First Build - PC Component List

aaf

Ok. Here goes nothing. A few weeks ago, I looked for some advice on getting a new pc and you lot convinced me to build my own. Since then, I’ve been doing a lot of research into building my own pc and visiting boards.ie daily to keep up-to-date. I'll be using the pc for Photoshop, web design, music and music/dvd backing up. I’ve kinda made my mind up that I’m going for an AMD CPU. Don’t know why. Torn between Athlon64 and AthlonXP’s. Would like the Abit NF7-S v2.0 motherboard for it’s nForce capabilities but I’m swinging for the Athlon64 3200+/Abit KV8-MAX3 combo as the L2 cache is impressive. I’ve made a shortlist of all the components below.


Cases

Antec Sonata Piano Black Quiet Case - 380W TruePower Silent PSU
Antec P160 Anodized Aluminum Super Midi Tower case - No PSU
Antec LANBOY Aluminum Super Mini Tower case - 350W SmartBlue PSU
Antec Super LANBOY Aluminum Super Mini Tower Case - No PSU
Antec Plus 660AMG Metallic Gray Mini Tower Case - 330W TruePower PSU
AOpen H600B Super Tower 300W PSU
AOpen H600B Super Tower Black Pearl Windowed Side Panel 350W PSU

Can’t make my mind up about a case. Don’t like the Thermaltake cases at all or anything like them. All but 2 of the above cases have their own PSU’s so will take that into account.


Motherboards

Abit KV8-MAX3 (Socket 754) Motherboard
Abit NF7-S v2.0 nForce2 (Socket A) Motherboard
Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe nForce2 (Socket A) Motherboard


CPU/Processors

AMD Athlon 64 3200 (Socket 754)
AMD Athlon 64 3000 (Socket 754)
AMD Athlon "Barton" XP3200+ 400FSB (Socket A)
AMD Athlon "Barton" XP3000+ 333FSB (Socket A)
AMD Athlon "Barton" XP2800+ 333FSB (Socket A)
Intel Pentium 4 "Northwood" 3.0GHz (800FSB) with HT Technology
Intel Pentium 4 "Northwood" 3.2GHz (800FSB) with HT Technology

I realise if I do go with Intel, I’ll have to get a different motherboard then the boards listed above.


Sound Cards

Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS
M-Audio Revolution 7.1 PCI Sound Card

As I’ll be using the pc as a music centre, I’m leaning towards the M-Audio.


Hard Drives

Samsung SP1614C 160GB
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 Serial ATA 160GB
Western Digital Caviar 120GB Special Edition 8MB Cache Serial ATA
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus9 Serial ATA 160GB 8MB Cache

Leaning towards Samsung SpinPoint due to reviews and threads read.


DVD-RW Drives

Pioneer DVR-107 8x DVD±RW
NEC ND2500A 8x DVD±R/±RW
DVDR IDE Plextor PlexWriter PX-708A

Leaning towards Pioneer but would like it in black as everything else is black. Waiting till Monday before purchasing any components so hopefully black one out then.


Monitors

Hercules ProphetView 920 Pro DVI 17" TFT Monitor
Hyundai ImageQuest Q17 17" TFT Monitor
LG Flatron L1720B 17'' TFT Monitor

According to all reviews, the Hercules is the only choice but I’m open to opinions.


Speakers

Creative MegaWorks 5.1 550 THX
Logitech Z-5300 THX


Keyboard/Mouse combos

Logitech Cordless Desktop MX

I want wireless and optical so I reckon this is the best solution.

With regards the rest of the components, I’ll probably plunge for a US Robotics modem as I’ve heard they’re the best. Memory, I’m gonna get a gig of at least PC3200 DDR-RAM. I’m not planning on overclocking so I won’t need anything faster than PC3200. Don’t need a graphics card as I’m not a gamer. The AGP slot option is there if I do change my mind. Will also get a standard floppy drive as I help alot of home users out with issues so might need it.

