Building first one

[whatwasthat]

I am looking at attempting to build my first computer with the help of friend who has built in the past. I want to keep the budget around $1k without monitor. I am looking at using it for home office stuff and internet and gaming.
Here is what components I have been looking at, any advice would be greatly appreciated and please take it easy on some of the tech jargon.
MB-ASUS A8V Deluxe via socket 939 ATX with AMD 64 3400+ cpu
Case-Chenming silver alum atx mid 420W (Ibelieve 3 fans)
Memory- Corsair xms CMX 512mb 3200 with platinum cooling
HD western digital 40GB 7200rpm and a second 120GB from WD
Video-GeForce 5900XT 128mb or should I get a ATI 9800 pro and have somebody flash it up to the XT.

Sony combo drive and a floppyj

Do I need a seperate sound card?

Thank you in advance for any ideas or suggestions.

 

[pat]

well, the 3400+ being a socket754 CPU and that the board is a socket 939, then they wont fit together. you either need a board with a socket 754 if you want to use that processor or a socket 939 CPU if you want to use that board.

diff are socket 939 is dual channel, meaning that, even if it will work with 1 stick of ram, you need 2 exact model to get the most of it. Socket 754 is single channel and will perform the same with one or two stick. Dual channel speed improvement are about 3-5% in average.

I suggest a better board, a nforce3 one. If you go socket 754, with the 3400+, I suggest the Soltek k8an2e-gr. I have it and very pleased with. Fast, stable and inexpensive. Look at newegg for it. if you go socket 939, well, I dont know. Maybe some will recommend you a good one.

40Gb HDD is rather small for today apps and game. Anyway...get SATA one if you can.

Definitively get a 9800pro to flash it to XT if you are sure at what you're doing...

The onboard sound on my soltek was good enough for every day uses..I put a soundblaster audigy in there because I need to use the input connector with my ATI AIW9600xt and that prevent me from using my 5.1 speakers system. It is up to your personnal preference. Almost every board now has sound, so I woud just give it a try and if you dont like, buy a sound card.

-Always put the blame on you first, then on the hardware !!!

 

[whatwasthat]

The motherboard and cpu are bundled together at the store. I was getting the 40GB HD just for the OS and utilities and then the second HD (120GB) for games and what not. I was planning on the SATA HD's. The memory statement, would I be better off with 2 sticks of 256 to start with, I was going to upgrade with more 512 in the future or do I need to look at 2 512 sticks right away. Thanks

I went and checked at tigerdirect and on their site where they mobo's and cpus bundled together this mobo and chip are the top seller. I called and asked them how they had a 939 socket mobo with a 754 socket cpu and he said no problem it would work fine. Is this true?
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by whatwasthat on 12/12/04 07:27 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[pat]

I dont know, but I wouldnt bet on that... Think about it...if it was the case, would you think mobo makers would market 2 different product for each CPU? Why wouldnt they make just one for all??

Dont buy that. If you go the 754 road, well, just buy a good nforce3 board, the 3400+ if it is the one you want,one good SATA 200GB Hdd, that you can partition into 2 or more partitions and one stick of 512 megs of good quality RAM and you'll have a really nice system.

much better that the one you planned to first.

-Always put the blame on you first, then on the hardware !!!

 

[whatwasthat]

Thanks for the info Pat, I already dropped that one from my list and have been researching other stuff. How does this sound:
ASUS A8V Deluxe via K8T800 Pro chipset 939 socket
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ cpu
Chenming silver alum case 420W
A open combo drive
Corsair xms extreme memory speed series 184 pin 512 mb DDR400 - would I benefit greatly from a second stick on not so much.
Western digital HD's 2 80 GB SATA's

Video cards-what are your thoughts on the Ge force 5900xt vs the ATI Radeon Pro, both are 128mb, the nVidia one is from MSI and the ATI is from High Tech. I have found all this on new egg this time. I am leaning towards the ATE card at this time. Thanks.

 

[pat]

I dont like Asus mobo. So it hard for me to recommend them. But I guess that it should be OK. If I had to go with socket 939, I would choose the Soltek sl-k8tpro-939 instead. never had a single problem with these boards and that what I put in my build. Why a combo drive? better just get a DVD writer if it is all you can afford.

But can I suggest you something? you said a budget of 1000$. lets make a well balanced system with that.


From newegg:
CPU:AMD 3200+ socket 754 :191.00$ or
AMD 3000+ 148$
Board: Soltek k8an2e-gr :89.50$
Corsair RAM :99$

now the fun part. The 2 SATA WD could be RAIDed, as on mine, on the nvidia controller. My 2 seagates 160 gigs do a wonderful job on that controller. Fast and responsive system need to have data fast.

2 Seagate 120GB Barracuda 7200RPM SATA II with NCQ Hard Drive, Model ST3120827AS, OEM (prefer seagate, as they are warranty for 5 years) 99.50$ X2

That will give you 240Gigs of storage. Partition like 60 gigs for OS/game and apps, 140 gigs with video, mp3, movies, pictures, and the 40 gigs could be use for long term storage, as drivers for faster reinstallation, downloaded stuff you dont want to download again like apps, and as a temporary drive to work with files,...

Then
NEC 16X Double Layer DVD±RW Drive, Black, Model ND-3500A BK: 65$
Your case, Chenming 99$
Video:SAPPHIRE ATI RADEON 9800PRO 209.50
floppy, for RAID drivers +/- 8$

sound + LAN are onboard and good enough.
that 769$ without CPU.
With cpu 3000+ 917$ and 960 with 3200+

I have a 3000+ and find it fast enough. for now. I would consider this one instead of faster one because your video card will do most of the job in gaming and the RAID will speed up loading and booting time. Today's CPU are fast enough for anything and unles you do heavy number crunching, well, that's not a wise move to have more.This is mainly what I have here and very satisfied with.

this system might not be the fastest on earth, but it is well balanced, meaning that a fast device wont wait for a slower one to respond.

But it is your money...do what you do with it.

-Always put the blame on you first, then on the hardware !!!

 

[BrandtP]

The only thing I would add having just built a system for the first time, is get a minimum of 1 GB of RAM. I started with 512, performance greatly improved with the additional memory. Things were absolutely playable, but some titles (i.e. Doom 3) would frequently access the HDD.

I will also reiterate not going with that particular Geforce over the Radeon 9800 Pro. As far as getting a separate sound card, check out Best Buy this week (if you're in the US). Audigy 2 ZS (not the Value edition)is on sale for about $50 after rebates.