First major build, check to make sure everything fits?

B

benihana99

New Member
Hey all,
this is my first major build (4th overall, the rest were small or rebuilds) and i wanted to make sure all my parts will work together well. i have checked myself, but i wanted a more experienced builder's advice. i cant really afford any more expensive parts, so dont bother mentioning that unless its important. here are the parts and links:

LiteOn CD/DVD+RW 2mb cache IDE drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106228

XION Onyx XON-103 ATX Mid-Tower case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811208020

EXCELSTOR Jupiter Series 160gb 7200rpm 3.0gb/s SATA HDD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822210004

Antec earthwatts EA430 ATX 12V v2.0 430W PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371006

Microsoft wireless desktop
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823109033

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100007

Patriot 2GB 240-pin DDR2 667 ram
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220231

ASRock 4CoreDual-SATA2 motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157115

BFG Tech nVidia 7300GT AGP GPU
(bought it already, don't have a link)

2 Old EIDE HDDs (on one cable) with music and movies, etc.

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit for system builders
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116202
Whats the deal with 64bit on this?

Intel Pentium E2160 Allendale 1.8gHz 65W Dual-Core processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116036
Also, would i be able to safely overclock this to 3.0gHz?

Please tell me if any of these parts are not compatible, if im short a power connector (or something), or if anything else is wrong. Also, any recommendations or building advice would be great! Thanks in advance!

Also, can anyone recommend me any good freeware for maintaining my new PC? I'm planning on using AVG Free and Ad-Aware. Anything would be great!

ALSO, PLEASE SEE THIS THREAD
http://www.computerforum.com/115190-recommend-good-motherboard.html
 
Last edited:
benihana99 said:
Hey all,
this is my first major build (4th overall, the rest were small or rebuilds) and i wanted to make sure all my parts will work together well. i have checked myself, but i wanted a more experienced builder's advice. i cant really afford any more expensive parts, so dont bother mentioning that unless its important. here are the parts and links:

LiteOn CD/DVD+RW 2mb cache IDE drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106228

XION Onyx XON-103 ATX Mid-Tower case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811208020

EXCELSTOR Jupiter Series 160gb 7200rpm 3.0gb/s SATA HDD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822210004

Apevia ATX 500W power supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817148027

Microsoft wireless desktop
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823109033

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100007

Corsair ValueSelect 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 667 240-pin RAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145098

ASRock 4CoreDual-SATA2 motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157115

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit for system builders
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116202
Whats the deal with 64bit on this?

Intel Pentium E2160 Allendale 1.8gHz 65W Dual-Core processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116036
Also, would i be able to safely overclock this to 3.0gHz?

Please tell me if any of these parts are not compatible, if im short a power connector (or something), or if anything else is wrong. Also, any recommendations or building advice would be great! Thanks in advance!

Also, can anyone recommend me any good freeware for maintaining my new PC? I'm planning on using AVG Free and Ad-Aware. Anything would be great!
Click to expand...

Not sure about your PSU..,
May be go for Antec earthwatts EA430 /XCLIO STABLEPOWER 460W?

OS: the 64bit is at similar price.

Video card: What is your main use of the PC?
If you don't have much money, go for 2600XT, starting from $50 after MIR.
Or 9600GT/ 8800GT if you have more money.

MB & RAM, go for what reddevil6 suggested
 
daisymtc said:
Not sure about your PSU..,
May be go for Antec earthwatts EA430 /XCLIO STABLEPOWER 460W?

OS: the 64bit is at similar price.

Video card: What is your main use of the PC?
If you don't have much money, go for 2600XT, starting from $50 after MIR.
Or 9600GT/ 8800GT if you have more money.

MB & RAM, go for what reddevil6 suggested
Click to expand...

i do have a video card, it's a BFG Tech nVidia 7300 GT 512mb AGP (already purchased). i am also putting in two older IDE hard drives (containing some music and movies) on the same cable. the reason i picked my mobo is because i need an AGP slot for the card. I also need 2 IDE connectors minimum (one for old HDDs and one for cd drive) and one SATA connector minimum (i would like room for growth, and this one has 4).

