NOOB First Build - Advice?

[Barayolayosa]

Hi all,

I'm interesting in building my own PC. It will be used for email, internet surfing, downloading, and perhaps watching a movie or two now and then. No gaming, nor large software suites, etc. On that note, I figure I can put one together for $700 (Canadian) or so - I've already got an IDE HD, monitor, keyboard, speakers, mouse and O/S.

Here's what I've pieced together thus far. Can you please offer some advice on this set up? Keep in mind that I've never even attempted this sort of thing before, so I will not take offence to any advice/comments whatsoever!!

Case: Atx A502 ATX Case, Black w/ 500W Power Supply
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 w/ DualDDR2 800, 7.1 Audio, Gigabit Lan, SATA II, PCI-E x16
Processor: Intel Pentium D Processor 805 2.66 GHz w/ 2x1MB Cache, EM64T
Memory: Kingston 1GB PC2-4200 DDR2 SDRAM
Vid Card: ATI All-In-Wonder 2006 Edition 256MB AGP
Optical: LG Super Multi DVD Writer 16x16x10 DVD +/-RW Dual-Layer w/ Lightscribe, Black (OEM)

Total price including taxes: $695 CAD

Thanks!!!

[Mr.Ferrari]

www.ncix.com is also a very good place to buy parts.

Case: Case is ok...

Mobo: DS3 has been a very popular board with the overclocking group, BUT it is buggy as heck!, bios issues galore. It will be some time before they are settled out. Good quality but I highly suggest you pick the Asus P5B or the INtel 965 board over it.

Proc: Conroe e6300 costing around 200 dollars and will whoop any of the pentium ds. But if your budget isnt that loose, I highly suggest the Pentium D 915 over the 805.

Memory: Kingston has issues, I suggest some corsair value select or xms. And no matter what get a Dual channel Kit, 2x512 not 1x1gb.

Videocard: That is an agp card you need pci-express, I suggest you look into the X1300 or X1600 series from ati.

PSU: You cannot run your system off the psu that comes in that case, it is total junk. I suggest something of 400w or higher from a quality manufacturer such as Enhance, Seventeam, Fortron/Fsp/Sparkle, Antec, Silverstone, Seasonic, OCZ, tagan, etc etc.

Good and bad list of psu's here:
http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=131195

And becareful with IDE/Pata drives and 965 chipset, it has no native support so you might have a few issues, or might not.

[Spirit]

Originally Posted by Mr.Ferrari www.ncix.com is also a very good place to buy parts. Case: Case is ok... Mobo: DS3 has been a very popular board with the overclocking group, BUT it is buggy as heck!, bios issues galore. It will be some time before they are settled out. Good quality but I highly suggest you pick the Asus P5B or the INtel 965 board over it. Videocard: That is an agp card you need pci-express, I suggest you look into the X1300 or X1600 series from ati. PSU: You cannot run your system off the psu that comes in that case, it is total junk. I suggest something of 400w or higher from a quality manufacturer such as Enhance, Seventeam, Fortron/Fsp/Sparkle, Antec, Silverstone, Seasonic, OCZ, tagan, etc etc.

On the videocard: This is a PCI-express video card that is the "All in Wonder" you wanted. http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...anufacture=ATI Then again, with your needs, you might not even need a graphics card, and could take a look at integrated graphics.

On the PSU: http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...rtron%20Source Here's a 400w power supply made by Fortron, a trusted PSU brand. I don't know if 400w is enough though.

On the mobo:
Let's say this: 965 is pretty new, and because it is, it is still pretty buggy. It's picky with certain RAM, and IDE. If you do look at integrated graphics, this would be a good mobo: http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...nufacture=ASUS.

[Barayolayosa]

Thanks!

If I were to go with integrated graphics, could I add a graphics card later if I wanted to upgrade, without buying a new motherboard?

Advice definitely taken re the PSU.

[Mr.Ferrari]

Yes, but no conroe support unless you get some specially modified 945 boards from asus I dont think the p5ld2 vm version is compatible with c2d, but you can add a gfx card whenever you so please.

And I second 945 unless you need c2d compatibilty.

Make sure you buy the extra .99 power cable as that psu is oem. But great choice nonetheless.

[Barayolayosa]

Very noob question, but what about an AMD processor? Perhaps that may better suit my needs? They are generally less expensive, are they not?

[Mr.Ferrari]

For your type of work a pentium d will suit better, Only reason why I wouldnt suggest 939 is because you will miss out on ddr2. By the time you feel like upgrading, everything will be into ddr2 or ddr3. And there isnt really all that much if any of a price diff between ddr and ddr2.

My setup would be a P5LD2, a pentium d of your choice, and some value select corsair.
However this is your own personal preferance.

Nonetheless, You can make an excellent system with 939. A8N5X plus a x2 of your choice, or a single core, and some ddr 400 corsair valueselect. You will save alot on the processor if you go, lets say, with a 3500, and you will save quite a bit on the motherboard. It will probally leave you alot more money to spend on other things. Perhaps even a upgrade to 2 gigs.