First attempt at building a computer

[darklemur]

I'm heading off to college in the fall, and I think it's about time I upgraded my computer, and I'm thinking I'd like to go the route of building it myself.

Anyway, I've been out of the loop for quite some time, as my current PC boasts such impresive specs as a 1.8 ghz P4 and a Radeon 9600xt. It's served me well for the last four and a half years, so you can see I'm not one to upgrade very often. Therefore, I'm looking for something that will last me for a while, and what better place to start that the CPU...

I'm pretty set on dual core, as I do a fair amount of multi-tasking, and from what I've read the AMD X2's seem like the way to go. I was orignally looking at the X2 4800, because I don't plan on overclocking, and I was all "Woo! I want the best there is!" But looking at the X2 line slightly below that, the price drops quite a bit, and I'm wondering if going to the 4600+ or the 4400+ would really make that much of a difference? (I'm always a fan of saving some money...)

I plan to do a fair amount of gaming as well (I'd like to run Oblvion decently), ripping DVDs, and some 3d animation stuff, so what would you recommend for a processor? (even though I'm sure anything I could buy would be a freakin' massive improvement). Thanks.

Edit: Damn, I just realized there's a thread that basically answers my question. Still though, would the X2 line be the best for what I'm aiming to do?

 

[Astaroth]

Edit: To answer your final question, I would go dual-core just because you mentioned it alot and it will make you happy.

Maybe this will help. This is the system I just bought and assembled last week...and it completely rocks. The following were the new parts:

Track 2 eVGA 256-P2-N564 Geforce 7900GT KO 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
Item #: N82E16814130015 $638.00
Track 1 Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM
Item #: N82E16835100007 $5.99
Track 1 GIGABYTE G-Power GH-PDU21-SC Ball Blue LED Light CPU Cooling Fan with Heatsink - Retail
Item #: N82E16835128009 $29.99
Track 1 MSI K8N Diamond Plus Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI X16 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Item #: N82E16813130037 $194.99
Track 1 AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Toledo 2000MHz HT Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model ADA4400CDBOX - Retail
Item #: N82E16819103546 $460.00

3DMark05 score of 11600.
Obilivion FPS:
- outdoors: 40
- indoors : 60
- this is at 1920x1200 resolution with all eye-candy on high except shadows and grass and v-sync turned on.

You could settle for one 7900GTX card and get a 3DMark05 score in the 10,000 range.
You could also opt for the Opteron 175 proc which is $100 more but possibly a bit more solid performance at 2.2ghz....and overclocking (I am not overclocking yet).

I am very happy with the MSI Diamond Plus board...I think it deserves more credit around here on the forums.

 

[Spazilton]

Edit: To answer your final question, I would go dual-core just because you mentioned it alot and it will make you happy.

Maybe this will help. This is the system I just bought and assembled last week...and it completely rocks. The following were the new parts:

Track 2 eVGA 256-P2-N564 Geforce 7900GT KO 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
Item #: N82E16814130015 $638.00
Track 1 Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM
Item #: N82E16835100007 $5.99
Track 1 GIGABYTE G-Power GH-PDU21-SC Ball Blue LED Light CPU Cooling Fan with Heatsink - Retail
Item #: N82E16835128009 $29.99
Track 1 MSI K8N Diamond Plus Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI X16 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Item #: N82E16813130037 $194.99
Track 1 AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Toledo 2000MHz HT Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model ADA4400CDBOX - Retail
Item #: N82E16819103546 $460.00

3DMark05 score of 11600.
Obilivion FPS:
- outdoors: 40
- indoors : 60
- this is at 1920x1200 resolution with all eye-candy on high except shadows and grass and v-sync turned on.

You could settle for one 7900GTX card and get a 3DMark05 score in the 10,000 range.
You could also opt for the Opteron 175 proc which is $100 more but possibly a bit more solid performance at 2.2ghz....and overclocking (I am not overclocking yet).

I am very happy with the MSI Diamond Plus board...I think it deserves more credit around here on the forums.

Do not get the 175 if you plan on overclocking it is a waste of money. The only reason you get a chip that has a higher multi, is to compensate for a motherboard that won't do high HTTs.
Go for the 165s most of the steppings being shipped right now do at least 2.8 on low voltage.

 

[ShepsCrook]

Or, like he said, he doesn't plan on overclocking that much so it might not be a bad idea for him to get a higher processor. I would suggest that he get a lower processor and overclocking though.