First Build: Compatibility Issues or Suggestions?

[PrettyPinkPonies]

Well, college is just around the corner and of course, presents me with a wonderful opportunity to finally part with my older system to something new, without having to turn to Alienware for once. >>

I must admit, though I've had a great deal of exposure and quite a bit of experience with computers, I have yet to actually build one on my own. What I'm looking in to is a SLI system, within a budget of about $3500 excluding the OS.

My current builds leaves me at $3,538.93, which is okay.

Now my question: With what I currently have listed, are there any glaring compatibility issues that are present? That is primarily my main concern, but if you have any advice, comments, or suggestions on different components please don't hesitate to tell me.

AMD Athlon 64 FX60 Toledo 2000MHz HT Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model ADAFX60CDBOX

ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce SPP 100 ATX AMD Motherboard

ENERMAX Liberty ELT620AWT ATX12V 620W Power Supply

(2) CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model Twinx2048-3200c2pt

(2) XFX PV-T71F-YDF9 GeForce 7900 GTX (665MHz) 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card

Western Digital Raptor WD740GD 74GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive OEM

Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 ST3250823AS 250GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM

SAMSUNG 16X DVD±R DVD Burner With 5X DVD-RAM Write and LightScribe Black ATA/ATAPI Model SH-S162L/BEBN - OEM

SONY Beige 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Windows 98SE/ ME/ 2000/ XP - OEM

[Alaron]

Welcome.

Choose a power supply from the Dual 7900GTX section here: http://www.slizone.com/object/slizone2_build.html

No need for XMS if you aren't overclocking. ValueSelect is fine.

Switch to a 7200.9 Seagate. The .8s have issues.

Switch the Samsung drive for a LiteOn or NEC.

[MakeYourslf2012]

Also 4GB of RAM is overkill, Windows only uses up to 3.xx if your lucky. I suggest getting only 2GB

[PrettyPinkPonies]

Thanks, and thank you for the quick response.

As of now, I've opted for:

FSP Group (Fortron Source) FX700-GLN ATX12V/ EPS12V 700W All-In-One Power Supply 115/230 V CSA,IEC,UL,CE,TUV

LITE-ON 16X DVD±R DVD Burner W/ LightScribe and 5X DVD-RAM Write Black ATAPI/E-IDE Model SHM-165H6S - OEM

Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 ST3250824A 250GB 7200 RPM IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive - OEM

But I do think I might stick with the pair of 2GB Cosair XMS.

But thanks again for the great advice. I didn't even realize that my PSU was listed under "other" configurations.

[bill_bright]

With that kind of horsepower and with your budget, why skimp on your memory, especially when Corsair and ASUS have teamed up specifically for the A8N32-SLI? I say go for the Corsair XMS-3500LL PRO PC3500/DDR433.

[MakeYourslf2012]

The A8N32 only supports up to DDR400

[PrettyPinkPonies]

Well, I originally found myself looking at:

CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model TWINX2048-3200C2PRO

But its $260 price tag kind of drove me away. Anyways, I think I'm going to drop one of the sets and just stick with 2GB for now, since 4 really is sort of unnecessary.

[bill_bright]

Originally Posted by MakeYourslf2012 The A8N32 only supports up to DDR400

I saw that but then saw the Corsair link, and finally found at Xbit Labs with the Rev. E CPU core, it will support up to DDR500/PC4000. However, if you are not going to OC, and I fully support NOT overclocking, then some good DDR400 is a wise choice for the money saved.

[Staren]

Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 ST3250824A 250GB 7200 RPM IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive - OEM

This is an older IDE interface hard drive. Now it won't make a huge diffrence, but with that kind of system SATA is what you should go with. Easy mistake to make, but SATA would help some. Check this one out: Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822144701

[glc]

There are 7200.9's in SATA too.

[PrettyPinkPonies]

Well, changed my hard drive to a 7200.9 250GB SATA.

Now, my final concern is my CPU.

The $1000 price tag on the FX-60 seems a little unreasonable in comparison to the X2 4800+ which runs at about $600. Is the extra 200MHz increase in preformance really worth the $400 difference if I do plan to run without overclocking?

Its not a big issue with my budget, but it would be nice to have some money put aside for my OS.

[Alaron]

I don't think its worth $400. You will find the 4800+ a very powerful CPU. Unless you have to have the most current CPU, save the money for something else.

[PrettyPinkPonies]

Well, yesterday I received my parts and today I was able to successfully (after quite a few disassemblies >>) put it together. Everything seems to be running fine.

I do have one slight problem though. In the BIOS, my WD Raptor 74GB HD isn't being recognized for one reason or another. My Seagate 250GB HD on the other hand, had no problem being detected. Both use SATA.

My BIOS reads:

Primary IDE Master: Not Detected
Primary IDE Slave: Not Detected
Secondary IDE Master: LITE-ON DVDRW SHM-
Secondary IDE Salve: Not Detected
Third IDE Master: ST3250824AS
Fourth/Fifth/Sixth: Not Detected

I checked IDE configuration and enabled all SATA ports, and disabled the nVidia RAID Function. Just for reminders, my motherboard is A8N32-SLI Deluxe. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[PrettyPinkPonies]

Nevermind, floppy drive issues have been solved.

Now I'm back to the main problem of my SATA HDD not being detected. After installing the driver provided, setup still says that it is unable to find any hard disks installed on my computer. Any advice on what to do now?

[bill_bright]

In looking at your manual, I see nothing there that would not allow your drive to work. I assume you 250 is connected to SATA1 and you are trying to connect the Raptor to SATA2, correct? Are you certain that drive is getting power and that it is a good drive? What if you swap it with the 250 - still not recognized?

[PrettyPinkPonies]

I have switched it out with the 250, using the same connection to the motherboard, with the same connection to the power supply that it used and it still doesn't work. I'm not sure about the condition of the drive itself. I can hear it spinning upon start-up, so I at least know it is trying to work, but thats it.

[bill_bright]

Originally Posted by PrettyPinkPonies I have switched it out with the 250, using the same connection to the motherboard, with the same connection to the power supply that it used and it still doesn't work. I'm not sure about the condition of the drive itself. I can hear it spinning upon start-up, so I at least know it is trying to work, but thats it.

You know the motor spins - but since you tried the same data cable on the same motherboard connection as the 250 with no luck, then it sure sounds like the electronics in the drive is bad.

According to Western Digital, the Raptors have a 5 year warranty.

[PrettyPinkPonies]

Well then, I guess I'll try submitting the RMA and hope that it was just the drive. For now though I believe I'll just install my OS to my Seagate, a little worried about the stability of the Raptor now. XD

Thanks a bunch for the input.

Quick question though. A 20GB partition should be more than enough for XP, right?

[bill_bright]

That's more than enough. In fact, that is what my boot partition is sized at. I install XP Pro and all hardware drivers on C: - Then I move My Documents to D drive, as well as the Page File.