22-07-2005 02:06									#1
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This is the first computer that I have built, and heres what I've found so far.

I still havn't decided on a sound card, speakers, case+power supply, and network adapter yet.

Proccessor AMD 64 3700+(Socket 939) $300
Link

Graphics Card Connect3D Radeon X800XL $260 Link

MotherBoard Asus A8N-E $120 Link

Hard Drive Seagate Barracuda ST380817AS 80GB $70 Link

Ram Corsair 2x512MB TWINX1024-3200xl $200
Link

CD-RW Sony 52X32X52 CDRW $25

DVD-rom Sony DDU-1615 DVD-ROM $30 Link

Floppy Drive Sony 3.5in 2HD $15
Link

Case+Power

Sound Card/Speakers

Network Adaptor

Anything else?

I already have a monitor. Comment's and suggestions appreciated.

	22-07-2005 02:47									#2
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Looks like that mobo has the sound card and network adaptor built in. The sound card should be fine, unless you are an audiophile.

	22-07-2005 02:55									#3
	Increase Your PM Length

Lite-on makes a superior cd-rw. Like mine just dandy.
Get Nero for your burning program.

Rip with a free program that is also a bitrate convertor.
www.dbpoweramp.com
You don't REALLY need the powerpack they would like you to buy.

If and when you're ready, I can offer better advice on music related software than I can hardware.
Oh yes. The time will come.

	22-07-2005 03:01									#4
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quote: Originally posted by DanS Looks like that mobo has the sound card and network adaptor built in. The sound card should be fine, unless you are an audiophile.

I've never had good experience with built in sound cards. Horrible for games, and just as bad for music.

	22-07-2005 03:04									#5
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quote: music related software

What's to know about that? All you need is WinAmp and Johnny Cash's The Man Comes Around.

	22-07-2005 03:07									#6
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I havn't seen anything that indicates it has a built in sound or network card. I believe

"Audio - Optical (S/PDIF), Audio - RCA Digital Coax (S/PDIF), Ethernet - RJ45 Twisted-Pair (XBaseT)"

is just reffering to the interface socket things.

Oh, and would an "SLI" board be better? It costs $50 more and I'm not sure what it adds...

	22-07-2005 03:09									#7
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200 dollars for 2*512MB? WTF? It must be some high-end memory that you probably don't need. 512 megabyte sticks should be 50 dollars a piece maximum.

The mobo is good, I'm getting the same one myself. Onboard audio has gotten better lately, but it's not quite as good in the latest mobos as it was a few years ago in the nForce 2 boards. I would say it'll be manageable at least. And it DOES have built-in sound and a network adapter.

The graphics card ought to be a sound choice (Just make sure it's PCI-E, not AGP, with that mobo.), good bang for the buck. I'd get one if I could afford it.

A DVD burner (with CD-RW, DVD-ROM and CD-ROM functionality) should come for about 50 dollars. If you don't need to burn DVDs and like to have two cds for direct copying on the fly, though...

Seagate is good, the size I think is a bit meagre. You can never have enough HD space. A 120 gigabyte or 160 gigabyte drive shouldn't cost a lot more, but will have up to 200% the capacity.

I think the bleeding edge A64s are overpriced for now, but if you have the money, sure. But I'd get a 3000+ or 3200+ myself, the price is better for the power it has.

The PSU should be from a good manufacturer (Antec, Nexus, Fortron, Enermax, Enlight to name a few) and have 350-400W. Beware cheap PSUs with lots of watts, they are dodgy affairs and may even be dangerous.

The case is a matter of aesthetics really, and what you need. Lots of room for internal or external drives? Good airflow for ventilation? A big hulking box or something small that's nice to look at? Black, metallic, grey...? I'm a fan of black Antecs myself.

	22-07-2005 03:13									#8
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Hueij, I have a surround sound plugin for Winamp that kicks ass on even stereo. Can set as an equalizer type sort of way for music genre you're listening to; echo, Hall, speed up or slow down so it is more like a cartoon than music. I know you want that feature.
I have the Pro version of Winamp just because. I don't use it as ripper or burner, but so what?
You want it just let me know. Well, anyone. Not just Hueij.

Last edited by SlowwHand on 22-07-2005 at 03:21

	22-07-2005 03:16									#9
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SLI is an option only for the latest nVidia-made graphics cards (GeForce 6something). It allows you to couple two nVidia cards for double power. You're getting an ATI card that doesn't use SLI, so you won't really need it, unless you want to have a rig with two graphics cards later on.

	22-07-2005 03:29									#10
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization III: Complete

Buy the AMD 3200 or 3400 and overclock, they come off the same production line. It's money for nothing.

Only Muppets buy top of the range processors....

	22-07-2005 03:35									#11
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I went for the 3700+ because of the 1mb cache size, which can't be overclocked. If this doesn't cause a noticible difference however, perhaps I will go with the cheaper model and upgrade later.

	22-07-2005 03:37									#12
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S939 is good in that it will allow you to get a more powerful CPU later for a better price. S754 is being kind of phased out, there won't be anything new beyond 3000+ for it AFAIK.

	22-07-2005 03:42									#13
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quote: Originally posted by EPW I went for the 3700+ because of the 1mb cache size, which can't be overclocked. If this doesn't cause a noticible difference however, perhaps I will go with the cheaper model and upgrade later.

