Need help building computer

[Jeremizzle]

My older brother wants me to help him build a computer since its cheaper and usually preforms better than prebuilt computers. This is my first official build, so i have a question.

First of all, these are the parts im planning on getting.
MAXTOP Signature Series Mid Tower Case
NU Technology 52x24x52x16 CD-RW-DVD COMBO Drive
SONY Beige 1.44MB 3.5Inch Floppy Disk Drive
Maxtor 80GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive
PDP SYSTEMS Memory Dual Channel Kit 184-Pin 512MB
ASUS A7V880 VIA KT880 Chipset Motherboard
AMD Athlon XP 2200+
Does any one have any opinons or is there compatibility issues with that setup?

About OEM stuff...can someone tell me what that stands for (noob) also does that usually come with the cables needed for hookup? for instance the 80gb OEM drive would that come with the IDE cable that i need to plug into the motherboard, or would i need to pay the extra for retail version? Does everything listed above have everything i need to get up and running?

Thanks

[wad04]

first off you still need a video card, if your brother wants to do gaming i would suggest ati radeon 9800, you still also need a power supply, and i would also recomend upgrading your 80 gb hard drive to a 120 for better performance. and normally when you buy a product, like your hard drive it usually comes with the cables and such to conncect to your mobo..

hope this didn't confuse you more

[Jeremizzle]

...im not that stupid i think.
The video card ive got taken care of, hes gonna have my old one
The case comes with a 350watt ATX power supply
For my brother, 80gb is adequate since hes copied all of his music to his new mp3 player, and this is mainly going to be an internet browsing/light gaming computer
and does OEM stuff come with the cables and stuff or is it just retail stuff.

[Tunaman]

OEM means no retail box. You need what comes in the retail box like the cables and fan for your processor. If you spend a little extra cash it will be worth it in the long run. Retail box products come with a better warranty too. Let me know if you need help building it. I have done quite a few.

[Jeremizzle]

ok thanks so im guessing oem is for the purpose of upgrading (bigger hdd, faster cpu) and such?
Im also seeing in my case (cyberpower) that i have asus ide and floppy cables? Do they come with motherboards?

[Tunaman]

Yes. Unless you are daring(I have never had any problems with oem stuff) get the new computer up and running with the retail stuff then upgrade in the future with some OEM stuff. The cables and CPU mounting will come with the motherboard, as well as the thermal sensors and manual. Make sure you get all these with it. Have you built one yet or is this your first?

[Jeremizzle]

This is my first build, my comps a cyberpower, but i pretty much know how to put one together. And since the ide cables come with the mobo, can i just by the oem hard drive and floppy instead of retail and just use the ribbons that come with the motherboard?

[jayloo]

A quick note about the via chipset. Try to avoid them if you will be using a mid to high end video card. You will experience many problems. I have a a7v8x-x and a a7n8x-x. Whats's the diff ... one has the via chipset and the other has the nvidia chipset. I had to get the a7n8x-x cuv I tried a bunch of ATI and Nvidia cards and none worked on the via chipset one.

I tried ATI Radeon 9600 Radeon 9600se and the 9800xt and neither would work with the via chipset. Same for the mid to hight end Nvidia cards.

Currently the comp with the via chipset has a Radeon 7000 card.

This problem is well known.

[Can_Opener]

VIA chipsets are garbage, go with an Nforce 2 chipset if you are going for the athlon xp line of processors. Also, cheap power supplies are a bad choice, especially ones that come with cases, get a NAME BRAND (like an antec or FSP group) power supply with at least 400 watts of power, this will make things much easier for you later. Also, dont bother getting an athlon xp processor that isnt at least a 2500+ barton, the $20 you save isnt going to be worth the loss of performance from not having the extra 256k of l2 cache and higher fsb.

[Jeremizzle]

Thanks for the tips,
about the video card stuff,
ONe night me and my friend tried to put in his GeForce 6800 into my comp, and all that happened was a blank black screen with a blinking white cursor, is this a compatibility issue, or is it because i have a cheapo 350watt case power supply? thanks

[Darken Sun]

Thanks for the tips,
about the video card stuff,
ONe night me and my friend tried to put in his GeForce 6800 into my comp, and all that happened was a blank black screen with a blinking white cursor, is this a compatibility issue, or is it because i have a cheapo 350watt case power supply? thanks

god I wish that woulda worked

[Bulldog]

Thanks for the tips,
about the video card stuff,
ONe night me and my friend tried to put in his GeForce 6800 into my comp, and all that happened was a blank black screen with a blinking white cursor, is this a compatibility issue, or is it because i have a cheapo 350watt case power supply? thanks

Probably your power supply. Depends tho, coulda been a couple other things.

[Miscue]

Via used to be really good (I'm a long time fan), but lately they've been sucking and I avoid them. The nforce is currently better.

I stick with OEM parts because they're cheaper - and it's the same thing, with some exceptions that are usually moot.

I'm kinda funny when it comes to building my computers - I couldn't tell you what parts I have right now. Heck, I gave away parts to Vegeta not know what they were exactly - all I knew is that I phased them out of my computer.

I've been doing this too long to care. Instead of buying the monster computer, I upgrade my machine about twice a year with value-priced stuff... cuz tomorrow's value part is yesterday's monster part - and I never have to make a big investment... I throw $300 at it at a time, roughly. Also, I end up having a bunch of extra computers that aren't that old.

I've put so many $300-500+ parts in the garbage because they were worthless after a couple years - and I don't do it any longer. I remember my $250 nVidia card + dual 12MB Voodoo2 SLIs at $300 a pop... Totally worthless. And I repeated this process a few more times since then... no longer.

[Miscue]

Probably your power supply. Depends tho, coulda been a couple other things.

Although yes it could be a lot of things, an underpowered powersupply doesn't come to mind.

Make sure that, if the video card has an extra power connector - you plug it in.

[Tunaman]

Via used to be really good (I'm a long time fan), but lately they've been sucking and I avoid them. The nforce is currently better.

I stick with OEM parts because they're cheaper - and it's the same thing, with some exceptions that are usually moot.

I'm kinda funny when it comes to building my computers - I couldn't tell you what parts I have right now. Heck, I gave away parts to Vegeta not know what they were exactly - all I knew is that I phased them out of my computer.

I've been doing this too long to care. Instead of buying the monster computer, I upgrade my machine about twice a year with value-priced stuff... cuz tomorrow's value part is yesterday's monster part - and I never have to make a big investment... I throw $300 at it at a time, roughly. Also, I end up having a bunch of extra computers that aren't that old.

I've put so many $300-500+ parts in the garbage because they were worthless after a couple years - and I don't do it any longer. I remember my $250 nVidia card + dual 12MB Voodoo2 SLIs at $300 a pop... Totally worthless. And I repeated this process a few more times since then... no longer.

HAHA! I am still running a VooDoo 3 2000! P3 450 Slot 1! This thing rips so dont be too concerned with buying older stuff. It will still work great!