First time build

Straightupnoob

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4
Hey, I'm doing a first time build. I'm pretty sure there shouldn't be any issues with this set up, but being that I am a newcomer to PC building, I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to fry anything when I put this together.

I am aware this is not an exceptionally high-end PC and I chose these parts as a negotiation between cost and my ultimate goal which is to be able to enjoy Empire: Total War and perhaps a few more games over hopefully the next year, so try and refrain from mashing me with your shouldas :p

Not sure if I've provided enough info for each piece of hardware for any of you to make a judgement, since I don't expect you to read up on each thing, but in case any of you see any discrepencies in the compatibility then that will at least help me out.

CPU: Amd Phenom Ii X4 940

Motherboard: ASUS M3N78 Pro ATX AM2+ GeForce 8300 PCI-E16

Memory: Crucial Ballistix BL2KIT25664AA80A PC2-6400 4GB 2X2GB DDR2-800
two of those to max the possible 8GB of ram on the board

Case: Thermaltake Wing RS 100 Piano Black ATX

Harddrive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA2 3.5IN 8.5MS 7200RPM 16MB

PSU: Coolermaster Extreme Power Plus 460W ATX Power Supply 12V V2.3 20/24PIN 80MM Fan

Going to disable the onboard graphics and put in:
Diamond Radeon HD 4670 750MHZ 1024MB 1.8GHZ GDDR3 PCI-E


Got another fan and obviously a dvd-drive, and going to use vista home edition 64-bit, which as far as I've read can take advantage of the whole 8 gigs of RAM.

See anything I'm missing or have overlooked, let me know, thanks :)
 
You really don't need 8 gigs for gaming. Stick with 4 and save yourself some money. What is your overall budget? What size monitor will you be playing on?
 
Save your money on the 8GB ram and get a better power supply (i would try this: Corsair 650 ) That motherboard is an older generation it wont support your am3, is this in your budget? 790X Also what games do you play because that card will lack on newer games
 
Overall budget is 1k, I'm using my old monitor which isn't huge, I think it's 20 inches, not fully sure to be honest. In any case I'm happy with it, so I'm not going to buy a new one at the moment.

Memory is pretty cheap on directcanada so I don't mind paying for the whole 8, curious though, is there a lack of noticable improvement between 4 and 8? I've never even had the pleasure of 4GB of ram yet, I just figured the more the better.
 
Save your money on the 8GB ram and get a better power supply (i would try this: Corsair 650 ) That motherboard is an older generation it wont support your am3, is this in your budget? 790X Also what games do you play because that card will lack on newer games

The processor he chose is an AM2+ socket, not AM3. He doesn't need 650 watts. A good OCZ PSU will get him by no problem. That card will do him plenty fine depending on his budget and monitor size.

http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1357&pageID=5401
 
The Phenom II I'm looking at is the AM2+ model, not the AM3, not sure they even got the quad AM3 phenom out yet, just tri? the socket should be okay shouldn't it? As for games I don't do chryses, or however you spell it, mostly just interested in Empire: Total War.

Jebus you guys respond fast, much appreciated
 
For 1,000 you can build an insanely nice computer.

Processor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103471

Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813136057

RAM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231166

GPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131140

PSU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341010

HDD:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136218




I would recommend the 4830 for 20", but the prices of the 4870 is so low you might as well get it.

The total is $719.94 without rebates.

Your choice to get any DVD burner and case you want.
 
Feedback is much appreciated, although still wondering, being that ram is so cheap, what is the downside to just maxing out the availability on one's motherboard?
 
Different reasons. It depends on the motherboard.

1) Some won't run at their rated speed.
2) Some won't even post with all modules filled up.
3) Power
4) Etc.
You won't see a huge different from 4GB to 8GB. There are some benchmarks on another thread that was posted recently. If you're doing a lot of editing, it's crucial.
 
Feedback is much appreciated, although still wondering, being that ram is so cheap, what is the downside to just maxing out the availability on one's motherboard?

Roughly 10% more power usage, more stress on the memory controller, more heat in your case, more money.

And the only pro being that boot up time might be a second faster and your games will load maybe a second faster. maybe. Unless your running crysis in a window, CS4, CAD, Encoding, 8 firefox apps and watching a movie all at the same time, all the time. 8 gb does nothing.
 
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