Sorry your browser is not supported!

You are using an outdated browser that does not support modern web technologies, in order to use this site please update to a new browser.

Browsers supported include Chrome, FireFox, Safari, Opera, Internet Explorer 10+ or Microsoft Edge.

Geek Culture / Planning to Build a New PC - Need Help With the Parts

Author
Message
Preston C
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 16th May 2003
Location: Penn State University Park
Posted: 25th Sep 2005 18:28 Edited at: 2nd Oct 2005 19:29
Well, to put it short and sweet, I plan on building a new PC. I've been trying to choose the best parts for what I can afford, but I'm unsure of whether I've chosen all the parts I need, or if I maybe goofed up in some of the parts I've chosen already.

So far, I plan on ordering the following:
Case - Antec Solution SLK3000-B Black Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129152

Mobo - ASUS A8N-E ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131530

CPU - AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Dual Core Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103562

RAM - CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Dual Channel Kit System Memory - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145440

HD - Western Digital Caviar SE 80GB 3.5" Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822135106

Video Card - MSI Geforce 6800 NX6800-TD128E Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814127179

Network Card - Encore ENF656-EHW-INPR Internal Fax Modem - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16825180001

Disk Drive - LITE-ON Black IDE DVD Burner Model SOHW-1693S Black - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827106988

PSU - OCZ ModStream OCZ52012U ATX 520W Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16817104155

Extra Case Fan - MASSCOOL 120mm System Cooler 12025S1M3/4 120mm Sleeve Case Cooling Fan - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835150032

OS - Microsoft Windows XP Professional With Service Pack 2 - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16837102153

Total Cost w/o Shipping: $1,166.61
Total Cost w/Shipping: $1,217.38
Current Budget: $1,255

I already have the Monitor, Speakers, Keyboard, and Mouse at home.

So, if anyone could be kind enough to check over the part list, and maybe see if I forgot something I might need, or give me the ok in ordering them all, it would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[Edit] Current Cost and Budget Added, Ram and PSU Changed (From Suggestions from Las6).

[Edit 2] PSU Changed Again (From Suggestion from Mike). Currently Considering a Processor Change (which would bump up the cost to $1184...to a point where I'd probably have to wait another two weeks to be able to afford the shipping).

[Edit 3] CPU Changed, Going for Dual Core, can wait two weeks to pay for shipping, or maybe I can get a loan from my parents or grandmother...

[Edit 4] Sound Card Removed, Suggestion from Arkheii, might be able to afford shipping in one week now.

[Edit 5] Since the OCZ PSU I chose is out of stock, and I'm impatient, I've replaced it with one a bit more powerful than the last, for only about $20ish more.

Intel Celeron 1.3 Ghrz | 512 MB Ram | NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 128MB
MSVC++ .Net 2003 | Wings3D | CharacterFX | Gimp v2.0
Formerly NWC_Omega
Darkbasic MADPSP
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 15th Jun 2005
Location: Uk
Posted: 25th Sep 2005 18:31
how much money do you have?

Gtas back and bigger and better than before
Preston C
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 16th May 2003
Location: Penn State University Park
Posted: 25th Sep 2005 18:36
Was editing that in my post while you posted. Current budget is $1,198.

Intel Celeron 1.3 Ghrz | 512 MB Ram | NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 128MB
MSVC++ .Net 2003 | Wings3D | CharacterFX | Gimp v2.0
Formerly NWC_Omega
TDP Enterprises
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 28th Mar 2005
Location: on or in front of my computer
Posted: 25th Sep 2005 19:24
Quote: " Current budget is $1,198."

So specific.....i woulda been like, $1200, but if the 2 bux really make the diiference.....


at a glance it looks like u got the bases covered...

“A lot of people approach risk as if it’s the enemy when it’s really fortune’s accomplice” - Sting“
.......S-S-D-D.......
Killswitch
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 2nd Oct 2002
Location: School damnit!! Let me go!! PLEASE!!!
Posted: 25th Sep 2005 19:32
Why don't you save up for a little while longer, get a mobo that supports SLI and bung in another GeForce 6800!

