New PC build

[Soap]

I'm looking forward to throwing it together.

Mobo: DFI LanParty UT Nf590
Memory: OCZ DDR2 2Gigs
PSU: OCZ GameXstream 700watter
CPU: AMD 65watt 5000 Brisbane...great OCer
Heatsink/fan unit: Thermaltake's Mini Typhoon
Video Card: BFG 8600 GT PCI
HD: WD 250 gigger
Burner: Liteon DVD/CD burner
Floppy: Sony
OS: XP or Vista..not really sure which yet.

I'll OC the Brisbane to 3.2 and settle with that for awhile.
Wait and hold out for a bios update for the board to support the new Phenoms. When that happens, get a Phenom and I'll be good to go.
The new Phenom boards are ridiculously way overpriced at the moment,
so I didn't want to go that route just yet.
I'll be pretty content with this build for awhile.

I use to build/upgrade about twice a year when the latest and greatest stuff came out. That got old after while and expensive, especially when the stuff needed to mature to be stable. I'm happy with a build about every two years anymore.

[thetroy]

Go for 4 gigs if you choose Vista

[demeyes]

2gigs of ram doesn't seem like that much anymore, you might want to plum for more just in case. I don't think XP can use 4 but if you want the thing for 2 years you might want to go for more.
Other than that it seems to have good specs.

I just saw your putting a floppy drive in, do you actually intend to use it? I mean with flash drives hitting 4Gs I haven't even seen a floppy disk in well over a year. I'm not knocking you, I'm interested to see what you could need it for!

[Cygnus X1]

PCI on the video? Is that not AGP?
My opinion, go with XP Professional.
The Liteon DVD is junk. I like my Sony.
+1 on the Western Digital. Make sure it's a 7200 RPM.

[Nuclear Vampire]

Avoid Vista at all costs. Worst OS ever.

[Soap]

I just saw your putting a floppy drive in, do you actually intend to use it? I mean with flash drives hitting 4Gs I haven't even seen a floppy disk in well over a year. I'm not knocking you, I'm interested to see what you could need it for!

Habit I guess, yah I don't hardly ever use them.
Only time is when I flash the bios.
I'm old school I still flash with a floppy.

[JetFixxxer]

Go for 4 gigs if you choose Vista

Get 4 gb is you are going with a 64 bit o/s. 32 bit Windows XP/Vista will not detect the full 4 gb.

If you are a gamer.. get the 8800GT not the GTS. The GT smacks the GTS and gets pretty close to a GTX performance, you can pick them up between 200-250..

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2209197,00.asp

[Soap]

PCI on the video? Is that not AGP?
The Liteon DVD is junk. I like my Sony.

Nope its a PCI video card.
I've had good experiences with all my liteon's.

[Soap]

2gigs of ram doesn't seem like that much anymore, you might want to plum for more just in case. I don't think XP can use 4 but if you want the thing for 2 years you might want to go for more.

I'll probably go with 3gigs but I'll start with 2 for now.

[Soap]

+1 on the Western Digital. Make sure it's a 7200 RPM.

I love WD's they have been very good to me.
I'm going the SATA route, SATA HD and SATA burner.

[Ripley7t]

You know, I dont recognize any of the components on the original post, lol. I have not paid attention since about 2003 to anything in the pc market. I need a new desktop soon to replace my ancient AMD, but I think I will just be buying from CyberpowerPc in CA again. I will spend about a month getting back up to speed on everything and then go for it. This whole XP and Vista thing is really making Microsoft look stupid. Good luck on your machine and post a couple of shots while youre building it.

[LouSiffer]

Keep in mind, if you use any of the video cards listed above, you are stuck with Vista....no if, ands or butts about it. They all utilize Direct X10. No version of Windows XP will operate those cards. This is why I haven't been in a hurry to build another PC. I hate Vista and DX10 is not that important to me. -Lou

[thetroy]

The reason to get 4GB instead of 3 is to use the dual channel feature. I believe it still works even if you are using the 32bit OS - so you end up with like 3.24GB dual channel versus 3GB single channel. I could be wrong on that, but IMO 64bit will be well-supported enough soon so I went with the 4 gigs anyway.

[xenophobe]

Why are you going AMD?

At this point in time an Intel C2D will provide you better performance for the $$$.

For a budget build I'd suggest a E2140 and an Asus P5B, P5K or Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L... you should be able to hit 3GHz pretty easy with an aftermarket cooler... If you want better performance, get the E6750... that should hit 3.6GHz pretty easy.

For the best performance, a Q6600 and an EVGA 680i. Many people are hitting 3.6GHz with this combo and PC8500 memory.


My system:
[email protected], 4GB Reaper OCZ, EVGA 680i-A1 motherboard, EVGA 8800GTX, 30" Dell LCD 3007WFP-HC, 21" Samsung 213T LCD, 2 320g 7200.10 Seagate Barracudas, 2 320g Western Digital AAKS, etc...

Avoid Vista at all costs. Worst OS ever.

Vista x64 best OS ever. I couldn't go back to XP Pro x86 if you paid me.

Vista is just quicker. It's much more stable than XP. It's much more secure and 32 bit viruses don't run on Vista because of the new kernel. Vista actually uses inactive RAM to improve performance. Plus it looks much better. I click on Photoshop CS3, and I'm ready to edit in 3 seconds, in XP it takes 8-10 seconds of waiting. In Firefox, I'm up in a second, in XP it takes 4-6 seconds from the first click.

Vista = quicker for general use
XP Pro = faster for benchmarking and gaming performance

Overall, my system is about 5-10% slower than if I were running XP. However, the difference is negligible on my system. For a budget rig or an older system, XP Pro is probably best. On a new high-end system, Vista x64 can't be beat.

Keep in mind, if you use any of the video cards listed above, you are stuck with Vista....no if, ands or butts about it. They all utilize Direct X10. No version of Windows XP will operate those cards. This is why I haven't been in a hurry to build another PC. I hate Vista and DX10 is not that important to me. -Lou

Huh? Sorry, you don't have a clue. Any DX10 card will work in an DX9 system.

If you are a gamer.. get the 8800GT not the GTS. The GT smacks the GTS and gets pretty close to a GTX performance, you can pick them up between 200-250..

Yes, but the new G92 8800 GTS will smoke the 8800GT. It should be out sometime this month. The new flagship to replace the 8800GTX should be out in February.

[dangerous_dave]

I'm going to pick up a custom PC today


Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 (2.2GHz)
4Gb DDR2
Geforce 7300


Tha's about all I can remember :ROTF:


I'm hopeless at this stuff lol.