Good point.



As you say though, it never hurts to look into cache perfomance.

EDIT: I put a instead of a .

Sorry EPW....

	22-07-2005 03:45									#14
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As for RAM, the model I chose has a latency rating of 2-2-2-5, which is supposedly good. How much of a difference would a slower latency ratinghave on performance? Is the extra $100 worth it?

	22-07-2005 03:46									#15
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I think someone should start a must-have software thread..

	22-07-2005 04:24									#16
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This
looks nice. It has a 380W Powersupply from Truepower and only costs
$80 from newegg after the rebate. Are two 120mm fans enough to keep the computer cool though?

specs: http://www.antec-inc.com/specs/Sonata_spe.html

	22-07-2005 04:25									#17
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I have an Athlon 64 3200+ with an Antec Sonata -- it's absolutely "good enough" for cooling.

	22-07-2005 04:30									#18
	Full PM-box? Change here!

Antec Sonata can have 4 cooling fans though. Do you use all four or is two enough?

	22-07-2005 04:31									#19
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I have the ones it came with only.

	22-07-2005 04:41									#20
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I do like the looks of it. It is going onto the list


Antec Sonata II for about $120.

	22-07-2005 04:45									#21
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quote: Originally posted by EPW I havn't seen anything that indicates it has a built in sound or network card. I believe "Audio - Optical (S/PDIF), Audio - RCA Digital Coax (S/PDIF), Ethernet - RJ45 Twisted-Pair (XBaseT)" is just reffering to the interface socket things.

I'm not of that opinion. See the specs on page xii in the manual.

http://dlsvr03.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb...e1911_a8n-e.pdf

	22-07-2005 05:23									#22
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I think I will compromise and go with the TWINX10243200C2PT version, its $70 dollars cheaper with nearly the same performance.

	22-07-2005 11:37									#23
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I have a Sonata too, and I'm only running it with the fan it came with. Very good piece of work, and with a good price.

	22-07-2005 17:48									#24
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quote: Originally posted by Kassiopeia S754 is being kind of phased out, there won't be anything new beyond 3000+ for it AFAIK.

You're around 80-90% correct. For the rest, not. The Socket 754 will remain viable for the Sempron family for at least this and the next year, depending on how AMD seems to be into moving to one socket again. There has been speculation on several sites about it. However I really don't recommend Socket 754 for anything else than a longterm Sempron based PC which gets upgraded with new mobo and CPU in 3-5 years at the earliest. However no power user should concider it.

Oh, and a small advice to the one who started this topic. Do not overclock, unless you know enough about how it works, thermal solutions and other precautions. You're voiding your warranty with overclocking, so it's only for those with the know-how. Just a friendly warning, in case you're even a little bit uncertain about it.

	23-07-2005 05:36									#25
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Heres how is stands now, I decided to take Slowwhand's advice and get the Lite-on cd=rom/dvd-rw. I also decided to get a larger HD for only $20 more. I am still considering whether to get a cheaper processor.

CPU AMD 64 3700+ (Socket 939) $300
Graphics Card Connect3D Radeon X800XL $260
Motherboard Asus A8N-E Motherboard $120
Case+Power Antec sonata II with 450W PSU $120
Ram Corsair 1GB TWINX10243200C2PT $130
Hard Drive Seagate Barracuda ST3160023A 160GB $90
CD-Rom Lite-On LTN529S 52x IDE CD-ROM $21
DVD-RW Lite-On SOHW1673S "" Dual Layer DVD±RW Writer $53
Floppy Drive Mitsumi 3.5" $15

Total: $1109

Thanks for all your help and advice.

	23-07-2005 15:05									#26
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ph34r my cheap budget PC I am about to build.

AMD Sempron 2200 - NZ$77.80
MoBo - NZ$67.95
HDD - 20GB, NZ$36
Power Supply - 300W - NZ$20
Case (ATX)- Bought from a dump for NZ$5 (Serious)
32X CD-ROM, CD-RW, Floppy Drive, Monitor, Mouse, Speakers, Keyboard, all pinched from a NZ$5 PC I bought 3 months ago
156MB RAM, 128MB GeForce II GFX - I think they were $50, bought 18 months ago.

Grand total: NZ$261.70, or US$183.19

I laugh in your ripped-off faces

	23-07-2005 19:42									#27
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quote: Originally posted by EPW Lite-On SOHW1673S

If you haven't ordered yet, drop this one and take the 1693S instead. That one is abit more enhanced and has the mistakes of the 1673S. The 1673S is worse in terms of reliability, while the 1693S recognises most media and is more reliable than the one you chose.

	23-07-2005 20:13									#28
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If you can afford it, buy two identical hard drives and use one for backups.

	23-07-2005 20:32									#29
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I assume you're suggesting RAID mirroring to him?

	23-07-2005 20:56									#30
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Not necessarily.

I couldn't be bothered to set up a RAID, so I imaged the main disk the first time around, and now just copy over my irreplaceable files every so often.

If anything goes wrong on the main disk, I just switch the master/slave settings, and use the fully operational OS on the backup to figure out what went wrong.

I have been doing it this way for nearly a decade, and it has worked everytime "something bad" has come up.

Not that there's anything wrong with RAID.