Building my own computer...

[The_Doctor]

Will these components work together:

Abit AN8 32X NF4 SLi Socket 939 2x PCI-E SLi / NF4 / Gb LAN / SATA(II) RAID / DUAL CH DDR / 7.1CH AUDIO / FIREWIRE / ATX MOTHERBOARD

Aspire Discovery Silver No psu 4 x 5.25" / 2 x 3.5" / 4x3.5 Standard ATX / Baby AT / Micro ATX Front Usb 2.0 and Firewire 2x

Samsung 16x DVD-ROM Drive BEIGE

AMD Athlon64 X2 4400 1MB

Mitsumi Floppy + Card Reader Beige

BFG GeForce 7900GTX 512MB GDDR3 256bit PCI-E, Dual DVI. TV-Out Mfr# BFGR79512GTXOCE

300GB Maxtor D/Max +10 SATA2 [16MB] 6V300F0

1GB PC3200 Elixir DDR SDRAM DDR 400 M2U1G64DS8HB1G-5T (X2)

19" Hanns-G HC194DP TFT - 8ms- DVI 3 Year Warranty

550W ATX Power Supply

Is there anything that I can improve?

[Beirut]

Will these components work together:

Nice looking stuff. But isn't the ASUS K8-series MB the top of the line MB? You've got some beauty stuff in there and it deserves the best.

Also, and I'm biased, but the Viewsonic VX922 19" 2ms LCD screen is getting great reviews. I've had mine for a while now and it's fast. Haven't noticed any lag or ghosting regardless of how fast and heavy the action. Has a good warranty as well.

[orangat]

Get the Conroe 6300. Its faster and likely cheaper than the AMD 4400 even after the price cuts. In any case the bigger 1Mb cache is mostly a waste.

Get a better power supply like a Fortron source or Seasonic.
http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=317630
http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=314765

Get a pair of stereo speakers unless you need and already plan on arranging 7 speakers around your workspace.

Get a cheaper mb if you still intend on buying an AMD cpu. The features of the Abit an8 is wasted on your specs.

[Puzz3D]

I've been using a Plextor PX-716A DVD Drive for about a year, and it has worked flawlessly. That drive is old now, and has been replaced by the PX-760A. You can read a review here PX-760A review

[DukeofSerbia]

Will these components work together:


Aspire Discovery Silver No psu 4 x 5.25" / 2 x 3.5" / 4x3.5 Standard ATX / Baby AT / Micro ATX Front Usb 2.0 and Firewire 2x

Samsung 16x DVD-ROM Drive BEIGE

19" Hanns-G HC194DP TFT - 8ms- DVI 3 Year Warranty

550W ATX Power Supply

Creative Inspire T7900 7.1 Speakers

Is there anything that I can improve?

Why you throw away your money on on hardware like this one? Creative Inspire T7900 7.1 Speakers Altec Lansing is better or even Logitech! Creative only have good sound cards for amateur usage.

Monitor is not good. Samsung is the best like SyncMaster BF940. http://www.samsung.com/Products/Moni...9HADKBEXAA.asp

For power supply and case Antec is one of the best. Chieftec is also very good (I have Chieftec lbx-01-01w 360W).

For DVD recorder buy Pioneer or NEC. They are the best (Pioneer use NEC chip).

[The_Doctor]

Thanks for the feedback, keep it coming.

I will look into these things that have been mentioned.

[Puzz3D]

Well the speakers don't seem horrible, and I think Cambridge Soundworks makes some of the Creative Labs speaker systems. This is a review of the Creative Inspire T7900 7.1 Speakers. They seem ok for games and watching movies on your pc, but not that good for music. It is worth checking out what Altec Lansing has to offer. Speakers are something you should listen to before buying if possible.

Watch out for that onboard audio. Quite often they are cpu hogs because they don't have a very powerful hardward sound chip. I don't know if that's the case with that motherboard. Turtle Beach makes good quality soundcards, although it looks like their selection is limited to two cards right now, but one is a 7.1 card.

A 360W power supply may not be powerful enough for a typical computer system of today.

[The_Doctor]

I am going to change the speakers to normal simple things.

[orangat]

I am going to change the speakers to normal simple things.

Good idea.
Its pointless to have many small cheap and poor quality speakers instead of fewer and better quality units.

[The_Doctor]

I have looked around on another website and have updated the system. The main changes are a less powerful CPU and graphics card.

