first time builder - needs your help

[_SiLv3R_]

ok theres a lotta things that u shud do different for that build... first off scrap the pentium 4 and go for an amd 6 3500+ for about the same price (WAYYY better performance trust me):

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-484&depa=1

... then for the mobo go for a MSI K8T NEO Platinum here :

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-130-468&depa=1

or

a Gigabyte GA-K8NSNXP-939 here:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-128-254&depa=1

these two are the best mobos for the 939 socket out rite now... next change ur gfx card from an x800 pro to a 6800GT:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-130-203&depa=1

with the evga brand you can easily overclock the gt to ultra speeds as they put the same heavy duty heatsink on the gt and the ultra... the 6800GT is a way better performer than the x800pro as it has 4 pipelines that the x800 pro does not have and the gpu overall is much better ... if u wanted the extra 4 pipelinse in the x800 series ud have to go with the x800 XT which is the same price as the ultra... which is a waste of money seeing as u can just uverclock ur gt to ultra speeds...


and as for the harddrives.. there is a boost of performance going from 7200-10000 RPMs but barely noticable... id suggest tha tyou get a 160GB Western Digital or Seagate HD just so that you don't run out of space... knowing me i probably wudnt last very long even with 2 34GB Raptors lol... ... well theres my 2 cents... good luck

P.S.... and o yaeh stay away from pci-express for now... the video cards that are out there right now dont utilize pci-e at all... they wont fully utilize the interface until the next gen cards are out i think so you should stick with agp for reliable performance

 

[U-Toast]

uhh, i like the av8 3rd eye MUCH better than both of those mobos. Compare both of them, ull see what i mean.

 

[Hayate]

first off, I just wanted to thank everyone for thier help. It would have pretty embarrasing spending $400 for a Video Card that doesn't work with my mobo. Not that that's relevant anymore, because if the AMD 6 3500+ (or is it 3400+? you wrote one thing, and the link was another) is truly that much better I'll have to get a new mobo anyways. (side note - the mobo I had selected does support DDR2, for some reason its specs were wrong on pcmech). I've heard nothing but good things about Asus, and I really liked the one I was looking at, so http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-131-510&depa=1 this mobo seemed like a good choice to me. I loked at the specs, and I couldn't figure out what justified the difference in cost between the GIGABYTE board and all the others. It uses a different chipset then the others, but Im not familiar enough with AMD to know the difference between them.

so, to recap, instead of Intel's P4 3.4 GHz LGA775, get an AMD 6 3400+

instead of ATI's x800 get an Nvidia 6800GT

and downsize on the memory, and I guess I'll have to look around for new memory all togethor if I'm going to switch to a new mobo.

and lastly, don't spend my money on the 10k HDs.

does that about cover it?

If anyone could give me some insight on the AMD mobos or DIMM socket memory, that would be much appreciated.

also, again I want to thank everyone who has helped me thus far.

 

[Hayate]

I was also wondering if Socket 939 was AMDs newest, and if the VIA k8t800 pro was the best chipset for the socket 939 processors.

 

[_SiLv3R_]

there was a reason that i didnt suggest the asus mobo... first off in the last year asus has gone WAY down in its performance and their tech support is absolute garbage... they just dont have the stabillity and the speed that the gigabyte msi or abit mobo have to offer... in all the tests i have seen so far the msi has been the most stable in and out of overclocking situations... just that the abit has guru technology which has a lot more options for ocing.. but its not nesecarily as stable as the msi or the gigabyte.. and the pc magazine that i suscribe to (PC UPGRADE) reviewed all the availible 939 mobos in this months issue.. and they actually had a ton of trouble booting up the asus mobo.. they say it give them tons of trouble recognizing the whole hardware and the times they actually got it to boot succesfully the performance was mediocre next to the gigabyte, abit, and msi... well hope i helped

 

[Hayate]

yeah, you've been a huge help. I still don't know the difference between the chipsets in the GIGABYTE and the MSI and Av8. I'll just assume that the nvidia chipset is better then the Via K8T800 Pro and go with the Gigabye since I was going to spend a lot more than any of them cost on the asus anyways. I'll post an updated list soon.

Thanks again
(The Corsair XMS xtra-low latency 3200XL will still work with all of the mobos you suggested right?)

 

[Apokalipse]

as long as your motherboard supports DDR400 it will

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ $324 not 3400+ because they don't come in socket 939

Abit AV8 3rd eye $121

Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS $77

eVGA 6800 GT 256MB $377

Corsair 1GB PC3200XL PT $275

Western Digital 36GB Raptor $100
I think you should get this drive, and put your OS on it. my friend has one and it really does make the PC faster

Seagate 200GB SATA $122

Creative Inspire t7770 7.1 $88

Sony 21" Trinitron $168 + shipping

Pioneer 108D 16x DVD±R/RW Dual Layer $74

LG 52x32x52x16 CDR/RW+DVD $40
Lian Li PC-V1000 $182
this is about the best made case you can get, it's design is unique and cooling is much improved over other cases even though it has just 2 fans. it's interior is designed well so there are no sharp bits that you can cut your fingers on, and it's light.

Antec 480W True Blue $91
it's good reliable PSU

total=$239