Never built a system before, first try..please take a look

[JonnyDough]

Apevia is the new name of the maker of the X-Qpack. They recently changed their name from Aspire. Reason being? Well I'd imagine there was some confusion or legal matter with another company of the same or a similar name. Whatever the case may be...they haven't been known to make fantastic PSU's, but the one I pulled out of my X-Qpack case (lord knows I wouldn't use it for a high end system) did work with my old P4 system. With a new company name, they could also be attempting to shed a poor quality image, and their new products may be very solid.

Do a few searches with variants of the model name, etc. and the word "review" and see what professional-type articles you can find about that PSU. If it's got enough voltage on the 12v rails, and is stable, then it's a worth a good look, especially for the price.

 

[JonnyDough]

Notice I'm not gonna do all your homework for ya ;-) I don't have THAT much time!

 

[Kolorean]

I love what your doing, I am way more educated now then when I firsted posted.

 

[JonnyDough]

Good. 🙂 That's what we're aiming for.

 

[Kolorean]

Ok, this is my finial build, barring any last minute "what the heck are you thinking going with xxxx over xxx"

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XCLIO A380BK Fully Black High Gloss Finish SECC 1.0mm thickness ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
Item #: N82E16811103010
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
-$10.00 Instant
$109.99
$99.99



Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Item #: N82E16822148140
Return Policy: Limited 30-Day Return Policy

$89.99



ViewSonic Value Series VA1912wb Black 19" 5ms DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor - Retail
Item #: N82E16824116373
Return Policy: [LCD] Limited Non-Refundable 30-Day Return Policy

$210.99



Foxconn FV-N88SMCD2-ONOC GeForce 8800GTS 320MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail
Item #: N82E16814186020
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy

$309.99



Thermaltake toughpower W0104RU ATX12V / EPS12V 650W Power Supply - Retail
Item #: N82E16817153034
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy

-$10.00 Instant
$159.99
$149.99



OCZ FlexXLC Edition 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2FX800C42GK - Retail
Item #: N82E16820227185
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy

$40.00 Mail-in Rebate
$259.99



ASUS P5N-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Item #: N82E16813131142
Return Policy: Limited Non-Refundable 30-Day Return Policy

$134.99



Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6600 - Retail
Item #: N82E16819115003
Return Policy: Processors (CPUs) Return Policy

$313.00
Subtotal: $1,568.93
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[JonnyDough]

Looks fantastic. Solid price, great parts! The only thing I might question is your monitor. Is it HDCP ready? If you get a blu-ray or HD-DVD drive in the near future as they become cheaper, (some games and eventually all movies are going to HD) you may need an HDCP enabled monitor to display full high res.

 

[Kolorean]

Could you give me an example of a Monitor that is, I can't seem to locate one, or I am not looking for the right thing in the spec lines.

 

[JonnyDough]

I had a short list on a site, let me see if I can find it. If you've got a little cash, the Samsung 244T is a great choice, but I keep reading different sites that quote it as having different response times. Some list it as 6ms, others as 16...etc.

 

[JonnyDough]

Found it. It's on page 2 of this article.

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/windows_vista_hdcp_lcd_roundup/

 

[zenmaster]

Dump the 8ms response time monitor.
Get something 5ms or faster.

5ms are almost std now w/ little premium
You can get 2ms for only a couple dollars over the 5ms ones.

 

[JonnyDough]

Keep in mind too, they listed the 244T as being $1400. Maybe in the UK or something. You can find it for around $700 online. Most of those are overpriced.

 

[JonnyDough]

Dump the 8ms response time monitor.
Get something 5ms or faster.

5ms are almost std now w/ little premium
You can get 2ms for only a couple dollars over the 5ms ones.

There isn't a whole lot of difference 3ms (between 5 and 8ms)...but it does make some. You will notice a slight drag in an 8ms monitor, but there are many other things to consider. Those 2ms monitors are sometimes lacking in other things, such as color correctness, viewing angles, etc. But to some gamers that are staring at a screen it doesn't matter that much. It's all about eliminating blur. I didn't really check the monitor you had. Just asked if it had HDCP, which I doubted it did and wondered if it was important to you. BTW, that article I just referenced is from March 6th of last year, so it's not entirely current. But LCD makers have been very slow to adopt the HDCP. They may've just been trying to boycott it. 😛

 

[Kolorean]

Changed Monitors to this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16824112003

 

[JonnyDough]

Changed Monitors to this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16824112003

THAT is a nice find! 🙂 Don't know much about Sceptre. Find any good pro reviews on it? Sometimes they may compare some and mention an even better one. One nice thing with the bigger more expensive LCD's, is that you get extra jacks to plug your Xbox into, etc.

 

[Kolorean]

Johnny, thanks for all the help btw.

I checked, and this monitor got great reviews everywhere I searched, so this is the finial.

What did you think of my memory choice, and the timing..can I do better for the buck?

 

[JonnyDough]

What was the price on that 19" without HDCP you picked out? What was the response time on it? I want to know if you got a much better deal on your Sceptre.

OCZ is a good brand, I've bought mostly Corsair for my systems. I don't know much about DDR2 ram, but I do know that 667 is good, 800 is better. The pricing seems about right for performance ram, which is what 800 is. I think some people like Patriot ram right now, and Geil. I think it was a pair of Geil modules that people were raving about lately, not sure. I think I remember them being red. Could've been GSkill too. Anyway, there's also Crucial. Any of those really are probably fine. You can go to the websites of a few choice brands and compare, I think you'll find the better timed ram is about the same price, regardless, and usually has around the same price. Not going with the biggest leaders can often net you good ram too. OCZ is close to on par with Corsair, it really depends on the module.

If anyone has any other preferences, speak up. 🙂 If you don't plan on overclocking or don't know how to set ram timings, then a DDR2's timings don't matter that much. DDR2-667 will do fine.

 

[JonnyDough]

Hey Kolorean, what's the difference between these two?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824112006&ATT=24-112-006&CMP=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824112003&ATT=24-112-003&CMP=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r

Weird. Ahh, just edited my post, I think the NAGA one has better contrast. Take a look, it claims 1000:1 to the Gamer one's 800:1. Hmm...Both are 5ms?

 

[JonnyDough]

Wow, I really like that monitor...I might try to sell the one I'm using. SyncMaster 204B. 🙂

 

[JonnyDough]

Big picture.
http://www.sceptre.com/Products/LCD/Specifications/View_x20wg-Naga.htm

Home site.
http://www.sceptre.com/Products/LCD/Specifications/spec_x20wg_Naga.htm

Those are both for the NAGA. It looks like the Naga gives better contrast, or they rounded it up...and doesn't come with a DVI cable. The Gamer edition is 800:1 and comes with a DVI cable. Or, perhaps the gamer edition is "new" because they decided to not round up and to include the DVI cable? No idea.

 

[sanjiwatsuki]

I haven't exactly been tracking this thread, but would you consider a widescreen LCD?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16824254023
$179.99 - $30 MIR + Free Shipping
19" LCD Widescreen HannsG

The shipping'll save you a little bit more 😀

 

[JonnyDough]

WS's are nice, but you probably want to get HDCP enabled. I have both a WS and a 20" standard aspect. They're both great. The WS allows me to see more, but as of yet, not a lot of games utilize WS, although newer ones mostly are. Thing is, if you don't have HDCP, your Blu-Ray or HD-DVD drives of the future may not be able to play movies in full high definition on your screen. (Although some claim that certain software negates the need for HDCP, I have my doubts). If he doesn't care about HDCP, then that monitor you showed is an excellent buy.