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Building a new computer

M

MaxDuo

n00b
Joined
Jun 10, 2005
Messages
20
Well the computer that I built 4-5 years or so ago is now dead. Well, the mobo died. I figure it seems like a better deal to spend a little more and make a new computer than just replace the old mother board though.

Anyway so far the parts I was looking at were:

Motherboard
ASUS M3A78-CM AM2+/AM2 AMD 780V Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

CPU:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 7750 Kuma 2.7GHz

RAM:
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800

Graphics:
EVGA 512-P3-N954-TR GeForce 9500 GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express

The case will be my old one, as will the old 160gb hard drive (Or Hell, they are a lot cheaper now, might go ahead and get a new one), and I'll also use my old DVD burner.


Now what I was wondering about was I have this Thermaltake PurePower 420W power supply from the old computer. Is there any chance this would be any good for me? Or should I definitely go up, and if so, to what power? Since it seems there has been a pretty big jump in power supplies from since I needed one.

Also I wasn't fully sure about that video card, I was looking through them and saw the 9800 at over twice the price. But it sounds like this one will be good enough for a somewhat cheap computer for gaming but no need to max out.

Thanks.


edit/addition:
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
a somewhat cheap computer for gaming
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Hoping with various parts I already have to not spend too much more than $400
3) Where do you live?
NC
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
Power supply is the only one I really asked for at this point.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
The case will be my old one, as will the old 160gb hard drive (Or Hell, they are a lot cheaper now, might go ahead and get a new one), and I'll also use my old DVD burner.
Thermaltake Pure Power 420W Dual Fan
6) Will you be overclocking?
I did on my old computer, then I stopped. I've no plans of it right now, but we'll go with "probably" so yes. Just not trying to go extreme.
7) What size monitor do you have or plan to have?
20"
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Within the next week as I have no computer while the other has a dead mobo.
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
Just regular features, don't care for firewire, no need for a raid, and I only use one monitor so..
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
Yes.
 
Please answer the questions in the stick titled "ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS FIRST"
 
AMD Athlon 64 X2 7750 CPU and HIS HD4670 512MB IceQ Turbo PCI-E Video card COMBO - $131
G.Skill F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ 2 x 2GB DDR2 800 RAM - $45
Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2HP AMD 780G mATX Motherboard - $80
Corsair 400CX 400W PSU - $50
Western Digital WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $75
---
Total: $381 plus tax and shipping

The only decent Thermaltake PSUs out there are part of their Toughpower and Purepower RX line. Hence why I included a new PSU in the list above. A good quality 400W PSU will be enough for your system however that Thermaltake is NOT a good quality 420W PSU or 400W PSU.

Also threw in one of the fastest consumer grade hard drives out now. It's only 10% or so slower than Velociraptor hard drive and faster than old Raptor drives. SO definitely an excelletn buy.

If you buy the HD4670 through the combo link above, it drops the price of the HD4670 to $65, making it cost the same as the 9500GT. Considering that the HD4670 is faster than the 9500GT, definitely a good choice.

I went with the Gigabyte mobo since I'm far more comfortable with a Gigabyte mobo over an Asus mobo.
 
Thanks for the replies everyone. I was hoping I wouldn't have to replace the power supply but it seems I will, oh well. I remember when I got that PSU 5 years or so ago everyone had given it great reviews, it's even still accurate now. Guess I'm just lucky (until the mobo died....).

The reason I chose ASUS over Gigabyte is it seems like I'm hearing of more and more people ordering Gigabyte boards and getting them DOA. I never had anything against them in the past but... I just wasn't sure about it now. So I chose a 5 starred mobo from ASUS instead. But now that one disappeared from newegg and is no longer available for some reason... But I did find that there is a non micro ATX one now that apparently just came out. I may just go w/ the gigabyte you suggested since it was one I was looking at before if no one else has had any issues w/ them like I've heard more of (since I am aware of usually more people will complain than compliment things online...).

Also, just to check, if I do overclocking, will the Corsair 400W PSU still be plenty enough for it?

Anyway, thanks for the suggestions, I'll probably go about ordering this in the next few days after looking around a little more

Edit: Oddly Newegg must've had something weird happen because when I look again, that link for the mobo I chose doesn't work still, but I can find it in the list, but can't find the non micro ATX I saw earlier. Either I misread or maybe someone made a mistake haha. Also the one I had looked at earlier had no reviews but they all have them now. Not sure what's up there.
 
