Help with first build!

[Aschutsky]

Hello all,

I’m new to the forum and this will be my first system build from scratch but I am no stranger to hardware. Mainly I have chosen to build my own rig so that I can hand select all of the components as well as develop a system that will be great for ripping lots of video/audio, little bit of gaming etc. I want to have the ability overclock and tweak the components as well. From what I’ve read so far it looks like I am set on the AMD platform. The area I will need the most help with is cooling, since overclocking is a brand new concept to me. As for any of components I will be purchasing – I’m open to suggestions so please feel free to shoot some suggestions my way. I’m also looking for any known compatibility problems, cheaper alternatives that perform on par/better, etc.

What I currently have:
Antec P180B Case – lots of cooling 3 built in fans, etc
Antec TruePower 2.0 “blue fan” 480W PSU
WD 250GB SATA 7200RPM drive
WD USB 2.0 500GB external HD
SB Audigy2 EZ Platinum Sound Card
2 x 512 Mushkin DDR2-533 RAM – will these slow my system down dramatically? I already own these and don’t want to buy new ram if possible.
20” Dell LCD Monitor
MX1000 Mouse

[Aschutsky]

What I need to buy:
Motherboard: Considering the ASUS M2N4-SLI Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard – This seems to offer good value/price ratio. It also has onboard RAID support – something I would like to add when I can afford a second 250GB drive.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131068

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Windsor 2.2GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 Processor – currently this processor seems to offer a lot for the price and should last me a while before I need to upgrade.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103747
CPU Cooling: This is the area I will need the most help with as this is new to me. With a quick search, this cooler looked acceptable (and popular) for the AM2 type processor.
ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 64 Pro with PWM fan control
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835185125
Video Card: I will not be doing an extreme amount of gaming. I mainly play games like Age of Empires III, etc. This component is not of paramount importance to me – mainly I’m concerned with reliability. A decent mid range card $100-$150 will be fine for me. I’m open to suggestions in this department.
Floppy Drive: Any 3.5” Floppy drive will do – used for loading BIOS drivers and such.

For anything else I may be forgetting – let me know! Thanks in advance for all of your help.
Happy holidays!
-Andrew

[flanzig1]

AM2 mother boards need DDR2 800 ram for stability.
Video card: nVidia 7600GT or ATI X1900GT will get you in that $100-$150 range that should provide reasonable gaming.
Arctic Cooling is good bang for the buck. But we generally say try stock cooling first.

[Aschutsky]

Originally Posted by flanzig1 AM2 mother boards need DDR2 800 ram for stability. Video card: nVidia 7600GT or ATI X1900GT will get you in that $100-$150 range that should provide reasonable gaming. Arctic Cooling is good bang for the buck. But we generally say try stock cooling first.

Thanks for the heads up. Is there a specific brand of memory that works best with this config?

Thanks!

Andrew

[flanzig1]

Corsair XMS

[Aschutsky]

Great. Any other compatibility problems with the above setup I should be aware of?

Thanks.

[Mr.Ferrari]

Can you give me the exact ram model if possible? I've seen many people running on 533 and 667 just fine with AM2. It just might cause a tiny performance loss. The only thing you have to worry about is ram compatibility as some, especially older rams use chips that have serious issues with AM2.

Besides that, all looks good. This X1900GT is on sale for $150.

[newbuilder14]

How about the Seagate 7200.10 hard drive instead?

This is a personal thing, but I'd get a different power supply just because of the fact it will produce blue light in an already enclosed case. However, if you will leave your case open or simply want it that way, then leave it.

[Mr.Ferrari]

He already owns those parts..too late for swapping out .

[Aschutsky]

Originally Posted by Mr.Ferrari Can you give me the exact ram model if possible? I've seen many people running on 533 and 667 just fine with AM2. It just might cause a tiny performance loss. The only thing you have to worry about is ram compatibility as some, especially older rams use chips that have serious issues with AM2. Besides that, all looks good. This X1900GT is on sale for $150.

Here is the RAM I already own:
mushkin Enhanced Performance 1GB (2 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 533 (PC2 4200)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820146370

I'm hoping I can reuse these - if so that would be great!

-Andrew