Most of the components will be bought from either http://www.jes-computer.de/ in Germany or http://overclockers.co.uk as they are by far the cheapest. Has anyone any comments on any of these two suppliers. I realise I’ll have to pay delivery charges but how much. The Hercules monitor will be bought from overclockers. Also, I’ll be getting the VAT back on everything but how will that work if I’m buying online from these suppliers?

Any advice/opinions welcome. As I said, I’m gonna stew over my choices and your advice over the weekend and then get busy purchasing on Monday, when hopefully the black pioneer DVDRW drive will be in, that is if I decide to purchase it.

Thanks

moridin

If you're not planning on playing games I'd still recommend that you get a moderately up-to-date graphics card with DVI output for your TFT screen.

Matt Simis

Originally posted by aaf
Don’t need a graphics card as I’m not a gamer. The AGP slot option is there if I do change my mind.

Thanks

I assume you have a card already, and at that a card with DVI output? Since you do 2D photowork, wouldnt 1280x1024 (the res of those TFTs) be too low? The big diff between TFTs is the Response Rate, something you wont care about not being a games player..


Matt

aaf

Originally posted by Matt Simis
I assume you have a card already, and at that a card with DVI output? Since you do 2D photowork, wouldnt 1280x1024 (the res of those TFTs) be too low? The big diff between TFTs is the Response Rate, something you wont care about not being a games player..


Matt

I'm not a professional Photoshopper but planning to use it alot. I think 1280x1024 will do me fine. Also, thinking of the monitor footprint. Space is at a premium. My old 19" CRT took up half the desk and was too close to my face for comfort. Will now be considering a graphics card for the DVI output for digital connection to monitor. Forgot about that aspect, thanks moridin. Was looking at the Sapphire Radeon 9600XT Atlantis 128M DDR. Overkill?

moridin

I'd say it's overkill alright, get a reasonable GF4 or low end GF5 or something and you'll be grand

this is €80 on komplett, or if you want an ATi then this is €85

quarryman

LG Flatron L1720B 17'' TFT Monitor

According to all reviews, the Hercules is the only choice but I’m open to opinions.

the LG is an excellent monitor. it mightn't look as nice as the other two but its a great performer. definately consider this one.

aaf

Originally posted by quarryman
the LG is an excellent monitor. it mightn't look as nice as the other two but its a great performer. definately consider this one.

I've done alot of researching into prices for these components. The cheapest I could find the LG Flatron was on JES for €479. The Hercules is for sale at €524.50. An extra €45 for a top of the range monitor that has received alot of excellent reviews. Think I'll splash out.

silent

as for the case - get the P160 and buy a good PSU - enermax noisetaker series would be perfect I think if you are concerned about quietnes

for graphics card - if you are serious and do mostly 2d and don't game (except older games) - get a matrox G550 or P650 with dual dvi - this way you can get yourself a second monitor (trust me you do not want 1280x1024 on analouge vga for serious 2d work). Matrox has the best 2D image quality bar none so you get what you pay for. They have a very good opengl implementation as well incase you'd want to work with 3d software eventually

an athlon64 3000+ would probably be ideal for you as well, along with 1G of quality ram (standard twinmos pc3200 with cl2.5 should be fine for you). athlonxp is starting to getting old, and according to http://www.anandtech.com/systems/showdoc.html?i=1961 the win64 editon will speed up many things including media encoding on amd64

two drives so you can split the load (no, not raiding, except raid1) by having binaries on one and temp files etc on the other

speakers - if you want to same some cash get the creative inspire t5400 or t7700 - have great reviews. however definitely go for a audigy 2 zs). the m-audio card is supposed to be slightly better for music, however in games has much higher cpu utilisation. good card as well, however creative drivers have come a long way recently and many people (incl me) really like their audigy 2 zs

btw, for cooling gear/psu's etc - look here - http://www.jab-tech.com - due to the cheap dollar it's good value I think. Ordered half a dozen times from them - great company

monitors - LG is nice and comparable to the hercules I'd say, I recommend a dell 1800fp so see if you can get it for a similar price.

