skyhintack

Hello there to the people of the TSF world. (I'm glad I found this place because it's great for me lol)
I'm 14 and this is my first build. I have a budget of max $1200. I've put together a list of what I think should be comaptible, but would just like to double check before I spend that kinda money. I'm very open to second opinions as I want to make sure I'm set for the long run.
I've put together the items on Newegg and their item no will be given below for lookup.

Motherboard- GIGABYTE GA-M750SLI-DS4 AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA nForce 750a SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Item No- N82E16813128339

Video Card- EVGA 01G-P3-N983-AR GeForce 9800 GT 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
Item No- N82E16814130382

CPU- AMD Athlon 64 X2 5400+ Brisbane 2.8GHz Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core black edition Processor Model ADO5400DSWOF - Retail
Item No- N82E16819103289

RAM- OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2P10664GK - Retail
Item No- N82E16820227298

Hard Drive- Maxtor DiamondMax 21 STM3250310AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Item No- N82E16822144456

CD/DVD Burner- LITE-ON Combo Black SATA Model DH-52C2S-04 - OEM
Item No- N82E16827106100

CD/DVD Reader- LITE-ON Black SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model DH-16D3S-04 - OEM
Item No- N82E16827106261

Sound Card- SYBA SD-CM-PCI8 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card - Retail
Item No- N82E16829186001

OS- Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64-bit English 1pk DSP OEI DVD for System Builders - OEM
Item No- N82E16832116493

CPU Fan/Heatsink- ZALMAN CNPS 9500 AM2 2 Ball CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink - Retail
Item No- N82E16835118004

Total: $894.81

From Newegg, I purchased the case and power supply yesterday.
Case- XCLIO A380BK Fully Black High Gloss Finish SECC 1.0mm thickness ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail
Item No- N82E16811103010

Power Supply- XCLIO STABLEPOWER 850W ATX 850W Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CUL, TUV, CB, VDE, FIMKO, DEMKO, NEMKO, SEMKO - Retail
Item No- N82E16817189015

With all above totaled, I'm up to $1192.27.

I intend to use this computer for gaming, video, music, school, and anything else that comes my way. I have the dual DVD drive config as I do quite a bit with videos and its a pain to try and make multiple copies of a DVD with only one DVD drive. I would like to be able to upgrade to a Quad-core when the performance percentage between quad-core and dual-cores become more even. Having programs on a quad with -30% performance compared to a dual-core does nothing for me.
I got this info from here: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000942.html

Thank you so much!

Tumbleweed36

Two quick comments.

First of all, you don't want an Xclio power supply. Pick from one of these brands:

Seasonic – Any Model
Corsair – Any Model
PC Power & Cooling – Any Model
Thermaltake – “Toughpower” Series Only
Coolermaster – “Real Power Pro” Series Only
Silverstone – Any Model

The second comment is that if you want performance, you should be looking at the Intel processors and not the AMD chips. They are much better in most aspects of performance. However, they may cost a tad more, but the performance will be worth the extra cost. Take a look at those two issues, then post back with comments/concerns.

bruiser

Tumbleweed is right. If you want the best performance, forget AMD. Go Intel.

Luda

to be honest i would go C2D, i love amd, and ive used them in ever build ive done [exluding my old laptop, but that was a company machine, i just swapped the guts]. but im really wishing i had gone intel on this last build, the C2D's are just os much faster

my X2 4000+ brisbane @ 3.0ghz was about 25-30% slower then my old laptops c2d conroe 2.0GHZ

ill edit this in a sec with board and cpu recomendation

are you planning on overclocking at all?

or going SLI?

my current recomendation for a mid range gaming rig:

non sli board: ASUS P5QL PRO


Crossfire Board: DFI Lanparty DK X38-T2RB

Proc: Intel Core 2 Duo E7200

Ram: Mushkin 2x1GB x2


ATI GPU: Gigabyte 4850


should keep you under budget enough to get a more reputable and reliable powersupply, or go up to a E8x000 wolfsdale chip

skyhintack

Thanks for the quick comments!

Replying to the first comment about the PSU...
I wish I had found TSF before I went and placed a bundle order on the case and PSU. Of course I was one day ahead of myself.
I'm going to try and see if this works or not, and if it doesn't, i'm going to try to see how I can ship it back off to Newegg when I bundled it.

