Help, my first build!

[Recon]

This is my first built. Yup, I'm a noob! Take pity on me. This rig is meant to be a business rig by day and a decent gaming rig by night. My goal was to stay under $1000. Any glaring problems? Did I forget anything? Conflicts? Help/comments greatly appreciated.

1 NEC Beige 1.44MB 3.5" Floppy Drive - OEM

1 eVGA 256-P2-N517-AX Geforce 7800GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video

1 Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 300 MB/s Hard Drive - OEM

1 AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3700BNBOX - Retail

1 NEC Black IDE/ATAPI DVD Burner Model ND-3550A - OEM

1 BIOSTAR N4SLI-A9 Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

1 ASPIRE X-Dreamer II ATXB4KLW-BK Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 420W Power Supply - Retail

1 CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model VS1GBKIT400 - Retail

[doctorgonzo]

Aspire is not a good maker of PSUs. If you want that case, ditch the PSU that comes with it and get a quality PSU.

Biostar motherboards aren't the best either. Check out an Asus board instead.

I like Lite-On DVD burners mysellf.

[blue60007]

I'm not sure about BIOSTAR motherboards. I'd stick with ASUS brands.

If you want to get SLI, you must get a SLI-Certified power supply. Whether you stick with SLI or not, don't use that power supply. It's horrible quality. Keep with brands such as Antec, Enermax, Forton Source, Seasonic, Sparkle and XClio.

SLI-Certified Power Supplies
Power supply reference guide

[Recon]

Thanks for the heads up! Does this mean I have to have a SLI certified PSU even if at first I will run only 1 7800gt video card? Can I upgrade the PSU later, or do I need it now because of the MOB?

[jgt8229]

man computer stuff got cheaper, my computer is worse than that and cost more than 1000 lol i hate when that happens. i should upgrade my video card. aspire cases arent the best quality, i got one and took it back it seamed cheap.

[blue60007]

Originally Posted by Recon Thanks for the heads up! Does this mean I have to have a SLI certified PSU even if at first I will run only 1 7800gt video card? Can I upgrade the PSU later, or do I need it now because of the MOB?

Well, you don't *have* to have a SLI-Certified power supply to run a single card. But, I wouldn't even use that power supply in the case, Aspire power supplies are horrible, and I don't think it'll even put out the 420W it says it will. That just isn't going to work.

So you might as well spend a little more on a SLI-certified power supply so you don't have to buy a whole new one later. At least get an XClio 450W for the system. Still, if you want to go SLI, you'd be wasting the $50 on that power supply.

[jayb1234]

That NEC burner doesnt come with burning software. For about that price there are several Liteons that ship with Nero and PowerDVD, and a better brand in my opinion.

[Recon]

Thanks for all the help everyone (great forum!). I'm upgrading the PSU to an SLI certified one (puts me a little over budget but seems well worth it to prtect my investment). And as far as the NEC optical drive, it came bundled with the H/D, so I guess I'll try it out and see what happens. I can always get another when I add the second video card. I already have Nero software so that's no biggy. Thanks again!