[wattyboy]

Hi all,

This will be my first cpu build. I've done a fair amount of reading and reviewing of parts so bear with my nubness as I am still learning. Cpu will be used for mostly day to day things as well as a fair amount of gaming. Feel free to criticize and provide feedback. Thanks

Ok on to the components.

Case: Antec Solo http://www.newegg.co.....pk=antec solo

Looks sturdy and had some good reviews and from what I've read is that Antec makes pretty good cases.

Chip : Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 Wolfdale 2.53GHz 3MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819115052

Seems to be a pretty good chip. Has good potential for OC'ing. Not sure if I plan to OC just want to get through the building part first and then go from there. Has had good reviews. I know its no Quad but for pricing it fits reasonably into the budget.

MOBO: GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.co...pk=GA-EP45-DS3L

Good reviews fits to the chip of choice. Only thought read some reviews about some bios issues. Sound and Ethernet on board.

PSU: ABS Tagan ITZ Series ITZ800-V2 800W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817814006

Good reviews comes as a combo with MOBO for a good combo price. Might be a alot of Power for what I am building but breathing room is nice.

Memory: CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820145184

Corsair has had good reviews. I know more than likely I'll be using Win XP 32bit and with the 512 mb GPU I choose I would lose the use of roughly half a gig but future upgrade to OS would leave me in the open. Another thought is that MOBO supports DDR2 1200 upto 16 gigs. Should I change the MOBO or leave as is can always upgrade memory down the road but either or is like a double edged sword something will be outdated by then more than likely.

HD: Seagate Barracuda ES.2 ST3250310NS 250GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16822148309

Good reviews for Seagate. Enough storage capacity for what I would use it for.

GPU: GIGABYTE GV-RX387512HP Radeon HD 3870 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814125231

Chose this card for the few decent reviews it had. Seems affordable and capable of handling most that I would throw at it. Not entirely sure how to chose the card but this seemed a worthy candidate. Feedback needed here. Fits budget good. If its too much then I have no problem downgrading.

All in all this seems like the barebones for a system that would fit my budget and need. Please give feedback looking for pros and cons as well as potential changes. All in all this system would run me back about 500-650$ which isn't too bad. Seems alot cheaper than buying another Dell. Thanks for input.

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Hi there,

It looks pretty good to me. I would consider getting a 4850 instead of the 3870, but they are a bit more expensive.

You could grab a PSU with lower watts and perhaps save a few dollars, but if you're getting a good deal, then it may well be worth it.

All in all, a fine looking build!

Cheers

Troy

[Troy]

Hi there,

It looks pretty good to me. I would consider getting a 4850 instead of the 3870, but they are a bit more expensive.

You could grab a PSU with lower watts and perhaps save a few dollars, but if you're getting a good deal, then it may well be worth it.

All in all, a fine looking build!

Cheers

Troy

[wattyboy]

If I go with the 4850 should I go with a 512 MB or just go all out and get a 1gig. And which manufacturer produces a better quality card with respect to the ones at newegg.

Edited by wattyboy, 20 September 2008 - 06:18 PM.

[Troy]

Hi there,

I recommend this one - HIS is one of my favourite ATI card manufacturers.

Cheers

Troy

[=OSS*ROID=]

Looks great. I agree with Troy, go with the 4850. I would go with a 1 gig only if you wanted to be really really future proof. The 512-mb will be awesome for a long time. I personally dont use ATI, I like nVidia, so I cant say I have used the card or know anything about it. Congrats on your first build, looks awesome

[warriorscot]

Yeah its a good build, 4850 is a definately a good choice, ATI have both the performance and price/performance crowns back this year after Nvidias comeback with the 8800s and ATIs merger with AMD but they are really fantastic cards. Its definately better to get as new a card as possible with graphics cards even if the old ones seem like a good deal the newer cards bring new features to the table and there is no substitute for lessons learned in hardware.

The 512Mb should be fine, it is totally up to you. If you think you will have the card a long while its maybe better going with the 1Gb but keep in mind unless you switch to vista then you will only get 3gb in windows. On the Vista front its not even close to as bad as allot of people say it is, and trust me I know ive been using it since the first release candidate when it really was that bad since then its improved allot.

The PSU is nice but you might be able to get cheaper, but if the price is right just get it I did the same with my 850W Quatrro it was cheap with the P182 case so I just ponied up the cash and it is a nice powersupply. Case wise Antec are a great brand probably the best in the business in my opinion, I would think about going for one of the performance or gaming series though, the P182 or Antec 900 are brilliant cases and you get your monies worth. I think my P182 is fantastic, can be a little bit of a squeeze getting everything installed but it is very quiet running the noise damping panels really do work and the simple finish looks fantastic I have the gun metal black one and it sits on a PC shelf next to my desk and its like a clean extension of the desk(also black on top).