Advice for building a gaming machine, please!

T

tttcomrader

New Member
I'm trying to build a gaming PC for the first time in my life, the list below are the parts that I have selected, my budget is about 1500, please give me some advices on the list! Thank you very much!

Case - Antec Performance I P180 Silver Steel ATX Mid Tower $125

Motherboard - DFI LANPARTY nF4 SLI-DR Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD $196

Hard Drive - Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD4000KD 400GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive $199.50

RAM - OCZ Gold Series 1GB (2 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5400) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model OCZ26671024ELDCGE-K $129.97

Power Supply - Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD4000KD 400GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive $55.99

CPU - AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Manchester 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model ADA4200BVBOX $400

Video Card - (correction) ATI Raedon 850 XT $385

PSU - ASPIRE ATX-AS520W BLACK ATX 520W Power Supply $55.99
 
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Well we still need to know what your PSU and Video card is, you wrote the smae thing twice. It looks good so far though, although you cant use DDR2 with curent AMD motherboards. You need DDR.
 
tttcomrader said:
CPU - AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Manchester 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model ADA4200BVBOX $400

Video Card - AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Manchester 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model ADA4200BVBOX $385
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Now, you tell me what's wrong with that. You need a video card that doesn't double as a processor. That won't work. I would suggest:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130249
AMD processors only work with DDR memory, not DDR2.
 
The case and motherboard seem to be a little pricey, where are you buying it from?

And as others have said, we need to know your PSU and Video card. And as Thechef said, you can only use DDR.
 
Those prices are correct, the motherboards expensive because its the non-UT version, so it comes with a bigger package and costs more. Actualy I pointed DDR but whatever...

tttcomrader, you may want to go with the new expert version of the board, its a newer board, but the package isnt as big so its around the same price. Ok, ok, four dollers more.
 
Ok, so AMD motherboard do not work with DDR2. I made a mistake in the videocard, the videocard is ATI Raedon 850 XT. Here is a few questions that I have:

1. What is the benefit of DDR 2 compare to DDR?
2. Which motherland would you suggest if I want DDR2?
3. Would you suggest GeForce 7800 GTX or should I just work with ATI or 7800 GT?
4. My PSU is ASPIRE ATX-AS520W BLACK ATX 520W Power Supply, is that good?
5. The price are from newegg.com, is that a good site to purchase parts from?
6. Finally, if anyone of you gentlemen would please be kind enough to help me out, would you give me a list that you would advice me to get? My budget is about 1500 - 2000 dollars, and basically what I want is a great gaming machine that will last me for at least 3 years, with rooms for me to upgrade it in the long run.

Thank you all very much!!!
 
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tttcomrader said:
Ok, so AMD motherboard do not work with DDR2. I made a mistake in the videocard, the videocard is ATI Raedon 850 XT. Here is a few questions that I have:

1. What is the benefit of DDR 2 compare to DDR?
2. Which motherland would you suggest if I want DDR2?
3. Would you suggest GeForce 7800 GTX or should I just work with ATI or 7800 GT?
4. My PSU is ASPIRE ATX-AS520W BLACK ATX 520W Power Supply, is that good?
5. The price are from newegg.com, is that a good site to purchase parts from?
6. Finally, if anyone of you gentlemen would please be kind enough to help me out, would you give me a list that you would advice me to get? My budget is about 1500 - 2000 dollars, and basically what I want is a great gaming machine that will last me for at least 3 years, with rooms for me to upgrade it in the long run.

Thank you all very much!!!
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1) DDR2 is generally faster MHz wise, but much looser timings. It's also for Intel only. Really there is not HUGE benefit in DDR2 that would justify going with one or the other. DDR is just as effective on AMD as DDR2 is on Intel.

2) You'd have to go with an Intel processor as well. But I'd suggest getting an LGA775 socket mobo, with he 945G or 945P chipset. I like Asus and Abit brands personally. As far as which particular model, I couldn't tell you...just any that fit that description and get good reviews overall from overclockers.

3) Because of the huge price difference, I say the 7800GT. Personally I wouldn't pay that big of difference for an "upgrade" of the same card.

4) If it has sufficient amperage on each rail then yes. Generally you want above 30A on all of these rails : +5v, +3.3v, +12v.

5) Newegg is great. Chiefvalue.com is also good, basically the same as newegg except sometimes prices and products vary slightly. I've purchased from both and have never had a problem. RMA process is easy as well with newegg.com

6) Look at the post above mine :P
 
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