New System advice (building myself)

[SLFaulkner]

Hey Guys,

Planning to build my first system, what an experience...

Having worked around various accounting systems every day you take for granted what actually runs it all. My curiosity has driven me to work out how it works inside the little beige box.

I have put together this rough list of components for an all round system at home (a few games, web/mail, music, etc) that isn't too expensive but will still have a fair bit of grunt and longevity.

Athlon XP 2500+ (barton)
ASUS A7V600 m/b
512bm Kingston KVR400X64C3A ram
Asus Radeon 9600se 128mb video card A9600SE-TD-P-128
Seagate BARRACUDA HSES80 7200 80GB s-ata hard disk
and a dvd rom drive and burner
all together in an Antec SLK3700BQE Case with 350w power supply.

I think it all sounds ok, but i am not sure on the configuration and compatability of it all (eg. 1x512 stick RAM or 2x256, the hard disk) for the best bang for buck.

Any thoughts out there would be greatly appreciated. i have done a lot of research but a bit of guidance to put it order would be a big help.

Thanks, Simon.

 

[paparazi]

That all sounds fine, just to clear up a couple of points:

The memory: doesn't have to be the KVR400 model (could be KVR333) as your CPU has only a 333fsb, but you probably already know that and the extra band width might be useful for a future upgrade.

I stick of 512mb is fine, the Via KT600 chipset is only single channel so there is no benefit from buying 2x 256mb instead of the single 512.

I like the Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 SATA, it isn't the fastest but in my opinion the most reliable of the top 4 manufactures.

DVDRW? if thats what you meant? must be multiformat plus/minus, note* introduction of 8 speed models now! NEC, Pioneer, Sony maybe LiteOn.



Many will steer you towards an Nforce2 motherboard, but to get the full dual channel variant you will be paying more money for the same features list and to be honest I believe the Via KT600 platform to be slightly more stable than the Nforce2 and only a few percent slower.

Just be aware of the fact that SE variants of ATI cards are cut down versions with much lower performance.

Martin


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[MikesDD]

SLFaulkner,

Looks like a decent plan. I share paparizi's concern about your video card. Spend about the same cash and get a nVidia fx5700 ultra ($150) or a 5900xt ($200). The performance boost will be noticable in most of the new games you might play. I'd also consider bumping the power supply up to 400w. Many of the 333 & 400 fsb boards now recommend a minimum of 350w and if you decide you need a couple extra cooling fans in the future, you know you're covered.

Plextor makes a great 8x DVD+-R/RW (multi-format) for street $190 that comes with decent software and is really quiet. Also can burn 4x media at 8x intelligently (only if the medial will handle it) which can save you a couple bucks too.

Mike

 

[paparazi]

MikesDD
Didn't mention the Plextor because I know it's a lot more money than the others, supposed to be very good though but cost is prohibitive on a budget system.
Again with cost in mind a straight ATI9600 Radeon is better than the SE version, if you can stretch to the pro they are coming down now the XT is mainstream.
Martin

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[nlm9802]

as far as your video card, a 9700 pro would be much better, and you can find them in the 175-200$ range. or a 9800 pro, for about 220-250

for your motherboard/processor, you may want to look into intels, there was a big price drop over the weekend in anticipation of the new prescott core cpu's. the 2.8 GHz 800 fsb dropped well under 200, and even the 3.0 is flirting with the 200$ barrier.
with the 875 chipset you will see more performace from a 2x256 (or 2x512) pc3200 setup.
If you're set on AMD, I would wait just a little bit, prices are sure to drop as they try and keep the pricing ahead of intel.

 

[paparazi]

As with all these discussions, specification seems to spiral out of control to the point that a low end budget turns into some kind of super computer N.A.S.A would be proud of.
nlm9802 suggestions are great only thing is it will cost double the original parts list.
Martin

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[jillseurre]

i built a system like this in december, only difference my powersupply was 400W. and as i was on a budget got a FX5200 128MB graphics card,
DVDRW - was a liteon 8x speed.
my teenage boys play games onit all the time no problems.
i would recommend uping the powersupply - mine came with the box @ £32.00, as this will help if you upgrade or add pci cards etc in the future

 

[paparazi]

There is no need to "up the power" this is a quality Antec unit and well up to powering this mainstream system.
Give me a quality Antec 350watt PSU over a cheap generic 400watt alternative any day.
The reason why so many power supplies seem to be failing, maybe in part down to higher demands from hardware but more often these catastrophic failures can be put down to the low quality power supplies that come with generic cases.
Typically we by our cases at around £18 from the wholesaler (we sell them at around £27) the wholesaler would have purchased them for less than £13, so ask yourself, how good is your power supply? my answer is, nowhere as good as SLFaulkners 350watt Antec!
(I appologise if the Antec case comes with someone else's PSU) Martin



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[BionicJohn]

Hi, Simon,

There's a Power Supply Wattage Calculator at:

http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/

Iechyd da! John
Glannau Mersi, Lloegr.

 

[Yota]

I like mostof what you're going to be useing. It should be a nice stable system but there's one place you should spend a bit more cash and that is one the dvdr+/-w multi format burner. A cheap one will cost you money in creating coasters as opposed to viewable disks. Secondly if the vender doesn't have an awsome return policy you caould be out of pocket there. That said. yes the plextor 8 x multi format dvd+/-R is going to be one of your best choices for a long term usuable machine.

 

[SLFaulkner]

Thanks gang, it's one of those things based on how deep your pockets go...

Point taken on the video card, i picked that one based on available $$$. I will keep an eye out for a straight 9600 Radeon while waiting for AMD to lower their prices after intel's move...

I tried to aim for more quality components for reliability and also for any future upgrades, without going overboard.

Thanks paparazi for your point on the ram, when i put the list together i started with a dream system and scaled it back. Overlooked the ram, could save myself $35AUD .