Advice for 1st build?

T

Triturator

n00b
Joined
Dec 10, 2005
Messages
9
Howdy everyone. I'm new to the forums and getting ready to build my first full system. I want to put together a good rig but I don't have a totally unlimited budget (I've been saving up for a long time). I've done plenty of upgrades in the past but I'm still nervous about getting everything I need on the first try, i.e. cables and other accessories. I have not dealt with SATA before but hear that it is a big step up. There's tons of great info already posted in the forums that I've been using to do my research. At this point I'm looking for any pointers that you can come up with. Here's what I've got so far:

Case: Cooler Master Stacker
Mobo: ASUS A8N-SLI Prem.
RAM: 2GB OCZ Platinum
CPU: AMD Ath. 64 4000+ San Diego 939
Fan: Zalman Cu
Graphics: Leadtek 7800GTX
Power: Coolmax 650W Sli
Drives: 1 WD Raptor, 1 WD Caviar 80Gb
Monitor: Samsung 19" 8ms
Burner: NEC
Mouse: Logitech G5

That's all the major stuff. I think I'll need a DVI cable to get the most out of the monitor, I just don't know which kind to get. I'm getting the Raptor for games and the Caviar for the OS and other apps, also having in mind the possibility of getting another Raptor in the future for RAID 0. I'm not sure about sound as I usually play with headphones. Will the onboard sound be good enough for that or do I still need to get a better card? With this setup (unless I'm mistaken) I'll be able to handle a dual core chip, another 7800GTX, and 2GB more RAM when I'm ready to upgrade.

Thanks to all in advance. You guys rock!
 
Theres a couple brands to stick with when buying a power supply and thats not one of them.
 
Definitely change the PSU to an Antec/Fortron/Seasonic.

Definitely get a dual core Opteron 165 for the same price as that San Diego that you listed.

Get a 250-300 GB sata drive instead of the raptor and the other drive. It'll be just as fast and you'll have much more storage.

Ditch the SLi motherboard and save some money as you'll probably never use SLi, unless you're really set on it.

That Zalman hsf is pretty crappy. Go with a Scythe Ninja, or XP-90/120 instead.

For the amount of money that you're spending on the LCD, I'd get a Dell 2005FPW. LCD is pretty much preference though, but a lot of people love the Dell LCDs.
 
WOW! Thanks for the info. Just a couple of questions: There are no opteron 165s on newegg. Do you have a better site to shop? How is a 300GB 7200rpm drive faster than a 74Gb 10,000rpm drive? What motherboard would you recommend? Sorry, I guess that's more than a couple. Like I said, I'm new at this and don't mind getting told how it is :) Sorry for being such a n00b.
 
JasonE4 said:
For the amount of money that you're spending on the LCD, I'd get a Dell 2005FPW. LCD is pretty much preference though, but a lot of people love the Dell LCDs.
Click to expand...

I thought samsung made dell's panels? so does it really matter?
 
I'd recommend the Epox 9NPA+ Ultra motherboard.

I can't find an Opteron 165 in stock anywhere, so just go for the X2 3800+ instead. It'll be pretty much just as good.

The large sata drives are higher density, meaning lesser seek times. They're not faster than a raptor at everything, but the difference is negligible in most things and you'll notice the storage much more than a slight increase in speed.
 
LongShotHero said:
I thought samsung made dell's panels? so does it really matter?
Click to expand...
Dell LCDs use Samsung panels very many times. I'm saying that the 20 inch 2005FPW is much better resolution-wise than the 19 inch 1280x1024 LCD that he picked. There's a lot more screen real estate to work with with a 2005FPW compared to an SXGA+ LCD.
 
Triturator said:
WOW! Thanks for the info. Just a couple of questions: There are no opteron 165s on newegg. Do you have a better site to shop? How is a 300GB 7200rpm drive faster than a 74Gb 10,000rpm drive? What motherboard would you recommend? Sorry, I guess that's more than a couple. Like I said, I'm new at this and don't mind getting told how it is :) Sorry for being such a n00b.
Click to expand...

1) http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merc...e=M&Product_Code=120338&AFFIL=pricewatch&NR=1
2) 7,200 RPM drives have been improved greatly with SATA2, NCQ, and better designed platters.
3) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131530

-J.
 
