Hi all. New here and just wanted to introduce myself

[Dingus Kahn]

Been perusing this forum for the last few days and found it to be extremely helpful and knowledgable.

I'm about ready to begin building my own computer and hopefully I won't need help, but if I do it's nice to have a place to come to

Anyways, here's what I plan on putting together. Please add any comments or suggestions if you like.
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Antec LifeStyle SONATA II Piano Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Case w/ 450 watt SmartPower 2.0 ATX 12v V2.0 for AMD & Intel systems

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

eVGA 256-P2-N381-TX Geforce 6800XT 256MB DDR PCIe x16 video card

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice 2000MHz Socket 939

A-DATA 1GB 184-PIN DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) unbuffered

WD Caviar SE WD1200JBRTL 120GB 7200RPM IDE Ultra ATA100 HD

ASUS DVD-ROM

Creative AUDIGY SE sound card

[RevCLB]

Welcome. These folks are some of the most helpful you will ever find. Stay in touch.

[glc]

The build looks good except for the ram and hard drive. You need a dual channel ram kit (2x512) for best performance, and I'd look at a different brand. The Corsair dual channel value ram kits are the best deal out there. I'd get a SATA hard drive - either a Seagate or WD.

Suggestion - DVD burners are so cheap, why not get one of those instead of just a rom drive? That way you can burn both CD's and DVD's. You can get a Lite-On for 40 bucks. If you need to cut costs a bit, you can replace the motherboard with an A8N5X to compensate.

[Dingus Kahn]

Hi glc.

I have a NEC DVD burner in my old comp I plan on putting in this one. Also the floppy if I need too.

As for the RAM and HDD, there's not much I can do now since they're sitting here along with everything else waiting to be put together

For my first true build (I've upgraded a few existing comps) from scratch I didn't want to get over my head. In the future I plan on going the SLI, SATA, dual core, ect route.

*EDIT* Is there a major difference between SATA and the IDE Ultra100?

[blue60007]

Performance-wise - no, not really. A SATA drive might be a tiny bit faster (at best) in real-life situations, but the thin SATA cables are a lot nicer to work with and don't block airflow like IDE ribbon cables do.

Wait, what all do you have? Do you have all the parts you listed bought?

[glc]

It would have been better if you had given us the list before you ordered the parts!

[Dingus Kahn]

Blue60007:

Yes. I have everything but the tower, which will be here tomorrow. I'll be taking my monitor, et al from my existing comp to add to the new one. Nothings opened yet though. I'm waiting until I have suffient time without interuptions to work on it.

glc:

I'm sorry. I'm such a bad noob *begins crying and banging head off desk*

[glc]

I don't think you will have any problems - it's just not optimal. You picked the right stuff for everything else.

[Dingus Kahn]

With what I have listed, what exactly would you suggest for it to be optimal? Just the HDD and RAM?
I figure after I cut my teeth on this build, I can upgrade/change pieces in the future.

I tried to do as much home work as possible before attempting to do this. I'm one who hates doing anything half-a$$ed

[Alaron]

A SATA hard drive and 2x512 would give you a small boost. But don't worry, everything you picked out will work fine together.

[Dingus Kahn]

Well, I got it the system built. Everything (at first glance) worked like a charm.

But I then noticed two problems:

1: The number pad on my keyboard will not work.

2: I noticed my PSU fan wasn't running. I checked connections, ect. All was well.

I ran my bios to see what was up. I noticed my +5v Voltage was running below par. I plan on replacing the Antec psu that came with the case. What do you all recommend? I really don't want to spend a mint though. I figure around 50-60 dollars.

[Kareeser]

Dingus, the PSU in your computer is fine. The Power supply fan doesn't kick in when the temperature is low simply because the case is built to be quiet. The power supply is built on the same principle. Once you start putting your computer through it's paces, the power supply fan will begin spinning. Don't worry about it

Antec happens to bundle their cases with very good PSU's. The Smartpower series is on the lower end of the Antec spectrum, but it is quite above standard

As for the keyboard: Have you tried the keyboard on another computer, or tried another keyboard on the new computer? Doing so would help us figure out which is at fault, the computer, or the keyboard.

[Dingus Kahn]

Yes. The keyboard worked fine up until I placed it on the comp I just built.
I also tried an older keyboard and the number keys also were inoperational.

[Kareeser]

What type of connection does the keyboard have? PS/2 or USB?

[Dingus Kahn]

Ps/2

[Alaron]

I have to ask this; is the NumLock key turned on ?

[rjfvillarosa]

Originally Posted by Alaron I have to ask this; is the NumLock key turned on ?

I was also wondering if you have enabled "numlock" in the BIOS?

[Dingus Kahn]

Originally Posted by Alaron I have to ask this; is the NumLock key turned on ?

Umm... I was hoping no one would ask me that and my question would fall off into forum space. But yes, I realized my numlock was on. I was too embarrassed to come back and admit it Isn't it funny how sometimes the simplest of solutions can be completely overlooked?

Guess I really did earn my nick of Dingus

PS: I truly appologize for wasting your time with something so trivial.