has an 8 mb buffer vs the LG's 2,and the big one:

IS UPGRADEABLE TO DUAL LAYER BURNING CAPABILITES. You can burn dual layer discs without having to buy a new drive.

Guest · Apr 22, 2004

Really that is sweet. I heard somewhere that for a DVD burner to support dual layer it only needed a powerfull enough laser and a firmware upgrade.

If the BenQ certify it will burn dual layer, that is nice because all the single layer are gonna drop price hard in the comming month. Also 16X are not so far away, paying premium for a plextor single layer/8X is not wise...

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bluey · Apr 22, 2004

What is the advantage of buying nforce3 250 versus VIA K8T800? The article on the main page said it was slightly better but not great. Just curious why its being pushed.

What does dual layer burning do for me? If that one is cheaper and better than that sounds good to me.

So basicly get the benq dvdrw, an athlon64 3200, and that chaintech znf3-250 and drop the audigy. Then I would be good to go? I'll swap the stuff out on newegg.com tonight to see the updated price and stuff and see if that works.

Thanks for the advice

Edited by bluey on 04/22/04 03:41 PM.

Guest · Apr 22, 2004

Also PSU in that case might not be enough in the longrun...

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trooper11 · Apr 22, 2004

first of all the lg drive will also be able to support dual layer dvd, which means you can burn 9gbs of data versus the 4gbs now. secondly, the cache matters little, the differnce between 8 and 2 is so small its not worht mentioning. 8 is basiclaly a marketing plus. The LG performs ebtter at cd writing tasks, cd-rs and cd-rws, and the addition of dvd-rm is nice for me sinc ei use it to archive. if you go purely on price then the benq is chepaer and it will still be fine for your needs, but price is about all that stands out for the benq drive. id say flip a coin and go for it lol.

Spitfire_x86 · Apr 22, 2004

LiteOn is as good as plextor (or almost as good) and costs much less

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jihiggs · Apr 22, 2004

yea, they are little less than half the cost. im not saying they dont make very good drives, but i say if you have the money, and your spending tons of money on a new comp anyway, get the plextor. ive had better luck reading scratched cds with them. and they are much better for playing and copying copy protected audio cds. they were when they started doing that crap anyway, dont know if thats still the case.

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Spitfire_x86 · Apr 23, 2004

AFAIK, LiteOn is as good as Plextor for copying protected audio/game CDs. At past, they were'nt as good as plextor for copying protected audio CD. But currently there's no drive better than LiteOn for copying any copy-protected CD.

And all LiteOn drives has very good reading performance.

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bluey · Apr 23, 2004

Now I am seriously considering using onboard video or an old gf2mx400 in the comp until the new geforce ultra or the ati card comes out. And it looks like the 300 watts wont cut it for that. Think I should buy a case with no ps, or can I just buy a good 500+ watt ps with a lot of connectors?

Oh and being able to "backup" games easily would be nice. The reason I picked the plextor in the first place is because in the past when looking to backup my games it has been a pain with my drive and I heard plextor is good. So will the benq backup games well too?

Edited by bluey on 04/22/04 08:55 PM.

trooper11 · Apr 23, 2004

The LG backs up games great, up there with the top scores of the lite on and plextor drives. as far as a power supply, i would suggest buying a case and ps seperately. get a TTGI TT-500SL 500W psu and youll be fine.

bluey · Apr 24, 2004

Ok, I can go with the LG then. I've looked and it appears that the chaintech znf3-250 isnt all that hot, so I guess I will wait a few weeks until I order the parts.

Do you guys think getting the 6800 ultra will work ok with this system. I am not sure if I can buy that case without a psu, because I am quite sure that it wont work. I like the case though, but I'm not crazy about doors.

trooper11 · Apr 24, 2004

well you need at least a 400w power supply, so you may have to choose a different case.

as far as motherbaord, the msi neo platnium is a better choice then the chaintech model, but i might still wait for another brand, but the msi board would be fine.

Unseen · Apr 24, 2004

I wouldn't worry about dual layer that much. I haven't seen any media that supports dual layer anywhere, they are quite rare. Which of course means they are expensive. A lot more than 2 times the price of normal 4.7 GB dvd disc, might as well save money and get those.

You can also use double sided dvd disc that hold more data than single sided dual layer dvd disc, actually seen couple those disc around for ok price. ( You can get double sided dual layer dvd disc too, but I have even seen one, probalby super expensive there, if even find it that is! ).

I got myself nice nec 2500 8x DVD burner that burn both dvd+R/RW and DVD-R/RW for $89 only. It works just fine.

bluey · Apr 24, 2004

Hows this chieftec case? http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-125-715&depa=1

Or more specifically the psu.

And if I go with the msi neo platinum do I need the 3400?

http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=K8N_Neo_Platinum&class=mbEdited by bluey on 04/23/04 11:33 PM.

bluey · Apr 24, 2004

Ok, after looking more in depth I may not want nforce3-250. It seems that it didnt do much better than the via in the THG review and it is going to cost me more and make me wait a month or so. So finally I think I might just keep the mother board, get the 3200, the chieftec case, some corsiar pc3200 and use my geforce2mx400. Then it would be cheaper and quicker to get. Unless someone can convince me that the nforce3-205 is really worth it?

trooper11 · Apr 24, 2004

really, unless you overclock, need an onbaord firewall, or onbaord gigabit ethernet, you dont need it at all and the asus k8v deluxe, or something similar, would be perfect and do fine. the only other if, and its a big one, is if you plan on gaming at all, which doesnt look like you will, the noforce baord will give nvidia based boards a performance boost, in some cases in the 5-10 fps range or more, so when you up the graphics card, consider that before oyu buy a mobo. the rest of your parts sound fine

Building first comp, is this good?

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