Abit AN8 32X NF4 SLi Socket 939 2x PCI-E SLi / NF4 / Gb LAN / SATA(II) RAID / DUAL CH DDR / 7.1CH AUDIO / FIREWIRE / ATX MOTHERBOARD
£115.00

Aspire Discovery Silver No psu 4 x 5.25" / 2 x 3.5" / 4x3.5 Standard ATX / Baby AT / Micro ATX Front Usb 2.0 and Firewire 2x
£61.10 (might change this, I look terrible)

Samsung 16x DVD-ROM Drive BEIGE
£12.75 inc

AMD Athlon64 X2 4200 512K Retail Socket 939
£125

Mitsumi Floppy + Card Reader Beige
£12.56 inc

Gainward Bliss 7900GT PCX 256MB PCI-E, DDR3 TV out "Golden Sample" Mfr# 471846200-7951
£214.97

300GB Maxtor D/Max +10 SATA2 [16MB] 6V300F0
£68.09 inc

1GB PC3200 Elixir DDR SDRAM DDR 400 M2U1G64DS8HB1G-5T
£55.80 inc X2

19" Hanns-G HC194DP TFT - 8ms- DVI 3 Year Warranty
£139.81 inc
OR
Samsung 19" LCD Syncmaster 930BF TCO-99 Monitor, DVI-D, D-sub, 4ms
£219.00

Fortron/Source Powersupply ATX 550W, Bulk, 120mm, SATA, 20+4pin, EPS12V
£76.00

It still needs speakers and software.

About the graphics card, it is SLi, so I am correct in thinking that I can add another one of same type when I need to?

[Beirut]

Samsung 19" LCD Syncmaster 930BF TCO-99 Monitor, DVI-D, D-sub, 4ms
£219.00

About the graphics card, it is SLi, so I am correct in thinking that I can add another one of same type when I need to?

Tomshardware.com did a big review of 19' LCD screens. It said the Samsung 930B had "lackluster performance". You might want to read up on it. For my part, I'm still pushing Viewsonic VX922, What kind of a price can you get on that?

If your MB is an SLI MB, and your video card can run SLI, then you can have a second as long as it it exactly the same card.

[The_Doctor]

What kind of a price can you get on that?

£216 to £252. I might go for that one.

[tibilicus]

Thinking in mind though Tomshardware are very strange with reveiws. Take there grpahics card reveiws for example it seems if your not willing to spend $300 + on a grpahics card what your going to get is worthless. :P

[The_Doctor]

Will the system actually work?

[DukeofSerbia]

Tomshardware.com did a big review of 19' LCD screens. It said the Samsung 930B had "lackluster performance". You might want to read up on it. For my part, I'm still pushing Viewsonic VX922, What kind of a price can you get on that?

I agree about Samsung 930BF. That's why I wrote Samsung 940BF. It is better and newer model. Much better. It's just little expensive than 930BF but it worth.

[DukeofSerbia]

About the graphics card, it is SLi, so I am correct in thinking that I can add another one of same type when I need to?

Why you need SLi system? Next year, for the less money you will can buy much better and faster graphics card.

Will the system actually work?

Who knows that? You will find out that when you start to assembly.

[The_Doctor]

Why you need SLi system?

To tell you the truth, I have absolutly no idea.

Next year, for the less money you will can buy much better and faster graphics card.

I need to build this PC in about 2 months.

[The_Doctor]

If you (anybody reading this) where going to build a new computer, what components would you use?

[Cebei]

If you (anybody reading this) where going to build a new computer, what components would you use?

I am considering building a laptop, which is a more difficult and expensive issue than a desktop.

I will definitely get 2GB of DDR2 or DDR3 RAM and upgrade them as RAM becomes cheaper. I will also go for Intel Duo 2 Core processors instead of AMDs, as the former offers a better upgrade potential. I am also considering a better investment on the motherboard as they are not too expensive and better motherboards mean better upgrade options.

This leaves us with the graphics card and I am confused about that too. Say, why would I go for 2x256mb graphics cards in SLI mode instead of a single card with 512mb memory? What is the difference between chipsets x16 - x18? Is expensive always better?

Graphics card issue is a real headache as that technology moves really fast. Now they got this physics cards. Sheesh.

[DukeofSerbia]

To tell you the truth, I have absolutly no idea.

Don't buy SLi system! Waste of money like Crossfire from ATI. But ATI never forced CF as nVidia SLi. Save money for second card for the next year. With that money you will buy the top model of new generation and that new top model will be twice better than the old one. Just look what happend this year - ATI sell Radeon X1900XTX which is almost three time faster and better than the old x850XT PE. The same story about nVidia - GeForce 7900GTX and last year top model 6800 Ultra. The new models have the same price, but one 7900GTX is faster than 6800 Ultra in SLi (i don't know is this really possible to have two 6800 models in SLi).

