Alright, I'm gonna build this thing (PC)

[Brak]

Alright, I've finally decided on what stuff to get. Here is the list of stuff along with a list of stupid questions. This pc will only be used for simple internet surfing and playing the mmorpg ragnarok online, which only requires a 32mb graphics card and 533mhz processor. So this will be a decent, smoothly working computer and nothing crazy. above all else, its gonna be CHEAP

Any recommendations for different parts will be welcomed. But I'm trying to keep this as cheap as possible (that is my first concern) so please dont recommend a 64 bit Athlon processor or a 7800GT graphics card. I would like to get those, but i simply cannot afford it. Any recommendations that would LOWER the price, however, would be awesome.

Case: Xion Solaris (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811208013)
Power Supply: ENERMAX 270W (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103507)
Motherboard: EPoX EP-8NPA SLI ATX AMD (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813123257)
Hard Drive: Hitachi Deskstar 80GB SATA (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822145082)
Processor: AMD Sempron 3100+ (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819104220)
RAM: Corsair ValueSelect 1GB (2x 512MB) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145440)
Graphics Card: eVGA Geforce 6600LE 256MB (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130253) OR JATON Geforce 6600LE 256MB (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814139176)
CD/DVD Drive: SONY IDE DVD-ROM (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827101131)
Floppy Drive: SANSUNG internal (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16821103203)
Sound Card: Creative SoundBlaster 16 Pre-Amp (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829102182)

Now, for my questions:
-POWER SUPPLY! I'm confounded with all the choices. Does this one have enough power? is it dependable? someone please point me in the right direction here. If this one is ok then thats great, if it isnt, what kind should i get that is still relatively cheap?
-Graphics Card: is there a difference between these two? if there is, which one should i get?
-CD/DVD Drive: is this compatible with my case/motherboard? i have been looking to see if its compatible (same with the floppy drive) with my mobo, but i cannot find anywhere that says it. I'm just going to assume that they are all universal at this point. i hope i am assuming correctly.
-HD: is this dependable? is SATA really that much better?

I'd also like to know about any opinions on any of the stuff that i have selected. I just want everything to be dependable and work smoothly. I know i wont get crazy performance, but as long as it will be stable and will work how i need it to, i'll be happy.

Thanks in advance for all the help guys!

[personman]

270 watts is not going to be enough. You want one thats probably around 350 or up... I'm not exactly sure if thats enough or more than enough but 270 is weak :p

[sean33]

dude get the N-vidia PCi express 7800 its pricy but do it...really nice

[FooTemps]

I'm still opposed to not getting a 64 bit system, but its your choice. The socket m2 systems are coming out soon so if you skimp now you can always wait for the brand spankin new ultra performance blah stuff. (you can save up! lol)

Power Supply: I'd suggest a 400 watt psu. That would allow more power draining parts like a nice processor, nice graphics card and more. With a 6800, you'll probably want a 350 or 400watt psu for best performance. Keep to Enermax.

Mobo: no epox please. Try and see if you can find a good price motherboard from asus or msi. They will provide better performance/reliability.

HD: i like the choice of HD. The capacity isn't the best but hitachi is good. I'd also say that samsung is a good choice too.

video card: I think you'd be happy if you dropped another like 40 on a 6800 card. The choice of evga is good choice. XFX has some cheaper lower end cards so it'd be easier to afford a 6800 series card too. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150130

[RapidTransit]

Sata drives usually have a bigger cahce size because of the increse in bandwidth.

Get a PSU from PC Power and Cooling.

I have a used 6800GT 256MB PCIe version if you want it. I got alot of spare crap. Infact maybe if you want you can buy mine as I have

3500 Winchester
A8N-SLI
1 Gig of PC4000 RAM.
One huge Zalman heatsink.
The only stuff it wont come with is the drives and PSU.
Edit: The case is this in Black http://www.coolermaster.com/index.php?LT=english&Language_s=2&url_place=product&p_serial=CAV-T03&other_title=CAV-T03Cavalier%203

[t33kyboy]

dude get the N-vidia PCi express 7800 its pricy but do it...really nice
Try reading the post first before posting.

Other then the powersupply which has been discussed already, the system is more then enough for ragnarok.

[Brak]

Sata drives usually have a bigger cahce size because of the increse in bandwidth.

Get a PSU from PC Power and Cooling.

I have a used 6800GT 256MB PCIe version if you want it. I got alot of spare crap. Infact maybe if you want you can buy mine as I have

3500 Winchester
A8N-SLI
1 Gig of PC4000 RAM.
One huge Zalman heatsink.
The only stuff it wont come with is the drives and PSU.
Edit: The case is this in Black http://www.coolermaster.com/index.php?LT=english&Language_s=2&url_place=product&p_serial=CAV-T03&other_title=CAV-T03Cavalier%203


im interested in your PC. check your PMs.

so the general consensus is that i should change the psu and maybe upgrade the graphics card?

