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Newbie's First Build

L

Lemonhead

n00b
Joined
Jan 25, 2005
Messages
10
Hi, I'm a former lurker and after reading some of the great advice that people are getting, figured I would register and get your opinion on a new build. I'm having some friends of mine help me with the assembly of the computer but am looking for your feedback on all of the components. Specifically compatibility and reliability issues. I've tried to find the best possible components (thanks to NewEgg's feedback) at the lowest possible price. Some background: I'm not a gamer at all. This system will be used for the most part for your typical surfing the net, Microsoft Office applications, and also some video editing (not a whole lot, just moving some of the home videos of the kids to DVD). This will be an upgrade from a 700mhz Gateway with Windows ME that has given me problems since the day I purchased it.

Here is what I have purchased so far:

Seagate 160GB Retail Box from Fry's for $57.58 after the rebate and shipping
10-Bay ATX Case w/450 watt Power Supply from Computer Geeks for $33.99 on sale w/shipping.
NEC Floppy Drive from Newegg for $10.50 shipped

Here is what I'm looking to add to this:

MSI K8T NEO-FSR Motherboard - $68.00 from ChiefValue
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ - $146.00 from NewEgg
Kingston 512MB PC3200 DDR DIMM Memory from Best Buy - $54.99 after rebate
NEC 16X Double Layer DVD+/- RW Drive from NewEgg - $62.99

When I total that up, I come up with $434.05 when all rebates and such are settled. Do you think this is a good quality system? Does anybody see any problems with it? Thanks in advance for your comments.
 
A few thoughts:

You don't sound like you have particularly high requirements (i.e. games), so the system you have specified is fine so far. However, I would recommend getting a socket 939 processor and motherboard UNLESS you plan to never upgrade the CPU/mobo. Socket 754 is the outgoing standard and only accepts up to a 3700+ CPU, so little scope for the future.

Buy 1Gb RAM. It'll make XP run much smoother as it'll allow plenty of headroom for it to cache recently-used applications in RAM. Close something down and reopen it a few minutes later - bam! it comes from RAM cache rather than looking on the hard disk drive. 1GB is the way forward, but 512Mb will be fine anyway should you be reluctant to spend more.

Storage: if you don't plan to keep DVDs and vast high-quality photo albums on the HDD, you should have enough space with the 160Gb. You can always add an extra HDD later. I would be tempted to go for a SATA HDD though (a quicker interface to the PC than the one you've specified).

Do you have a graphics card already? If not, get something cheap like an nVidia FX5200 to provide the display for your monitor. Are the kids getting into gaming age and will they be wanting to play games on Daddy's PC in the near future? If they are, you might want to get a more powerful graphics card but again this can be added later if needed.

Make sure you get a copy of XP, rather than sticking with ME.
 
Thanks, I doubt that I'll ever really upgrade as I tend to keep my systems for about 3 or 4 years and then just buy a new one. Also, and forgive my ignorance, do I have to have an additional video/graphics card? Is there on board with the motherboard? The kids are 2 and 6 months so no worries about them gaming anytime soon. That's why I have the PS2.....it's for the kids you know.
 
512 ram should be more than enough for you. I was running 256mb on my WinXP P4 setup for over 2 years and it worked fine for me.

You could get an onboard graphics card, but you'll have to look for a new mobo. I suggest trying out one of the geforce MX 420/440 cards. The 440 ones are about 34$ish on newegg. The 420 version served me very well. It has DirectX7 graphics, but I could still run basically every game (lowest graphics settings for some games, but still smooth and playable). Hits about 50-60 fps on 1024x768 in CS:Source - for older games, u'll be on normal to high settings.

The FX5200 is a definitely a better card for game playing and only costs a little bit more, but you should probably just stick with a cheapest solution and then upgrade to a higher end card later.
 
I'm skeptical of any power supply that comes with a 33$ case. Check out something from sparkle or antec for another 30 - 40 bucks. You computer will thank you.
 
Thanks for the advice. I haven't heard any negatives about that MSI motherboard. Does anybody see any glaring problems with the compatibility of the components? Thanks for all your help.
 
Agreed on the psu issue. Pick up a reliable name brand power supply. Spend at least 50$ on it. The power supply is one of the most important parts in your system, and if it fails it can take all your components with it. I've got a pile of those cheap power supplys in the basement just waiting to get thrown out from cheap cases or customers who had stability issues/failures.
 
Alright, I'll keep my eye out for a good power supply. How big of a one do you think I need for that setup?
 
Lemonhead said:
Alright, I'll keep my eye out for a good power supply. How big of a one do you think I need for that setup?
Click to expand...

Read this sticky thread in Power supply forumn for good advice on a PS...
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=792566

Remember this, all the nice stuff you buy will be useless w/o a good PS. It's like a having a healthy body with a defective heart.
 
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