And don't buy montherboard for SLi.

I need to build this PC in about 2 months.

Just wait for a while. AMD is swiching to the new platform - AM2. Don't buy socket 939 as AMD leave this platform. The price of the new AM2 platform will fall and you will have brand new PC full of power and ready for future upgrade. With 939 you will not be able to do some major upgrade (like new processor and new memory (AMD is now on DDR2 in AM2)).

Intel is also good choise with the new Core Duo processors, but wait to price fall as Intel have large stockpile of the old processors (stupid Prescott).

[orangat]

If you're going to spend that much for a cpu and mb, might as well get a Conroe 6300 for GBP135.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatal...abyte_179.html
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Intel.html
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatal...Core_Duo2.html

[The_Doctor]

Just wait for a while.

I might not have a computer in two months. My sister might be taking it to university with her, if she gets into uni.

Although, she could just get a laptop and save me a lot of problems.

AMD is swiching to the new platform - AM2. Don't buy socket 939 as AMD leave this platform. The price of the new AM2 platform will fall and you will have brand new PC full of power and ready for future upgrade.

The website I am looking at already has some, and they are quite cheap.

http://www.aria.co.uk/ProductsList.a...age=1&SortBy=1

[The_Doctor]

After reading about them, I think I will go with a AM2 motherboard.

Instead of a GeForce 7900GT PCX 256MB, I will go with a GeForce 7600GT.

[orangat]

After reading about them, I think I will go with a AM2 motherboard.

Instead of a GeForce 7900GT PCX 256MB, I will go with a GeForce 7600GT.

That is the worst thing you can do. From a 7900gtx to a 7600gt is cutting half the performance.

[The_Doctor]

That is the worst thing you can do. From a 7900gtx to a 7600gt is cutting half the performance.

I should have looked that this before making a decision.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compari...ocessing_Units

Thanks, that is the purpose of this thread.

[DukeofSerbia]

After reading about them, I think I will go with a AM2 motherboard.

Instead of a GeForce 7900GT PCX 256MB, I will go with a GeForce 7600GT.

Off course you will buy AM2 platform. AMD announced that they will stop produce most of processors for 939. AM2 is present and only future.

If you plan to play games then buy GeForce 7900gtx or Radeon X1900XT as they have enough power for future games. As I read Radeon X1900XT is even better.
If you don't plan to play games in highest resolution (like 1600*1200 and over that) with full AA and AF, then buy GeForce 7600gt as this card is the best buy without any competition!

[The_Doctor]

If you plan to play games then buy GeForce 7900gtx or Radeon X1900XT as they have enough power for future games. As I read Radeon X1900XT is even better.

I think I shall go with the 7900GT, the 7900GTX is a lot more expensive.

The motherboard, CPU and GPU seem to be sorted.

What about the hard drive and the CD/DVD drive?
What is this SATA stuff?

[DukeofSerbia]

I think I shall go with the 7900GT, the 7900GTX is a lot more expensive.

The motherboard, CPU and GPU seem to be sorted.

Hello and read this.

Motherboard:
For AM2 platform, buy motherboard based on nVidia nForce 570 Ultra. nForce 570 SLI is different from 570 Ultra only because has support for another PCI-Express x8 graphics card. And 590 SLI has support for two PCI-Express x16 graphics card and so called LinkBoost for only GeForce 7900GTX. And buy motherboard from manufacturers like ASUS or MSI. Gigabyte is also good.

Graphics card:
Middle class: GeForce 7600GT or Radeon X1800GTO – Those two cards has similar performances: 7600GT is faster in 3D Mark 03 and 06, and X1800GTO in 05. It is standard that GeForce is faster in Quake 4 and Radeon in Far Cry and F.E.A.R. Radeon X1800GTO has higher price, but ATI has better AF plus AA and HDR can work together. nVidia was and is better than ATI when OpenGL is in matter.

Highest class: GeForce 7900GTX or Radeon X1900XT. Radeon X1900XT is generally better and it’s more future orientated card.

Monitor:
Samsung SyncMaster 940BF

What about the hard drive and the CD/DVD drive?
What is this SATA stuff?

I will answer on that tomorow, but for DVD are best Pioneer and NEC. I have at home what models of them are best.

P.S.
Two days ago, you wanted SLI based system, and now 7900GTX is expensive...

[The_Doctor]

Thanks.

How do you know all this stuff?

[Lemur]

Too much time reading geek sites on the Internet.

It's not a truck! It's a series of tubes!