Building a new comp for friend... need advice PLEASE!

[likwiFIRE]

Hey, well I know some basic information, but I read through Static_11's guide on how to build a computer and it helped tremendously. THanx to everyoen who contributed to it, it helped clear everything up. Well here is what I picked out.... he has a $1900 budget. all of these prices does not include shipping though (newegg shipping wont be that expensive though). I will also be putting the computer together myself so no labor costs.

:VIDEO CARD:
eVGA Geforce 7800 GTX 256 MB pci xpress x 16
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130248
$459

ROCESSOR:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ 1ghz FSB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103562
$322

:CASE:
Sunbeam Transformer Case - Black
http://www.xoxide.com/sunbeam-transformer-case-black.html
$72.99

:HARD DRIVE:
Western Digital Raptor 74GB Serial ATA150 Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144160
$161

VD / CD BURNER:
Sony Black IDE DvD Burner
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827131258
$38.99

:FLOPPY DRIVE:
Sony Black Internal Floppy Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16821103116
$10

OWER SUPPLY:
OCZ Modstream 450W power supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104154
$89.99

:MOTHERBOARD:
DFI LanParty UT NF4 Ultra-D ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813136152
$125

:RAM:
A-Data Vitesta 2gb (2 x 1gb) 184-pin DDR SDRAM (ddr 400 - pc 3200)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820211014
$174.85

he does not want speakers, he already has a pair of headphones. He also already has a logitech g5 mouse. and a keyboard.

I do not believe that I am missing anything besides the monitor? please correct me if im wrong. After all of this he still has $372.18 for a monitor, shipping, and maybe an extra fan or ccfl, etc. (small little stuff). Is all of these hardware items compatible with each other and of good quality? I read that entire article through like 6 times and I checked the specs of the stuff on newegg and it SEEMED fine, but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell me if there is anything wrong with it before I tell my friend to spend 1900 dollars on it. lol and then find out i f**ked up somewhere.

-i do not know anything about monitors and what makes them good. except for low ms.. Should i get him a flat screen CRT or a FLAT PANNEL? I heard that for games crt is better? but i found this flatpannell that has 4ms and isnt to expensive and it seems really nice?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824116359
$279.95

please tell me if it will be really good for gaming or would it be better to get a crt??? THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR HELP AND THIS COMPUTER IS GOING TO BE AMAZING!!!!!!!

 

[Sprooty]

You have chosen a crossfire board with an ATI graphics card. (Big no no.. and also look at the reviews for that board, everyone is complaining about how crap it is)

will he SLI in the future or not? if he is not going to get the
DFI Nforce4 Ultra- D if he is going to SLI later get DFI SLI-DR.

You only have 1 HD listed and thats a 74GB Raptor. Will 74GB be enought for him? his money might be better spend on a 160GB or bigger Seagate HD with SATA and NCQ.

I dont know much about ram, but i am thinking someone else will suggest something else, because not many pplz buy A-DATA from what i have seen on these forums.

 

[likwiFIRE]

I could upgrade the processor to a 4200+ x2?? Im confused though. Do i need a dual core? Or will it be useless? Also should i Get a regular CRT monitor and upgrade the processor even more or stick with the 4200+ and the nice flat panel?

SOMEONE PLEASE HELP AND TELL ME IF ALL THE COMPONENTS ARE COMPATIBLE WITH EACH OTHER AND IF THEY ARE OF GOOD QUALITY!!! PLEASEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

 

[likwiFIRE]

he is not going to SLI and that ram was the ONLY 2 gb package for DDR 400 (pc 3200) ram.

-also now with that motherboard you told me to get
DFI LanParty UT NF4 Ultra-D ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813136152
he now has 166.23 left, which processor should i upgrade to? the 4200+ or the 4400+ or a different one???

 

[likwiFIRE]

Should i stick to normal DDR ram or DDR2?? what would the difference be? and what are good brands to choose from for ram

 

[PcMe]

I'd say this -
Change the psu with this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103931
Antec Truepower 550W

Honestly, I think the difference between the 7800GTX and the 7800GT are minimal, especially because the GTX is 100$+ more.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130256

As said above, I doubt 74Gb will be a substantial amount, especially for a gamer. Although it's a great hard drive, I would recommend this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148065
Seagate 7200RPM 8Mb Cache 250Gb

That leaves you with plenty of room to upgrade other parts/save for other crap.

Edit: Oh, and I forgot about Ram. The Ram seems sort of sketchy, if he has 4 DIMM slots, he might as well just get x4 512mb G.Skill, Ocz, etc.
Unless he plans on upgrading it later on. If you get that ram, you SHOULDN'T have a problem, it's just not a very well known company.

Also, if he's going to be OC'ing, then just keep the AMD 3800, it can oc above the 4000 easily

 

[Sprooty]

PC Me is exactly right.

ATM AMD dose not support DDR2 so there is no need for him to get it.

Alse what PC Me said about the ram is good, but 2x1GB is better then 4x512. But the choice is up to him.

And if he chooses to get a faster make it atleast the 4400+ because the 4200+ is just 200mhz faster then the 3800+, but the 4400+ comes with 2x1MB Cache.


Oh yes, dude... dont doubble or tripple post, you can just edit your latest ones. But apart from that Welcome to the forums.

 

[gimli of gloin]

You have chosen a crossfire board with an ATI graphics card.

Dont u mean NVIDIA...

 

[likwiFIRE]

the 74gb 10,000 rpm HD will be used as his primary HD for his OS, Games, Applications, he can get a secondary 80 gig 7200 rpm for all his music, docs, videos, etc. I just want the 10000 rpm HD for him because it will be just that much better Could you guys please reccomend the RAM i should get??? 2 x 1 gb sticks please, but i am not sure what company to get?

-also what other parts should i upgrade besides ram, and processor?
(im going to leave the PSU there, hes not going to OC or go mod crazy)

-could someone please comment on the monitor? Would that be a good monitor for gaming? Or should I go with a CRT????

 

[PZEROFGH]

get some OCZ ram or corsair valueselect is he aint OCing

you could also go for an opteron 165 or opteron 170 for 400 dollars, or stick with a single core opteron with 2MB cache :shocked:

did you say he was going to OC cause there is no need for expensive ram or an expensive mobo for that