First build in many years: Comments?

J

JPOnion

Weaksauce
Joined
Jun 8, 2005
Messages
120
Sorry for another "help critique my build" post ;)

I'm coming back to the states in another month and a half, and I'm finally ready to upgrade the 4+ year old system I have waiting for me. Actually, the newest parts are around 4 years, some are older.
Its been a while since I've built a totally new system, let alone even a major upgrade, so I want to make sure I'm getting a good system for the price, as well as make sure I'm not forgetting anything important. I also want to make sure what I'm getting is easily upgradable later on, since I want to be able to make small upgrades as it ages. It costs alot to do a big upgrade, or a new build :(

I'm a college student, so of course its got to be as cheap as I can get it. I'm a gamer, too, so it has to be capable of running the newer stuff. FarCry killed (<5FPS) my current computer, so I havent even been able to play that yet.

Here is what I have so far.

Motherboard: Chaintech VNF4/Ultra Socket 939: $93
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice: $192
Video: PowerColor Radeon X800XL: $279
RAM: Corsair ValueSelect 1GB: $77
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 SATA 160GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150: $97
DVD: NEC DVD-RW: $44
PSU: Sparkle FSP530-60GNA ATX12V 530W: $79
Case: SkyHawk MSR-4610: $27

Total: $888

I have a monitor, speakers and keyboard/mouse already. I'll use onboard sound, since I'm assuming onboard sound has advanced past the SBLive Value I'm used to. I'm also assuming the fans that come with the CPU/case will be enough, since I dont plan on overclocking.

Comments? Know a better part, or a way to get similar/better performance for cheaper?

Thanks!
 
If you're waiting a month and a half then this may all go out the window before you build it. But if that were being built today, it would be good.

One thing to keep in mind, the next gen video cards are just around the corner. May push the price of yours down, or maybe you'd want to consider one of them.
 
Thanks guys! It'll probably be another month and a half to two months before I can order it (Why order it when I wont be there to enjoy it?), but at least now I know I'm on the right track, so I can easily swap out a part on that list with something better. Assuming the prices drop ;)

I'm counting the days.
 
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