Friend needs some [H]ard advice.

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fiewtoid

Weaksauce
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Jun 27, 2004
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Thanks in advance,

One of my friends is planning on building a new computer. Here is what he has so far:

CD / DVD Drives
2x NEC Black IDE DVD Burner Model ND-3540A - OEM
Price: $81.98
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152047

RAM
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 500 (PC 4000)
Price: $296.00
htp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146578

Power Supply
SeaSonic S12-600 ATX12V 600W Power Supply
Price: $159.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817151025

Processor
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Dual Core Processor
Price: $497.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103546

OR

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Dual Core Processor
Price: $322.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103562

Case
Lian Li PC-61 USB Black Computer Case
Price: $110.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811112025

Motherboard
DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 SLI-DR ATX AMD Motherboard
Price: $163.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813136157

Hard Drive
Western Digital Caviar RE 320GB 3.5" Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM
Price: $145.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144407

Video Card
eVGA Geforce 7800GT 256-P2-N517-AX Video Card
Price: $349.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130249

Heatsink
ZALMAN CNPS7000B-Cu LED 2 Ball Blue LED Light Cooling Fan
Price: $38.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835118119

Do you think he'll need more cooling? Which processor do you believe will be more beneficial in the long run? He plans on using this computer for the next 2-3 years as his 2800AMD build has lasted him quite some time. He's just looking for an upgrade...hopefully under $2000. Thanks again for you time, can't wait for the replies!
 
fiewtoid said:
Thanks in advance,

One of my friends is planning on building a new computer. Here is what he has so far:

CD / DVD Drives
2x NEC Black IDE DVD Burner Model ND-3540A - OEM
Price: $81.98
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152047

RAM
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 500 (PC 4000)
Price: $296.00
htp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146578

Power Supply
SeaSonic S12-600 ATX12V 600W Power Supply
Price: $159.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817151025

Processor
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Dual Core Processor
Price: $497.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103546

OR

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Dual Core Processor
Price: $322.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103562

Case
Lian Li PC-61 USB Black Computer Case
Price: $110.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811112025

Motherboard
DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 SLI-DR ATX AMD Motherboard
Price: $163.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813136157

Hard Drive
Western Digital Caviar RE 320GB 3.5" Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM
Price: $145.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144407

Video Card
eVGA Geforce 7800GT 256-P2-N517-AX Video Card
Price: $349.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130249

Heatsink
ZALMAN CNPS7000B-Cu LED 2 Ball Blue LED Light Cooling Fan
Price: $38.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835118119

Do you think he'll need more cooling? Which processor do you believe will be more beneficial in the long run? He plans on using this computer for the next 2-3 years as his 2800AMD build has lasted him quite some time. He's just looking for an upgrade...hopefully under $2000. Thanks again for you time, can't wait for the replies!
Click to expand...


does he really need two burners? I mean he can get a dvd rom for half the price of one of those dvd burners. is he going to be gaming? if he is then I dont know to much about those dual cores, but I do not think they are beneficial to gaming....

If he wanted he coulld get a A64 Single Core, and possible even have enough for the 7800GTX and that should last him for years.
 
You don't -really- need 2 burners. The 4400+ will be better in the long run due to extra speed. if that is a boxed cpu the stock heatsink is good no need to to spend 40 on one.
 
I don't know how good seasonic powersupplies are so I would be careful to research that, make sure you get a good brand. I always get antec, never had a problem with them.
 
What PSU would you recommend? He plans on doing some video rendering / photoshop which explains the dual-core processor. The two DVD burners he never really said why he wanted two. I'll let him know to get one + a cheap DVD rom.
 
GForce64 said:
Seasonics kick ass, stick with it. Check the PSU stickies here for brand and model checks.

I'd personally go with one of Western Digital's newest hard drives (I link to the 250GB, but a 400GB model is avaliable). They're fast and good deals for the price.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144701
Click to expand...

^Agreed. Seasonic is one of the top PSU makers out there. You probably don't need that much power though, so I'd get this one, this one or this one. And I agree on the HDD too, though a Maxtor might be better because of the larger cache.
 
seasonics are great...but they're known to have problems w/ dfi boards. check out dfi-street for more info on that
also, if ur not wayyyy too picky on cpu fan noise, i wud grab a thermalright. the xp-90 would fit fine on the board but im going to be picking up an si-120 for my rig soon because a 120mm fan will push the same amount of air at a lower dba :p
if he isnt going to be going sli...ditch that sli-dr board (unless he wants the extra option of sata 3gb/s) because its useless. I decided to go w/ a dfi ultra-d
btw, keeping it under 2k shud be very easy...i built the rig in my sig for about 1400 ;)

edit
arent those WD RE (raid edition) hard drives supposed to run ONLY in raid setups??? :confused:
 
First, he's decided to drop down on the PSU like you said and I checked the thread about PSUs with him and we decided this would suffice.

Also, would you go with this or this for the RAM? He's a little chicken about overclocking so he wants something that will last him and be more stable of a system. He's thinking about choosing the ASUS A8N-SLI Premium over the DFI listed above.

Lastly, I personally am not sure if he needs both this and this for the harddrives. Would it not be better to just save some cash and get one of these? I really do not believe it is necessary for him to get the Raptor...it's mostly for gaming and photoshop work. Will it really be gamebreaking? Thoughts are very appreciated. Thank you!
 
That PSU is great too, you shouldn't have any problems with it.

As far as RAM goes..it's kind of contradictory. If he's going to overclock, get the Ballistix. You can't beat it for speed and stablity *under an overclock*. But if he's not, which is what seems more likely, just get some value RAM like this. Both the Asus and DFI are great boards, so either one will work fine.

I'm not a HD expert, but it seems to me like his money would be better spent on the WD 400GB. Raptors are overrated.
 
Quick question...I see that both RAM chosen are DDR500. Checked the ASUS motherboard and it says DDR400/333/266. I'm no expert with memory anyways so could someone doublecheck to see if they'll work together? Thanks again!!
 
If he isn't overclocking, that memory is a waste.

He can get some Corsair Value Select for half the price and there wont be any difference if he isnt overclocking.
 
That's why I said that if he's not overclocking he should get the Corsair Value RAM. But to answer your question, the Ballistix should work in that mobo even if it's rated at DDR500. Someone else will probably be able to answer better though.
 
NKDietrich said:
If he isn't overclocking, that memory is a waste.

He can get some Corsair Value Select for half the price and there wont be any difference if he isnt overclocking.
Click to expand...

agreed
ballistix are sweet for OCing (im yet to start mine, gota grab a better hsf) but if hes not going to OC, any good value RAM w/ nice timings would be fine
regarding the hdd's...fry's has a sale for a 160gb seagate barracuda for $60 i think so its nice...but...if u dont wanna go that route, a 16mb cache hdd wud probably be better ;)
 
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