Building a New Computer

[orangat]

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-Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice 1GHz HT Socket 939 E3 Processor Model ADA3500CGBOX - Retail
-Motherboard: ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 Socket 939 ULi M1695 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
-Video Card: GIGABYTE GA-NX6800G256DB-ED Geforce 6800GS 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
-Case: AIDMAX Horizon 287WBP Black SGCC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 380watts PS2 Prescott & SATA Ready Power Supply - Retail
-Ram: CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model VS1GBKIT400 - Retail
-Monitor: NU QL-711V 2-Tone 17" 8ms LCD Monitor - Retail
-HD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 SATA NCQ 3Gb/s ST3160812AS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
-Floppy: Whatever, the price is about 10$
-Keyboard/Mouse: Logitech Internet Pro Desktop 967457-0403 Black PS/2 Wired Standard Keyboard Mouse Included - OEM
-Speaker: Logitech X-530 70 Watts 5.1 Speaker - Retail
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The obvious problem is tha you haven't purchased a proper psu and are relying on a bundled psu which is never smart even for a budget box.
Get this Fortron for $58 shipped. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817104954
A cheap decent case would be the Antec slk3000/b if you have enough funds left.

Get a 2.1/2.0 pair of speakers instead like a cheap creative intrigue. 5+ speaker configs at your price range is not worth it. And my preference is Samsung/Hitachi/WD drives over Seagate.

Its not worth using an add on soundcard. I doubt there is any difference in fidelity at your price range. Save it for the psu.

[Papewaio]

Get a 2.1/2.0 pair of speakers instead like a cheap creative intrigue. 5+ speaker configs at your price range is not worth it. And my preference is Samsung/Hitachi/WD drives over Seagate.

Wouldn't headphones be cheaper then a pair of speakers for a better sound? Also means you can block out external noise and not interfer with others sound sphere.

[SomeNick]

Yeah true Papewaio. My first computer I built myself from pictures of magazines I found at op shops. Soon realised speakers weren't really necessary, when I discovered what the ports on a motherboard were. Haven't bought a soundcard to this day and probably never will. Good motherboard = good hub for machine & onboard sound, with good headphones.

Also about that hdd, I'd go for a few smaller drives. Then you have back ups in place and if you go for seagate hdd's get lots of fans ! I personally will never buy seagate again. Sucks when a large drive fails utterly, and your data isn't properly backed up elsewhere ( Hey , I was starting out!).
Plus it's more versatile.

I built a high end system at the time for 1500$ Ausd. But it involved a lot of ringing around for the best prices for components and research at the time. Well worth it though.

Also, I'd check out other popular game forums too in their technical/ support sections and search for info on new components. That's the first step I'd do before buying anything if building another pc.

Edit: Just read the post about the ram. I'd go for Kingston myself. Saw an excellent article about ram in a forum quite some time ago and if I can dig the link up I'll post it here. I have no problems with Kingston 512mb pc3200 DDR ram. Getting another one to go to 1 gb soon for RTW mainly :S and some other progs.

That article has lots of info on RAM sticks, it's a very overlooked aspect to pc performance and it's not just about the mb it's to do with manufacturing codes on them and stuff too. If I find that article I'll post the link.