~It's a common mistake to make, the rules of the English langauge do not apply to insanity~
Tainer32
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 13th Apr 2005
Location:
Posted: 25th Sep 2005 19:47
Do you have warranty on any of the parts? If you do, how long is it?
Because i was going to build my own but i found buying one from a company was cheaper and it also had a warranty where my costum built one would have only had 1 year on RAM.

Thats just my experiance

I.F. software
Mike Johnson
TGC Developer
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 13th Sep 2002
Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 25th Sep 2005 19:47
Have you considered going for dual core. The X2 3800+ might be a good option depending on your budget http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103562

I would also consider a different PSU perhaps from a more well known brand like Enermax or OCZ.
CattleRustler
Retired Moderator
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 8th Aug 2003
Location: case modding at overclock.net
Posted: 25th Sep 2005 19:56 Edited at: 25th Sep 2005 19:57
is that video card a pci-e card? your mobo supports pci-e 16x, not agp.

EDIT: nvm, followed the link and checked.

Preston C
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 16th May 2003
Location: Penn State University Park
Posted: 25th Sep 2005 20:10
Quote: "So specific.....i woulda been like, $1200, but if the 2 bux really make the diiference.....
"


Would you like me to count my change too?

Quote: " Why don't you save up for a little while longer, get a mobo that supports SLI and bung in another GeForce 6800!"


I considered that at one point, but then decided against it, I've been getting somewhat impatient, I don't really want to save up for much longer, and I only make $40 weekly from my job (only part time, I'm the dishwasher/grunt at a local restaurant), or about $160 monthly, and then I've got several other bills to pay monthly too (Cell Phone, Half of my Shared Cable Connection Bill, FFXI) to a point where it'd take me until Christmas/New Years just to be able to afford it.

Quote: " Have you considered going for dual core. The X2 3800+ might be a good option depending on your budget http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103562

I would also consider a different PSU perhaps from a more well known brand like Enermax or OCZ."


No, I haven't considered going for a dual core processor, but I am now, also changed the PSU, OCZ seems to have good reviews. Thanks for the suggestion.

Quote: " is that video card a pci-e card? your mobo supports pci-e 16x, not agp."


I learned my lesson when we had that debate in your own PC thread, it is PCI-Express x16.

Quote: "EDIT: nvm, followed the link and checked."


/slap

Quote: " Do you have warranty on any of the parts? If you do, how long is it?"


From the looks of it, several of the parts have a lifetime or three year warranty, and several others have an optional warranty plan which I could always consider. Sadly, some of the parts don't offer a warranty at all, but they're the cheap parts, easily replaceable if things go wrong.

Quote: "Because i was going to build my own but i found buying one from a company was cheaper and it also had a warranty"


I've learned not to trust builds made by major companies such as HP, Compaq, or Dell, from personal, and family experience. Warranty or not, having it just doesn't make sense if you end up sending your PC back out for repair every other week (the PC my Dad uses at work, Hard Drive Crapped out on him 20 Minutes after he booted the PC up, he sent it in for repairs, got it back, next week it crapped out again, same thing with a Compaq PC my brother bought).

Well, thanks for all of your help so far guys, it's greatly appreciated!

Intel Celeron 1.3 Ghrz | 512 MB Ram | NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 128MB
MSVC++ .Net 2003 | Wings3D | CharacterFX | Gimp v2.0
Formerly NWC_Omega
CattleRustler
Retired Moderator
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 8th Aug 2003
Location: case modding at overclock.net
Posted: 26th Sep 2005 01:31
Quote: "I learned my lesson when we had that debate in your own PC thread, it is PCI-Express x16."

pwnd

Quote: "/slap "

roflTaffy

Arkheii
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 15th Jun 2003
Location: QC, Philippines
Posted: 26th Sep 2005 12:07
Your nForce4 mobo already has sound in it, so I think you can scrap out the sound card and save a few bucks. I've read that nForce can pretty much match the performance of Creative sound cards anyway, but don't trust me on that. *is not a hardware geek*

Sun = Hell in the sky.
Dave J
Retired Moderator
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 11th Feb 2003
Location: Secret Military Pub, Down Under
Posted: 26th Sep 2005 15:25
Quote: "and I only make $40 weekly from my job (only part time, I'm the dishwasher/grunt at a local restaurant"


Ouch! Either that's very, very few hours, or you're getting underpaid.


