Building a custom computer

S

soundman

New Member
I'm basically a complete PC tech noob, so i hope someone can help me out.

I've been researching building a fairly decent computer for around AU$500 - $600 (mostly for gaming and sound production) and have come up with these components:

Motherboard: Asus M2A-VM (non HDMI version)

Processor: AMD Athlon 64X2 Dual-core 4200+ (2.2gHz)
Would it be worth getting an after market heat sink?

RAM: 2x1GB DDR2 - 667
or should i go for 800 as the motherboard supports it? is there much difference?
Also, the motherboard specifies the RAM slots as DDR2. Can i still use original DDR RAM from my old computer as well as new DDR2?

HDD: 2x500GB SATA (one for personal/gaming/OS and the other for sound production files/sessions)

GFX: nVidia GeForce 8500GT (512mb PCI-E)
just to sweeten the deal a little so GFX can be up to par with Xbox360???

I have already got a tower case with power supply and DVD burner (plus speakers, keyboard, mouse, monitor etc).

All new components plus OS will come to around AU$610 (hopefully cheaper as i will purchase everything from a computer fair).

So i'm not going for an all out powerhouse, just something fairly quick and can handle new games at a decent graphics setting for the price range.

Is there anything that i have missed? I hope i haven't sounded too dumb here but alot of this stuff is beyond me. Any advice/suggestions would be appreciated.
 
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If your in Australia, go to MSY computer for your parts, have a look at their and tell me if you can go there and i will be able to help you with some better parts for that budget!
 
From MSY
This is a good pc will give you room to upgrade aswell

Asus P5K-EPU $135
Intel E8400 $209
2G Apacer 800 $46
Leadtek 8600gt 512 $81
W.D. SATA 160gb $51
Coolermaster Eilte RC-330 $69
Total $594
 
childsy_1985 said:
From MSY
This is a good pc will give you room to upgrade aswell

Asus P5K-EPU $135
Intel E8400 $209
2G Apacer 800 $46
Leadtek 8600gt 512 $81
W.D. SATA 160gb $51
Coolermaster Eilte RC-330 $69
Total $594
Click to expand...

That is why i go there because they are cheap!
 
neither 8600GT/ 8500GT can handle new game...
From MSY

I personally will choose
E7200 AUS$149
Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L AUS$75
2x1GB Transcend DDR2 800 RAM AUS$46
Seagate 500GB x2 AUS$208
Generic 9600GT 512MB AUS$141
 
To answer your question in regards will your old DDR ram work in DDR2 slots.... It will not because they use a different amount of pins. It's kind of like trying to put a pci-e card in a pci slot.
 
I've had a 8500 gt card-it's ok-but not great. I've now got a 9600 GSO(aka 8800 gs) it's a lot better than the 8500 gt-plus it's not a lot more money(at least not here in the states) I got a 9745 on 3dmark06 yesterday with it-it's no 8800 GTX-but it's decent.
 
Great, thanks for the response.

So it looks like i'll save up a little more for a 8800GS instead of a 8500GT (AU$50 more expensive)

When i looked into an 8800GS, it mentioned that it supports PCI-E 2.0, The ASUS motherboard i'm looking at is just PCI-E. Will this be compatible? or should i start looking for a motherboard that has PCI-E 2.0?
 
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