1st Ever Build

B

Bowzer

n00b
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
6
I have been lurking here for a while. I was first interested in buying me a computer for college(something like falcon-nw or alienware). However after looking at this site I was persuaded into building one of my own. I am basically a n00b to all of this computer building. I have spent some time compiling a build. The computer, like I said, is going to go with me to college. I do some moderate gaming but It would not be used for fool time gaming. Any criticisms on my build would be appreciated.... if you would like to suggest a build I would like to spend around $1000-$1500. Any other suggestions would be of great help. Any way to save money would be a plus but not a necessity. Thank you in advance.

First Build:
ATRIX CSCI-C8023-C43 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 480W Power Supply - Retail $46.50

VANTEC TD9238H 92mm 2 Ball Cooling Fan - Retail (2) $19.98

BELKIN Under Monitor Power Center Maximum F9M520-08-GRY 5 Outlets Power Surge Protector - Retail $18.49

Foxconn NF4UK8AA-8EKRS Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail $104.00

VANTEC NXP-201-SL Fan Controller Panel (Silver) - Retail $16.29

CHAINTECH SE6600 Geforce 6600 256MB DDR PCI-Express x16 Video Card - Retail $126.00

LINK DEPOT USH-2141B 4-Port USB2.0 Hub - Retail $13.99

fUnc SU-BK-BK Surface 1030 Black Base Mousepad - Retail $19.00

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Winchester Integrated into Chip FSB Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3200BIBOX - Retail $190.00

Update CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model VS1GBKIT400 - Retail (2) $158.00

PQI 1GB Flash Drive (USB Portable) Model BD01-1033-0121 - Retail $65.50

SAMSUNG SpinPoint P Series SP1604N 160GB 7200 RPM IDE Ultra ATA133 Hard Drive - OEM $80.00

Logitech Elite 967234-0403 Black USB + PS/2 Wired Standard Keyboard - Retail $29.00

Logitech MX510 931162-0403 Blue 8 Buttons 1x Wheel USB + PS/2 Optical Mouse - Retail $29.00

NEC Black IDE DVD Burner Model ND-3520A BK - OEM $46.00

LEXMARK X6170 19 ppm 4800 x 1200 dpi Color InkJet Multifunction/All-In-One Printer - Retail $105.50

Turtle Beach CATALINA 8 (7.1) Channels PCI Interface Sound Card - Retail $49.99

Codegen S3-001 45W 2.1 Speaker - Retail $32.88

Microsoft Windows XP Professional With Service Pack 2 - OEM $145.95

$1,296.07 + shipping


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If there is any other information needed please ask... again this is going to go with me to college. Thank you.
 
With my first glance, I noticed you have 92mm fans. Your case supports 80mm fans. So unless you want to be drilling bigger holes, I'd check out some 80mm fans.
 
I see some things in there of which I wouldnt personally buy.

You are gonna need a new power supply, I used an Antec for my first build. I like it alot, very stable.

Look at the new True Power series. The prices arent bad at all.

I am also assuming that you know when you buy dual channel memory, you get those two sticks on 512MB - right? So if you get two kits, you are getting FOUR sticks of 512MB. That adds up to 2GBs, which is fine - just making sure you knew.
 
also, you have a USB hub, but your motherboard has 4 usb ports on it already. If you really need more than 4 ports, than that's all fine and dandy, but if not, I'd cut the hub. Also, onboard audio on motherboards is pretty good these days, so if you're looking ot cut costs, I would also remove the sound card. just my $.02
 
i concur on the soundcard, why buy an extra soundcard that does 7.1 when you are only buying a 2.1 speaker setup?

and this is just me, but I've always found using any sort of surface with an optical mouse a pain in the ass. maybe the newer opticals are better at it, but just from my experience. but then again I'm still using a 3+ year old IBM optical, or a 3+ year old Microsoft 5 button mouse.
 
All i can say is good luck, i hope your first build goes better than mine did.
 
The case is ugly IMO. Look at cases from Antec or Cooler Master. They have some cheap ones. Antec's are nice as they come with nice PSU's so you can save even more cash. The Sonata is a good Antec case. It is incredibly quiet. You also don't really need the fan.

As for the motherboard I really like the Epox NF4 Ultra mobo. If you want to save even more you could get a Chaintech VNF4 which does not have firewire suport.

Do you really need a fan controller?

You could try to get a 6600GT so you could play newer games pretty good, but if you really do want to save money a 6600 should be fine.

Get the Venice core 3200+

For RAM instead of 4x512MB get 2x1GB. This is if you really need 2GB though. What exactly do you use the PC for? For the majoriuty of users 1GB is more then enough.

Get a SATA drive instead of IDE. The Samsung Spinpoint P80 is the quitest so it is a good choice for a SATA drive.

Don't even bother with a sound card. Use onboard.

Get Windows XP Home.
 
Ok I ditched the sound card (how does the mobo appear to be)... and the 92 mm fans for a pair of 80 mm fans MASSCOOL WhisperRock II 5F263B1M3 80mm Ball Cooling Fan should I go another way in cooling or is this ok?