"Computers are useless, they can only give you answers."
Preston C
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 16th May 2003
Location: Penn State University Park
Posted: 26th Sep 2005 15:32
Quote: "Ouch! Either that's very, very few hours, or you're getting underpaid.
"


They only spare me seven hours to work at the damn place, and they're paying me barely above minimum wage (Minimum is $5.15/hour, making $5.71/hour).

It's all under the table though, I'd be making much less if I had to deal with taxes

Still, I'm trying to find a new job, not much luck though.

Intel Celeron 1.3 Ghrz | 512 MB Ram | NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 128MB
MSVC++ .Net 2003 | Wings3D | CharacterFX | Gimp v2.0
Formerly NWC_Omega
Arkheii
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 15th Jun 2003
Location: QC, Philippines
Posted: 26th Sep 2005 15:59 Edited at: 26th Sep 2005 15:59
Honestly, I would be glad to work as a dishwasher for $40 a week. Minimum wage here would be Php250 or roughly under $4.50 a day (8 hours).

I live in a 3rd world country...

zOMG pink plz!
Dave J
Retired Moderator
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 11th Feb 2003
Location: Secret Military Pub, Down Under
Posted: 26th Sep 2005 16:29
That is nasty, I'm glad I live in a country where we get paid a very generous amount. I've had 2 jobs from my youth, a paper round paying $10 per day (which is around an hour a day), and a stock hand paying $15 per hour and that's usually about 12-20 hours per week (casual).

Of course, all this depends on your age as well, minimum wage varies greatly here:
http://www.docep.wa.gov.au/lr/LabourRelations/Content/Wages%20and%20Conditions/Wages%20and%20Awards/Pages/Minimum%20Wage%20Rates.html

What's more is, we don't get taxed if our annual income is below $6000, and if it is, we're only taxed 17c per every dollar earned over $6000. Of course, you're taxed quite a bit more in the next tax bracket (if you earn over $21,000) but not many part-time employees would be earning that much.


"Computers are useless, they can only give you answers."
JoelJ
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 8th Sep 2003
Location: UTAH
Posted: 26th Sep 2005 17:53
Quote: "What's more is, we don't get taxed if our annual income is below $6000"

OH, I would've killed for that when I had my last job!
I made under $3000 the 9mo I worked there, and a huge % came from it for taxes (I still think my boss was taking more than he was supposed to, and just taking it )

Preston C
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 16th May 2003
Location: Penn State University Park
Posted: 2nd Oct 2005 19:30
Well guys, I know this thread is a few days old, but I plan on ordering the parts tonight. The final config, and final costs, are in the first post.

So, to everyone who helped out, made suggestions, etc, thank you very much.

Now hopefully building the thing goes well

Intel Celeron 1.3 Ghrz | 512 MB Ram | NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 128MB
MSVC++ .Net 2003 | Wings3D | CharacterFX | Gimp v2.0
Formerly NWC_Omega
CattleRustler
Retired Moderator
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 8th Aug 2003
Location: case modding at overclock.net
Preston C
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 16th May 2003
Location: Penn State University Park
Posted: 7th Nov 2005 17:24 Edited at: 7th Nov 2005 17:29
I'm sorry for bumping up a tread that's been dead for a month...

...but, last Tuesday I ordered the parts for my PC (delayed so long due to bank issues), and the PC was built Friday night.

I want to say thank you to everyone who made suggestions to me in this thread (especially you Mike, I love the X2 3800+), and to everyone who helped me on IRC with my idiot graphics card problem in the middle of the build.

The PC is so much faster than my last one, well worth it.

The only thing I'm dissapointed in was me being too stupid to spot that the video card I got didn't have as much memory as I wanted (D'oh).

So, Thanks everyone, you have no idea how much I appreciate(d) your help

AMD64 X2 3800+ | 1 GB Ram | NVIDIA GeForce 6800 128MB
MSVC++ .Net 2003 | Wings3D | CharacterFX | Gimp v2.0
Formerly NWC_Omega
Nicholas Thompson
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 6th Sep 2004
Location: Bognor Regis, UK
Posted: 7th Nov 2005 18:12
I recently upgraded too.. Got the 4400+ Athlon X2. They are LOVELY chips. So far, one issue with them. Raven Shield:Athena Sword does not like them. You can sometimes get it to run by using a special program which launches the app on a single CPU. It seems it doesn't like the dual core!

