My 1st build, need some help

S

SameSuspect

Weaksauce
Joined
Jul 6, 2005
Messages
81
For so many years iv been trying to build a pc but have never got round to ordering. Finaly iv saved the money to make it happen!

I will be using it for nothing but computer gaming, im on a smallish budget so im looking for performance at low cost. Im used to playing games with low graphic details but would love to be able to play bf2 at 1024x768 with everything turned on with a good smooth fps

If you think im choosing a wrong component, PLEASE let me know as i dont have the brains to learn the technical stuff

case - Thermaltake VB1000SNS
power suply - Enermax Noisetaker 485W EG495AX
motherboard - Asus A8N-E nForce4 Ultra (Socket 939)
cpu - AMD64 3200+ (venice)
Heatsink - Akasa AK-855-BL Copper Base CPU Cooler (Socket 754 & 939)
Ram - Corsair 1GB DDR Value Select PC3200 CAS2.5 Kit (2x512MB)
Graphics - HIS Excalibur ATI Radeon X800 GTO ICEQII TURBO 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express)
Hardrive - Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 80GB ST3808110AS SATA-II 8MB Cache

im also buying that Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound stuff for the cpu

will this setup run bf2 the way i want it? also would the corsair value ram slow things down?
 
video is ok imo, but the cpu is a little old and slow imo. a 3500+ would be better. you could save on memory and get only 512, and buy more later.
 
Dont agree with that, what peformance increase in games is he going to see with just 200mhz more?

Thats a good setup (apart from the case), but I really think you would benefit for saving just a little more to get that boost in video gaming. A 7600GT would do wonders and 2GB ram is great for smooth gameplay. The CPU is fine and so is everthing else.

Save up just a little more for a 7600GT and 2GB ram, then get your setup :)

Good luck.
 
Never, EVER skimp on RAM. 1GB is cheap enough now, I see no reason not to get it, 2GB is even better (but more of a luxury than a necessity in most cases).
 
From the looks of it i would say get a crossfire ready board if your going with ati graphics. nvidia sli board if your going to get the gforce card. you could also save some $$ by getting an FSP powersupply.If your not overclocking then the value ram is fine.
 
would the extra £40 for the XFX GeForce 7600 GT XXX Edition 256MB make a hell of a difference?

also if i get this card id have to get an sli motherboard..
is this alright:

Asus A8N-SLi SE nForce4 SLi (Socket 939)


I have also changed the ram to:

Corsair 1GB DDR Value Select PC3200 CAS3.0 (VS1GB400C3) (MY-062-CS) so i can upgrade another 1gig stick later in the year if needed.

would the fact its "value".. let the graphics card down?? meaning would it be ALOT faster if i get a gig of the good stuff and not the value stuff?

thanx
 
For the most part value ram should be fine. those who buy the HiProformance ram do so for their low timings, and hi overclocks. sli is only for those who want to run two geforce cards in tandom. if your only going to use one card then all you will need a single slot pci-e based nvidia board not the sli.
 
oh ok, but i might aswell get an sli card for when i need to upgrade

would i need better psu when i buy another card?
 
would i need to buy 2 SLI cards for an SLI mainboard to boot? or can i just buy 1 and enable the sli later in the year once i have bought the 2nd card.

i have changed the psu to an Enermax Noisetaker 535W and the RAM to 1 stick of Corsair 1GB DDR XMS3200C2PT Platinum CAS2 so i can overclock it.. as well as the case

its only come to an extra £48 from the previous list which is nice.

case - Antec SLK3000B Midi Tower Case - No PSU
power suply - Enermax Noisetaker 535W ) SFMA ATX2.0 SLI Compliant PSU
motherboard - Asus A8N-SLi SE nForce4 SLi
cpu - AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 90nm
Heatsink - Akasa AK-855-BL Copper Base CPU Cooler (Socket 754 & 939)
Ram - Corsair 1GB DDR XMS3200C2PT Platinum CAS2
Graphics - XFX GeForce 7600 GT XXX Edition 256MB
Hardrive - Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 80GB
 
Thats a dual channel board so your better using 2x512=1gig, and no you don't need two cards to boot the machine.
 
ok thanx will do. one last question. the motherboard says it supports SATA 3Gb/s, is this Sata 2.0

the website im buying off only sell sata 2.0 drives so would have to buy the hdd off a different site if the mobo doesnt support it.
 
I'm pretty sure that sata3gb is backwards compatable with sata150 . you may want to wait form one the more advance members here to chime in on this question.
 
One thing you may want to do is to slipstream an XP-install CD with SATA drivers. Otherwise, you may need a floppy if you are installing onto a SATA drive, as your boot drive. Haven't actually done it myself, but I have seen people who have had trouble pulling it off, especially if you don't plan before hand (e.g. no floppy, or no slip-streamed CD).

If you don't want to slipstream, then floppy will be simpler.
 
slipstream?? is that configuring a windows xp cd so it installs the sata drivers.. know of a website that teaches me how to do this?
 
never mind i got 1, thanx for the heads up :) . hope their isnt any more of these things hidden that will slow me down... like certain bios configs ect. I have never built a pc from scratch before.. will i have to edit alot of the bios?
 
In terms of BIOS settings, the only real biggies are:

1) Boot order (just make sure CD-ROM boots up first).
*of course after XP is installed, you can switch this to your hard drives, designated "HDD-0" or "HDD-1" or similar.
2) RAM settings. If you get value ram, then it will probably do 7-3-3-2.5 (or slower). I'm betting most BIOSes will do "by SPD", so this should be safe. But it doesn't hurt to check.
3) Integrated junk. If you don't use it, turn it off. This is not crucial, but something you should do some time or another.

Everything else I wouldn't mess with unless you overclock.
 
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