[nippinout]

Ditch the soundcard and spend the $19 on Cheetos and Coke.

[hardr0ck68]

get a Vantec PS. If you buy a quality PS you dont need to go nuts on the wattage. The cheaper the PS the more energy is lost to waste heat. This is important for a few reasons, your power bill (if you care) and your box/core temp (important for a stable system and a must have if you wanna overclock) are the most odvious.

The way i tell a quality PS from a crap one is the efficancy rating; many 450 watt systems have terrable efficancy, which is a sigh of poor construction and cheap parts! Since you only list one hard drive and one graphics card i would say you only need a 300 watt PS.

My 350 vantec powers a OCed processor, graphics card and ram (all with increased voltages), 3 hard drives, an optical drive, and 5 fans! Most people would look at all that crap and say OMG you need like a 500 watt PS; but all that would do is make my computer run even hotter!! The probably the biggest reason to buy a quality PS is because when they die (and cheapones die much more often!) they can take stuff like your processor, ram, graphics card and so on....

[FooTemps]

get a Vantec PS. If you buy a quality PS you dont need to go nuts on the wattage. The cheaper the PS the more energy is lost to waste heat. This is important for a few reasons, your power bill (if you care) and your box/core temp (important for a stable system and a must have if you wanna overclock) are the most odvious.

The way i tell a quality PS from a crap one is the efficancy rating; many 450 watt systems have terrable efficancy, which is a sigh of poor construction and cheap parts! Since you only list one hard drive and one graphics card i would say you only need a 300 watt PS.

My 350 vantec powers a OCed processor, graphics card and ram (all with increased voltages), 3 hard drives, an optical drive, and 5 fans! Most people would look at all that crap and say OMG you need like a 500 watt PS; but all that would do is make my computer run even hotter!! The probably the biggest reason to buy a quality PS is because when they die (and cheapones die much more often!) they can take stuff like your processor, ram, graphics card and so on....

Not always right. You should look at the numbers more closely than just the wattage. A 600watt PC Power & Cooling PSU would kill your PSU 10 times over.

[RapidTransit]

Not to mention AMPs are very important. What are you OCing? With 350 Watts sounds like your running a pretty old system otherwise I can see corupted data in your future and reboots at full load :rofl:

[Kyle.Kimber]

Ok, I've just read a couple of things which piss me off in this thread.........

I think that you should step up the power supply to about 350. Go Ati with the Video, its a bit more expensive, but its worth it. But what concerns me the most is that you should really buy brands like ASUS or Gigabyte. They are more reliable and can handle things like OC better. I don't know much about the Sempron chips, but AMD chips are very delicate and will break easily, so be careful. AMD IS WORTH IT. I OC my 2400+ MP's and they work fine, just don't do it if you aren't familiar with it. Looking at the specs, you got a pretty good setup. I hope it works out for you. Oh, and don't think about going 64 bit because eventhough it is AWESOME and a good deal, you have to invest in the 64 bit version of Windows to fully utilize it. And that will run you another $150. Also get DDR2 memory, because for most brands, when you upgrade the memory, you can't drop in some other RAM because it won't be compatible. DDR 2 is worth it, because you can get the same performance, for a lot less megabytes.

[FooTemps]

Ok, I've just read a couple of things which piss me off in this thread.........

I think that you should step up the power supply to about 350. Go Ati with the Video, its a bit more expensive, but its worth it. But what concerns me the most is that you should really buy brands like ASUS or Gigabyte. They are more reliable and can handle things like OC better. I don't know much about the Sempron chips, but AMD chips are very delicate and will break easily, so be careful. AMD IS WORTH IT. I OC my 2400+ MP's and they work fine, just don't do it if you aren't familiar with it. Looking at the specs, you got a pretty good setup. I hope it works out for you. Oh, and don't think about going 64 bit because eventhough it is AWESOME and a good deal, you have to invest in the 64 bit version of Windows to fully utilize it. And that will run you another $150. Also get DDR2 memory, because for most brands, when you upgrade the memory, you can't drop in some other RAM because it won't be compatible. DDR 2 is worth it, because you can get the same performance, for a lot less megabytes.

Okay, you're oficially on crack.

First, we already discussed the power supply issue. He shouldn't just go higher wattage, he should go higher quality.

For video, the ATI/Nvidia issue is a non-issue now these days. They just keep trumping one another with each new model and that's the bottom line. For the price range, he can go for either a 6800series or 800 gto. They'll be pretty damn similar.

