My Computer

[ChrisC]

First time builder looking for comments and suggestions.

Motherboard:ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD
-Thought that the motherboard should be pretty decent so I wouldn't have to worry about upgrading it for awhile. Not sure if SLI for dual video cards will be worth it down the road, but thought it might be a cheaper way to get some video card power boost if ever needed down the road. Looks like a good one to me.

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice 2000MHz HT 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Processor
-Few people said it was best to go with a processor around $100 because prices always fall pretty quickly and shouldn't spend a whole lot, but get something good.

Video Card:
eVGA 256-P2-N554-AX Geforce 7600GT KO 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card
-Should handle most games for awhile and its pretty cheap with the rebate.

Case and PSU:
Antec LifeStyle SONATA II Piano Black Steel
-Lot of people recommended it, looked like everything I would need.

RAM:
Crucial Technology 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory
-Wanted 1GB of RAM and the Crucial website said it was compatible with the motherboard I chose.

HDD:
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
-Price per GB is nice compared to the others and would be plenty of data. Might have to go for the 80 GB though to save a little money, but the the 250 is three times the data and not even double the price with rebate.

Optical Drive: NEC Black 2M Cache IDE 16X DVD±R DVD Burner
-Not much to say, has everything I would need and doesn't cost a lot.

Monitor: Rosewill R912E Black 19" 8ms LCD Monitor 270 cd/m2 500:1 0.294mm Pixel Pitch
-I wasn't really sure about this but with the rebate it looked like an excellently priced monitor and if the DVI connector gets in the way too much, I can just cut the stand to make room.

Think thats everything, except mouse, keyboard, and floppy drive.

I've never been able to play some of the latest and greatest games for the PC because of all of my families computers were never cut out for gaming so I was always a few years behind on games, but still had a blast, but I'm going off to college so and I would like a good gaming PC. I didn't intend to spend a lot, but I figured that it should last me awhile and that building my own would allow me to upgrade it a lot easier if ever needed. Just wanted to check and makes sure everything looked fine and worked good.

[glc]

Good list. Processor is upgradeable to a dual core whenever you want it - with the price reductions, you might even consider getting a X2 3800+ now. The only thing you will have to do if you decide to do SLI later is replace the power supply, that one is not certified.

You can save some bucks with Corsair - and get slightly better timings - this is CAS 2.5:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145440

[ChrisC]

My only concern now is the SLI. I did some research and dual video cards don't help performance very much, only visuals like AA and AF. If I have to get a different power supply it will just cost me more and I'm thinking that it is not worth it right now. I don't know how much the SLI increases the price on the motherboard, but I'm wondering if I can get an equally matched motherboard without SLI at a lower price and put the X2 3800+ into my build.

[blue60007]

I think an ASUS A8N5X (non SLI) is about $85 - much cheaper. Yep, SLI is just a way to get you to buy more hardware.