Advice wanted on building my pc

colin300

i am going to build my first pc and i aint rich so try to keep that in mind when i say what i am going to put in it.
What i want to know is, is there any probs with any of the stuff i am going to put in it. Also i am getting the stuff from komplett so if anyone knows any cheaper place for any of the parts that is much aprecitated.

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Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe €99
AMD Athlon XP3000+ €150
Thermaltake Venus Silent Boost K7 €24
Cooler Master "Dow Corning" Compound €9
Gainward GeForce FX5200 256MB DDR €100
Logitech Deluxe Access Keyboard PS/2 €17
Labtec Mouse Wheel Mouse PS/2 €7.20
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 160GB €108
Creative Inspire T2900 €57
Thermaltake X-Blower 2 Channel Fan Kit €33
Q-Tec Power Supply ATX 550W €60.60
Corsair Value S. PC3200 512mb €85
Q-Tec Midi tower ATX TL-MD2 €52
Samsung 19" CRT €193.60

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When i was picking everything i made sure it was compatible but just want to know if anyone knows of any fault that plagues any of the components.
Any suggestions welcomed thanks.

unklerosco

Save money on the Chip n get a XP2500 n overclcock it to a 3200(it aint as hard as it sounds) As far as i know, Q-tec Psu's r crap(read the thread below this I just replied to)

U could pick u a second hand 9800pro in the for sale forum for bout €150, much better than the FX5200. My 19" monitor is for sale and there's another one in the for sale thread too...


Jes.de aint much cheaper than Komplett.ie, komplett would be easier to deal wiv if there's any probs.

But do keep an eye on the for sale formums, most of my pc was built from parts i bought there, big bucks to be saved....

Redrocket

yeah dont buy an fx5200, ive got one its an holy piece of sh*t.
get 9600xt or a 9800pro for 150-200euros.
also buy yourself a mobile xp 2500+ off jes-computer.
the xp2500 runs at 1833mhz, the 3000+ runs at 2166mhz or so,
the mobile xp2500 will over clock to 2.5ghz or 2.6/7ghz with a serious cooler, extreme value for money

Jammer

I'd go for an nForce2 socket A motherboard personally, i think its the general opinion that they are faster. I'd recommend the Abit NF7-S.

Q-Tec PSU's - stay away. Get a forton/Antec/zalman

I'll echo the posts above and say the FX5200 isn't good. Would be better off with a 9600/9700/9800 Pro for a few euro extra. Theres always one going on the For Sale board. I'd buy one here before buy and sell too, most of the people on these computers/tweaking forums take care of their stuff better then your average joe.

I have two of those hard drivers, they're good, dont get too hot. If you get the above motherboard, change the hard drive to S-ATA for a nice speed increase.

Think about spending a few quid more on the RAM, that stuff is good, but an extra 15-20 euro would get some cosair XMS or TwinMos Twister, both CL2...the one you have there is CL2.5 iirc.

I'd agree with rosco and say the 2500+ OC'd to 3200+ would be the same, and cheaper. I had a 2500+ clocked over 3200+ for a few months, very stable...many a 3hr batllefield vietnam session spent on it!! With the abit motherboard, u pop in the chip, go into the bios and the option is there for the overclock...it even takes care of the voltages. You'd just need to get a cooler to keep the chip in the late 40's early 50's on load. I dont know anything about the cooler you have above. Thermalight heatsinks come recommended by most.

As for who to order from, i use komplett. Jes are cheaper, and their support is as-good from what i've read (i've been in contact with their support, and they DO speak english), but i dont want to use GLS as courriers...Komplett have a DHL option, its expensive, but GLS are terrible!!

Hope this helps.

colin300

how much is shipping from jes.de to ireland?

Col_Loki

Whats your main usage for the system? Gaming, encoding, general?

If your not going to be gaming then an expensive graphics card is a waste of money.

Would you consider overclocking or are you going to keep it at stock?

colin300

i do encode some bit not a game addict but when i do encode movies i want em done as quick as possible none of this 24hr stuff.
I do like games for pc and play the odd time.

Azza

Ah a buget system eh well you will want at least a Fx 53 cpu socket 939 of course a X800XT 2Gig of OCZ EB PC 3700 a MACH II GT super cooler :P

But seriously I would agree with the advice given by other posters. Get an athlon xp 2500 or better still a mobile athlon xp 2400- 2500. The Mobile Athlon XP which is slightly dearer is the laptop version and is slighly dearer. Preforms the exact same at stock but has lower voltage requirements and has a fully functioning mulitplyer lock. The Athlon xp 2500 will easily overclock to 3200 speeds (2.2ghz) but the mobile barton you could get an extra 200mhz above that. The Abit motherboard is also the best overclocker around I think Abit nf7 rev 2.0 is the one.

colin300

maybe i should say why i have chosen that mobo.
I choose it because it has everything i want sata connections enough usb ports and everything else i believe i need.
From what i can see on the abit mobo it does not have a sata connection also i want to make sure if at any time i want to update it i wont be under pressure by space on the ide side of things.
Also i do have a few pci cards to go in and a dual layer writer.

mrhappy42

Do you always need to use compound (i.e if you dont overclock)...for example just a simple: 'EPoX EP-8KMM3i Mainboard for Socket A' with an 'AMD Athlon XP2000+ 1.67 GHz OEM'...just about to assemble this as a backup system.