The deal with the PS is i need at least one SATA power connector and at least four 4pin power connectors. i also want a bit of wiggle room, which is why i picked this PSU. it has six 4pins and 2 SATAs (i also have one 4pin to SATA converter). if you can recommend a PSU with the same or a lower price with the same number of connectors and 450+watts, please do.

as for the RAM, i'm not sure its compatible with my mobo, but im not sure the memory standard (ddr2 667) is the minimum or the only one that works.
 
that computer will not need 450 watts, i daresay that the 7300GT doesnt even need a 4-pin molex connector. what you need is a good HIGH QUALITY power supply, and do not worry about the wattage. a nice antec will do.

EDIT: heres a nice one, i used to have the same one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371006

and to make up for the price difference, look at the first combo deal, 17 bucks off 2GB of DDR2 667 ram, and free shipping for the power supply. you'd be a fool not to take it lol
 
Last edited:
benihana99 said:
i do have a video card, it's a BFG Tech nVidia 7300 GT 512mb AGP (already purchased). i am also putting in two older IDE hard drives (containing some music and movies) on the same cable. the reason i picked my mobo is because i need an AGP slot for the card. I also need 2 IDE connectors minimum (one for old HDDs and one for cd drive) and one SATA connector minimum (i would like room for growth, and this one has 4).

The deal with the PS is i need at least one SATA power connector and at least four 4pin power connectors. i also want a bit of wiggle room, which is why i picked this PSU. it has six 4pins and 2 SATAs (i also have one 4pin to SATA converter). if you can recommend a PSU with the same or a lower price with the same number of connectors and 450+watts, please do.

as for the RAM, i'm not sure its compatible with my mobo, but im not sure the memory standard (ddr2 667) is the minimum or the only one that works.
Click to expand...

Would it be a chance you return your AGP 7300GT?
Not worth to get that Asrock motherboard just because you need to use a AGP video card.
 
daisymtc said:
Would it be a chance you return your AGP 7300GT?
Not worth to get that Asrock motherboard just because you need to use a AGP video card.
Click to expand...

i dont think i can return the video card. i bought it at best buy (huge mistake) about 2 months ago to run Orange Box on my old presario. and if i buy a motherboard with onboard video, i wont be able to sell my old card (which i love) for more than 100$. its a dam nice card and i want to keep it. could anyone recommend a better mobo that will fit the bill for the same price? if not, can i get a agp-pcie converter? do those exist?

also, the onboard video on that mobo seems much worse and i dont believe its vista and dx10 compatible.

regarding the psu, i took your reccomendation (actually shaved off about 6 bucks plus shipping!) because the psu and ram both got much better feedback (ram was 100% 5 stars!)
 
AGP is a horrible slot now. Your upgrade ability is severely limited by it. I'd always buy a motherboard with PCI-E x16 or PCI-E 2.0 only.
 
oscaryu1 said:
AGP is a horrible slot now. Your upgrade ability is severely limited by it. I'd always buy a motherboard with PCI-E x16 or PCI-E 2.0 only.
Click to expand...

I understand that, but my old mobo only had pci and agp slots. i didnt have a choice. at the time, i thought it would be at least a year before i got my computer and i couldnt wait to play portal and tf2 and all those goodies. also, my old gpu (s3 graphics prosavage ddr 32mb) could only run css on low settings and wasnt even capable of 32-bit (ahhhh!).
 
benihana99 said:
I understand that, but my old mobo only had pci and agp slots. i didnt have a choice. at the time, i thought it would be at least a year before i got my computer and i couldnt wait to play portal and tf2 and all those goodies. also, my old gpu (s3 graphics prosavage ddr 32mb) could only run css on low settings and wasnt even capable of 32-bit (ahhhh!).
Click to expand...

You can get a 7300LE for $18 after rebates :rolleyes:

That'd probably max it out...
 
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