PC Pals Forum

Technical Help & Discussion => Self Building, Upgrading & General Hardware Help => Topic started by: Stormy on May 24, 2004, 14:02

Title: Building My First!
Post by: Stormy on May 24, 2004, 14:02

Building my first new pooter.  Am I missing anything or should I change anything?  Wanna get your opinions before I start buying the parts.  I do web developement and need a good system for that.  :)

ATI Radeon 9800 Pro Video Card / 128MB DDR / AGP 8X / TV Out & DVI

Asus - A7N8XE-Deluxe - nVIDIA nForce2 Socket A ATX Motherboard with Audio, AGP 8X, USB 2.0, FireWire, WiFi, Serial ATA, RAID and Dual Gigabit Ethernet LAN Support

Intel® Pentium® 4 2.4Ghz / 512k Cache / 800Mhz FSB / Socket 478 / HyperThreading / Processor

AOC LM720NB 17" 1280x1024 Black LCD Monitor

Powmax Black & Silver ATX Mid-Tower Case with Handle, Clear Side, Fan and 400Watt Power Supply

16x DVD-ROM Drive / PowerDVD Software / OEM
 
Sony CD Burner / 52x24x52x CD-RW / Nero Software / White Box

1.44MB Floppy Disk Drive (Black)

Premium 256MB PC2100 DDR 266MHz Memory

Premium 512MB PC2100 DDR 266MHz Memory

Title: Re:Building My First!
Post by: Sandra on May 24, 2004, 14:49

Unfortunately Stormy that mobo is for an AMD cpu not an Intel one so you would have to use an AMD cpu.

AMD's Athlon XP 3200+ and all follow-up CPUs now support 400MHz FSB for increased office productivity and enhanced digital media experience,(The Asus sites words not mine  ;) )

As that mobo has a 400 FSB then you are losing performance by using 266 pc 2100 DDR, you should be thinking of DDR400-PC3200.

Unless you specifically want an Intel cpu you would probabbly find that the difference in price between the latest/fastest AMD and Intel cpus would pay for the difference in the 266 and the 400 DDR ram  :)

Title: Re:Building My First!
Post by: Stormy on May 24, 2004, 17:22

Should I change the Mobo or the cpu?

Title: Re:Building My First!
Post by: Simon on May 24, 2004, 17:47

You tend to get more 'bang for your bucks' with AMD CPUs, i.e., an AMD CPU would usually be cheaper than it's equivalent Intel.

Title: Re:Building My First!
Post by: Dack on May 24, 2004, 19:09

I'd just add that it's probably worth you getting a DVD-Writer instead of the seperate units as:
a. it works out about the same price £60 or so.
b. You'll get a better capability i.e. you'll be able to write dvd's

NEC2500 is probably the best about now (especially as a hacked dual layer firmware was recently released :))

Graphics card is pretty good and can be bought for about £130 from http://www.lowestonweb.com/Products/DisplayInfoMain.asp?e=2F99A0AD-B9A8-470B-B643-2A672531F699 (http://www.lowestonweb.com/Products/DisplayInfoMain.asp?e=2F99A0AD-B9A8-470B-B643-2A672531F699)

A very good motherboard is the DFI one on sale in PCWorld (honest!) for £48 - its this one http://www.dfi.com.tw/Product/xx_product_spec_details_r_us.jsp?PRODUCT_ID=2141 (http://www.dfi.com.tw/Product/xx_product_spec_details_r_us.jsp?PRODUCT_ID=2141)

Barton core Athlon 2500 is about £55 from ebuyer - remember to buy a fan and heatsink though if you get the OEM version.

As Sandra said, get the best memory you can - definately PC3200.

Title: Re:Building My First!
Post by: Stormy on May 25, 2004, 01:17

I was gonna get a dual dvd unit but then I thought about it that if one broke down I'd still be able to use the other so I went with the two instead.  On the NFII ULTRA INFINITY mobo, what wattage is it?  I'm wanting to have a 400 watt but I can't find any info on that with this board.

 :)

Title: Re:Building My First!
Post by: Sandra on May 25, 2004, 01:37

Specifications and a revue on that mobo here Stormy :

http://www.mbreview.com/nf2inf.php

A 400 watt PSU should be fine  :)

Title: Re:Building My First!
Post by: Stormy on May 25, 2004, 03:38

That works Sandra!  ;D

Title: Re:Building My First!
Post by: Adept on May 29, 2004, 19:06

Quote from: Dack on May 24, 2004, 19:09

(especially as a hacked dual layer firmware was recently released :))

By anyone we know ? :P ;D