JasonE4 said:
Dell LCDs use Samsung panels very many times. I'm saying that the 20 inch 2005FPW is much better resolution-wise than the 19 inch 1280x1024 LCD that he picked. There's a lot more screen real estate to work with with a 2005FPW compared to an SXGA+ LCD.
Click to expand...

However, if he uses its native resolution @ 1680 x 1050, he will probably find lesser performance. 1280 x 1024 is more than enough to enjoy a game on a 19" and benefits him the speed. Perhaps a better response time @ 8 ms rather than 12.

-J.
 
You guys are fast. Sure beats waiting on the phone with friggin' customer support. On the mobo topic... a colleague uses the asus premium and loves it and I would like the opportunity to try for sli when the 7800s come down in price next year. I have rethought the HD solution and went back to the 2xWD 250GB 3Gb\s recommended in the [H] system guide. They are about the same price as my previous setup and I can stripe them in RAID 0 to be just as fast (or faster) than one Raptor.
 
GeForceX said:
However, if he uses its native resolution @ 1680 x 1050, he will probably find lesser performance. 1280 x 1024 is more than enough to enjoy a game on a 19" and benefits him the speed. Perhaps a better response time @ 8 ms rather than 12.

-J.
Click to expand...
He'll be able to game just fine on a 1680x1050 LCD with a 7800GTX for awhile. Also, he'll enjoy the real estate of a 1680x1050 monitor compared to the 19 inch LCD. For more of a budget rig, I'd definitely go with a 1280x1024 LCD (I use one) in order to get good performance at native res, but for a higher end system, a higher res LCD would be enjoyable.
 
Triturator said:
You guys are fast. Sure beats waiting on the phone with friggin' customer support. On the mobo topic... a colleague uses the asus premium and loves it and I would like the opportunity to try for sli when the 7800s come down in price next year. I have rethought the HD solution and went back to the 2xWD 250GB 3Gb\s recommended in the [H] system guide. They are about the same price as my previous setup and I can stripe them in RAID 0 to be just as fast (or faster) than one Raptor.
Click to expand...
The asus that GeForceX linked to is a great mobo and considerably cheaper than the SLi version. SLi isn't double the performance of a single card. By the time you want to upgrade video cards, there'll be a single card that will me much better than your two in SLi. Just my opinion.
 
JasonE4 said:
The asus that GeForceX linked to is a great mobo and considerably cheaper than the SLi version. SLi isn't double the performance of a single card. By the time you want to upgrade video cards, there'll be a single card that will me much better than your two in SLi. Just my opinion.
Click to expand...


Gotcha, I'll look into it some more.
 
There are not too many occasions where I am burning cds, encoding video and playing a game at the same time. Is dual core what I need? Or should I spend the same $ for a faster single core. Also... round or flat SATA cables? And will I need longer cables than the stock ones to accomodate the big chassis?
 
if you are willing to overclock then go with the X2 because that will be way better than the single core. A single core at 2.4 will do much better in games than a Dual Core at 2.0 (X2 3800+) or 1.8 (Opteron 165). But i have heard that you can get the X2 3800+ and the Opteron 165 up over 2.4 on air.

If you are not willing to overclock then you have to do some soul seaching to do.
 
Quite honestly, me having a P4 3 GHz (with HT disabled) and a Athlon XP 2500+, with a properly set up Windows installation, there really isn't a need for X2 or what not. Sure I get into a grind once in a while when Firefox loads and another software loads at the same time but for the most part I run one application at a time. Even I feel my P4 3 GHz is fast. For gaming, that's a plus too.

The only time of frustration I had was using audio editing programs like FruityLoops, Audacity, and Firefox where the CPU usage can't be shared well enough, causing stuttering and slow loading times. This is where the X2 will help kick in.

But as Morley says, there really is no reason to not go for an X2 CPU.

-J.
 
Good advice. Whatever I decide to get I'll be adding a Thermalright SI-120 heatsink with a fan in addition to my other case cooling. Would that be enough to keep an overclocked CPU down to safe temps?
 
I know this isn't the OC forum but since we're on the subject... Realistically, how much CPU (and other component) life am I sacrificing by OCing?
 
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