novice builder with questions

[snobsnot]

Hello everyone,

PC-Mech is an excellent site and resource. I have browsed the forum over the past few years with interest and have found several solutions to problems I have had with my puters by just reading other's posts. You have a very helpful, knowledgeable and friendly group of people here.

Out of need and desire, I have finally decided to put a rig together. I want a non-SLI system that will be used for gaming and basic everyday use. My son and I enjoy first person-shooters like Medal of Honor and Half-Life and real time strategy games like Age of Empires and Starcraft (will they ever make an updated Starcraft?). Anyway, The following is what I have come up with after reading here and browsing the heck out of newegg:

cpu: AMD Athlon 64 4000+ 1GHz HT Socket 939 Processor - Retail

mobo: ASUS A8N-E Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

memory :CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Unbuffered DDR2 533 (PC2 4200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory - Retail

-These are out of stock at newegg. What would be a good substitute in value and performance? Or should I just wait or look at other online retailers?
It will be approx. 1-2 weeks before I order.

graphics: eVGA 256-P2-N565-AX Geforce 7900GT CO Superclocked 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail

psu: FSP Group (Fortron Source) AX500-A, 2.0 version, 2 SATA, PCI Express, 500W - Retail

-Is this psu just overkill for my build? The XClio 450BL gets good press here and is cheaper.

hd: Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

-Should I, being just an average user, consider using 2 hard-drives?
Any advice or thoughts about this would be greatly appreciated.

case: COOLER MASTER Centurion 532 RC-532-SKN1 Black Computer Case

optical drive: LITE-ON 16X DVD±R DVD Burner W/ LightScribe and 5X DVD-RAM Wrtie Black ATAPI/E-IDE Model SHM-165H6S - OEM
My wife and daughter should enjoy the lightscribe.

floppy:SONY Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Model MPF920 Black - OEM

monitor: possibly: SAMSUNG 204T-Black 20.1" 16ms LCD Monitor - Retail

I am still undecided on audio cards and speakers. I want good sound but the best bang for the buck for these. Again, any suggestions appreciated.

My budget is approx. $2000. I might have to drop down to a 19" lcd but would love a 20 incher.

Am I missing anything?

Also, should I consider a cpu cooling device for this set-up?

Thanks for your time and help. I'm looking forward to all of your advice, suggestions and tips.

[flanzig1]

Don't forget an OS(XP Home should do).
500w. is probably close to what you need. The latest video cards are power hogs.
Sound: try the onboard sound first.

[jayb1234]

Stay away from the aftermarket CPU fan/heatsink combinations. Using one will void your processor warranty. They are very overpriced. They are often no better than the stock unit and a lot of them are actually worse. If your case has good airflow, the stock unit should be more than sufficient.

That hard drive is a pretty good performer, and if you end up needing more space, you can just drop another one in later.

RAM: newegg takes the page down or sets it to notify when they are out of stock. They usually restock within a few days. Also, Check the list at the motherboard makers website or use Corsairs configurator to determine the correct part number to order. A lot of the 1Gb modules don't work right with certain motherboards.

Liteon is a good choice.

[glc]

Wrong ram - you chose DDR2, you need DDR. Excellent power supply. Consider a dual core processor.

[snobsnot]

Thanks for your replys guys. I will check to see what ram I need.

What are the benefits of a dual core processor?

Thanks again.

[freakitchen]

thefultonhow explains it better than I can in the following article:

http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=153070

Basically, this is the way games and applications are moving, so it would make sense to go along with it!

FK

[snobsnot]

Thanks Freakitchen (love the name by the way)

Well, I'm going to take the plunge and go with the X2 4800 while I have the funds.

Will I need better quality ram than the Corsair ValueSelect?

[freakitchen]

Thanks Freakitchen (love the name by the way)

Why thankyou

Well, I'm going to take the plunge and go with the X2 4800 while I have the funds. Will I need better quality ram than the Corsair ValueSelect?

That's a great processor. Regarding the RAM, don't be fooled by the name...Corsair VS is possibly the best quality memory out there at the moment. Corsair's expensive XMS series is really for serious overclockers, you won't see any performance increase by using it - just a pain in the wallet!

FK