[Rookie Builder]

I am going to build my first system in a couple weeks... I had some parts picked out but have been reading some pretty bad things about the Abit board I picked out (ABIT KN9 SLI Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI MCP ATX AMD). I've heard there are issues with the bios being all screwed up, the board being very "picky" about the RAM it takes, and some other RAM issues... has me thinking I may want to switch.

This is my first build and I want to make it as painless as possible, if I get something that requires a lot of tinkering with the BIOS, I'm afraid I won't be able to do it...

I'd like to keep it around $12-1300 (not including monitor or DVD drive). I want to go with the AM2 for upgradability down the line (unless someone can talk me out of it). I also want to go with the straight Athlon 64, I'll upgrade to the x2 in 6 months when the price comes down some... My main use for it will be gaming, namely BF2, I want SLI capability but only 1 card to start. Ok, recommend me some parts!!! Thanks!!!

Edited by Rookie Builder, 13 July 2006 - 11:28 PM.

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I can only comment on personal experience. I have had very good luck with the Gigabyte motherboards so i might pick this one.

http://www.giga-byte...me=GA-M59SLI-S5

As for video cards right now Nvidia has the market on the SLI cards. So you might read Nvidias take on building a SLI system.

http://www.slizone.c...wtobuild_1.html

I always take these kind of sites with a grain of salt as they have deals with other companys so they push their products. Another rumor going around is that AMD is trying to buy ATI. If that is so it may be a crossfire system may be better. you would have to wait to see what pans out there.

The rest of the system depends on the MB, but 2 gigs of memory (i've been using OCZ lately), Audigy sound card, and a good 600 watt or better power supply would complete the system.

Heres a good read on power supplys.

http://jonnyguru.blogspot.com/

SRX660

[SRX660]

I can only comment on personal experience. I have had very good luck with the Gigabyte motherboards so i might pick this one.

http://www.giga-byte...me=GA-M59SLI-S5

As for video cards right now Nvidia has the market on the SLI cards. So you might read Nvidias take on building a SLI system.

http://www.slizone.c...wtobuild_1.html

I always take these kind of sites with a grain of salt as they have deals with other companys so they push their products. Another rumor going around is that AMD is trying to buy ATI. If that is so it may be a crossfire system may be better. you would have to wait to see what pans out there.

The rest of the system depends on the MB, but 2 gigs of memory (i've been using OCZ lately), Audigy sound card, and a good 600 watt or better power supply would complete the system.

Heres a good read on power supplys.

http://jonnyguru.blogspot.com/

SRX660

[Rookie Builder]

Ok, this Gigabyte board is a little more than I wanted to spend but it seems to have what I want... a question though, some boards I have seen say they have 2 PCIe x16 slots but then there is something about one of them running at PCIe x8 in SLI mode? does this cause a performance loss? Am I better off going with a board that just runs 2 PCIe x16 slots such as this Gigabyte board?

[SRX660]

I have not run a SLI setup yet except for a build for someone.. While it is true that a second card in a SLI setup will increase the graphics speed by only 30-50% i do not know if a 16x and 8x would match that. Reality tells me that all this new graphics need to be sorted out for a couple of years to really speed up. As far as im concerned i have one person that i build gaming computers for and he will not buy anything but the best there is. For him it had to be a dual 16x slot MB so i picked the gigabyte. So far he is happy until the next go around of improvements. He is already asking about quad SLI but he is obsessed.

SRX660

[Rookie Builder]

Ok, with that in mind... do you have any opinion on another AM2 MB?

[jrm20]

Ok, with that in mind... do you have any opinion on another AM2 MB?

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813128321

That gigabyte mobo will be fine and its only $96.99

The other gigabyte mobo was twice as much.

[Rookie Builder]

Looks good... since I am trying to understand this, how much of a performance drop off is it to the nForce4 from the nForce 500 series? Trying to see the differences in the 2 MB's to understand what creates the price difference.

Now the RAM... in the compatible RAM piece from Gigabyte they list 3 Corsair sticks that work... one is a 512MB PC6400, the other is a 1G PC8500?

The RAM I found on newegg is the Corsair Twin2x2048-6400C4 Will this work?

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820145034


Also, combatability question- the specs for the MB say "supports 1.8v DDR2 DIMMS" but the memory I have selected above is listed as 1.9v on newegg... is that a problem?

Edited by Rookie Builder, 14 July 2006 - 09:19 PM.

[Rookie Builder]

Ok, heres the parts list I came up with... any comments on something I should change or avoid (if a bad part) would be appreciated... also, I want to make sure of the RAM and PS compatability especially... thanks a ton!!!

MB: Gigabyte GA-M55SLI-S4 Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813128321

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3800+ Orleans 2000MHz HT 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819103631

RAM: CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Unbuffered DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit System Memory
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820145034

HD: Western Digital Caviar RE WD1600YD 160GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16822136009

Vid. Card: eVGA 256-P2-N564-AX Geforce 7900GT KO 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814130015

Sound: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Interface Sound Card
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16829102188

PS: Antec TRUEPOWERII TPII-550 ATX12V 550W Power Supply 115/230 V UL, TUV, CB, FCC CLASS B, CUL
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817103931

CPU Heatsink: ZALMAN CNPS 9500 AM2 2 Ball Green LED Light CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16835118004

Case: ASPIRE X-CRUISER-BK Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16811144151

OS: Microsoft Windows XP Professional With SP2
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16837102062

[jrm20]

Ok, heres the parts list I came up with... any comments on something I should change or avoid (if a bad part) would be appreciated... also, I want to make sure of the RAM and PS compatability especially... thanks a ton!!!

MB: Gigabyte GA-M55SLI-S4 Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813128321

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3800+ Orleans 2000MHz HT 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819103631

RAM: CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Unbuffered DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit System Memory
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820145034

HD: Western Digital Caviar RE WD1600YD 160GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16822136009

Vid. Card: eVGA 256-P2-N564-AX Geforce 7900GT KO 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814130015

Sound: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Interface Sound Card
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16829102188

PS: Antec TRUEPOWERII TPII-550 ATX12V 550W Power Supply 115/230 V UL, TUV, CB, FCC CLASS B, CUL
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817103931

CPU Heatsink: ZALMAN CNPS 9500 AM2 2 Ball Green LED Light CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16835118004

Case: ASPIRE X-CRUISER-BK Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16811144151

OS: Microsoft Windows XP Professional With SP2
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16837102062

Everything is fine and will work. Its all compatible.

Powersupply is a nice one and ram will work..

[Rookie Builder]

Cool thanks, do you see anything else I need to get thats not on my list? I'm ordering next week and don't want to forget anything.

[Crater]

CDROM? Unless thats in one of them doo-ma-jigz :-p

[Rookie Builder]

yeah, originally I was just going to transplant the CDROM from my existing system but I decided to just get a new one, they are so cheap anyway... I assume these things are pretty much all compatible, but to be on the safe side, will this work with my MB?

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16827131014