just ordered new computer, tell me what mistakes i made :P

R

RoninNYC17

New Member
hey all new to the forums. i used to be really into computers and thought i knew everything, but i havent built a computer in 3 years (since 8th grade) and i was wondering what you guys think about these specs. ive had to catch up a lot, so i hope i picked some good stuff:
mobo: albatron k8sli (with sli, dual channel, 2 pci 16x etc.)
processor: amd 64 3000+ venice core
ram: corsair valueselect ram, 1gb 1 stick, another 1gb stick to come shortly.
case: NZXT nemesis with 400w powersupply (psu is offbrand :( )
videocard: gigabyte nvidia 7600 gt.
for $540 including shipping.
plus a 250gb sata drive that i got for free from my dads work.
 
the cpu seem a litle slow and im not shure ur pcu will take that the newere video cards like 7600gt take alot of power and there is no point of getting a sli mobo and one that hight up because ur pu is a lot weaker than newer ones and u wont be using sli with 400w pcu so i think the mobo is a litle high end for what u need and if u do pl;an on sli they recomend a 450w power suply minimum and even there ur cutting it close so i say go up on pcu down on mobo and maybe up with cpu if possible
 
cant really afford to up the cpu right now, maybe for christmas? i used to be a hardcore gamer, but on my old computer (p4 2ghz) i was having no trouble running bf2 at the settings that were fine for me, so this should be a huge step up for me. im much more casual gamer now i guess (see: i got a girlfriend and can no longer afford/am not allowed to play video games all the time now lol). the psu is really just so i can use my computer until i can afford a 500w(antec or some other good brand). im not gonna be using the sli until i get a new psu.
 
RoninNYC17 said:
cant really afford to up the cpu right now, maybe for christmas? i used to be a hardcore gamer, but on my old computer (p4 2ghz) i was having no trouble running bf2 at the settings that were fine for me, so this should be a huge step up for me. im much more casual gamer now i guess (see: i got a girlfriend and can no longer afford/am not allowed to play video games all the time now lol). the psu is really just so i can use my computer until i can afford a 500w(antec or some other good brand). im not gonna be using the sli until i get a new psu.
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It may not work right even with a single 7600GT, since stock PSU's are usually pretty crappy with low amps.
 
A friend just put together one NZXT case without the supply to use an Antec True Power 480w that runs quiet. If you plan on using the SLI you may have wanted to move up to the 7900 GT over the 7600 GT model for the performance gain. That's one critism you'll hear fast around here. I favor the MSI X1900 XTX with ATI vpu personally. Corsair value select gets some interesting reviews when compared to the xms series if you are not heavy on gaming. The extra 1gb dimm won't hurt there by any means. And the 3000+ is a nice little OCer for the single cored cpu there. Many will push the 4200+ X2 dual core as seen at http://www.computerforum.com/showthread.php?t=37635 And then the last item is a review on the board seen at http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1795
 
yeah this is really a budget computer. i dont have any money right now; this is coming out of my bank account which i have to repay by the end of the summer. the video card is actually an upgrade from what i originall planned on (6600gt). also this video card doesnt use a fan (just an obscenely large heatsink) so im hoping that will help a little with the power problem.

as for the sli i dont think ill end up using it. the reviews ive read show that it really isnt a performance jump that is worth it (especially on this mobo b/c the sli runs 2 8x instead of 1 16x pci).

at this point im more worried about functionality than performance. id love to be running 4gb of pc 4000 ram, a 4200+ dual core, a 7900 gt etc. etc. but i just cant afford it. im just hoping that this will be a good mid level pc to play newer games on, just not on full settings.
 
RoninNYC17 said:
also this video card doesnt use a fan (just an obscenely large heatsink) so im hoping that will help a little with the power problem.
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Personally i think that was a mistake, since when they only have a heatsink the temps can get pretty high, especially under load. It also limits the overclockability.

But all in all, that PC is a very nice mid-range computer, and should play the newest games at around high settings.
 
RoninNYC17 said:
as for the sli i dont think ill end up using it. the reviews ive read show that it really isnt a performance jump that is worth it (especially on this mobo b/c the sli runs 2 8x instead of 1 16x pci).
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so what are you gonna do with an sli mobo if you dont plan on sli-ing?
 
liuliuboy said:
so what are you gonna do with an sli mobo if you dont plan on sli-ing?
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it was one of the cheapest/best mobos i could find, and i still wanted to have the possibility of using the sli. actually now that i think back i think i chose that mobo before i even knew was sli was (i havent looked at computer parts in 3 years, im a little behind.)
 
RoninNYC17 said:
it was one of the cheapest/best mobos i could find, and i still wanted to have the possibility of using the sli. actually now that i think back i think i chose that mobo before i even knew was sli was (i havent looked at computer parts in 3 years, im a little behind.)
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Well they are certainly not Socket A or P3 models anymore. You'd be surprised that a Socket A with a 256mb AGP video card plays newer games better then some of the older ones. If you are on a tight budget and still want a halfway decent card you don't have rush out and spend $250-$500 on one.

SLI and Crossfire both are intended more for the high end gaming machine and not just for the average user on a small budget. Before you would want to spend a small fortune getting a list of what you actually need will work better in the long run. When you got the extra? That's a different matter.
 
yea i get what youre saying pc eye. im spending $540 total on this computer, which as far as computers go is pretty cheap. i think its pretty upgradable as i when i get money i can upgrade the processor to a 4000+, i can easily get another stick of ram, and i just get another video card to boost video card performance.

again, im happy with the parts. more what im asking is are they gonna work together? anything i should know about these specific parts? should i be careful with somethings? etc. etc.
 
Are you going to run the SATA as a stand alone or slave to an ide model? I'm not quite as far as running SATA drives yet. That is being planned for a more costly build coming up in a little over six months from now. The rest of the hardware doesn't pose any issues as far as being able to run together.

The most common error made when building a new is thinking that you need all the new "bells and whistles" just to get a case up and running. Nonsense! You go out and pay big money often enough for high end and OC capability. But if you are planning to run stock you start with the basics until you make a list that you can afford while leaving some room for expansion later. By the time you go to upgrade you should be thinking about going past the 4000+ maybe into a good FX dual core model there. I'm stuck with a Socket A system here until I go after the top end Opteron model with 3gb of ram not the 2gb being run now.
Until you are ready to boost performance with a big upgrade use the time to shop around for the hardware you will want to see in your case later. The only thing I see where a problem may come up is running the SATA drive as a stand alone primary on a board with an ide controller. A friend learned that fast when the bios clearly saw the drive but not the XP installer. Several tries at getting the installer to grab the needed drivers off of a driver kept failing. Yet others have had good results. Hopefully you won't see that there.
 
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