First time build, need advice/a once over

[eromdiksnelladivad]

Im a senior in highschool, I graduate in two months and im looking to put together a 'decent' pc that is upgradable (I think im going to be short on cash in college :/).. My main use for it will be schoolwork, and then of course, games...
I don't need a monitor
This will be my first "build" and as of right now im not even entirely sure building it myself is the best route, so im sort of comparing to prebuilt..
Last night/this morning I picked out a bunch of parts from newegg.. but im not entirely sure on compatibilty, and I think I need some sort of fan(s)..
Any help is much appreciated! thank you!

Antec Solution SLK3800B Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Rackmount Case 400Watt (SP400) SmartPower 2.0 ATX 12V 2.0 for AMD™ & Intel systems Power Supply - Retail
$80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129163
-OR-
Antec LifeStyle SONATA II Piano Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 450Watt SmartPower 2.0 ATX 12V V2.0 for AMD & Intel systems Power Supply - Retail
$90
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129155

REFURBISHED: ASUS A8N-SLI Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - OEM
$80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...2E16813131524R

AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 2000MHz HT 1MB L2 Cache Socket 939 Processor - Retail
$235
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103539

eVGA 256-P2-N547 Geforce 7600GS 256MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
$120/$99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130011

CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory - Retail
$77
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145440


HITACHI Deskstar 7K80 HDS728080PLA380(0A30356) 80GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
$50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822145082

LITE-ON Black 16X DVD-ROM 52X CD-R 32X CD-RW 52X CD-ROM 1.5M Cache ATAPI/E-IDE Combo Drive - OEM
$25
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106029

Microsoft Windows XP Home With SP2 - OEM
$90
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16837102059

NEC Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Model FD1231H-302 - OEM
$6
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16821152005

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$773
-21(mail in rebate on videocard)
-----
$752

+$6 for mouse
+$6 for keyboard

$764 Before shipping probably over 800 after shipping...

[flanzig1]

I would go with the 450w case combo. Going with a refurb mobo can be a crap shoot.(i bought refurb from Newegg and is still runnuing). For the HD, go with the comparable Seagate.

[eromdiksnelladivad]

A "crap shoot"? Thats bad I take it?

[Alaron]

Yes, go with a regular motherboard not a refurbished.

I second the Sonata II, excellent case and power supply combination.

Go with a Seagate hard drive with a 16MB cache instead of 8MB.

Otherwise your parts look good.

[eromdiksnelladivad]

What IS the cache on the hard drive and what is it used for? Does a larger cache mean faster loading times in applications/games??

[Alaron]

Originally Posted by eromdiksnelladivad What IS the cache on the hard drive and what is it used for? Does a larger cache mean faster loading times in applications/games??

The cache on the hard drive is a small amount of memory for frequently used data. The larger the cache, the more data the hard drive can be ready to deliver. It is faster to fetch information from cache then from the rest of the harddrive. Read more here: http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/c/cache.html

The short answer is yes, it helps performance.

[eromdiksnelladivad]

The case (sonata II) looks a little bit small.. Will I have trouble fitting all my parts inside, overheatting?? It has one rearmounted fan, or so I've read, is that what the large black-plastic looking thing is, that seems to be taking up half the space inside of the case?
Looking inside the computer im on right now, there seems to be plenty of room and no large plastic hangy-down thingy to get in the way of the video card and what not... what is it?
Eh.. the plastic thing is for ventilation supposedly.. I read some reviews, the guy said it gets in the way and to take it out...

More questions..
1. If this case is 'smaller' then usual, do I have to worry about my parts fitting inside of it?
2. USB ports and all that jazz are part of the motherboard, yeah?

[jayb1234]

If you have a little left in the budget, Mitsumi has a nice floppy drive with a card reader for about 20 bucks, and another 20 or so will get you a liteon DVD-RW with Lightscribe.

[Alaron]

Your parts will fit in the Sonata, no worries. If you are looking for a case with more room, the SLK3800 is 2" taller, but the 400w PSU it has is a tad on the low end. You are free to buy any case you like really, if you want a larger tower. Whats important is the power supply. If you want, just buy any large tower and get an Antec TruePower 500w PSU and you're all set.

Motherboards have USB, LAN, Audio, PS/2 ports on the back.

[Kareeser]

The Antec Sonata II fits ATX boards with room to spare. It's quite roomy inside, and the large black thing only helps with ventilation and won't interfere with any cards.

My current PC is in a Sonata II, click the pics in my signature to see it.

[eromdiksnelladivad]

3. Will all of the wires/connectors I need to connect everything to the power supply/each other come with my parts/case??

4. Will my power supply only support a certain number of things? That is if I get dual core processors later down the road or a second video card for SLI, will I lack an input?

5. LAST QUESTION.. I think... The motherboard has all my usb ports and jazz like that.. Will they "match up" right with the input points for USB ports/jazz on the case?

Thanks you for all your help!! I'll be ordering the parts by the end of this week, I hope im not getting in over my head!!

[Kareeser]

As for your third question:

The Antec Sonata II comes with an I/O Port shield installed, but your motherboard (if it doesn't fit the scheme), should come with its own I/O shield that you can replace.

[Alaron]

Your motherboard will come with cables for your drives. Your power supply will have enough leads to connect everything.

Adding a dual core CPU will be ok, but if you plan on using SLI in the future, you would need a larger and SLI Certified power supply.