[Stelth2k1]

I just built a pc and i bought the evga 7800gt 256mb video card and i love it, i hit the highest score i have ever and in cs source i get 150-160 fps. more mb doesnt always mean a lot better performace, trust me i have learned :/

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This is the final list. Can someone tell me if I need to change/replace something.

Koolance PC2-601 Case-$150

ABIT KN8 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard-$84.99

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Toledo 1GHz HT Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model ADA4800CDBOX-$630
-Should I go with the 4400+, which costs $458, or the 4800+ that costs $630? The Koolance case has an integrated water cooling system in it. Can anyone say if this will be good or bad from experience?

(2) Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 ST3250824AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive-$99 each
-I want to set these two hdds in Raid 0 configuration. What accessories do I need?

CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 433 (PC 3500) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model TWINX2048-3500LLPRO-$305

ATI 100-435805 Radeon X1900XTX 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card-$519

LITE-ON Beige ATAPI/E-IDE DVD Burner With LightScribe and 5X DVD-RAM Write Model SHM-165H6S BG-$49.99

Thermaltake W0101RU 550W Power Supply-$94.99

Total-$ 2031.97

Dell 24 inch lcd screen with 12ms response time-$739
Which keyboard would you recommend. I do not want a wireless one.

[cheema]

This is the final list. Can someone tell me if I need to change/replace something.

Koolance PC2-601 Case-$150

ABIT KN8 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard-$84.99

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Toledo 1GHz HT Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model ADA4800CDBOX-$630
-Should I go with the 4400+, which costs $458, or the 4800+ that costs $630? The Koolance case has an integrated water cooling system in it. Can anyone say if this will be good or bad from experience?

(2) Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 ST3250824AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive-$99 each
-I want to set these two hdds in Raid 0 configuration. What accessories do I need?

CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 433 (PC 3500) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model TWINX2048-3500LLPRO-$305

ATI 100-435805 Radeon X1900XTX 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card-$519

LITE-ON Beige ATAPI/E-IDE DVD Burner With LightScribe and 5X DVD-RAM Write Model SHM-165H6S BG-$49.99

Thermaltake W0101RU 550W Power Supply-$94.99

Total-$ 2031.97

Dell 24 inch lcd screen with 12ms response time-$739
Which keyboard would you recommend. I do not want a wireless one.

[cheema]

One of my friends was saying that my RAM is too fancy and that I should get
CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) System Memory He specifically stated, "No need for the fancy RAM - get some Value Select DDR400. AMD systems don't get very much from RAM with tight timings."
He also recommended the
Logitech G15 2-Tone 104 Normal Keys USB Wired Standard Keyboard-$69.95
He said I should change my PSU to
SeaSonic S12-600 ATX12V 600W Power Supply 100 - 240V UL, CE, CB, FCC-$149.99

He was also telling me to switch the ABIT mobo with an ASUS one b/c ASUS mobos are more reliable and stable. Is that true?

[cheema]

He said I should switch the mobo to ASUS A8N5X Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX AMD Motherboard -$83.99

[warriorscot]

Your friend clearly isnt the brightest with AMD systems its the opposite way round intel dont need good timings as much AMD systems can make the most of tighter timings and in any system the tigheter the better and that ram will also overclcocl better if you ever want to.

I wouldnt bother with RAID the risks by far outweigh the small advantage which you can get just from careful disk management anyway.

Water cooling is pretty hard to install at the best of times and can be dangerous, i wouldnt bother unless you really really want it and get a nice air case that looks better and weighs less, a pair of 120mm are relativley quiet and offer good cooling.

Also the 4800+ while faster is alot more you wont see a massive difference from one to the other and you could overclock later if you need more speed.

[cheema]

OK. So I won't go water cooling. Which case do you recommend then? And which MSI mobo from newegg.com do you recommend? Do I need to bump up the PSU to 600 Watts or can i leave it at 550?

[jrm20]

I dont know about a sea sonic power supply.. I would go for a antec truepower, enermax, ocz, ultra or thermaltake.

Look at the antec vs enermax.

Get one of those.


On an amd system it wont be a big difference between the corsair valueselect than the xms series. The xms is better ram but you wont notice a big difference at all. This is with the pc3200 memory, as if you want to highly overclock an amd its better to get over the pc3200 memory speed. The thing is the corsair valueselect doesnt come in any higher speeds than pc3200 and its not meant for overclocking so if you want to overclock you should get the xms which it will be better for shure for overclocking.

So, for an amd system that you will NOT overclock you wont notice a difference between the corsair valueselect or the xms. You would be better off buying the valueselect if you dont overclock because it will save you money.

Im not a fan of asus..

[cheema]

I chose the ENERMAX All in One Noisetaker Series EG701AX-VE SFMA(24P) 600W Power Supply-$148.99
For the RAM, will I really see a big difference if I oc the 2 Gigs?
I still need a mobo and a case. Which ones should I get?

[cheema]

Actually, I am switching to this PSU: Antec TRUEPOWERII TPII-550 ATX12V 550W Power Supply 115/230 V UL, TUV, CB, FCC CLASS B, CUL-$89.99
I still need a good overclock friendly mobo and a case.

[cheema]

I was looking at the internal hdds on newegg and got confused. What is the difference between Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 ST3250823AS 250GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive and Western Digital Caviar RE WD2500SD 250GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive ? And what is the difference between Serial ATA 150 and SATA 3.0Gb/s? How does the ASPIRE X-CRUISE -BK Black Computer Case With Side Panel Window look? I still need a good msi mobo. please just send me a link. Thankyou.

[jrm20]

I was looking at the internal hdds on newegg and got confused. What is the difference between Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 ST3250823AS 250GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive and Western Digital Caviar RE WD2500SD 250GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive ? And what is the difference between Serial ATA 150 and SATA 3.0Gb/s? How does the ASPIRE X-CRUISE -BK Black Computer Case With Side Panel Window look? I still need a good msi mobo. please just send me a link. Thankyou.

Generally the 3.0Gb per second harddrives are for motherboards that have sataII or 3Gbps support.

It should have support for it, they just run faster than the regular sata 150 harddrives.

In a harddrive look for these

Average Latency: ms lower the ms the faster it will be.
Average Seek Time: ms lower the better
Average Write Time: ms lower the better.
Cache: the more cache it has the better..

Edited by jrm20, 05 March 2006 - 02:52 PM.

[cheema]

Should I buy all the parts from one place, like newegg, or should I find the cheapest prices and order them separately?

[Thebinaryman]

just get it all from newegg, it will save you the troublle, plus neweggs prices are pretty much the best, or at least second best (in the us).

[cheema]

Now that I have all the parts, what's the order that I put the hardware and software together? Any links would be helpful.

[Thebinaryman]

first read every pice of paper that came with everything that you got. now first install the drives, then put the motherboard in, make any jumper settings necessary. attatch the processor, rig up the cooler, add expansion cards, add memory, connect al wires, double check, boot up into the bios, change settings to your satisfaction, set the boot order first to cdrom. install your favorite os, install your video drivers, install ut2004 and start fragging.

well thats a summary

theres a plethora of guides on the internet, google can answer within 2 seconds any specific question you may have. have fun with your new pc. any other quesions come back here after checking google.