Building a new one

[h2o]

Hi, its been years since my last new computer and am thinking of building a new computer. I havent really gotten caught up on parts and everything, since my last build which was around the ati 9800 pro time frame . Well I looked around and came up with these parts:


PSU + case
Antec Sonata Designer 500 Silver Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 500W Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129036


CPU
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115037


MOBO
ASUS P5Q-E LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131296


RAM
CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...N2X4096-6400C5


Hard drive
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...pk=ST3500320AS


Optical
LG Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 20X DVD Burner - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...2&Tpk=GH20NS10


GPU
SAPPHIRE 100242L Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...apphire%2b4850




would the amd 6000+ be faster than the E8400?

Not sure if i should get vista 32bit or 64bit thing, dont really know of any 64bit programs that i would be using; if I run 32bit xp will it only use 3.2gb's of ram? Also, would i see any difference at all if i use 1066 instead of 800?

I have a 160gb PATA hard drive that I also want to connect, would that cause a slow down? I got a floppy that i can slap on if anything needs be and raid and overclocking would come later maybe.

For crossfire, I would just need to buy another 4850 right?

Hopefully everything is correct and im not missing any parts.thx guys

[cantputt04]

This build looks good, it's quite similar to my own.

The E8400 is a good CPU and is the best bang/buck chip you'll get. It won't fail you.

As far as 64-bit Vista goes, some people have trouble running older applications, but I would assume you'd be ok with it. It does recognize the full 4 gigs of RAM though, whereas the 32-bit, like you said, will only see about 3 of them. 800 is fine, as with 1066 you really won't see a noticeable difference.

For Crossfire, yes all you'd need to do is slap in another HD 4850. However, with the P34/P45 motherboards, the second PCI-E slot is maxed out at 8x, not fully allowing you to take the full power of the second card. Some people say that the difference between 8x and 16x really isn't that big, and is fine either way. However, support for multiple GPU's isn't that high, and most here would recommend the use of a single more powerful card.

I've never personally quite been a fan of using a Power supply that comes with a case. A combo that costs 130 probably means one of the components (case or PSU) isn't of optimal quality, and you really can't cut corners with your PSU, seeing as how it's the most important part of your rig. I would recommend browsing for a different case and getting either a Corsair, FSP, or PC Power&Cooling PSU. A 650W from either of those companies will work just fine. You also need to take into consideration that if ever you are going to use Crossfire down the road, you need a PSU that can handle it, as it takes a rather substantial amount of power to fuel two video cards.

[Katreat]

Antec is one of the few companies that put out combo case/psu which are both quality. But if you are thinking of runniing 2 video cards in the future 500w will probably be on the small side. You would be better off getting a bigger quality PSU when you build. Not sure if ATI has a site like Nvidea that tells you PSU size for SLI, but I would expect a couple of 4850's to need more than 500w.

32 bit vista will see all 4 GB of ram, it will just report something smaller as avalable. That has something to do with the ram on your video card and how it is used. This was an explanation someone posted a while back:

Originally Posted by MaximumPC Magazine The Doctor waffles on this all the time, and you probably will too. First, here’s the poop: Windows XP and Windows Vista can address a maximum of 4GB of RAM. Of that, 2GB can be used by applications and 2GB can be used by the OS. It’s more complicated than that, but to cut to the chase, the Doctor thinks that, generally, 2GB of RAM is optimal, but a little more, especially at today’s prices, can’t hurt. Your system will probably show only 2.5GB or 3GB of RAM (depending on your configuration), but don’t be alarmed, the rest is there. And although the applications may not be able to access it, the OS and drivers supposedly can.

Also, in some testiing applications written for 32 bit will actually run slower with 64 bit OS because things need to be translated. But overall if you are using newer software and hardware most people are reportiing few problems with either OS so you probably wont notice a huge difference whichever direction you go.


Kat