Now to the second comment...
My family was given a Pentium 1 Intel processor computer back around 2000. That same computer seems to outperform my crummy laptop which has a pentium 2. So yes, I would love an Intel, but if I can't afford it, then it's back to my friend the Advanced Micro Device. So I'll poke around Newegg again and see If I can't come up with a good build using Intel insead of AMD, then i'll post it back here and then I guess we can choose which is better (and for the budget too lol).

My only other question...
But with this current AMD build, everything looks good (besides PSU/Intel)?

Oh yeah, I forgot to post this a minute ago, but YES, I do plan to overclock sometime in the near future. I don't wanna blow out my new parts anytime soon, but as they get put in the "older" categorie and newer things come out (prob. next summer) is when I would bump it up some.

skyhintack

Unfortunately, for what I'd like, there's no way I can afford Intel (at least this year). I came up with this discombobulated list that probably isn't compatible, but I just did it to get the price idea first. ( Intel C2D)
I barely have enough money for the AMD one, but Intel is just too expensive for me at this time. My next build I'm definately saving for Intel. But I have to stick with AMD on this one.
Now I just have to get the AMD build finalized and then I'll go from there.
Thanks for the Intel suggestion, but for what I would love to have, I would need to tack on another $1000 to my budget. (Sorry )

Luda

um, did you look at my original post, 300$ for a c2d [a wolfsdale none the less, which is an amazing overclocker] and board... and you dont need the aftermarket heatsink and fan [for now atleast]


seriously, its not worth saving the 100$ or whatever to go amd, i know, i am running a brisbane core, go c2d, or your going to want to rebuild again in 3-6 months. [like me :(]


and that 'older' category is going to be about 2-3 months away, when the bloomfield's come out

skyhintack

sorry, i was half asleep this morning when i tried to put that together. i'm going to take a look at it and post back by tomorrow morning and see what i come up with.

just so you people know, i just recieved the case and psu via ups (from newegg) today.

would it be safe to use the xclio psu for now, but then when i want to oclock, get one of the ones suggested here?

Toucan Sam

amd is also TERRIBLE at overclocking. You can only get up to around 10% more versus 30% with intel.

Tumbleweed36

xcleo is a very weak supply when compared to quality supplies, but with 850 watts might just stand up to your rig, so you could try. If you get any signs of trouble from lack of power, shutdowns from lack of power or heat from the PSU, etc, get that thing out of there before it damages your other equipment like the motherboard, Ram, CPU, Video card. If you already have it, you might just see what it does and if it falters, send it back...NewEgg is great for taking care of their customers. You should know real soon if it can cut it or not.

Luda

care to rephrase:


42% overclock right there [and stable to, still my PSU started to die]


-----------------------------
back to the topic at hand

the xclio should handle everything stock, just dont push it, until you get a more heavy duty PSU that is.

Toucan Sam

yeeeah you kinda stressed it juuuust a bit there ;)

skyhintack

Okay, I took the advice and I think I came up with a pretty decent build that will fit my budget just fine with maybe a little money to spare??
This here new list is an INTEL with the mobo and proc from above advice. The vid card was discontinued so I upgraded it a little....

Lemme know what you think, because I would like to have this thing ordered by tomorrow night so maybe Newegg will be good again and ship it a day early!!
(I ordered on Monday evening and it was supposed to be here by tomorrow, but it looks like the UPS man showed up at my door today with a 40 lb. delivery just for me lol)

Edit: It would help if I gave you the link...
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/Pu...istTitle=Intel

Luda

drop the second copy of windows

swap the 9800GT for a 4870

if you dont have to have bleeding edge technology you could save a 150-200$ by swaping to a DDR2 board and ram, but the DDR3 is faster

skyhintack

how about this?? http://fool.zxq.net/gaming_pc.html

Call-Collin

Thermaltake TR2 W0070RUC 430W ATX Power Supply - Retail

Is this PSU good for the Xclio case?

wrench97

Depends on the other components in the case more so than the case.

Luda

i wouldn't even think of running anything less then 600W for a machine like that

skyhintack

alright, i ordered the rest of my list (a little different that the last link i posted). i'll post back in a few days to see how it workes out.

wayliff

i was going to suggest that you go with the AMD x2 5000+ BE which you can easily overclock on air from 2.6 to 3.0-3.2 - around 23% increase if you reach 3.2GHZ