New to comp building, need advice.

[transference05]

So my comp is pretty old (got this one in '98 hehe), and I'll be needing a new one when I go away to college next year, so I figured I'd build one myself. I don't do a whole lot of gaming, maybe on occasion, but most of the time I will just be doing homework, chatting, or surfing the web on this comp. However, it will be my primary source of entertainment when I go to college, and I will be playing lots of DVD's on it, so I would like to have it geared towards that. With this in mind I picked out some components off of newegg that I thought looked pretty good, but I'd like some insight into my choices.

-Raidmax mid-tower 420 W ATX case (3 fans)
-Samsung 16x DVD+-RW
-AMD Athlon XP 2700+, 333mhz fsb, 256k cache, socket A, thoroughbred core
-Western Digital special edition 80gb hd
-Corsair value select 184 pin 512 MB DDR PC-3200 ram
-ABIT NF7-S V2 nforce 2 chipset motherboard for amd socket a
-already have floppy, modem, monitor etc.

Also, I'd like some recommendations on a good video card for $100-$150. Is there anything else I need to build this comp? Do I need to use thermal paste or anything? Thank you for your time. It is much appreciated.

 

[Alex81388]

First of all, to go with the 33FSB you should be getting PC2700 RAM, I believe.

 

[PP Mguire]

thermal paste is a must but for college i would recomend a little more speed. i know you dont game but i really insist in a 64-bit athlon cause its the future. most things will start going to it being required in later years. Athlon XP is getting really outdated and for 333mhz that is sometimes a no in new computers. i would recomend at least a 120gig sata hd and a 6600GT(evga), and a gig of ram(corsair by personal preference). Plus w/ that 64-bit athlon i would recomend DFI, Abit, MSI, Soyo, in that order. If you do decide to get the Socket A then get a DFI Lanparty and the other things i said plus spend the extra money to get a 3200+.

 

[uchiha]

college=laptop

 

[PP Mguire]

or you culd just do that and things would be easier!

 

[transference05]

Thanks for the replies. So, if 333mhz is a bad option, what is better for the FSB? I'm not too concerned with 64 bit right now personally because I'd just buy a new comp once most programs and such switch to 64.

 

[PP Mguire]

then go w/ what i suggested and get the 3200+ w/ the 400mhz fsb and the gig of corsair ram and the 6600GT(evga)

 

[transference05]

Those are a little out of my price range, I'd like to stick with around $500-600 total if I can. Thanks for the input though. Also the comp I'm on now is a Pentium 2 350mhz, originally with 64mb ram, so anything will be a whole lot better. I had an AMD Athlon 1.33 ghz, 256 mb ram and that was pretty nice to me, but then the mobo just stopped working or something, so yea. Is this a common occurance with AMDs? It was only 3 years old. This comp is 6, pushing 7 years old and still running fine. Are Intels better quality?

 

[True_Orb]

ATI Radeon's have been known as solid vid cards. My GeForce 3 for like 60 bucks works great on my current comp.

For CPU if you plan to have it a while, 64-bit is not a bad idea, but the Athlon 3200 Barton Core would be your next best bet, or a cheaper Athlon of course.

 

[transference05]

I'm thinking about the ATI Radeon 9600 SE, is that a good choice?