I'd go with Gigabyte over Asus, simply for personal preference. I like their BIOS better (storing OC profiles).
 
I think I'm gonna go ahead and do the one that Danny suggested, I was going to go ATI originally then was looking at NVidia because a friend kept telling me to go with EVGA because of the lifetime warranty (he always tells the story about how he or a friend of his had their video card go bad, and EVGA replaced it with a better one). But now that I look at the card I had listed, the warranty is only listed as a 1 year. Oh well.

Anyway, the motherboard you posted is no longer available, it just has the "Notify me" link. ANd looking on there I don't see any option for AM2+/AM2 motherboards anymore for gigabyte. Any other alternatives from them I should go with, or should I go ahead and order from somewhere else like Tiger Direct? I'd like to go ahead and be able to order these by today or tomorrow, as I've been too long without a computer of my own. Also tomorrow is the last day for one of the rebates haha.

Edit: Actually, looking at it, the ASUS board from before is auto notify now too.
Edit2: Oops, brainfart. Said warranties instead of rebates.
 
Did you check eVGA's website? It has interesting info regarding their warranty...

The EVGA limited lifetime warranty is only eligible for part numbers ending in: -A1, -A2, -A3, -A4, -AR, -AX, -CR, -CX, -DX, -FR, -FX, -SG, -SX.

EVGA 1 + 1 limited warranty only eligible for part numbers ending in: -LA, -LE, -LR, -LX, -T1, -TR, -TX.
Click to expand...

BTW, XFX now makes Radeon cards, and they come with double lifetime warranties.

Last day for warranty? huh? :confused:
 
Just realized I hadn't looked into cooling any. I guess I wouldn't need it if I wasn't going to OC.... But in case I do do some OCing I'm going to get this heatsink and fan:


RCTIC COOLING Freezer 64 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler $19.99 after instant $10 saving.

I saw this suggested in another thread on the forum as one of the best bangs for the buck at the time. I'm just wanting pretty decent cooling rather than absolute best.
 
Yah, thats fine. Though, if the CPU you're getting comes with the AMD heatpipe stock cooler, you won't need the Freezer 64 Pro.
 
I thought I had read somewhere on here that that one was still nothing special...?
 
MaxDuo said:
I thought I had read somewhere on here that that one was still nothing special...?
Click to expand...

The regular all aluminum block AMD stock heatsink is nothing special. The heatpipe version that comes with the higher end CPUs performs on par with the Freezer 64 Pro, IIRC. Though, my research was back when I had my s939, but I don't think either design has changed since then. It took my Opteron 165 from 1.8Ghz to 2.8Ghz at the same temps people were getting with the 64 Pro. Hopefully, someone with more recent knowledge can refute/confirm my outdated info.
 
D'oh. I thought I'd read that even this one wasn't all that special. If it is well that's nice... Just wish I hadn't ordered from Newegg already haha. Guess I'll just send it back for a refund if the stock AMD one w/ this order is good.
 
MaxDuo, have you considered visiting Tigerdirect's retail stores here in NC? i suppose it depends where you are located
 
Nah, I can't recall having seen one of their stores before though. Then again I don't pay attention to the stores around the road most of the time...

I went ahead and ordered from Newegg by now though :) Just wish I kinda didn't waste money on that heatsink now......
 
Its only $20. If it hasn't shipped yet, you could cancel it, but I'm guessing it shipped already. If you do get it, but want to return it, there's a 15% restocking fee, and you'd have to pay for return shipment, so its probably not worth returning. ;) Just use it instead of the stock one, since it should be easier to install and runs quieter than the stock one. :p
 
Yeah I was going to cancel it before but it was already charged, couldn't edit the order at that point.

Does anyone else have input on this? If it gives the same cooling but is quieter I may just use it and keep the stock one for a rainy day. I knew about the restocking fee and shipping costs, but if it is quieter... might as well go w/ it.
 
MaxDuo said:
Yeah I was going to cancel it before but it was already charged, couldn't edit the order at that point. ...
Click to expand...

You can cancel an order up until it ships, and even after it ships, if you haven't received it yet, there are still things you can do (after it ships, you can only refuse delivery of the entire order). Newegg customer service chat is your friend. ;)
 
Got the stuff from newegg in today, aside from the mobo that I had to get from amazon. The cpu actually comes w/ the stock aluminum one, so it was good afterall that I got the arctic cooling one.
 
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