Asus A8N5X mobo

[judge031]

I’ve researched parts for my first computer build starting with the Asus A8N5X. I believe I have addressed all the compatibility issues and have read of several builds very similar at newegg under the reviews of the mother board. Other components are: Ever Case ECE4502, 939 pin AMD Athlon 64+ Venice CPU with Thermaltake CL-P0200 Silent 938 K8 cooling system, Antec Smart Power SP-400 ATX 12V, Sapphire 100119L-HS Radeon X550 256MB PCI Express x16 video card, 1 Gig single stick 184 pin Corsair DDR 400 PC3200 value select RAM, WD Caviar RE WD1600SD Serial ATA150 hard drive, standard 56K zoom modem, along with Samsung 19" LCD monitor, DVD-CDRW, floppy, keyboard, mouse, etc. I’ll be loading XP home version (even though Vista is supposedly a few months away). I have found what seems to be a pretty thorough step-by-step build instruction site called “mysuperpc”. I’m a little frightened of the bios flashing thing, but I’ve downloaded the most recent bios version for the board on my other pc and have it loaded onto a floppy and ready to go. I am NOT interested in overclocking, SLI or gaming, although there may be some video editing in the future on this system. The goal is to put together a reasonably priced, tried and true, stable, easy to build and reasonably upgradeable system. I will probably stick with the above mentioned components and disregard other “preference” suggestions unless serious compatibility issues or similar were overlooked. I would be interested in any other tips or noted pitfalls often overlooked by a novice.
Thanks to all who take the time for input,
Judge

[Alaron]

Welcome to PCMechanic.

Your part selections look good, and you most likely won't need to BIOS flash. But if you do, just follow the directions carefully, and it will be fine.

The only advice to give is to go slowly and carefully. You'll have the system running in no time. If you have any problems, feel free to ask here.

Also, be sure to check out our own Build Your Own PC Guide: http://www.pcmech.com/byopc/

[Foosa]

The stock heatsink and fan will be more than fine if your not overclocking. You really dont need the thermaltake one. But if you want it then ok.

Your motherboard supports duel channel, take advantage of it. Look into two 512 sticks to equal 1 gig. instead of the one lonely 1gig stick. Should be cheaper and bit better.

[doubledragon5]

The only problem with using a off the shelf HS is if the cpu fails the chip maker won't warranty the cup.. So keep the hold one on hand... I for some reason in the future the cpu fails and your aske what kind of HS is installed tell them the stock one.. This happened to me with a AMD CPU and they would not honor the warranty....

[judge031]

Thanks to all for the info! Foosa talked me into the dual channel RAM option. My original thought was to make upgrading to maximum RAM as cost effective as possible by starting with a 1 gig stick and adding another 1 (or 3) 1 gig sticks at a later time, but that much RAM probably won't be needed anyway. The beefier cooler was meant as a noise reduction startegy more than for it's additional cooling capacity.

[nicolaus corelius]

you could either do what doubledragon said or replace the stock fan with a fliud bearing fan shown here

[judge031]

Would the fluid bearing fan you noted be a direct replacement (fit) the stock heat sink on the 3200+ Venice CPU?

[David M]

Good choice on 1 gig of RAM. You really cannot utilize more than one gig unless you have a high end computer and you are playing the latest games with the computer.