edit: small addition

bizmark

Get the antec sonata its the best case on the market .....just go look up some reviews about it

savemejebus

yeah i'd agree with Bizmark regarding the Sonata case, I am saving for one at the moment, it just seems to be the best all round case out there. and it looks great

bizmark

i have one and i can tell you its a great case

aaf

Originally posted by bizmark
Get the antec sonata its the best case on the market .....just go look up some reviews about it

Yeah, the sonata looks like the case for me. Just read a few reviews and I like the fact that it comes with a fairly decent PSU in the shape of the 380W TruePower Silent PSU.

the m-audio card is supposed to be slightly better for music, however in games has much higher cpu utilisation. good card as well, however creative drivers have come a long way recently and many people (incl me) really like their audigy 2 zs

Still leaning towards M-Audio sound card as I will be playing music on pc and not games.

two drives so you can split the load (no, not raiding, except raid1) by having binaries on one and temp files etc on the other

I fancy the Samsung Spinpoint. Don't really have a need for RAID as I'll just back up to DVD for now. Maybe an upgrade for later on.

Thanks for the advice so far, keep it coming. Will be spending a good bit on this system so want to make sure it's quality. Anyone have any info on shipping costs for overclockers and JES?

quarryman

Originally posted by aaf
I've done alot of researching into prices for these components. The cheapest I could find the LG Flatron was on JES for €479. The Hercules is for sale at €524.50. An extra €45 for a top of the range monitor that has received alot of excellent reviews. Think I'll splash out.

does that mean you're gonna go for the hercules? if you want to save on delivery you can try www.elara.ie and pick up the stuff yourself.

aaf

Originally posted by quarryman
does that mean you're gonna go for the hercules? if you want to save on delivery you can try www.elara.ie and pick up the stuff yourself.

Elara doesn't sell that Hercules. The LG's are there alright but they're cheaper on Komplett.ie but I don't know whether you can pick up from them.

aaf

Does anyone know if that Pioneer DVR107 drive will be coming out in Black soon? I want to start buying components for my pc today. Can't find this info anywhere on net

aaf

Right, I’ve decided on the following. Gonna start purchasing first thing tomorrow morning.

Antec Sonata Piano Black Quiet Case - 380W TruePower Silent PSU - €130.23 (Overclockers)

Asus K8V Deluxe (Socket 754) Motherboard - €137.90 (JES)

AMD Athlon 64 3200 (Socket 754) – Boxed €272.94 (JES)

1024MB: 2 x DDR PC400 512MB Mushkin CL2 Level One - €114.99 each (JES)

M-Audio Revolution 7.1 PCI Sound Card - €107.76 (Overclockers)

Sapphire ATI Radeon 9600XT 128MB DDR TV-Out/DVI OEM - €149.50 (JES)

Samsung SP1614C 160GB - €105.98 (JES)

Sony Floppy Drive, 3,5" 1,44MB Black Floppy Drive Internal - €15.58 (Komplett)

NEC ND2500A 8x DVD±R/±RW (Black) OEM - €109.90 (JES)

U.S. Robotics 56K Winmodem PCI Voice Internal Faxmodem V92 - €57.41 (Elara)

Hercules ProphetView 920 Pro DVI 17" TFT Monitor - €521.14 (Overclockers)

Altec Lansing 5100 Enhanced 5.1 Speaker System - €160.79 (Overclockers)

Logitech Cordless Desktop MX - €90.39 (JES)

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g) - €9.99 (Overclockers)

I think that’s all I need. Gonna get an anti-static wrist strap aswell. The hard drive (and DVDRW I think?) are OEM so what will I need to purchase for them: cables, screws etc?