Komplett delivery was good. 10 euros.

colin300

as far as i know u do best safe then sorry.
I believe it would burn out in about a min with out it.

Not too sure wait till a person with a bit more knowlegde comes along.
But i believe i am right.

Col_Loki

The Abit AN7 is a very good overclocking board with excellent onboard sound, SATA, RAID, Firewire and good overclocking features...... its the board to get since the NF7-S isint around anymore (IMO anyway).

Have at the link in my sig, it needs updating but has some good points etc....... (see below)

What sort of budget? Overclocking an option?


On the thermal compound thing, no you dont need any seperatly. You get either the compound or a thermal pad with the heatsink that you get. Main reason for getting the compound seperatly is if you need to remove the Heatsink and have to re-apply some, or you want better temps (ie get good stuff like AS5).

BTW Without a heatsink you can kill a chip in a few seconds (AMD XP anyway), without thermal compound it will just get hotter than its supposed to .......

Redrocket

the abit board should have the same features as the a7n8x, its just the abit is better for overclocking.
how much money are you willing to fork out?
will you be overclocking?
these two questions need answering before you get any parts

colin300

well i want to fork out about 700euro on the pc excl monitor and case. If i was to buy the xp2500 then i would want to overclock it to about 2ghz or there abouts.

Col_Loki

PSU: 14980 Netzteil Tagan TG380-U01 380W - 53.80 EUR
GFX: 16061 128MB Connect3D Radeon 9600 Pro RTL -112.90 EUR
HD : 15193 HDD SATA 160GB Samsung SP1614C 8MB - 93.80 EUR
MOBO : 14771 MB ATX S478 Abit AI7 - 94.99 EUR
CPU : 15261 CPU Intel P4 S478 BOX 3000 MHZ Prescott - 208.90 EUR
Cooler: 15604 Kühlkörper Thermalright SLK-948U - 29.49 EUR
Fan : 12271 Lüfter Enermax UC-9FAB 92x92x25mm - 8.97 EUR
Screen: 15577 19'' AOC 9G+, 98kHz, TCO03 - 133.00 EUR
RAM : 2x 14548 DDR PC433 256MB Mushkin CL2 Level One - 159.80 EUR
Case: 15175 GEH Midi E-Max Silver Wizard III Silber - 44.00 EUR

Sub-Total: 939.65 EUR (including monitor BTW)

That might be a slight bit over budget but by a bit. A system like that would be far far better at gaming (the FX5200 is really bad), a much better encoder, and generally faster. I have incluced a very good cooler for overclocking, along with an adjustable 92mm fan......

Also you will need a decent PSU , the Tagan 380w is good quality.

All from www.jes-computer.de . There generally cheaper than komplett and TBH the main reason is they have a better selection than komplett.
Just add a pair of speakers and pick up a keyb and mouse in PC World or the like (as jes only have german keyboards).

Thats just my suggestion anyway .

PS the Xp3000+/3200+ is nowhere near the performance level of the AMD64 3000+ or the P4 3ghz , its just false. The Xp3200+ would perform equal to roughly a 2.7/2.8ghz P4 in games (prob still wouldnt be as good at encoding).

Jammer

Col_Loki wrote:

Also you will need a decent PSU , the Tagan 380w is good quality.

All from www.jes-computer.de . There generally cheaper than komplett and TBH the main reason is they have a better selection than komplett.

I think its more down to Jes paying German vat rate (16% or something) and komplett paying the 21% irish vate rate. Thats what i always thought to be the case...

The law (roughly) says that if a business does X amount of trade in this country they must pay Irish VAT rates. Jes must not have met X amount of trade in the last tax year, or at least not declared it.

I've seen this discussed on the Instruments board, similar set up with ordering stuff from mainland europe...

colin300

Ok i am looking at this Abit board everyone is going for so i wanna know some things.

Does the board come with the stuff to connect it to a usb at the front of the case?

Also how much is shipping from jes.de to ireland????

The only thing i would buy from them would be the mobo and the psu.

Zonko

For your CPU fan, I would go with a Coolermaster Jet 7 with copper heatsinks, cheap but increadable. Well, not hugely cheap, about the same price as the one you have there or less.
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=90112
scan.co.uk is where I get all my H/W, great prices, and fast delivery.

Jammer

the case itself has the USB stuff to connect to the motherboard.

shipping costs is shown on the order page as far as i know, its not too expensive, for a PSU/motherboard shud be lookin at 10-15ish.

Also a suggestion for buying a case - dont do so online...the shipping costs can be mad...look at elara.ie or itdirect.ie...they're prices are resonable and they are in ireland.

colin300

Just wondering how hard is thermal compound to put on the processor????
Is it easy to make a mistake??

the raven

thermal paste?

couple o blobs, folded cardboard edge, mushy back, mushy forward, mushy side-to-side.

easy as eatin pi...

