Building A Computer

[BlindApex]

Okay, I'm looking at building a new computer, and I picked out all the parts off tigerdirect.ca. Here's what I got:

Processor: $377.99 (AMD Athlon64 3200+)
Fan/Heatsink: $33.99 (Speeze AMD K8)
Motherboard: $184.99 (Asus - K8V Deluxe - Socket 754 ATX Motherboard)
Case: $134.99 (ULTRA Dragon MS-Blue w/ 500 Watt Power Supply)
Memory: $161.99 (Corsair XMS Extreme Memory 512MB PC3200 DDR 400MHz)
Hard Drive: $141.99 (Hitachi 120GB / 7200 / 8MB / 8.5 / ATA-100 EIDE Hard Drive)
DVD-ROM: $55.99 (Artec 16X DVD ROM Drive with Power DVD Software Clear)
CD-RW: $69.99 (Artec 52x24x52x Internal CD-RW Drive with Nero Software Clear)
Floppy: $24.99 (Sony 1.44 MB Floppy Disk Drive)
Thermal Paste: $2.99 (Ultra Silver Thermal Compound 1.0g)
Keyboard: $33.99 (Logitech Internet Navigator Keyboard)
Fans: 2x $10.99 (Coolmax 4 LED Ball Bearing Blue Case Fan 80MM)
Controller: $31.99 (Enermax UC-A3FATR2 LCD 3.5" Dual Fan Controller)

Subtotal: $1,277.86
Tax: $191.68
Total: $1,469.54

Already Own:
Graphics Card (Radeon 9800 128 MB Pro)
Mouse (Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer Wireless Optical)
Monitor (Sony 17" Trinitron)
Speakers (Altec Lansing 5100 5.1)

Now, I'm not sure if this is the best setup for my money. I have four main questions about this:

What would be the best motherboard? (with onboard surround sound/RAID/DDR)
Should I get RAID?
Dual Channel Memory?
More Fans?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Larry K]

yes, pick up an extra fan or two---- Minimum IMO, 1 fan in the front of the case, the CPU has its fan, one 1 fan at the back of the case. Obviously, the PS has its fan. Do you need more fans?
Can it hurt? --- it can make the PC run louder


The raid questions depends on what you want to do with the PC.
Do you "NEED" raid? There are different kinds of raid, which all depends on what you want to do

I have Raid 0, which is 2 hard drives acting as one drive --- very fast, exspecially since I have two 10,000 RPM drives

IMO, buy the best memory you can afford.

I found good prices at
http://www.monarchcomputer.com

good luck

 

[BlindApex]

if i get dual channel memory, will it still work with my mobo?

as for fans, i'm not exactly sure how many open slots it has, maybe i'll just pick one up that fits into a drive bay

for RAID, i think i'll get two 40 GB Hard drives (i don't need that much space) and set up RAID 0

thx

 

[BlindApex]

Hardware Update: can someone check it out?

Processor: $377.99 (AMD Athlon64 3200+)
Fan/Heatsink: $33.99 (Speeze AMD K8)
Motherboard: $184.99 (Asus - K8V Deluxe - Socket 754 ATX Motherboard)
Case: $134.99 (ULTRA Dragon MS-Blue w/ 500 Watt Power Supply)
Memory: $317.99 (Corsair TWINX Dual Channel 1024MB PC3200 DDR 400MHz Memory 2x512MB)
Hard Drive: $141.99 (Hitachi 120GB / 7200 / 8MB / 8.5 / ATA-100 EIDE Hard Drive)
DVD-ROM: $60.99 (Artec 16X DVD ROM Drive with Power DVD Software Sky Blue)
CD-RW: $49.99 (Artec 52x24x52x Internal CD-RW Drive with Nero Software Sky Blue)
Floppy: $24.99 (Sony 1.44 MB Floppy Disk Drive)
Thermal Paste: $2.99 (Ultra Silver Thermal Compound 1.0g)
Keyboard: $33.99 (Logitech Internet Navigator Keyboard)
Fans: 2x $10.99 (Coolmax 4 LED Ball Bearing Blue Case Fan 80MM)
Controller: $32.99 (Vantec Nexus 3.5" Multi-Channel Fan Controller Silver)
Lighting: $13.99 (Ultra Blue 12" Cold Cathode Light Kit)

Already Own:
Graphics Card (Radeon 9800 128 MB Pro)
Mouse (Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer Wireless Optical)
Monitor (Sony 17" Trinitron)
Speakers (Altec Lansing 5100 5.1)

 

[Larry K]

The mother board specs will specify which or what kind of memory it can handle.

To make sure call a computer place and ask, I have XYZ mother board and want to install ABC memory... are they compatiable?

 

[Olinskis7]

doing a quick check on newegg.com, I can save you a few bucks. Athlon64 3200+ is $282.00. Asus K8V Deluxe is $149.99. Gamersdepot.com rates the Abit KV8-Max3 a little better, but it does weigh in @ $159.99. Just thoughts to chew on.

You might check on the price of other parts of yours as well.

 

[BlindApex]

ya i know about newegg..thing is, i'm in canada, and the price works out roughly the same...plus they don't ship to canada

 

[ekÆsine]

you don't want dual channel. it is intended for integrated video only.

 

[BlindApex]

isn't it good for gaming?

if not which sticks would be the best to go with that Asus mobo?