AND GIGABYTE? WTFUX? (we are still talking about video cards right?) No, don't trust gigabyte, go for EVGA or XFX.

Also, DDR2!?!? Dude, AMD platforms don't even USE DDR2. ONLY INTEL UNTIL THE M2 SOCKET COMES OUT!

64 bit useless without windows 64bit? no. That's like saying dual core is useless until programs start utillizing dual core. (which is totally not true since dual core and 64 bit can still process more than a 32 bit processor on 32 bit platforms)

[kosmo]

Wow. Just wow. :tard:

Im not to make fun of people who dont know about computers. Until they start trying to give people advice on what to do, and it comes out like a crack head selling a car. Kyle, if you have no clue what you are talking about, dont bother. If he actually followed your advice he wouldnt even have a working computer, let alone a good one.

[Mango]

No.

[RapidTransit]

Ok, I've just read a couple of things which piss me off in this thread.........

I think that you should step up the power supply to about 350. Go Ati with the Video, its a bit more expensive, but its worth it. But what concerns me the most is that you should really buy brands like ASUS or Gigabyte. They are more reliable and can handle things like OC better. I don't know much about the Sempron chips, but AMD chips are very delicate and will break easily, so be careful. AMD IS WORTH IT. I OC my 2400+ MP's and they work fine, just don't do it if you aren't familiar with it. Looking at the specs, you got a pretty good setup. I hope it works out for you. Oh, and don't think about going 64 bit because eventhough it is AWESOME and a good deal, you have to invest in the 64 bit version of Windows to fully utilize it. And that will run you another $150. Also get DDR2 memory, because for most brands, when you upgrade the memory, you can't drop in some other RAM because it won't be compatible. DDR 2 is worth it, because you can get the same performance, for a lot less megabytes.
1. ATI Video is junk (except for their new high end stuff) the old stuff's DVD playback was horrid not to mention Det drivers are released frequently.
2. Get a 64-bit CPU, the real advantage is addressing more memory and the arcetechure is different than the MPs and XPs.
3. Currently their is no advantage with DDR2, the timings are still way to slow, not to mention AMD can spank Intel's DDR2 based systems because of the integrated memory controller.
4. A 350 Watt Power Supply will not drive a new computer I know this for a fact as I am on a computer with a 400watt generic antec psu that has to turn off graphics acceleration or else I get some bad problems and this is low end stuff not to mention I don't see any 350 watt PSU's with a 24 pin connecter and it is not a good idea to use an adapter.
5. I think socket 939 is going to be supported up until 2007 and there is no reason not to go 64bit. My computer runs Windows Server 2003 Enterprise x64 and I could get drivers for an old SBlive! card. The only glitch you run into is trying to set up a raid on the NVRaid with 64-bit but there is a workaround for this.
6. Watch prices fall on Dual core opterons later on, dual core is worth it even for non multithreaded programs.
7. I sent you a PM about my system.
8. Listen to me or Mango

[Mango]

Ok, I've just read a couple of things which concern me in this thread.........

I think that you should step up the power supply to at least 450 watts. Go nVidia with the video card its worth it. But what concerns me the most is that I have no idea what I'm talking about yet I post in these threads. You should really buy brands like ASUS or DFI for your motherboard. They are more reliable and can handle things like OC better. I don't know much about Prcessors or overclocking. AMD IS WORTH IT. Looking at the specs, you got a pretty good setup and listen to RapidTransit and Foo, they are knowledgable individuals. I hope it works out for you. Oh, and don't think about listening to me. Also DO NOT PURCHASE DDR2 memory is not compatible with current AMD NForce 4 motherboards unless you are using an Intel machine! Socket 940 (aka Socket AM2, M2, etc) and the upcoming nFoce chipsets that will be used ont his platform support a move to DDR2 memory for AMD chipsets. However, as already mentioned, it does not offer a clear advantage to current DDR memory....yet.


Fixed.
I was busting up laughing at the "more megabytes" comment. I can't BELIEVE that this guy was serious when he wrote this!

[RapidTransit]

Dude you need like ECCCC Superregistered DRR SO-RIMM XDR with Hypersmithing on the NetFirst arcetechure. :rofl:

[awilli234life]

umm i think hitachi is substandard but that is just a personal opinion i would spend 105 on a new western digital 25o gig sata 150 transfer rate and a 16meg buffer but then again it's just me
they also offer 1 gig paired stix of cas rate 3 corsair ram for 100 bux
=-newegg-=push your limit while your at it (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814161138R)
a cheap yet efficent powersupply thats ready for some 64bit (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817182016)