Building A Computer - Compatibility & Precautions?

Pride

Pride

New Member
I have decided to build a computer, and I'm trying to keep it within $2,000, or so. This will be my first build, and I'm still a little cautious about building it myself. About the only parts I haven't chose yet are the drives. I'm still a bit confused about choosing the correct drives for the system. I'll choose an LCD, keyboard & mouse after I get my system figured out.

Welp, here's the system I have chose so far. Any compatibility issues, incorrect parts & additional parts needed, please let me know. I don't want to order the incorrect parts, considering they cannot be returned.

Processor - AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego Integrated into Chip FSB Socket 939
Motherboard - GIGABYTE GA-K8NXP-SLI Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD
Video Card - PNY VCG7800XXWB Geforce 7800GTX 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card
Sound Card - CREATIVE Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS SB0350 8 (7.1) Channels PCI Interface Sound Card
RAM - CORSAIR XMS 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200)
Hard Drive(s) - 2 X Western Digital Caviar RE WD2500SD 250GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive
Case - ASPIRE X-Navigator ATXA9NW-AL/450 Black/Silver Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 450W Power Supply (I was considering another Aspire Power Supply, so would another power supply be needed?)
OS - Windows XP Pro
Floppy Drive - NEC Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive
DVD/CD Drives - I'm wanting a DVD Drive & a DVD Burner. Any suggestions?


Anything else needed, besides fans, wiring, etc.???

Also, any precautions needed before building the system? (Like grounding, glue, hardware, additional wiring, etc.)?

Any help, suggestions or ideas will be greatly appreciated, and thank you for your time.
 
Praetor

Praetor

Administrator
Staff member
@Pride, give it a few days, a 101 is being written now to deal with this stuff :)

case - ASPIre x-navigator ATXa9nw-al/450 black/silver steel ATX mid tower computer case 450w power supply (i was considering another ASPIre power supply, so would another power supply be needed?)
Click to expand...
see PSU 101.

dvd/cd drives - i'm wanting a dvd drive & a dvd burner. any suggestions?
Click to expand...
see CD/DVD 101.
 
Modoman

Modoman

New Member
i would recommend plextor dvd writer for sure..
looks kinda like the comp im in the midst of puttin together :)
 
Pride

Pride

New Member
Thanks for the links Praetor. However, I'm trying to gather as much information as possible, before I build it. And I plan on building it, while I'm on vacation from work. I'm actually getting ready to start my second week of vacation on Monday. And while my kids are gone with their mother & stepdad, I figured that would be the perfect time to do so. One thing I am trying to do is gather my parts list, order it, and hopefully it will all be here by the end of the week. And then I can build it all weekend long.
 
Praetor

Praetor

Administrator
Staff member
i just realized it was the x-navigator you're looking at, a few comments
1. Nice case, inside and out .. a bit overpriced IMO but nice
2. PSU is decent, some of my friends have mentioned something about voltage fluctuations but ive gone through two of those cases myself and not noticed any voltage issues
11-144-089-10.JPG
 
Pride

Pride

New Member
When you say voltage flucuations, what do you mean? Shorting out, or what?

Also what precautions should I use while building it? Over the weekend I started considering having it built from Alienware & Dell, again due to the "freebies" like shipping costs, LCD's, DVD Burner upgrades, etc.
 
Pride

Pride

New Member
Yeah I read all of it, and it's very useful. The only issue I have, is when using the thermal paste, heatsinks and connectors.
 
penguinrusty

penguinrusty

New Member
What's the issue that you have with connectors? Anyway, thermal paste is fairly easy. Just put a glob in the center of the processor (the top of course ((and not too much either)) ), spred it around with the end of the package that the paste came in, and clip the heatsink in. Sometimes the clips can be a little confusing, but as long as you have the right one (ie. socket 939 cooler for a socket 939 cpu) then you will be fine. :)
 
Praetor

Praetor

Administrator
Staff member
Anyway, thermal paste is fairly easy. Just put a glob in the center of the processor (the top of course ((and not too much either)) ),
Click to expand...
Well how much is not too much and not too little? ;)

@Pride: 0.1-0.2 mm layer of thermal paste is sufficient
 
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