Help building first pc..

J

jack9800XT

Weaksauce
Joined
Jun 7, 2004
Messages
98
I know you probably get a million of these type of threads a day but im a serious hardware
newbie and really would appreciate some imput before I sink all my money into this.

So far, I think these are the specs of come up with,

ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe Motherboard
Athalon XP 2800+ 333FSB
GEIL DDR 400 512mb PC3200 DUAL CHANNEL KIT
WD 80GB SATA HD
POWERCOLOR x800 pro
ANTEC SL350 350w ATX powersupply
RAIDMAX scorpio 868 case (its on sale at the moment)

am I missing something stupid or is their any recommended substitutions?

also, I have been told by some people that 350w will be enough and by others not enough and should I get a larger psu and is their any "difficult" or risky aspects of assembly that I should get done by someone who is more knowledgable?

Thanks alot in advance for any advice given
 
The setup looks good - the only thing that really stands out is the lack of an optical drive. Also, make sure if you buy any OEM parts that you are sure you have cables and such on hand. Extra screws are also handy - I've had drives and mobos come without them.

For what you are running right now, the 350W PSU will be fine, although I always try to go a size or 2 bigger for future expansion (i.e. more HDDs)
 
I feel like a moron now, I did forget to even include an optical drive in the budget....
 
I would probably get a little bigger power supply, since you are going to be running a x800 card and a fairly high end system... 400 or 430 watts should do.
 
and also make sure that the processor that you are buying is retail as opposed to OEM since you get a fan and heatsink with the retail processors (which by the way, in my opinion, is the hardest thing to do when building a computer, mounting the heatsink on the processor).
 
Well that CPU will bottleneck the video card a tad, plus athlon xps r kinda outta room for growth. The biggest problem i see is that you are getting a x800 pro and 512MB of system ram. For games like far cry, if you crank up the settings your video card will be able to handle it but the lack of RAM will make the game lag and you will experience many stutters :p I would personally get a mobile 2600+ and a nice heatsink such as Mr code suggested or a volcano 12. Overclock that to 2.5Ghz and you're in business.

OMG THAT CASE!!! i have one of those and HAD an a7n8x mobo......something about that case and the mobo that made the video card not fit in corrently with the screw tightened completely... You can get an Antec case and 350p.s. for $63ish plus $15 shipping.

btw how much money do you have to spend on your PC, that helps in making recommendations.
 
Get a Fortron 400W+ PSU instead. Get Corsair RAM instead if possible. Get a Seagate HD* instead. Otherwise, looks good.
 
ok, well I have decided to upgrade the cpu to XP3200+ for not a lot more.
I also have 0 experience overclocking and am hesitant to do so. I know no one who could "troubleshoot" on a personal basis so I really dont think thats the best option for me.

as for budget I got about $2000 to spend but that includes pc and all accesories (inc a desk and chair!!).

the extra 512 cost a fair chunk of change that am trying to find but am not seeing the possibilities of starting out with 1024.

I think I might get more ram in perhaps a couple of months after i get this beast together.
 
I agree about putting 1GB of ram in there, but if you don't have the money, but plan on upgrading, you have to consider that if you buy 2x 256 now to take advantage of the dual channel RAM, that board only has 3 RAM slots so you won't be able to have 1 GB of ram in the dual channel slots unless you buy 2x512MB sticks and keep one 256MB stick and throw one out (or sell it if you can, but who wants to buy 1x256 dual channel DDR Ram?).

If you do plan on getting the 1GB soon, use only 1 512MB stick and sacrifice dual channel for now until you can get the second stick. You have to make sure to get the same kind though, so generic won't cut it. Besides, your games shouldn't be unplayable ... they'll just have to be played below "everything maxed" settings :D
 
jack9800XT said:
I know you probably get a million of these type of threads a day but im a serious hardware
newbie and really would appreciate some imput before I sink all my money into this.

So far, I think these are the specs of come up with,

ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe Motherboard
Athalon XP 2800+ 333FSB
GEIL DDR 400 512mb PC3200 DUAL CHANNEL KIT
WD 80GB SATA HD
POWERCOLOR x800 pro
ANTEC SL350 350w ATX powersupply
RAIDMAX scorpio 868 case (its on sale at the moment)

am I missing something stupid or is their any recommended substitutions?

also, I have been told by some people that 350w will be enough and by others not enough and should I get a larger psu and is their any "difficult" or risky aspects of assembly that I should get done by someone who is more knowledgable?

Thanks alot in advance for any advice given
Click to expand...

I'd kick that AMD chip up to a 3200 "Barton" with the 400 FSB. The board you are getting can handle that.
 
Why not go with Athlon 64? you can get the A64 3000+ for alittle more ... it will be more future proof that the XP ...
 
Yeah lose the athlon xp, if you said you were going to upgrade to the 3200+ it would be a total waste. The Athlon 64 2800+ is the same price as a 3200+ xp and it would be a much better chip for gaming, plus you could upgrade in the future. If you go with Athlon 64 get the Chaintech nforce 3 250 board at newegg for $92, its a decent board and is great for overclocking.
 
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