How's this for an $1000 budget without monitor?

[szon0111]

Hello im a first builder and im spending $1000 for an amd system.
(excluding monitors, keyboards, mouse, speaker)
so basically, im buying cpu, ram, vga, mobo,psu, hdd.

Yesterday, i bought a OCZ 2GB platinum for $160 which is originally $200 at newegg.

AMD Opteron 165 1GHz HT Socket 939 Dual Core Processor - Retail <$325>
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103588

Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 SATA NCQ 3Gb/s 160GB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM <$83>
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148105

OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Dual Channel Platinum System Memory - Retail <$160)-bought this already
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227210

DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail <$123>
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813136152

FSP Group (Fortron Source) AX400-PN, 12cm FAN, version 2.0, 2 SATA, PCI Express, 400W Power Supply - Retail <$40>
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104953

And finally a nvidia 7600gt bu i dont know which one to buy.
How about this-
XFX GeForce 7600 GT XXX (590MHz) 256MB PV-T73G-UDD3 Video Card - Retail <weekend sale $199>
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150140

how does it look? im planning to overclock my opty with stock cooler.
one question-do you think opteron165 will go any lower? it went up $50 from last month and $20 from last week.....

thanks and please give me some advice for 7600gt

oh also is the power sufficient enough? it says 400w but i think its 350w and 400w max actually. Should i buy the 450w one for $10 more?

thanks again

[blue60007]

What are you going to do with this computer? (ie, gaming, etc)

I would go with a 450W at least, especially if you are going to overclock you need a solid foundation.

If you are gaming, I would come down in the CPU a bit and upgrade the 7600GT to maybe a 7900GT ($100 or so more).

[szon0111]

im a student so i use it for word documents, internet surfing and mostly gaming. However, im not an extreme gamer and don't really care about fps so id like to stay with $200 on vga

[Stuey]

I'm not too knowledgeable about AMD processors, but I'm under the impression that the Opterons are used for server and professional applications.

You might be better off with an Athlon 64 X2.

Don't forget that you need a chassis!

[Staren]

If you plan to go with the Ultra-D for your motherboard, have you been to www.dfi-street.com yet? You bought one of the known good RAM models, but you will need a good power supply. Check out that site so that you know what you're getting into.

[szon0111]

thanks all
yes opteron is a server cpu but opteron165 is a skcoket939 so i can use it just like athlons.
im buying it to overclock it

btw thanks for the website

[Staren]

Your welcome, and you're right about the CPU. A good number of people at DFI-Street agree that the Opteron is a great option for overclocking.

[glc]

I think you need a premium power supply such as an Antec TPII-550 if you are going to be playing with overclocking.

[szon0111]

how much power do i really need considering the fact that i will overclock?
and does anyone know which 7600gt is better?

thanks

[blue60007]

How about the one glc recommended? You can't have enough solid and stable power if you are going to be overclocking.

If you are going to be doing mostly gaming, I would consider getting a cheaper CPU (then you can always overclock) and a better video card (like the 7900GT). That'll give you much better gaming performance than a faster CPU.

[option44]

how much power do i really need considering the fact that i will overclock?
and does anyone know which 7600gt is better?

thanks

For all the devices you have, find the amps and add them together, and multiply that by 120. That should give you a base idea on the wattage needed. Then of course go beyond that...

VA=Ax120V

[blue60007]

The computer uses lower voltage DC power after being converted through the power supply. There's 3 main voltages used, 3.3, 5, and 12V. If you want to go through each part individually you have to find the amperage it uses on each rail, and multiply it by that voltage. If you did what you said, you'd need an extreme amount of wattage. That Antec puts out 19a on the 12V rail which is 228W per 12V rail, not 2280W (19a x 120V) ;)

[szon0111]

i have a question is dua12v rail really worth it? i know one goes to the mobo and one goes to te cpu right?

[blue60007]

Pretty much all new power supplies (ATX 2.x ones) are dual 12V rails. I'd say it's a necessity for overclocking (or a very strong single rail). I believe one goes to the CPU and the other the video card.

[glc]

Do NOT cut corners on a power supply in ANY build - especially a PCI-E build and even MORE especially if you are planning on overclocking.