I am aware that it will be 2 gb of ram should I go with 2 1gb sticks instead???

and I got rid of the usb hub

and with the power supply... do these look ok? ASPIRE ATX-AS520W BLUE ATX 520W Power Supply - Retail or Antec TRUE550 ATX 550W Power Supply 115/230 V UL, TUV, CB, VDE, FCC CLASS B, DEMKO, NEMKO, SEMKO - Retail

Thank you again for everything
 
KoolDrew said:
The case is ugly IMO. Look at cases from Antec or Cooler Master. They have some cheap ones. Antec's are nice as they come with nice PSU's so you can save even more cash. The Sonata is a good Antec case. It is incredibly quiet. You also don't really need the fan.

As for the motherboard I really like the Epox NF4 Ultra mobo. If you want to save even more you could get a Chaintech VNF4 which does not have firewire suport.

Do you really need a fan controller?

You could try to get a 6600GT so you could play newer games pretty good, but if you really do want to save money a 6600 should be fine.

Get the Venice core 3200+

For RAM instead of 4x512MB get 2x1GB. This is if you really need 2GB though. What exactly do you use the PC for? For the majoriuty of users 1GB is more then enough.

Get a SATA drive instead of IDE. The Samsung Spinpoint P80 is the quitest so it is a good choice for a SATA drive.

Don't even bother with a sound card. Use onboard.

Get Windows XP Home.
Click to expand...


Sorry I didn't see this reply before I posted. The PC will be semi-part for games and the other time for college work.
I can't get Home because the college I'm going to recommends that we have professional. I will check out the 6600Gt and those mobos and your other recommendations. Thank you
 
Bowzer said:
Ok I ditched the sound card (how does the mobo appear to be)... and the 92 mm fans for a pair of 80 mm fans MASSCOOL WhisperRock II 5F263B1M3 80mm Ball Cooling Fan should I go another way in cooling or is this ok?

I am aware that it will be 2 gb of ram should I go with 2 1gb sticks instead???

and I got rid of the usb hub

and with the power supply... do these look ok? ASPIRE ATX-AS520W BLUE ATX 520W Power Supply - Retail or Antec TRUE550 ATX 550W Power Supply 115/230 V UL, TUV, CB, VDE, FCC CLASS B, DEMKO, NEMKO, SEMKO - Retail

Thank you again for everything
Click to expand...


Those are actually CPU coolers. You don't need any extra fans.

Also yes 2x1GB would be better.

The ASPIRE PSU you linked to is terrible. The Antec you linked to is good though. the 380w PSU that comes with the Antec Sonata case may be enough. I would check using the calculator stickied in the PSU forum to make sure though.
 
I don't know what you plan to do with that video card, but for a 6600 256mb ram may be overkill, 128mb if available should be cheaper and if so, you might want to look for that.
 
Bowzer said:
...
CHAINTECH SE6600 Geforce 6600 256MB DDR PCI-Express x16 Video Card - Retail $126.00

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Winchester Integrated into Chip FSB Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3200BIBOX - Retail $190.00

SAMSUNG SpinPoint P Series SP1604N 160GB 7200 RPM IDE Ultra ATA133 Hard Drive - OEM $80.00

Codegen S3-001 45W 2.1 Speaker - Retail $32.88
...
Click to expand...

1) If you can afford it, a 6600GT would be much better.
2) A Venice A64 3200 is only about 10$ more and runs cooler, and overclocks better.
3) Personally I'd get better quality and more powerfull speakers, perhaps a low end 5.1 system.
 
3) Buy a better brand name drive, Seagate, Western Digital, Hitachi, etc.
Click to expand...

:rolleyes:
Samsung makes very nice drives that are good performers and are incredibly quiet. The Samsung is a very good choice.
 
Definitely get the 6600GT. It is essentially the part-time gamer card ;).

You definitely want 2x1GB because of the limits of the memory controller on A64's.

I'd get an NF4 Ultra chipset over the 4X NF4. Chaintech VNF4/Ultra is cheapest (and not a bad one either with latest Bios).
 
KoolDrew said:
:rolleyes:
Samsung makes very nice drives that are good performers and are incredibly quiet. The Samsung is a very good choice.
Click to expand...

I didn't even see Samsung there, I saw SpinPoint and thought it was some off-brand company who made hdd's. I take that comment back about the hdd's, Samsungs are a good brand, sorry for the confusion.
 
id get a better mobo, the lowend dfi maybe?

the board can hold 4x 184pin.. so you could do 4x512 if you wanted too.. i believe it would be faster.. i know that 2x512 is better than 1x1gig, because of the dual channel memory or something like that..
 
GooG said:
id get a better mobo, the lowend dfi maybe?

the board can hold 4x 184pin.. so you could do 4x512 if you wanted too.. i believe it would be faster.. i know that 2x512 is better than 1x1gig, because of the dual channel memory or something like that..
Click to expand...
DFI boards are no good for first time builds, they just have too many options and too many things you can screw up on IMO.

2x1gb is better than 4x512 cuase teh a64 mem controller doesnt like running 8 banks of memory (4 double sided dimm's) at 1T.
 
Ive decided that one gig would do for now.... so would one 1gb stick be better then two 512? and right now I have the Chaintech VNF4/Ultra mobo. Thank you all for the help
 
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