Parts Check

[juicelooser]

Hey guys--I've been trying to put together a new system, and here are the parts I've got for it so far:

Mobo: EPoX EP-9NPA+Ultra Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Manchester 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model ADA3800BVBOX - Retail

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

GPU: XFX PVT42GUAD7 Geforce 6800GS 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail

HDD: Western Digital Caviar SE WD2000JS 200GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

Case: Antec Solution SLK2650-BQE Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 350W Power Supply - Retail

Optical Drives: Going to use the ones I have in my current computer

My major question is: will 350W be enough? I'm guessing it won't be, but if I can get away without putting down anoth $50 for a larger PSU, that'd be nice. And other than that, if I did something really stupid compatibility-wise (I don't believe I did) please let me know. I guess also, is it stupid for me to be shelling out the money for the X2? I've been salivating over it recently, and I'd love to have it for non-game sorts of things and multitasking, but is it worth the extra $100 or so?

Thanks!

[blue60007]

I haven't heard a whole boatload of good things about EPox Motheboards - I'd consider a known good quality board from ASUS.

Assuming this will be primarily a gaming rig, you should consider getting a CPU like the 3700+ and a 6800GT video card. That will give you better gaming performance. You say you will do some multitasking? Does that mean you'll do intensive things at the same time? (ie, encoding two movies at once?) Or just have a number of things open, but none of them are using much resources?

Good choice on RAM and that hard drive looks good too.

350W won't be enough (especially if you use a dual core). You could upgrade to the Sonata II from Antec as it has a 450W power supply.

Don't forget an OS - like Win XP Home OEM.

[juicelooser]

Originally Posted by blue60007 I haven't heard a whole boatload of good things about EPox Motheboards - I'd consider a known good quality board from ASUS.

Yeah, I picked that board, because it got a really good review from Anandtech; it was their top choice among NForce4 Ultra boards

Assuming this will be primarily a gaming rig, you should consider getting a CPU like the 3700+ and a 6800GT video card. That will give you better gaming performance. You say you will do some multitasking? Does that mean you'll do intensive things at the same time? (ie, encoding two movies at once?) Or just have a number of things open, but none of them are using much resources?

My friend was the one that recommended the GS--he said it's basically the GT but clocked down by Nvidia. I'm not too sure how correct that is, though.

I guess by multitasking, I would want something that I could, for instance, be running a program like DVD Shrink and doing something else at the same time, which I am unable to do now when it's encoding without a huge slowdown. It seems right now that I should probably stick with a single core, but the dual core ones are just so cool .

350W won't be enough (especially if you use a dual core). You could upgrade to the Sonata II from Antec as it has a 450W power supply.

Yeah, the reason I was going with the other case was because I can get a discount on it, because I work at Best Buy. I'll probably end up just getting a separate, good quality, 450W PSU.

Don't forget an OS - like Win XP Home OEM.

Yeah--I've got that taken care of as well.

Thanks for your help!

[blue60007]

Originally Posted by juicelooser Yeah, I picked that board, because it got a really good review from Anandtech; it was their top choice among NForce4 Ultra boards

Hmm, maybe they have gotten better?

Originally Posted by juicelooser My friend was the one that recommended the GS--he said it's basically the GT but clocked down by Nvidia. I'm not too sure how correct that is, though.

That may be, it's a pretty good bang for the buck right now.

Originally Posted by juicelooser I guess by multitasking, I would want something that I could, for instance, be running a program like DVD Shrink and doing something else at the same time, which I am unable to do now when it's encoding without a huge slowdown. It seems right now that I should probably stick with a single core, but the dual core ones are just so cool .

If you do that a lot you might consider getting the dual core then. It's not like a dual core will hurt your performance anywhere.

Originally Posted by juicelooser Yeah, the reason I was going with the other case was because I can get a discount on it, because I work at Best Buy. I'll probably end up just getting a separate, good quality, 450W PSU.

Ah good deal then.

Originally Posted by juicelooser Yeah--I've got that taken care of as well.

Assuming this is an unused copy then you are good to go there.

[juicelooser]

Can anyone else find anything wrong with this? :-)

[jayb1234]

You might need a floppy drive during the setup. You can borrow the one out of your old box and hook it up outside the case if you need to and don't want to install one.