BloodBath

Eh if you want to put thermal paste on properly use an amount about the size of a grain of rice and spread it thinly and evenly over the processor with something plastic like a bank/credit card. Using cardboard will leave traces of paper in the compound which affects performance.

Less is more.


BloodBath

the raven

...don't worry blood, i didn't use cardboard. just quick, flippant answer. no ill will intended.

mrhappy42

whats in the paste, could you make it...for example will some silver polish do? Is it a non electric heat conducting material or what is it?

Ps. I just booted my new machine and just used the pad as indicated on this form earlier and its running at 30degrees...so room for a bit of clocking.

the raven

silver polish... i'd hazard a guess at not really the best thing to use...

unless you're changing heatsinks or attempting to overclock like a motherf*cker there's no need really to apply thermal paste, that is if the stock did have a thermal pad in the first place...

but if in future you do want to grease up the chip, yeah the proper certified stuff is yer best bet

colin300

Ok bought my case today in maplin.

Just wanna know now how good are Jes.de since i notice you pay by paypal and not by there site?

Jammer

People say good things about them here on boards, i've yet to use them. They use GLS/Parecelforce as curriers...and i don't wanna go down that road!

mrhappy42 a syringe of Artic Silver 5 is 10euro in peats and will last you a lifetime! Like bloodbath said, grain of rice, spread evenly as you can. Dont substitute anything for it, besides a thermal pad.

colin300

I bought some of the stuff off jes.de and it was shipped today.

Processor: AMD Athlon XP 2500+ Tray €75
Motherboard: Abit NF7-S2G nForce2 Ultra 400 €80
PSU: Tagan TG480-U01 480W €81
Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5 3.5g €5

Shipping: GLS Dispatch to IE: (1 x 2.8 kg): 24.72 EUR

Total: 265.58 EUR

Not too bad i suppose I looked at reviews on everything and everything looks good.

Made sure i choose a good psu since i noticed that the QTEC 550W was a joke and really just a lie by QTEC.

colin300

well i have my mobo in psu in and processor ready for when i get my stuff off komplett which aint likely to be soon.

I seem to be having the most unbelieveable luck cause any time i seem to place an order one things is out of stock then just before that comes in 5 other things go out of stock so it aint going to plan.

But the main thing i need to know is a good gfxs card below €150 on kompletts site cause to my luck i ordered the powercolour radeon 9800se and what do they decide to do. Yep u guessed they decided not to stock it any more because it aint in the gfxs card section any more.

Also make sure when your are picking one it is agp.

I dont see any good ones in my opinion on it anyway.

Ciaran500

I think it would be worth stretching to about €200 for a 9800Pro as you would get a huge performance increase compared to a 9800SE

colin300

€150 has to be the max i would be strecting at that.

Ciaran500

Is that a 2500+ M?
Did you know the Abit NF7-S2G is not a good board for overclocking?
The 480w tagan is a bit of overkill. I have a Tagan380w and its powering 2hdd, 2drives and a 1700+ at 2.1ghz with steady rails. At one point I had 4hdd running off it without a problem.
What ram you getting?


I think you should of skimped a bit on other parts off the pc to afford a gfx card to go with it.

I'm sorry to sound a bit condesending but IMO I think you should of planned your pc a bit better.

OfflerCrocGod

Ciaran500 wrote:

I'm sorry to sound a bit condesending but IMO I think you should of planned your pc a bit better.

It's his first PC Ciaran500 everyone makes some mistakes on their first one ( I agree with what you are saying about the hardware choices though ). When he is building his second he will have learnt from his mistakes

colin300

well i choose the psu for the same reason i choose the processor and mobo because if i was too choose a lesser model of any of things on komplett it would still end up being the same and the quality would be much better.

Also just so we are on the same page aswell i do play games but i am no doom 3 fanatic or other games the only one i might play in future is sims and sims 2 maybe. I only use the internet and use programs no major graphics hog. All i really want is a good one for resolution on monitors so probably about 1024*768 @ 85hz or more. Plus need a tv out on it.

Col_Loki

For that level of gaming a 9600pro would have been a perfect choice (think its €110 on jes) . A 9800pro would be a total waste for you, but then again so is a 480w PSU....... we learn as we go! As you said your not going to depend much on the GFX performance so even €150 is too much, have a look at the 9600 and some benchmarks.......

Can i ask why you didnt get everything from jes computers? It would have worked out cheaper and less shipping costs.

colin300

i saw that the shipping everyone thought would be around 10-15 euro but ended up being 25 so i imagined to get everything off them would be alot.

Also i found out why people dont use GLS so i aint getting anything off them again. its ok from komplett cause its in england and its a short distance but its seems to be major when its international.

Also just wondering how do i attach the cathode lights that u can get from komplett i see no place to hook them to.

Ciaran500

Komplett is in Norway or Denmark(can't remember) and GLS are still **** when they come from UK

The cathode lights should just plug into the standard molex power plug from your PSU. (the one HDD and cd drives use)

colin300

I know they plug into the power of a HDD but i mean how do they attach internally in the case.