noobies first build :P

shanethemofo

hey all.i need your expertise.
i have close to 500 yoyos to spend on a mobo cpu gfx card hdd and case (bassically a whole computer minus optical drives nd ram).
id like it to be able to play hl2 and css decent enough.
can u guys help me?

Khannie

do you need a PSU? Case fans? Any cables?

I'll price you what I would buy with 500 euro (less the above questions).

shanethemofo

ive found a nice case with a 400w psu
heres the link:
http://www.dabs.com/uk/channels/components/caseandcaseaccessories/productView.htm?quicklinx=389t

edit:its got fans as well

Khannie

Well.....I'd be wary of that PSU tbh.

Here's what I built for 501 euro (extra for PSU / Case)

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=307201&s=sc - Athlon64 3000+
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=307935&s=sc - 6600GT PCI-E
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=307571&view=detailed - mobo
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=124745&s=sc - 80GB HDD

That should do you nicely for the moment methinks. I skimped on the HDD at only 80 gigs and IDE interface, but I think that graphics performance is more important than hard drive space / speed. The 6600GT is a very decent card and will play the games you mentioned with ease.

Note that for a few squids extra you could have a SATA drive: http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=308199&cks=PRL

Though I'm not sure how much extra performance it will offer, it does offer the option of going RAID 0 later on if you wish.

shanethemofo

all i really need is ide anyway so dat would do fine:)
do u hav to install memory twice at a time?

Khannie

No, memory sticks can go in one at a time these days. There is some performance advantage to be gleaned from "dual channel" kits, though I think this is mostly aimed at Intel CPUs.

shanethemofo

i hav one 512mb stick of pc3200 ram so if i buy another stick of 512 mb will it work?? does it hav to be the same brand?

Daemonic

As long as the second stick is the same speed, pc3200, you should be fine.