Did you get the 6800 in the end? Is it the 6800 or 6800GT? I had the 6800GT but my recent upgrade meant I had to get a new GFX card to replace the AGP one :-( Good card! My sister loves it now I now have a 7800GTX. VERY VERY nice card!!!

Preston C
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 16th May 2003
Location: Penn State University Park
Posted: 7th Nov 2005 18:48
Yeah, I went with the 6800 (got a 128MB one instead of a 256MB though, still can't get over that dumb mistake). I was considering saving up some more money to get the 7800, but I decided against it. Needed some money leftover after.

AMD64 X2 3800+ | 1 GB Ram | NVIDIA GeForce 6800 128MB
MSVC++ .Net 2003 | Wings3D | CharacterFX | Gimp v2.0
Formerly NWC_Omega
Nicholas Thompson
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 6th Sep 2004
Location: Bognor Regis, UK
Posted: 7th Nov 2005 23:07
Should have got the 7800 Once you have it you wont need any money as you'll never leave the PC alone

Undercover Steve
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 6th Jun 2005
Location: Vancouver, Little Canada(Washington)
Posted: 8th Nov 2005 04:33
I wonder if I should go to UK and become a citizen.... 900 euros for a sweet pc. $2000 in us

free hosting is never free.
http://projectlance.net/beta/
hosting. Cheap. Your never to young (unless under 16 in the US) to get Hosting!
Nicholas Thompson
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 6th Sep 2004
Location: Bognor Regis, UK
Posted: 8th Nov 2005 14:19
Anyone can come to the UK and become a citizen - although you'd better get in quick before we introduce the Citizenship test.. Thing like When it St Davids Day? What are the two emergency numbers? Which type of court has a jury?

Anywho - enough politics - I cant understand how a PC is more in america. Isn't everything in american cheaper than in the UK? In the UK we get taxed to hell on everything. If you earn £24K (abuot $42K) then you get about 25% taken off from income tax and national insurance. You also pay another 17.5% on anything you buy. There is also council tax. Supposedly there is talk about a new kind of "window" tax... Something to tax the middle class?!
Anyway - my point is, out of the money we earn, at least 50% is given to the government in total! That REALLY bumps up the price. A lot of things often work out cheaper to buy in the US and pay the extra shipping to get it over here - and even then its still cheaper!!!!

Undercover Steve
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 6th Jun 2005
Location: Vancouver, Little Canada(Washington)
Posted: 8th Nov 2005 16:52
thanks for clarrifiying. But PC's are expensive here. Unless you build one yourself

free hosting is never free.
http://projectlance.net/beta/
hosting. Cheap. Your never to young (unless under 16 in the US) to get Hosting!
Preston C
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 16th May 2003
Location: Penn State University Park
Posted: 8th Nov 2005 17:19
I think that's the same case everywhere you can buy pre-built PC's, companies charge an arm and a leg extra for the profit.

It's also the same case everywhere that it's more than likely cheaper to build your own PC, and something I would recommend now that I've done my first build.

While at certain times it was frustrating (getting the heatsink on being the one part of the build I hated most, followed by the graphics card not being seated properly (didn't put it in all the way it seems :s)), now that I look back at it, it was actually fairly easy.

AMD64 X2 3800+ | 1 GB Ram | NVIDIA GeForce 6800 128MB
MSVC++ .Net 2003 | Wings3D | CharacterFX | Gimp v2.0
Formerly NWC_Omega
Nicholas Thompson
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 6th Sep 2004
Location: Bognor Regis, UK
Posted: 9th Nov 2005 00:15
The heatsink for the X2's are a piece of piss! You think they're hard, you should try levering a heatsink for a 1Gb PIII Skt370 using a screw driver and NOT scewering the motherboard or using it as a runway for a 80mph screwdriver slipping off the tiny tiny tiny hook!!

Login to post a reply

Server time is: 2024-11-16 02:33:59
Your offset time is: 2024-11-16 02:33:59