New to the BYOC game, here is my idea

[02rt]

First a little history. My name is Kevin and about 8 years ago I worked at Compaq building computers. Not hard stuff. Since then I have wanted to build my own but never really had te funds to do this right. Well now I have some side work and can write this off for taxes.

The computer will be used for CAD applications. One thing I have noticed is that Gaming computers tend to work very well with the packages use. I do alot of computer rendering from models as well as sketching. The only thing is that I have read through various forums is that Intel might be better for another program-photoshop. I do little video editing, just backup DVDs really.

Now lets be real, this computer will probably only see 60% work with 40% personal-Games, internet, and TV.

I plan using the SLI in the near future when more funds are available. I would like to learn how to OC and set up my own pc. I have yet to do any of this. I do not know how to set up BIOS or anything of the sort but have pretty good common sense and learn quick. I also read all instructions before hand. Now for one stupid question-Should I keep this course of action on building my own pc or go to Best Buy?

f I build my own PC here is what I have put together:

for the mobo:
Asus A8N SLI Deluxe nVidia Socket 939 Motherboard / PCI Express / Audio / Dual Gigabit LAN / Serial ATA / Dual RAID / USB 2.0 & Firewire
Motherboard- Asus A8N SLI Deluxe nVidia Socket 939

for the CPU:
CP1-A64-32009 :: AMD Athlon 64 3200+ / 512KB Cache / 2000 MHz FSB / Socket 939 / Processor with Fan
CPU- AMD Athlon 64 3200+

for the graphics card:
eVGA GeForce 6800 GT / 256MB DDR3 / PCI Express / SLI / Dual DVI / TV Out / Video Card
Graphics card- eVGA GeForce 6800 GT

for the HD:
Seagate / 200GB / 7200 / 8MB / ATA-100 / EIDE / OEM / Hard Drive
HD- 200GB Seagate 7200rpm

for the memory:
PQI Turbo 1024MB Dual Channel PC4200 DDR 533MHz Memory (2 x 512MB)
Ram- PQI Turbo 1024MB Dual Channel PC4200 DDR 533MHz Memory

for the CD/DVD drive:
Liteon / 16x8x16x DVD+RW / 16x4x16x DVD-RW / 4x DVD+RW / 48x24x48x CD-RW / Black OEM DVD Burner with Nero Software
cd/dvd drive

for the Case and power:
Soyo Black/Silver ATX Mid-Tower Case with Front USB and Audio Ports and 400-Watt Power Supply
Case and power-400watt

First I don't know if these components are any good? will work together? have enough power? or could be found cheaper? I see alot of people say newegg.com so I need to check them out.

Let me know if My research has led me in the right direction or astray.

Kevin

 

[DJ-CHRIS]

#1: That ram wont work with your mobo, you need regular DDR and not DDR2 for any AMD (And AMD is still better memory wise right now)

#2: Get a DFI Lanparty SLI-DR, that is one of the crappiest mobo's built for it's price

#3: Get a venice core 3200+, they OC above 4200+ speeds with ease.

#4: Newegg.com is cheaper for ya yankies.

EDIT

#5: If you want SLI, you need to spend alot of money on a good power supply. Think a 480watt thermaltake at minimum.

Don't buy cheap generic PSU's, they will cause instability as well as possibly fry your entire PC

 

[02rt]

I switch the mobo because the DFI was the other mobo I was looking at. it was $20 more in price.

At tigerdirect.com it has a list of DDR ram and overclocking DDR ram. since I know after some time and have things figured out I will want to overclock my system, should I buy overclocking ram or is this a gimick?

How do you know if it is a venice core if it isn't listed?

Thanks for input. I am assuming that I should still tackle this vs. going to Best Buy.

I opted for the thermaltake 560watt seeing how I want to add another SLI card later
Thermaltake

or is 560 watts too much?

Kevin

 

[MrBebop26]

He means stock 4200+ and off the old cores, the new San Diego core will run circles around the Venice core.

-Ryan

 

[DJ-CHRIS]

That's just becuase of the extra cache

It's hard to tell venice from newcasle (or whicnhester) on tigerdirect.

Just buy off of newegg.com it's much cheaper

And do get the DFI even it's it's 20$ more, it's a MUCH better mobo

 

[tajahem]

You might want to switch from an IDE hard drive to a Serial ATA (SATA) hard drive. SATA is faster (uses smaller cables too) and I'm fairly certain that the DFI board supports them (haven't checked the specs in a while).

BTW the link on the hard drive redirects me to microsoft.com

 

[DJ-CHRIS]

SATA interface is faster but

IDE hard drives and SATA hard drives will do the same speed, same hard drive different interface.

But SATA has the advantge of no mater \ slave which increases peformance compared to copying 2 things on the same IDE channel as well as smaller cables.

 

[aspire]

the venice has a 1mb lv2 cache while the winchester has 512kb
get the dfi mobo
get the evga 6800gt
get either an antec or a ocz power supply
get a better case one that has more cooling and nicer looks
psu it comes with is trash only exceptions are antec and some thermaltake cases
get a sata drive almost same price but run a bit faster plus cables are much smaller and easier to hide if wiring is your thing
and.... get corsair xms if you have the money otherwise just get corsair value select u really dont need the super ram
also if you live in cali then order from www.zipzoomfly.com
cheaper and no tax newegg is evil for a 1500 dollar comp you pay 130 bucks in tax ouch also zip has more stuff with free shipping

 

[aj2003]

no the venice doesnt. the only difference between the winchester and the venice is the venice has SSE3 instructions and a few minor changes to the core. San deigo is the sam as the venice but with 1mb l2cache instead.

if u can afford it go with the venice as its got new technologies in it.

 

[diabloII]

meh

how much can you spend?